Luca’s pov
Despite the first grand gesture I carried out with the help of Kayla being a success, there wasn’t any room for me to be able to carry out more because Sofia stopped that from happening.
I didn’t let that deter me, and decided to push a little, and so, I sent a truck of things I knew she loved. After that, I did a few things here and there, but had to give it up after a week, because it wasn’t helping my case in any way. Sofia made it clear after each grand gesture that she wasn’t gonna forgive me, and of course, that broke my heart each time.
Which brought me to right now, whereby I’ve just decided to put an end to all the other grand gestures I already have planned, because they aren’t helping my case in any way.
After I spent a full night holed up in Armani’s bedroom, lamenting to him throughout the night, he suggested I put an end to it and to instead try something else.
Physically groveling.
I wasn’t sure of what that meant at first and he didn’t mind breaking it down for me, while looking very serious. Once he was done, I couldn’t help but narrow my eyes at him in slight suspicion.
“Are you even sure you’re on my side?” I demanded and he snickered before throwing me an incredulous look.
“What? Why would you think that? Of course not!” He responded and I let out a long sigh while rolling my eyes.
“Wait, why would you think I’d be on your side? You messed up, Luca. I’m on your wife’s side.” He informed me, looking very unimpressed and I exhaled tiredly.
“I can tell, you betrayal.” I murmured weakly and he snorted before shifting closer to me until our shoulders were touching. I regarded the almost empty bottle in my head and silently berated myself over being such a pathetic drunk.
“You okay, big bro?” Armani asked quietly, sounding genuinely concerned and a humorless laugh left my lips.
“Do I look okay to you?” I asked with an arched eyebrow. Armani regarded me for a moment before slowly shaking his head.
“You actually don’t, you look like crap.”
I smile wirily. “Thanks for the compliment, that means a whole lot.”
We remained silent after that. It wasn’t awkward in any way, but it also didn’t feel calm, probably because of how on edge I’ve been for the past week.
Armani was the first to break the silence.
“You know, Sofia isn’t so good either.” He paused for a moment. “She’s a mess.”
They sent a sharp pang of regret through my chest. “That’s all my fault.” I whispered solemnly and Armani snorted.
“It is.” He agreed, and if he wasn’t my brother whom I loved so much, I might have punched him.
“You know, you do have a chance to fix this.” He continued after some time and of course, I perked up instantly.
“All hope isn’t lost. If all hope has been lost, I believe you’d have felt it.” He reached out and slung his arm over my shoulder after speaking and I smiled sadly.
“How can I fix it though? I’ve tried everything i can think of.” If I looked in the mirror right now, my mouth might appear downturned.
“You’ll figure it out. You always do. You’re Luca after all.” He reassured and that made me want to pull my head, because this is what Sofia would say whenever I feel lost, it’s what everyone believes, but it isn’t true, at least not every time, like right now, seeing as I don’t know what to do in order to make things right with Sofia.
And so I let out a humorless laugh and remained silent. A few moments later, Armani was pulling me into a hug. After a moment of shock, I melted into the hug and held him tight, not realizing how much I needed this until right now. He remained silent and patted my back until we broke out of the hug.
“You should sleep here tonight. I don’t think you’ve been getting any sleep in that bedroom of yours.” Armani offered as he plucked the alcohol from my grip, which I released without a fight. Speaking of sleep, I’ve really been living without having any.
“How could I when literally everything in there reminds me of her?” I asked, feeling more tired than I was minutes ago. Armani shoved me gently until I was laying in his bed, and my eyes suddenly felt extremely heavy.
“Poor smitten you, I can imagine. Which is why you should sleep here tonight.”
I let my eyes go slid close after that, then cracked it open after a moment. “You aren’t gonna sneak out of the house and leave me alone in here, right?”
Armani looked like a deer caught in a headlight for a moment before rolling his eyes while shrugging out of his shirt.
“Of course not. I’m sleeping in tonight, you’d meet me here on waking up.”
We laid side by side after that, slightly sharing body heat, and that took me down memory lane of him shaking me awake because he had a nightmare and me opening my arms for him to borrow in before we’d both fall back asleep, or on some instances, the both of us in my bed, with Aria trapped between us, all bubbly and too excited to sleep.
I didn’t realize when I drifted off to sleep.
When I woke up, it was in an empty room, which made me roll my eyes as I washed my face in Armani’s bathroom, which was so different from mine. My head pounded less this morning, which meant the sleep had definitely helped out tremendously. It was till I checked my phone that I realized it was past one in the afternoon, making me swear underneath my breath as I climbed down the stairs.
Armani was setting the table and he flashed me a bright smile on noticing my presence. “Oh look who’s awake.” He gushed and I rolled my eyes as I pulled out my seat while scolding him for letting me sleep in this late, but he only ignored me and urged me to eat.
“You cooked?” I asked as I shoved a forkful of egg into my mouth. Armani only snorted while shaking his head. “Hell no. Do you want me to burn down your house?”
“It’s your house too.” I pointed out which made him roll his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. I ordered the food from a nearby restaurant.”
~~~
As expected, when I tried to meet up with Sofia so I could try out physical groveling like Armani had suggested, I was unable to carry it out because Sofia refused to let me meet up with her.
Two days later, she surprisingly answered my call. It was currently past nine.
She didn’t hesitate to inform me that the only reason she answered my call tonight was because the person she’s gonna cheat on me which is gonna be at her hotel soon and that she just wanted to give me a heads up because she’s considerate like that.
I saw red instantly. I didn’t think twice when I hastily dressed up and was in the car minutes later, heading towards the hotel. As I drove, different images of Sofia in bed with a faceless, younger guy flooded my head and made my blood boil beyond imagination.
The thought of her slight body trapped beneath someone’s that wasn’t mine, almost made me lose control of the steering wheel for a fleeting moment that I had to park the car and get myself together. When I restarted the car, I refused to think about her with someone else and instead, stuck to imagining different, creative ways in which I’d deal with the unfortunate loser who’d dare touch what’s mine.