Chapter 48: Chapter 48

◇ KEL ◇

2 new notifications

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"M. C. Falco (account number: **** 4096 ***) sent $45,000 to your account **** 7894 **.

Transaction completed today at 14:30."

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"M. C. Falco (account number: **** 4096 ***) sent $45,000 to your account **** 7894 **.

Transaction completed today at 14:37."

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Holy guacamole.  90 thousand dollars?  Was this an error?

The first time was shocking enough that I had to read the notifications twice. Disbelief made me doubt the whole thing. Then I logged in to check my bank account.

Crap.  It wasn't a mistake.

He actually sent me money. Almost a hundred thousand dollars.  For what? Why send me this much money?

Struggling for immediate answers, I checked the descriptions and my emails. Odd.  Miles didn't send any. The only message he included in the fund transfer transactions was:  "Pay him back now"

That's it.  No other messages.  The shock just turned into utter confusion as I kept staring at the total amount and the unbelievable number of zeros on the screen.

Of course he meant Enzo.  But why didn't he give me a call before sending me this much money?  How did he even know the total amount of cash I borrowed from Lorenzio?

Ugh. Should I send all of it back to Miles? Or send it all to Enzo so I could pay off every cent I owed him?

Drats!  I didn't even have Enzo's complete bank account information.  With a disgruntled sigh, I followed him into his hotel room.

He had invited me to go swimming because my mother repeatedly mentioned I needed to unwind this weekend.

"Enzo, tell her she needs to do some physical exercises to get rid of some anxiety and stress," my mom told him earlier.  We were at the supermarket then.

"Of course. Yeah. You need to keep up a balance, Mykaela," was his annoyingly affirmative response to my mother's lecturing.

As if it didn't bother him at all, Enzo just made himself our designated driver and kind of acted like he was our chaperone.  He drove us to the store, pushed the cart, helped shop for groceries, and then drove us back to my place.  No hesitations on his part whatsoever.

At one point, it felt like he was proving to my mom that we really were good friends.  He was behaving like a true gentleman, which, as I expected, my mother praised him for a couple of times.

Instead of showing my discomfort, I went along with it and pretended like it wasn't a big deal. As if I was used to him hanging out with me, driving me to the supermarket, helping me with groceries and all.

So when my mother bid goodbye to drive back home to help Jill with Baby Meesha, I couldn't say no when Enzo invited me to go swimming back at the hotel where he was staying.

"I'm sick of eating by myself and gossiping with the guards,"  was his excuse when he noticed I was hesitant about his invitation.

"Yeah. Sure. I have some time," I eventually replied without thinking ahead.  To be honest, I was tired of talking to my books and reading till my eyes and brain hurt.  I could use a few hours to exercise and socialize outside of my small and quite gloomy apartment.

Enzo said he needed to relax, too.  He'd been working overtime the past few weeks, which I didn't doubt.  He owned at least two companies, excluding his family's group of businesses which also kept him busy more often than not.

"Did you bring your bikini?" Enzo asked before he swiped his key card on the door of his hotel room. We weren't alone.  The usual protocol.

His bodyguard, Berto, stood a few feet behind me, just awaiting orders from his boss, giving me half-meant but polite smiles from time to time.

"I, uh, just the top," I replied.  "I'll just use my gym shorts." Actually I wore my workout shorts underneath my pants earlier because I knew how cold it was in the supermarket.

"Yeah. That's fine." Enzo led me into his hotel room and left his bodyguard outside. On the bed were some folded pants and some messy piles of clothes. "Ignore my filthy room. Just too tired to give a crap." Enzo grinned faintly and grabbed something from his travel bag by the closet.

"I don't mind." I glanced around and noticed that it was basically tidy, except for his clothes on the covers. He was pretty organized overall.

"How's Maximiliano?"

Miles?  I looked away, quite surprised by his question. Why not ask Miles himself?  Weren't they business partners now?  Well, their families, to be exact. "Busy. As usual."

"When did you last talk on the phone?"

"Um...a week ago? Maybe. Not sure," was all I muttered in reply. If I told him Miles had been avoiding me again, Enzo would ask me another question. One I wouldn't want to answer or talk to him about.

"Are you two dating?"

My brain paused at the question.  Wait.  He thought I was dating Miles now?  Why?  Because of the last time we hung out and had lunch with Miles here in New York?

"Or is it...more of a long-distance thing?" Enzo eyed me for a moment before he changed into his swimming attire.

"No." I sat on the big bed and pretended to be casually hanging out with him while he posed a series of questions I wasn't quite prepared to answer.

"You have any plans to get married?" Enzo mumbled as he leisurely took off his pants to put on his swimming trunks. Like he didn't give a crap that we were alone in his hotel room and I was sitting on his hotel bed.

The question shocked me to a degree because we never talked about such serious topics, but I didn't want to be rude. So I thought of a sensible reply.  "Not now.  I mean...as you noticed, I don't even have time to date."

"Likewise," he said with a slanted grin and a concurring nod. Then Enzo grabbed clean towels from the closet. "You want to bring a robe downstairs?"

"Um...sure. Thanks."

Enzo didn't waste time and handed me a clean robe and a white towel.

"Thanks." I looked at him and noticed he was watching me closely.

A silence filled the room while he got ready for our swim. He was barechested now. He held his phone and threw a black bath towel over his left shoulder. When he stood in front of me, he posed another question I wasn't quite expecting to hear from him. "What if he tells you, he wants a serious relationship?"

Me? In a relationship with Miles?

Why he thought Miles would ask me to be his girlfriend, I wasn't sure.  It was highly unlikely, anyway. Miles wasn't even the relationship type.

"What if, at some point, in the near future, he proposes to you?" Enzo stared at me with a small grin that narrowed his striking blue eyes. "Would you say yes?"

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Miles? Asking for my hand in marriage?

The irony. Miles couldn't even ask me out on a real date. If he ever did, I couldn't remember. He wasn't the vocal type ever since. And for more than a year, I was convinced he didn't even date women.

Granted, I should have asked him about it.  But it was none of my business, and he was the type of guy who preferred to keep to himself when it came to personal matters.

I'd never even seen him get emotional until that weekend we spent in his family's estate. That was months ago. To this day, I still didn't know exactly why he was crying to himself in front of the altar that time.

Maybe he got into another argument with his parents about him joining the family business? Possible. I didn't ask about it again because I knew Miles wouldn't tell me the real reason. Pretty sure he could bring a dozen secrets to his grave at this point.

Was it a matter of trust? Sure. I was the outsider after all. Lately, I just held onto hope that he would change his mind one of these days and treat me like a real friend, instead of a liability.

"Hold on. He still doesn't know you're in love with him?" Enzo walked me out of his hotel room. His tone sounded certain and almost sympathetic.

Jeez. Talk about secrets. Berto practically heard everything about my hapless pining for my best friend.  "Doesn't need to know," I muttered as we rode the elevator with his bodyguard.  Berto was mostly tight-lipped, though.

"That's not healthy." Enzo chuckled softly at his own comment and stared ahead.  He guided me towards the pool area.

We reached the pool in five minutes or less.

Big. Rectangular. Some sunlight. Fairly windy weather.  A few kids were playing and an older couple hung out around the shallow end. Not many hotel guests swimming at this hour, apparently.

"You never tried to talk it out with him?" Enzo placed his arm on my shoulders after we chose our poolside chairs where we put our belongings.

"I don't have to." I took off my shirt that had been covering up my bikini top and frowned at nothing in particular.

Talking about my unrequited feelings just made me feel like crap, like the first time I told Paul (Miles' best friend) about how I really felt for Miles. That night, I drank alone in my room while crying and whining to Paul.  I drank and cried till I couldn't walk straight. Dealing with heartbreak wasn't my strong suit, put it simply.

"Why not?" Enzo squinted while he watched me take my joggers off.  We stood near the edge of the pool.

Why was he asking about my relationship with Miles? Or lack thereof. Was it simply curiosity?  "He knows."

"But you never told him, you said."

"No." I sighed and arranged my spare clothes on the plastic recliner. "Words are overrated."

"Oh?" Enzo almost grinned. "Saw him last week by the way."

"Where?"

"Outside a club. With a girl."

"Oh."

Enzo chuckled at my reaction. "Just 'oh'?"

"What?" I scoffed and looked away. "I'm not jealous or anything."

"Sure," was his dubious reply.

"It wasn't like...  I'm not—  I dunno. I just thought we were getting there. Then he just..." I sighed. "Pushes me away."

"You told him that?"

"Not really." I fixed my ponytail after he dove right in. I followed and found out we were close to the six-foot depths. "I shouldn't have to," I muttered while standing on my toes. The water wasn't freezing cold, thankfully.

"Why not?" Enzo swam closer to me while we dawdled around the edge of the pool.

"He knows how I feel about it."

"But you never told him."

"Don't have to." I then asked him to fix the knots of my bikini top, just to distract him from interrogating me further about my issues with Miles.

Enzo just veered into my very private thoughts, and I wasn't a hundred percent sure whether I could trust him with my secrets. Not yet, anyway. But, maybe...he was just treating me like how he treated his other friends?

"You're scared he won't even acknowledge it," Enzo muttered while he tightened the knots on my back and nape. His fingers and hands felt quite warm against my skin.

"No. Nothing like that. I just—"  I paused to reorganize my feelings for a bit. If he really wanted me to talk about Miles, then, fine. At least he wasn't going to judge me for what I had to say. If I talked to my mother about my issues with Miles, I wouldn't hear the end of it.  "I just know he's not gonna do anything about it."

"But, to be clear, you want him to do something about it?"

"No— I dunno..." I shrugged weakly.  "He just...likes to keep to himself."

"What if, sometime next year, he asks you to marry him?"  Enzo smirked now. He almost sounded so sure of himself.  "For one, he already introduced you to his parents and Ricchar."

"You're funny," I mumbled.

Why did he insist on the idea as though it were a possibility?  Miles asking me to be in a serious relationship with him?  It wasn't even a thought that remotely crossed my mind.

I shook my head in denial while Enzo watched me pretend I couldn't care less about the issue, when, in fact, I couldn't get my mind off Miles again. Only because he just sent me a lot of money I didn't even ask for.

"Not joking, though."

He wasn't joking? I couldn't help but scoff at the idea he was suggesting with apparent enthusiasm.

Miles marrying me?  Seriously delusional on my part, as much as I thought Enzo was imaginative.  Miles didn't even like talking about marriage and the whole shebang...probably found it too mundane for his interests.

"He's anything but the marriage-with-kids type.  Far from it."

"Really, huh? Not so sure about that," Enzo mumbled.  "He's too reserved. Like you."

"Me?" I pulled a face at his comment. "I'm not that quiet."

"Except you are." Enzo raised his thick brows.  "You want him to make an effort?"

"No," I lied in a calmer tone as I tried not to scowl again. Why were we still talking about Miles? Odd.  "He won't even take my calls."

"Why not?"

"He's just paranoid," I replied, shaking my head a bit. I could still remember Miles' warnings a couple months ago. "Keeps saying we need to minimize contact." I let out a short sigh. "I dunno...maybe he just finds me annoying, and clingy."

"Or maybe he has other reasons. I get his point, though, about limiting digital communications."

"It's stupid. Everyone's being spied on. No exceptions. Your phone's a spying gadget all the time. Long as you have it with you, no one's exempted."

"True." Enzo grinned. "So, in the future, you'll say no if he asks you to live with him again in Brichese? Get serious? Whole nine yards?"

"He won't," I insisted. "He'd rather spend the night alone and paint."

"Miss him a lot?"

"No." I tried to stop scowling. "Not anymore."

"Really." Enzo scoffed again.

"Fine." I pouted and shook off the thought of lying to him again. Like Gaia, he could already spot my tells, I guess.  "A little."

Enzo chuckled. "You're cute."

Cute? What's that even mean? He found me cute? Or did he mean he found my lovesick drama funny and rather amusing? Yeah. Most probably.

"I take it back." He touched my chin. Enzo smiled a bit while he stared at my face. "You're beautiful. Not cute."

"No. You are." Was he flirting or just making fun of me again? Didn't he have a girlfriend?

"I'd date you any day." Enzo shrugged casually. "Unfortunately, you don't like older men and don't have time to date."

What? When did I ever say I didn't like older guys? He wasn't even 35, last time I checked.  "I don't even have time to shave my legs."

"I like natural hair."

"Even leg hair? Dark, wiry leg hair?"

"Everyone has leg hair, silly."

"Some people don't."

"Yeah." Enzo raised a finger. "Babies, for instance."

I laughed at the joke. "You're silly. And funny." I stared at his profile while he slicked his damp hair back with both palms.

"Not as silly as you after a glass of wine." He grinned lopsidedly.  "I imagine."

"Some wines just taste like crap." I splashed water onto his face.

"Beer?"

"Pass."

"Great. You won't even drink beer with me."

"It's bitter," I retorted.

"Not after a few pints."

"Which only tells me not to play a drinking game with you."

"Whatever." Enzo scoffed dismissively but looked like he was holding back another smile. "Did you kiss him goodbye last time?"

"What?" I faked a short laugh.  We were back to Miles again?  Ugh. What's with him today?  "Who said I did?"

"Educated guess." Enzo shrugged and suppressed another meaningful grin. "Just out of curiosity, is he your first kiss?"

"Why on Earth do you even wanna know?"

"Just a little curious." He splashed water onto my cheek.

"Really? A little." I smothered a giggle with my palm. I just didn't expect he'd be this nosy. Or maybe he was just that bored today and he found me easy to tease and make fun of.

"But I'm sure he's not your first kiss." His pale blue-green eyes looked overly attentive while he waited for another reaction from me. "Or is he?"

"Why're you asking me all these weird—"

"Oh! So he is?" Enzo laughed and leaned against the poolside wall. "That's cute."

"It's not."

"Adorable."

"Stop it." I rolled my eyes and imitated his pose. But I was five inches shorter than him, so I had to tiptoe underwater to keep my chin afloat like his.

"No. Having too much fun teasing you."

"Ugh. Whatever, Lorenzio." I used my arms to splash water all over him.

He avoided my second attempt by swimming with one arm in the air and holding his phone. He did a quick lap towards the other side of the pool, splashing the water all over my face using his legs.

"Show-off. Teach me butterfly and froggy!"

"Later. Backstroke now," he called out from the other side. "Go. No pauses." He waved his stopwatch—his phone—at me as if he was eager to time my laps. "Don't have all day!"

"Wait; my hair..." I pushed some strands of my hair away from my face.

"Chop-chop."

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