Giovanni lay on his back, gazing up at the ceiling, his eyes soon grew distant, lost in thought. A faint, blurry memory began to resurface, like a bubble rising from the depths of a quiet lake.
He was a little boy again, standing in a sun-drenched playground, his blue eyes fixed on the girl with two pigtails and a lollipop stuck in her mouth. She looked like a tiny queen, surveying her kingdom with an air of haughty superiority.
Their mothers were off at a distance, chatting and laughing, oblivious to the fact that their children were about to have their first, albeit awkward, encounter.
Giovanni, feeling a mix of curiosity and trepidation, slowly approached the little girl. She didn't seem to notice him at first, too caught up sucking on her lollipop and examining her kingdom.
As he drew closer, the little girl finally looked up, her big brown eyes narrowing slightly as she took in the sight of the boy standing before her. Giovanni, feeling a bit self-conscious, tried to muster up a friendly smile.
"Hello there," he said, trying to sound suave. "I'm Giovanni. You?"
The little girl looked him up and down, her expression unreadable. For a moment, Giovanni worried that he'd made a mistake, that she wouldn't want to talk to him.
"And why should I tell you my name?" she asked, her tiny voice dripping with sass, the lollipop still stuck in her mouth.
Giovanni's grin faltered for a moment, but he quickly recovered. "I guess you don't have to tell me," he shrugged. "I just thought it would be nice to introduce myself since our mums know each other."
The little girl raised an eyebrow, clearly unimpressed. But then, to Giovanni's surprise, a tiny smile played on her lips.
"I'm Salomé." She said, proudly.
Giovanni beamed once again. "Nice to meet you, Salomé," he said, feeling like he'd just won a prize.
As the memory faded, Giovanni's gaze dropped back to the present, his eyes still focused on the ceiling. A soft, wistful smile played on his lips, as he reminisced the once sassy girl from when they were kids and didn't know better.
She didn't seem to recognize him from their encounter earlier, and he couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed. Yet, he was convinced that their paths would cross again.
He was anything but wrong!
They were going to be seeing a lot of each other.
The atmosphere was relaxed, with the sound of gentle waves and muted conversations in the background of the lounge.
Dominic sat opposite the young man, engaged in a game of chess. His brow was tightly furrowed as he pondered seriously on the next move to make.
Giovanni, on the other hand, seemed entirely at ease, studying the board with a thoughtful expression and patiently waiting for the old man to make the slightest mistake.
As the game wore on, the silence between them was punctuated only by the occasional soft click of the chess pieces being moved.
Just then, Salomé walked into the lounge in a radiant, sleeveless yellow sundress and brown snadals. Her dark blue hair was pulled into a high ponytail and a white camellia flower placed at the side of her ear.
"Daddy." Salomé called out, her soft voice interrupting the silence between the men.
Dominic looked up, a hint of a smile on his face. "Look who we have here. Pull a chair, we're just in the middle of a game."
Giovanni's eyes flickered up, his gaze meeting Salomé's for a brief moment before he returned his attention to the board.
Salomé had no reaction on seeing this and slid into the empty chair beside her father, her eyes scanning the board with interest. "Who's winning?" she asked.
Dominic chuckled. "I'm not sure yet. Giovanni here is a formidable opponent."