Arranged Love – Episode 9

Next day……..

I woke feeling energized and ready for the day. First thing in the morning, I noticed that Adrian didn’t come home because his office was empty. Also, his ravioli dinner was still in the refrigerator. I decided to leave the plate in the fridge for another day. If he didn’t plan to eat the food, I’ll have to eat it for lunch on the next day.

Today, I wanted to go site seeing and get to know my new neighborhood. I made sure to dress nicely and got everything so that I didn’t get locked out of the apartment. {Should I leave a note?} “I think he would be able to find me. He probably put a tracking device in my phone.”

I walked into the elevator and rode down to the lobby. Once out of the lobby, I walked down the street through the crowd of people. The streets were lively with people and cars. The streets were packed with cars that were trying to get to their destination.

Along the street, people would go in and out of the stores. Many women walked into the clothing stores because they were well known brands. The outfits were amazing…but, the prices were outrageous.

“A two hundred and fifty eight dollar belt!. No thank you.”

Quickly, I covered my mouth and walked away from the store before anyone could notice my expression. The brand stores could really put someone into bankruptcy. To me, brand stores never really caught my eyes.

Walking down the street, I found a bookstore that was filled with people. {Must be a popular bookstore.} I decided to go inside to see why the place was popular. Once I stepped into the bookstore, I could see why people were inside.

“Wow.”

The place was huge. The books filled the walls of the shop. At the corner, there was a little cafe where people could buy something to drink while they read their books. Everything was very organized.

“May I help you?”

I turned my head to the voice to see a elderly man at the cashier. “Oh. I don’t need help,” I said to him with a smile. He gave me a smile and a nod. “If you need help, come to me my dear,” he said to me and returned his attention to a customer who was buying a book called “How To Get Girls You Desire.”

{Okay……}

I started to walk toward the eastern wall of books.

“Let’s start here and work around.”

The section contained historical and travel books.

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“I can’t wait to read my new book when I get home.”

I probably had spent two good hours looking around the bookstore. I managed to find some historical fiction and fiction books that caught my attention. The store owner gave me a discount on the books since I was a first timer at the store. After the bookstore, I had spent time looking at the other stores that had caught my attention.

When I got home, I walked to the mail box to retrieve the mail. I had to say that the box was filled with letters, pamphlets and magazines. “Look at all this.” {Does Adrian ever look at his mailbox?} I took the mail and walked to the elevator.

[Key Card Please] I got my key card and insert the card in the scanner.

Beep…beep…ping!

[Recognize Valeria Minetti] As the elevator lifted me up, I tried adjust my hold on the mail. I had to say that he must have not checked his mail for at least a week or two. There were so many letters and magazines. {Does he really worry about his image?}

Once I reached the apartment, I walked to the kitchen to sort the mail. Most of the letters were for business while others were advertisements. Soon, I got to the magazines. One magazine caught my attention.

The youngest Minetti Bachelor tied the knots!

Rumors had spread about the possibilities of Adrian Minetti marriage. According to sources, he had tied the knots while he was visiting his parents in San Francisco a couple weeks ago. The lucky woman had not been identified yet.

{Nobody knows me yet.}

Relief coursed through my body. I really didn’t want to be an inconvenience to Adrian. After sorting the mail, I walked to his office and set the magazines down on his desk with his mail. He would want to look at it.

As I walked out of his office, I saw Lorenzo who walked towards me. “Hello Lorenzo,” I said with a smile on his face. He gave me a small smile and bowed to me. “Hello Mrs. Minetti. How are you?” he asked me.

{Mrs. Minetti.}

“I’m fine thank you. Please, call me Vera,” I said to him. The way he said my married name felt very foreign to me. “Of course,” he said to me. “I didn’t hear you walk in. May I ask what you are doing here?” I asked him.

“I am here to get your husband’s mail. He had been expecting a letter from the CEO of a travel company based in Italy. He thought maybe the letter had arrived at his home and not at his office,” he explained to me.

{A travel company?}

“Is it from Journey Flight? I did recall seeing a mail letter of it. I placed his mail in his office,” I told him. Lorenzo gave out a sigh of relief. “Thank you. Normally, Mr. Minetti’s business letters are mailed to his office but, on rare occasions, they are mail to his home,” he explained to me.

“That makes sense.” He gave me a nod. “How is Adrian?” I asked him. I hadn’t seen him at home for a while. “He had been busy with work. He probably won’t be coming home until he gets a deal with a real estate agency for a property down in San Diego,” he told me.

{Probably a new resort.}

“Alright. You should hurry and get the letter to him. He’s probably not the kind of person to keep waiting,” I said to him. He gave me a nod and walked passed me. I let out deep breath and continued my way to my room to read my new books.

“I guess I’ll be eating alone for a while.”

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One week later……….

Adrian hadn’t returned home for a whole week. I became more worried about him. Of course, I didn’t dare to call him or anything because his rules kept popping up in my head. Lorenzo hadn’t come and check the mail so I check the mail and place them in Adrian’s office.

As for me, I had decided to enroll into a university in New York. Of course, I planned to take a couple of online classes for each semester so that I could focus on my house chores. Also, I wanted to see the amount of school work that I had to do for each class. I could care less what Adrian thought about my decision.

Today, I was in a really good mood that I had forgotten about Adrian. I wasn’t going to let him ruin my life. I had spent a good two hours in the neighborhood and going to the grocery store for more food to fill in the pantry and fridge. The doors to the elevators opened to reveal my apartment. “Home sweet home,” I said and set my goods down on the couch.

“Well hello there.”

I gasped and turned around to the direction of the voice to see a man who looked familiar. His dark hair was down casual. He had some facial hair, but it was very clean. His eyes were brown and familiar.

“I’m surprised that you don’t seem to know me,” he said to me. I couldn’t seem to process his appearance because I was blinded by fear and fright to even think about the identity of the person in front of me.

{How did he get in here?! I need to call Adrian.}

Quickly, I reached for my phone in my bag. “Not so fast,” I heard him say to me. He grabbed my arm to prevent me from getting my phone. He took my bag and tossed it across the room. {My bag.} He turned his face to me and gave me a smirk.

“Aaaaahhhh!”

Quickly, he covered my mouth with his hand. I struggled to get his hand away from my mouth. He didn’t seem to notice that he covered my nose too. “Let me explain something to you,” he said to me calmly. I didn’t know what to think.

I could feel the less oxygens in my lungs.

“Mathew! What are you doing!?”

He turned his head to the stairs. I turned my head slightly enough to see a woman who looked like a model. She had long flowing blond hair and dark blue eyes. She had a slim figure but, she was curvy too.

{She looks familiar.}

She made her way toward us quickly. Matthew removed his hand from my mouth. I backed away to the corner of the kitchen trying to catch my breath. Once my back touched the wall, my body didn’t want to respond. My breathing was so uneven that I knew that I was panicking now. The woman looked at me.

“She’s panicking,” she said with concern and walked towards me. “I’m Angela. Your sister-in-law,” she introduced herself to me. “Oh.” I could feel myself relax a bit and turned my attention to the guy. {That means this must be Matthew. Adrian’s brother.}

I didn’t recognize him because his hair. His eyebrows frown a bit. “Sorry if I scared you. I’m Matthew. Adrian’s older brother,” he apologized to me. I wiped my eyes to feel moisture. {Must be fright the fright.} I let out a shaky breath of relief.

“I’m Valeria but, call me Vera and it’s okay. I didn’t know that you two were coming,” I said to him. He gave me a nod. “So I’m guessing that Adrian had went to work,” he said to me. I gave him a nod. I didn’t tell him that he didn’t come home from work since the other day.

Angela took my hand and led me to the living room. Once we sat down, Angela gave me a smile. “It’s so nice to have a sister in law. I didn’t think that I would get one so soon. I would have thought that Stephen would get married and have a wife before Adrian,” she told me.

“That…makes sense,” I said to her. Her smile shorten a bit. “This must be very confusing for you…especially since you came from a…you know…” She didn’t want to say anything offensive. “You mean not so luxurious background?” She gave me a nod.

“I feel so many things. I mean…I’m an eighteen year old girl who just graduated from high school, told that I was arranged to be married to a guy who I didn’t know much about, and live far away from the only family I know,” I said out everything that I held inside.

“It sounds crazy to you. We get it,” Matthew said to me. “Yes but, I’m trying to make it work,” I said to him. He gave me a smile .”I have a feeling that you are a great match for him. You just need to take things one step at a time,” he said to me.

I gave him a nod in agreement.

“So, were you planning on making something for dinner?” Angela asked me. {That’s right.} “Oh. I was planning to make some eggplant parmesan but, I don’t think I have the time now,” I honestly said to her.

Fresh tomato sauce was going to take a long time that I didn’t have now due to them surprising me. “You cook food everyday?” she asked me. I gave her a nod. “I love cooking. I learned everything from my grandmother,” I told her.

She gave me a smile. “Your cooking must be amazing. Adrian must love your cooking,” she said to me. I felt my face frown. {If he was ever at home…} “Did I say something wrong?” she asked with concern in her voice.

“Uh…”

“What’s with the face,” Matthew asked with some concern. I let out a sigh and looked at him. “He hasn’t been home for over a week. I would leave his portion in the fridge but, they are never eaten. So, I end up eating them for lunch the next day,” I explained to him.

His grip tightened on his knees. “What an idiot,” Matthew concluded. He looked mad. “It’s okay. I heard that he was trying to get a deal to get the property down in San Diego,” I explained to him. “But, it takes more than a week? He usually finish or get the deal in a few days. What could he possibly be doing?” he said to me.

Now, he got my attention. {If that’s true, is he….} I shook my head. {No that can’t be.} “He might be really busy this time. You never know,” Angela said to him. Matthew shook his head. “He’s a married man now and doesn’t seem to be caring for his wife well,” he said to her in a bit of anger.

“It’s fine really,” I said to him. I wasn’t going to get mad at Adrian. Matthew took a deep breath to calm down and gave me a small smile. “You really look at the bright side of things don’t you,” he said to me.

I shrugged my shoulders. “I guess.” I got up from the couch. “I better start making dinner. You two are welcome to join me,” I said to them. They gave me a nod. “We would love to,” Matthew said to me. Happiness washed over me.

“I am thinking of wild mushroom risotto and maybe steak. I already had them marinating since early this morning. It should be fine to eat today,” I told them. Angela and Matthew stood up from the couch. “I’ll help,” Angela offered to me.

“That would be great,” I told her. “I’m going to make a business call to see how things are doing,” he said to excuse himself. “Alright,” I said to him and walked into the kitchen to get started on the risotto. Angela followed behind me.

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Wow…I didn’t know how many people were reading this story.