My Mother's Boyfriend

Noimicheal drama

Maya

My hormones refuse to settle down, even after my long soak last night in the luxurious tub. I refused to read anything, as a word in almost every sentence seemed to have a double meaning.

Putting on a movie was worse. It seems that everything had some sxeual indication behind it. I stared at the people who were not supposed to be a couple, on screen, yet they were staring at each other lustfully in the precinct where they work, surrounded by others- co-workers and criminals alike.

It's a detective show.

And full of lust.

I ended up sleeping away eventually, long before Alejandro returned and since the room is currently occupied by myself this morning, I knew he had long left as well. I can tell because his cologne has almost faded by now.

It's a routine between us. We wake up, and he gets up quietly and disappears, returning with a smoky lingering scent. I respect that he smokes outside on the tiny porch outside his bedroom. Then he returns and takes a shower and sprays that musky sandalwood cologne and leaves.

My role is to remain as a mouse would with my back turned from the interior of the room, facing the wall, until his exit.

Er, yes, we now share the same room. His room- as we are now legally married. But Alejandro has been true to his word and not touched me. He’s not the gentleman type to sleep on the floor with a thick blanket, however. He sleeps next to me, but the bed is so massive that it’s like two beds joined in one. We never even roll into each other’s sides.

By ten, I am showered and dressed to be presentable for my in-laws.

Gabby, as everyone calls Gabriella for short, and so I have also adopted it- when in Rome, you know- joins me in the kitchen. She's back from her morning gym session and freshly showered as well. She greets me, kissing the air on the left side of my cheek then presents me with the best news I’ve had in forever.

The excitement could be felt like butterflies in my stomach.

“You are approved to return to your studies. Honestly, Maya, I will never understand why you would want to pursue this sham when you don’t need to. You have all the money you would require now. You’re a Noimicheal now.”

Sham. She calls my desire to finish my education a sham. Funny. I am elated, however by the thought of being back in the wide hallways and airconditioned large rooms of the university. The clean lawns and friendly atmosphere... my friends. I couldn’t wait to run upstairs back into the privacy of my shared room with my ‘husband’ to finally reply to all of their concerned messages.

Up until then, I had not opened an entire chat, firstly because I was sort of ashamed because of how my father had behaved...the thought of telling my very independent, equal rights, twenty-first-century friends that my parents chose to remain in our cultured and very male-dominated, lives?

Secondly, my actual marriage to the mafia tycoon?

How to explain that? First, my culture, which allows arranged marriages in this day and age of the modern world when young, but also is prohibited from marrying outside of our culture, but I was married off into what my background normally shuns.

My forehead lines vertically slightly but I flattened it back out, choosing to focus instead on my educational acceptance news. Alejandro has been true to his word thus far. My phone being returned, no touching me and now this.

Beaming with the happy news, my sister-in-law shares my joy with me by smiling widely also. Honestly, Gabby is not bad towards me- in fact, none of them are. They might be reserved, after all, I am a stranger in their lives, out of the blue, and they are forced to welcome and greet me as family because of their loved one, Alejandro.

They are not as bad as I first believed them to be. I don’t know why I had been under the assumption that they, being from the dark background they had, that their treatment towards me or others would have followed suit.

What should one expect the mafia family to be like?

Angelo enters then and pours himself a hot cup of coffee while his daughter tugs at his hair from his arms. “What the grins about?”

“Hola, Buongiorno,” the little angel blushes when she greets me, bending her head into her father’s shoulder, her few even teeth making Alessandra just the cutest thing.

“Baby, in English,” Angelo instructs her, kissing his forehead when she drops herself suddenly limply but playfully and he catches her, his eyes widening in surprise at her unexpected movement. Children never understand the little things they do that can be so dangerous- had it been me...she might have had a broken limb now because I would not have had the instinct to move that quickly to save her from that fall.

“Good morning,” I return with a big grin, wanting to kiss her but holding back still. We weren’t that close yet for that type of affection, so I stay where I am, holding the hot cup of coffee that I have. I will pretend to drink it, then pour the yucky thing down the sink when nobody is watching or if I am alone- whichever is first.

My preference is a cold, iced mix.

“My little Italian princess,” Gabby gushes, pinching the little girl lightly but not enough to hurt her. More playfully and the Italian princess sunk her face deeper into her father’s shoulder mouthing off in a cute huff, “Not princess auntie. Car.”

Understanding that it was Italian and not Spanish as I had assumed they spoke- or maybe a mixture between the both...and that Alessandra identified as a car.

Huh. I’m intrigued.

“Mama?” We all turned towards the open arch that would lead to the dining area, where the raised voice of Paolo, the second-eldest sibling, was heard.

“Thomas?” the huge angry-looking man, dressed in a plain white shirt that could have been tailored for him, black pants and shoes, glares at each of us adults as he scans the room quickly. “Get mama now,” he instructs his sister who was about to speak.

“Thomas, get yourself down here,” he continued on after a slight tilt of his head in Angelo’s direction and leaving with the same rushed steps. “Mama!”

Gabriella gives me a tight smile as if to say, “This is the real deal,” before she dips out of the room hurriedly.

Alejandro, where are you? What is this about now? What did Thomas do this time? Shaking my head clear of that thought to call him, I absently take a sip of the black coffee, cringing when the bitterness goes down my throat causing me to gag and the little one mimics my sound, almost making me smile.

Left alone with Allessandra, I bend over to scoop her up into my arms before heading back up to my room. Even in my innocence of this, I knew some sort of family drama and murder most likely was happening and wanted to stay clear of it.

As long as I can.

I’m not that deluded into thinking I will not be dragged eventually into the Noimicheals’ shady family business, but I will by all means, try my hardest to keep my hands clean of it.

Inside my room, my eyes fill with tears as the little girl seems mesmerised by my wedding ring and pulls my hand in such a way that her soft mouth starts chewing at it as we lie on top of the huge bed. I pity her, as she will grow up to be like them one day, her purity taken from her.

It makes me think of Anthony and what he must be living with at home. Will my father abuse him, the way they did with me? Will it be worse now that my father’s lies are exposed about our mother? Now that my father now knows what my grandmother has been hiding from him. The humiliation he must be feeling knowing his mother sold him out for money.

My brother does not let me know if he is unhappy during our calls- I wonder if, like me, he is good at keeping secrets?