"Lorenzo! Get up! "Sebastian shouted at me, waking me with a start.
It had been days since I slept at night and got up late at lunchtime.
"Let me sleep or I'll fire you," I mumbled in my sleepy voice.
"Mia Madison is downstairs," he warned me.
Suddenly it was as if I was no longer tired.
I jumped up and dressed in black trousers and a coal-colored shirt.
"Shall I let her in?"
"No, I'll take care of it. I want to be alone with her, " I decided, rinsing my face in a hurry.
When I got to the ground floor, I found Mia sitting on the asphalt wet by the torrential rain, leaning against the main door.
She did not have an umbrella and was soaking wet.
With relief I noticed that he was not wearing any provocative wig or dress.
I approached without making myself heard.
Her face was folded between her legs and her shoulders were shaking with tears.
She's in trouble. I knew she would come back to me.
I opened the door slowly and put a hand on her back.
She stifled a scream of fear but, as soon as she saw it was me, she calmed down.
She wiped her face soaked with rain and tears.
"The place is closed during the day," I warned her, feigning indifference, as I tried to understand what had happened to her. She was upset, broken and frightened.
Seeing her in that state felt like a punch in the stomach.
"I need a place to stay. You have rooms here and ... "
"They're for guests."
"It's only for a few days," she tried again, in response to my detached attitude.
"Ok. Do you have a document to register? I mean a valid document, " I provoked.
"No. I lost it," she lied, looking down in shame. She knew she couldn't fool me and was embarrassed.
"A credit card for payment?"
"I have cash. I can pay you up front, "she said quickly, pulling out a dozen crumpled wet notes from her jeans' pockets.
"Where did you get them? Let me guess. Someone loaned them to you, huh? "
"No, I stole them," she revealed to me, revealing an anger and pain that left me speechless for a moment.
"From whom?"
"From my sister."
"Does this sister have a name?"
Total silence.
"Are you a wanted person or are there charges filed against you?"
"Not that I know."
At least she was sincere!
I sighed, trying to figure out what to do.
I scratched my beard thoughtfully.
Part of me told me to chase Mia away and tell her to never see me again because I didn't want any problems. Another part of me, however, wanted to take her in my arms and tell her that he was safe.
"Okay, I'm leaving. I understand ... Sorry if I bothered you for the umpteenth time," murmured Mia misinterpreting my silence.
"You can stay, but I warn you that money will only last you three days."
"I promise you I'll be gone in three days."
"Don't make promises ..."
"... that I don't know if I will be able to keep. You are right, but I assure you that I will not owe anything after I leave ", finished the sentence for me.
Debts? It didn't worry me what things she would leave behind, but rather what she would leave in me. All I had to do is think about how I had not been able to get her out of my head in those days!
It was as if she was inside me and her absence devoured my soul.
"Room number six. First floor. Third door on the right," I just said, handing her the keys to the room.
"Thanks, Lorenzo," she whispered to me full of gratitude, with tears in her eyes.
"Will you tell me what happened to you?"
"Maybe one day," she replied, crying again, as she ran upstairs.
I wanted to ask her a thousand questions, but she was so broken down that I didn't feel like hurting her more. It was already difficult to keep my distance instead of running to her and kissing her, erasing that suffering that I read on her face.