"I'm fine, Mr. Louise." Antonio answered briefly.
"I feel like you're hiding something." I started interrogating Antonio.
We are currently having lunch in the cafeteria. Mr Weasley didn't come to lunch with us. My sister's secretary left us after we got some food.
"Nothing. I just remembered Ms. Cassano. So, are you going to the party? I will arrange your schedule if you want to attend the party." Antonio looks like he's starting to get busy with his iPad.
I haven't found a good reason not to attend the party. I don't like parties. Because there I will definitely be served alcoholic drinks and also lots of cigarette smoke inhaled by the guests. Dr. Drey has warned me not to touch such things again for the sake of my heart health. Maybe when I was young I would have been very excited about everything about parties, but not now anymore. I have to take good care of my body, so that I don't waste the heart that other people have given me.
"I won't go." I ate the French fries that were on my plate.
***
The sound of music entered my hearing through headphones. Acoustic music is my choice to accompany me while running around this park. It looks like the sun is starting to peek out from behind the clouds. Before we knew it, the day was starting to get bright. I have spent my time jogging for almost two hours. I woke up at five o'clock in the morning. I leave my apartment straight away for a morning run every day. I immediately jogged towards the bench located in this park. I sit on the bench and I wipe my sweat using my small towel which one I brought early. After my breathing had returned to normal, I got up from my seat to go home immediately.
"You're finally home, Bro. You know, I spent a lot of time waiting for you." A man wearing a sleeveless shirt was standing in front of my apartment door.
"What are you doing here?" I looked at the digital watch wrapped around my wrist.
It's now fifty-five past six minutes. Why is this annoying guy here? Usually he will come to pick me up at eight in the morning. Every day we go to the office together. Incidentally, Antonio also lives in one of the units in this apartment. I'm sure it's actually not a coincidence, he definitely stayed here on purpose to be a spy for my mother. He always sticks with me even outside of working hours like now. For me Antonio is like chewing gum.
"I brought breakfast for you." This annoying guy showed me a plastic bag.
"You don't have to pretend to be nice to me. Tell me, what's your purpose in coming so early?" While pressing the password code, I started asking questions.
"Have you no manners, Mr. Antonio?" I teased him, because after the door opened, he came in first.
"Do you know? I've been standing waiting for you for too long. This is all your fault, because you forbade me from entering your apartment without your permission. If only you hadn't stopped me, I would have been sitting relaxed on this sofa a long time ago." Antonio's answer made me even more annoyed.
Actually, he knows the sequence of numbers that I use as the password for my apartment. Once he entered my apartment when I went out to buy some of my necessities. Since I live alone, of course I was surprised to find someone sitting on the sofa watching television. When I was shocked I stroked my chest, he immediately panicked. Since then I forbade him from entering my apartment without my permission.
"Didn't I ask you to buy me breakfast?" I replied to him while walking towards the pantry.
I started to take mineral water, then I gulped it down until only half a bottle was left. Antonio came over to me entering the pantry. He started to sit on the chair while placing the food he brought on the table.
"You eat first, I'll take a quick shower." I said to him as I walked towards the bathroom.
After finishing my shower, I went out to the pantry. I was too lazy to wear my clothes. So, I just wrapped a towel around my waist. I don't need to feel embarrassed in front of Antonio anyway, he often does things like this when I'm in his apartment. Besides, why should I be ashamed, I should be proud because I have a muscular body. I always train my body diligently to get these muscles. There is only one part of my body that is not so good, namely my chest. It's not that I don't have muscles in my chest, but there is a long scar on the left side of my chest. I got that scar from my heart surgery ten years ago. I saw Antonio was still at the dining table. He looks busy with his cell phone. Lately he has been chatting with someone a lot. Maybe he already has a girlfriend. I concluded that, because he always smiled every time he replied to the text message. I started to sit down and join Antonio at the dining table.
"So, you really have a girlfriend?" I asked the man in front of me now.
"Yeah, she's a good girl." He explained briefly.
"Which girl has fallen for your charm, my friend?" I asked, peeking at his phone.
"Hey, it's my privacy. Don't be nosy!" He said as he moved his cell phone away from me.
"So this is why you came to my apartment so early in the morning? You wanna show me if you're not single now, eh?" I asked as I opened the breakfast package he brought.
"Tell me now, who is that girl? What's her name? Do I know who she is or maybe I have met her before?" After asking I started eating my food.
"You don't know who she is. You and she are never meet face to face." Antonio replied.
Is the girl Antonio is dating one of the employees at the mall? Yesterday he seemed restless when we had lunch in the cafeteria. Maybe Antonio's girlfriend is the girl I saw coming out of the cafeteria. It's a shame I didn't get to see the girl's face.
"Wow, it looks like you're really enjoying your food, bro?" Antonio mocked me when he saw that I had finished my breakfast.
"Of course. I think you brought m e breakfast for me to enjoy, right?" I replied to him.
"It's really hard to get a Christopher Louise to say thank you." He said sarcastically to me.
"Don't be annoying. Tell me what you want in the morning!" I started to find out why he came to see me.
"Okay. Actually, your mother called me yesterday. He asked me, do you have an important meeting today or not? Then I told him that I would tell him this morning." Antonio spoke while staring at the empty package that I had just thrown into the trash.
"Then, why didn't you just tell mom?" I asked after drinking mineral water.
"Actually, you don't have any important meetings today. If I tell her, then you will be forced to attend Ms. Cassano's party. Didn't you tell me that you didn't want to attend it?" He explained.
Even though he is the confidant of Louise's family, sometimes he still takes my side. Antonio will only report me to Mom if something dangerous happens. Like when I'm sick, he will tell my Mom. Even though the illness I'm suffering from is just a common cold. That's what makes him an annoying person sometimes.
I'm feeling lazy to go to an event like that. Besides, it's not an important event. Just tell my Mom that I'm going out of town. Also tell my mother I will be back in town tomorrow night." I said, leaving him to go to my room to put on my clothes.
"Okay, then I'll take a shower first.
You can wait for me at the lobby." He shouted from the front door of my apartment.
Then I heard the sound of the door closing. I quickly put on a bright blue shirt and then I chose a black suit.
***
I walked towards the elevator without Antonio. Earlier when we arrived at the mall, Mom called Antonio. Mom must have asked Antonio about my schedule for today. I felt my cell phone vibrate. I looked at the caller id. It was the woman who called me again. Maybe I should talk to her directly so she doesn't keep bothering me. As I was about to answer the call, someone pushed my back.Suddenly the cell phone in my hand slipped and fell to the floor. I quickly picked up my phone from the floor. The phone call had been disconnected before I had a chance to answer it. I turned my body back, I looked for who had pushed my body earlier.
"Please watch your step. Can't you see there are people here?" I spoke in a sharp tone.
"I'm sorry sir, I was in a hurry so I accidentally bumped into your back." The answer sounded very cautious.
It turns out she is a woman. I examined the appearance of the woman who had bumped into me. She wears a uniform from the LOU's store. I can see there is a fashion logo on the pocket of this women's uniform. When I saw her face and heard her voice, my heart suddenly beat fast. I looked at this woman from head to toe, why do I feel something strange? There is a feeling of longing when I see it. When her eyes looked at me, my heart beat was still fast. Who is this woman? I don't think I've ever seen this woman before. This woman has a bad effect on my heart. I should consult a Dr. Drey again, I thought.
*Continued*