Once Heidi serves the glasses of juice, I take them and return to the living room to sit in front of her parents on the other couch. They quietly thank me when I offer them the glasses while Heidi sits beside me with another glass in her hand. There is none for me. Sad…
Anyway, I just need to wait for what is to come, and not die in the process. Glass of juice or not.
"So, why didn't you tell us everything?" It's begun! My heart races when Mr. Ricci throws the first bomb. I feel Heidi straighten up beside me; she takes a deep breath and looks directly at them as if she is going to war. She's prepared. Go, Heidi, go! I'm cheering for you!
"Honestly, there were things you wouldn't accept due to your character. You wanted me to become something, someone, I don't want to become. I always tried to tell you, but you always brushed me off as a child who didn't know what I wanted or had no idea of the world."
Damn, she started strong! I regret coming. I am definitely going to become a collateral victim here. Or an awkward witness. Right now, I am leaning more towards the latter, though maybe soon I will become the first.
"It's not that I don't admire your careers, but it's something I don't want for myself. For once, I wanted to do something I could consider mine. Something that could make people say: that's Heidi Ricci, and not: that's the daughter of the Riccis. Now that you know, I just hope you don't try to stop my way because I will never give it up." She says firmly.
Oh God! Thanks for giving me this chance! She looks so sexy like this! Those fierce eyes, that serious tone, that dominant… Focus, Aldo! This is not the time for you to be howling your admiration for her! I look at her parents, and they seem to be pondering.
I grab her glass and take a sip, ignoring her glare. She can be angry with me all she wants, but right now I need something to distract me from the sudden tension of waiting for her parents' response. When I gulp down half of the juice, she finally pinches me. I sheepishly look at her and hand her the glass. She just narrows her eyes and finishes the juice.
Oh… was that not… no, no, Aldo, this isn't us in elementary school, that cannot… To hell! That was an indirect kiss!
I smirk and poke her side. She widens her eyes in indignation and kicks me. I try my best not to smile and tap her foot with mine. Her mouth twitches, as if suppressing a smile of her own, and pinches me again. Before I can continue our little game, Mr. Ricci clears his throat to get our attention.
His gaze flutters between Heidi and me with something I cannot understand. Mrs. Ricci just smiles like the Cheshire cat. Finally, the man speaks up.
"What's done is done Heidi. Maybe, if you had told us from the beginning what you wanted, we might have understood you. Or maybe not. As parents we only want you to be successful. We only thought our path was the safest as you were already familiar with it." Mr. Ricci says.
Even when his voice is as cold as the Antarctic, it is, at the same time, understanding and soothing. Heidi sags relieved and nods.
"Let's not talk about that anymore. You hid it from us, but you seem to be doing well from what we can see." Mrs. Ricci interjects and gestures at the apartment. "There's nothing we can do anymore. You're now an adult, so I guess we don't have the right to make you do what we want. You found your way, we have ours. That's that." And readily wraps up the situation.
Which is nice, perfect even.
BUT!
It left my mind thinking: um, is that it? It's over just like that?
It was unexpectedly easy, really. Heidi voiced out her opinion. Her parents listened and analyzed the situation. Then, they came out with a response that left everybody running over the flowery hills with how peacefully it all turned out. Sincerely, with how she spoke about her parents in that class days ago, I thought it was a thorny situation that would end up with more than one person crying.
Personally, I seriously thought there would be more drama, maybe a fight, someone yelling 'to disown her', some broken vases, a pledge of revenge, some crazy laugh… The whole 'this is how villains are made' vibes. Though, that is more the character of the actress that plays my brother's wife in the drama he's currently filming.
That woman is crazy!
She got the evil look, the evil swag, the evil gestures, the evil laugh. Everything about her screams 'beware of the dog, she bites. Hard.'. She looks and acts like the perfect villain!
However, according to my brother, the woman is completely different in real life. Always offering candies, always carrying a baby smell, soft speaking and very polite. She does have a very caustic sense of humour that perfectly blends with her looks, but otherwise she is an angel.
That inner goodness in her shines in her roles. People actually love her villainous characters!
That also shows how the actress, Lana Santori, tweaks her acting to her convenience. The character is villainous yes, yet she plays it in a way that everybody can understand why she is like that. Her manipulation is quite topnotch if I say so myself. In that regard, the character my brother plays is hated for not supporting her…
The producers are crying from how the things turned out.
"Now!" Mrs. Ricci's sudden cheerful voice takes me out of my wild and very errant thoughts. "Let's get to the matter that has made us really happy." She says with a wide smile, glancing at me. Oh no, she's going to begin the other battle.
In a moment, it is going to be me that is going to cry.
Someone, save me!