Song: Terrible Thing - AG

(edited)

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Adelaide

—-

He took ahold of my waist and gently made sure that I was sitting comfortably sat, telling me to open my eyes.

And I did.

—-

What I saw took my breath away.

He had sat me down at a small circular table, in the middle of the room peppered with lavish and seemigly expensive decorations

The room was dimly lit which only helped in accentuating the rich red walls.

Small lights, which resembled that of fairy lights, hung from the walls making it seem as if we were in a completely different world.

None of that compared to the view.

Large glass doors had been opened, letting a breeze float through the room and gingerly tickle my skin.

A second place had been set for Romano, which I couldn't help but notice was next to me instead of opposite.

I had always been infatuated with the night sky and the view from the table was exactly that, beautiful twinkling stars.

Whilst others liked the sky because of its beauty, I admired it because of the reminder it gave me, that we were all insignificant, and however strange it was, the thought comforted me.

"How do you like it?" Romano's voice rang through the room, jolting me from my stupor.

I looked at him wide-eyed as he slid into the seat next to me.

Unable to answer his question, my mouth opened and closed, no doubt resembling a fish.

He gazed at me for a few seconds before letting out a deep chuckle.

"I'm glad you like it, would you like to start eating or shall we wait for a few minutes?"

Why couldn't I bring myself to talk?

Thankfully, Romano didn't take it as an intentional way to piss him off as he let out another laugh, a little louder this time.

"Carota, as much as I would like to sit and admire your beauty in silence, I much prefer the beauty of your voice."

Now-familiar heat rushed into my cheeks as I sheepishly looked away, turning my gaze towards the starry night sky before speaking.

"I've never been on a date this lavish before." my voice was softer than I expected it to be, almost as if it belonged more to the wind than to an assassin.

I looked back over to Romano to see that he had a mildly surprised look on his face.

"Jamie never did anything like this for you?"

I didn't miss the slight venom laced in his curious tone at the mention of Jamie's name.

I smiled slightly at his jealousy.

I still had it.

"He took me on dates, sure, but never anything as grand as this, I don't think MI6 would've allowed it, they hardly accepted our relationship in the first place."

Romano's mouth opened to respond but the opening of the door and a shuffling of a waiter silenced his response for a few seconds.

The server didn't speak when he opened the bottle of red wine that was bathing in cool water, filling up Romano's glass slightly so that he could taste it, before filling up both of our glasses to the appropriate amount.

The server carefully placed the bottle back in its cool bath before speaking.

"Entrees will be out soon."

With that, he turned to leave, softly shutting the door behind him.

Romano cleared his throat as I reached for the glass of wine, letting the rich taste settle in my mouth before swallowing.

"What I was about to ask before we were interrupted was, what do you mean MI6 wouldn't allow it? Did they control your life so much?"

He was splayed in the plush chairs that we both sat on, his body language displaying that he was comfortable and relaxed with his legs separated and his hands cradling his wine glass, though his face said something different.

Was he worried?

"Is he new?" I blatantly avoided his question hoping to change the subject from MI6.

The right side of his lips quirked up, closely resembling a smirk.

"You are not very subtle are you, cavolo?" He leaned forward and placed his glass down on the table.

"I don't care for subtlety, Mano."

His smirk grew larger.

"Duly noted, stella, how about we play a game then? Maybe it will ease your nerves."

I was hesitant to accept.

The last time Romano had asked me to play a game, it had led to a steamy kiss and a few days of me ignoring him.

My hesitence must've shown on my face as Romano let out another small chuckle before speaking again.

"Don't worry carota, I will not lay a hand on you, this game will be completely oral." He strained the word oral and I couldn't hold back my laughter from his pun.

"What is the game, Romano?"

He grinned and swirled the red wine in his glass before taking a sip.

"Let's play a game of questions, you ask me a question, I answer and vice versa, there is only one rule and that is that you have to answer the question fully and truthfully."

His eyes locked with mine.

A dangerous game to play and he knew it.

It had been drilled into me from a young age that I should trust no one, yet Romano felt so easy to trust, especially with his easygoing smiles and belly laughs which often succeeded in putting me at ease.

Besides, I would be getting something out of it too.

"Okay."

His grin grew and his eyes crinkled a little with it.

"You answer my question first, why didn't MI6 allow you to go on a beautiful date like this one?"

I thought for a second on how I should answer this. I could tell him the truth or I could completely lie but neither option sounded appealing to me. Maybe a half-truth would do.

"They didn't like that Jamie and I were together, they thought it was a nuisance and would distract from our jobs."

The door opened and in came the previous server with a heavenly scent alongside him.

He placed a plate in front of me and another in front of Romano and without uttering a word, waltzed out of the room leaving Romano and me alone yet again.

The food seemed to be a small portion of soup that I had never seen before.

"Keep going then." He told me, expecting more to my description.

"I answered your question." I shot back, not willing to say any more on the topic of a Jamie or MI6 for that matter.

His dark eyes bore into mine in a deadly serious expression.

"Stella, I think you gave me half of the answer, you broke the rules, I am giving you a second chance to correct your mistake so take it before I have to give you a punishment."

My eyebrows quirked up at his insinuation and I chuckled a little at his words.

"I thought you wouldn't be laying a hand on me?"

He took a sip of his wine before his lips curled up into a malicious smile.

"I don't need to use my hands to punish you, carota, now finish your answer to my question."

I couldn't help but smile a little as I leaned back in the wooden chair and polished off the rest of the wine in my glass.

I matched his gaze not letting any surprise register on my face, I couldn't let him see that he had me flustered.

Fuck it.

"MI6 was more like a boarding school to me, they gave me a room to stay in and food to eat, in turn, I would do their bidding and follow their rules. I wasn't allowed to ask for things of big expense because it would be harder to cover up where they got the money from other organisations and suspicious people in the government."

I reached over the table and picked up the bottle of wine from it's cooler and poured some more into my glass. I found that I was no longer nervous by his presence.

"There were three other assassins that lived in the same corridor as me, for all I know, we were the only people that lived on-site and those in charge didn't want favouritism and competition between us, or at least that was their reasoning. We had all been picked up at a young age, though I was the youngest"

I took a long sip from my glass before looking into his eyes again.

"Happy?"

He smirked.

"Very."

I finished off the rest of my soup and pondered what I could ask him.

He couldn't lie to me, he had promised that when we made a makeshift contract.

If he did lie and I found out, I could leave with all the money I had earned and never look back, that is if I didn't break omertà.

I could ask him anything and this time I didn't want to just rile him up for a laugh, I wanted information.

Information that I could use.

Knowledge is power, or at least that's what the scholars say.

I looked out at the shimmering stars in the distance.

I didn't want something too vague, I didn't want anything too specific.

Should I ask him about his life? Or about our agreement? Maybe I could ask him about Simon Fawker, the man I killed only a night ago.

"Why am I here, Romano?" Is what I chose to ask him after my internal debate.

It may have seemed childish and personal compared to the question he had asked me, but it was weighing on me, I wanted to know if he had any ulterior motives.

He studied me for a few moments, swirling his wine in his glass before replying to my question.

"I want you, Adelaide, is that so hard to accept?"

At the sound of my name, a shiver went down my spine and my heart sped up.

His words, no matter how sweet they were, scared me a little.

I couldn't distract myself from the doubt that was poking and prodding my mind saying that if I let him in romantically, I would be trapped by him, he'd already shown that he was possessive. I didn't know him well enough.

I didn't know his motives.

He was somewhat of an enigma to me.

It was as if there was a light switch inside of him and if you were able to flick it, he would turn deadly, I could relate on that part, it came with the job, but there was some uncertainty there.

What horrible things has he done?

Would he shun me if he found out the things that I had done?

"Why do you want me? You hardly know me."

His eyes lit up a little at my badgering and a ghost of a smile played on his lips.

"My question." He stated, ignoring my questions.

I huffed slightly and fell back into the clutches of the comfortable chair before a small squeak of the door hinted at someone's appearance.

The boy collected the used dishes and placed a steaming bowl of the most heavenly smelling spaghetti that I had ever smelled in front of me.

I shovelled a forkful of the spaghetti in my mouth, almost letting out a moan due to how delicious it was.

"I'm glad you like the food, carota." Romano told me, humour laced in his voice.

He started to eat his spaghetti, not taking his eyes off of me.

It was a little weird, but he was Italian so I let it slide.

"Okay, I have my question."

I looked up from the heavenly spaghetti expectantly, waiting for him to pose his question.

"If I kissed you now, would you kiss me back?"

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spaghetti is yummy as hell and if you like spaghetti then vote, comment and follow.