Rosalina finished with his hair, Gino thanked her and left for his home.
Chapter 5.
Within the walls of the house
He had a two-story house near Milan, near the coast of Genoa, with columns and an external facade in the ancient design.
The maid Alba opened the door. She greeted Gino and looked down. He silently passed by and immediately took the elevator to the second floor. He came into the bedroom and collapsed on the huge bed right in his raincoat.
Lying on bed, he reached out to the bedside table and took a photo frame with a picture inside. It showed his parents running happily along the seashore and holding eight-year-old Gino’s hands.
He was silent for a long time, looking at the photo.
«Mom, dad, I miss you so much now,» he said quietly. «How I want to hug you, I’m so lonely! I’m tired… The business is going down. Dad, I’m failing. If Caponelli doesn’t give me the money, I’ll lose everything. But that’s not the worst of it. The main thing is that I’m tired of being alone: I fall asleep alone, I wake up alone. I want a family so much. I dream about my home to be filled with love and children’s joyful cries. Mom, remember you said: «When my grandchildren are born, I want to walk with a stroller, babysit my little Ginies and ride them on a steam train around the fountain in the park.» But this never happened, mom… I’m sorry…
«Mommy,» he said, looking out the bedroom window, «You and my father are now in heaven, you see everything and pray for me, I know… I’m grateful for the love and care you surrounded me with all my life. You both gave me so much. I have everything now, but I can lose this «everything’ due to bankruptcy. You know, I’m not really afraid of this. Because why do I need all these benefits for myself if I don’t have the most important thing – family and children?»
Tears literally sprang from his eyes at the last sentence. These were tears that had accumulated over the years.
Having calmed down a little, Gino lay for a long time hugging the photo with his eyes closed.
«What are you missing?!» at some point he heard an inner voice. «You’re whining, whining: family, children. Yes, billions of men would like to be in your place! You can seduce any woman with just one look. There’s no need to give palaces, cars, diamonds, you just need to look into her eyes and take her hands – she’s yours!»
But no, you can’t get enough. You are tormenting yourself in search of true love, evidence of which would be the birth of children!
My dear friend, listen to what I’ll tell you. These married signoras are so naughty; you should see what they do with their lovers when their husbands are not around. And these endless correspondences about secret desires! But, despite this, they still have some thoughts they don’t share even with their lovers.
And just imagine, you meet one like that, fall in love, and she starts cheating on you. Then you find out about it, it’s extremely painful, and you want to break up. But your darling, being very crafty, sheds a sea of tears with pleas for forgiveness, brazing it out as if it was just your imagination. Moreover, with all that feminine tricks, she makes you guilty of this situation, citing a lack of your proper attention and other nonsense. You start feeling guilty and forgive her, and you live happily ever after, until infidelity separates you for some time, and then everything happens again, and again, and again, and many more times in a circle. Pain, pain, pain! That’s what so-called love promises you!
And you? Will you be able to remain faithful? After all, you love «sweets» so much. Think about it!
Well, children always bring with them a feeling of fear for their health, safety, and fate. They are nerve-wracking and will give you sleepless nights till their adulthood, and after adulthood also sleepless days. Think, Gino, do you need these problems?..
And remember: there’s one condition for possessing the gift of hypnosis: if you continue to look for love and find it, you’ll lose this phenomenal opportunity of easy access to beautiful bodies!»
«Yes, your monologue is convincing,» replied Gino firmly. «But I disagree with you on some points. I’m a grown man and this won’t scare me. I’ve had enough of beautiful unwary women, but now it’s not about them, it’s about me. They all disappear from my life right after our intimacy. They don’t care about my feelings, and this hurts my man’s pride. I’m looking for someone who, in response to my feelings, will love me sincerely and so much that there will be no room left for us even to think about cheating. Even if such feelings are rare for our time, I’m going to look for her and find her!»
As for children, I’ll tell you this. If that’s the way the humanity thinks about children, they’ll soon be extinct as a species. From now on, I’m going to ask everyone I seduced about their feelings for me, I’ll keep asking them. I’ll find the truth! Although no, I won’t seduce anyone anymore, I’ll simply talk to women, just talk about love. But from a distance. No more hypnosis. That’s it, I’ve had enough of loneliness!
At that moment, Gino heard a deafening laugh that sounded as if it was in his head.
«Who are you? Shouted Gino. «Show yourself, show yourself!»
The laughter began to intensify. Suddenly Gino woke up in horror and realized that it was a dream. His eyes were watering badly and hurting unbearably. He jumped out of bed and dripped anesthetic into them.
The hands on the clock showed half past one in the morning.
The dream felt like reality. For a few more minutes, the echoes of laughter continued in his head. Finally, awake, Gino lay down on the bed again.
«What a dream!» he thought. Tranquilizers don’t help at all. I wake up five times a night. I need to increase the dosage. I’m so tired of it.»
«I wish I could talk to someone now.»
Gino sighed and, feeling overwhelming urge to talk, decided: «Shall I try to find a common language with Alba? But she’s too young and has never been married. For her, the words family and children probably belong to the category of a distant, bleak future. Okay, I won’t think about it for her. We’ll talk and see.»
Realizing how late it was and that she was most likely asleep, Gino hesitated a while, but nevertheless decisively pressed the call button, inviting Alba for a frank conversation about her feelings.
Chapter 6.
Dialogue with Alba
Alba was very pretty, but insecure and lonely twenty-four years old girl with low self-esteem, and wearing huge awkward glasses. She always dressed in gray, as if to spite the opposite sex. But her rounded body, natural cuteness and plump lips still drew men’s sympathy.
She had an incomplete university degree in psychology. Alba could not graduate from the institute because in disputes with male teachers she had her own point of view on everything. Her hidden complexes used to burst out when it came to her own observations in psychology. She often made scandals and threw tantrums at the teachers. Everyone understood that this could not go on any longer. And one day, in the middle of the third year, Alba was expelled by mutual decision of the higher educational institution’s management.
For her it was a blow not only morally, but also financially. While studying, she received a scholarship and lived in a women’s boarding house at the institute.
Endless ordeals began in search of work and housing. That was followed by attempts to open her own psychologist’s office, but, alas, clients could not stand her «original» methods, they often didn’t show up for the second session.
The time came when she had nothing to eat and no money to pay her rent. So she applied to a staffing agency for domestic work. At the interview, Alba made every effort to disguise her temper and was able to do so quite successfully.