Chapter 65

                                    

                                          
*
They left New York the very next morning. Hand in hand, Afrah and Adnan boarded their flight, giddy with excitement at the thought of spending the next 48 hours in Italy.
                          
They landed at the Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport just over nine hours later. Adnan tried to hail a cab for them, cursing under his breath when most of them drove past. 
                          
"Perks of being a black man in Europe," he smiled in disdain. 
                          
Eventually, a round-faced, very Italian looking man parked in front of them. 
                          
"Dove stai andando?" he asked, rolling down the window.
                          
"Rome Cavalieri," Adnan said. 
                          
The man nodded pointedly, hopping out to help them with their bags. 
                          
"Your first time here?" he said, his English heavily accented. 
                          
"Si," Adnan replied. 
                          
"You welcome to Italy," he said. "Rome is beautiful city."
                          
"It is," Afrah agreed. "I've always wanted to visit."
                          
"I'm Sebastian," he said, smiling as he reached for her small suitcase. 
                          
"Afrah," she replied. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
                          
He smiled back at her, loading the suitcase into the Prius. 
                          
Traffic was light, and they soon parked in front of the hotel. Adnan paid the fare and took their bags in. "You'll love it," he said. "I went online and did some research on the hotel, and it's absolutely beautiful. You should see the view at night. The whole city is visible from above, twinkling lights and all."
                          
"It sounds amazing," she said. 
                          
"We can go to the Colosseum later. Or maybe the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Or maybe we can take a walk through Vatican City."
                          
"Or maybe we can find the nearest beds and just rest," she suggested. Adnan turned to look at her with a quirky smile, his eyes twinkling in the sunlight. "We could do that," he said. "Actually, that sounds a lot better to my ears than sightseeing."
                          
Their room was large, velvet red with gold furniture and two king-sized beds in the middle. Just like in New York, they had a terrace which gave them a fantastic view of the city at the bottom of the hill. 
                          
Adnan ordered for some pizza -because only a fool would go to Italy without trying out the local pizza-, and after a quick shower, they both collapsed onto their beds. For good measure, Adnan dropped his phone face down on the bedside table so it wouldn't distract him. 
                          
"Is it just me, or does Italy seem a lot brighter than New York?" Afrah mumbled into her pillow. 
                          
"I didn't want to mention it," Adnan chuckled. "The sun does seem to be shining a lot brighter over here."
                          
"You should consider buying a place here instead of New York," she said. "It's beautiful over here."
                          
"I'll put that in my agenda," he said, rolling over. Afrah looked up as well, smiling at him. 
                          
"Is that my shirt?" he asked, furrowing his brows. 
                          
"It's the only comfortable thing I could find," she replied sheepishly. "And you weren't using it at the time."
                          
He narrowed his eyes at her, unable to stop smiling. "It looks good on you," he said finally. 
                          
Afrah slid off the bed quietly, never taking her eyes off him. "Move over," she said, walking towards his bed. Adnan didn't wait to be told twice. He rolled out of the way as Afrah sank into the mattress beside him.