Episode 17

He looked at the messages again and again. He listened to that audio and imagined Luka's face at that moment. Although he was far away, he had a good view, he could perfectly see the expression on his face... It hurt. He really wanted to go after him. He took two steps forward and stopped. He would have liked so much to give him one last hug...

"Hey, are you okay?" One of his classmates approached him and touched his shoulder. He hadn't realized he had gotten lost in his memories once more. It had been like that for the last four weeks. Yes, four weeks had already passed. "Did you break up with your girlfriend or something?" He raised an eyebrow. "I'm just saying because you keep looking at your phone."

"Oh, no, no, it's not that... not a girlfriend," he murmured the last part. "Anyway, what's up?"

She looked to the side, her freckled cheeks slightly pink. "I wanted to know if you're free today, let's go to lunch together."

He thought about it for a few seconds before answering. He had nothing to do, and since distancing himself from Luka, he had no one around. He wasn't planning on accepting, but after university, the memories they had together had become all he could think about. He didn't want to keep remembering something he decided to forget. It was better to occupy his free time with something else.

"Okay, see you at the exit." She gave him a smile and left with her friends. Emanuele watched as they whispered things to her and giggled among themselves. He would never understand women.

...----------------...

"Can you come to the restaurant tomorrow? The professor said you had a dish to show, I want to see it," said one of the chefs from the most important restaurant in the city. Luka, walking beside him, nodded energetically with a huge smile on his lips. Really, everything was going wonderfully. He had a good job and university was proving quite enjoyable.

"Just tell me the time and day, I assure you I'll be there without fail."

"Perfect, I'll send you the date and time by message." The professor shook his hand and said goodbye. If they hadn't been at the university entrance, he would have surely jumped for joy.

Luka turned around and looked into the distance, his blue eyes met those brown locks he had missed so much. In the distance, Emanuele was walking towards him, however, the university student wasn't alone, at his side came a girl with blonde hair and thirty centimeters shorter. For a moment, he didn't know how to react. Emmanuel had stopped talking to him without explanation, he wanted to go after him and ask why he had distanced himself, however, seeing him so smiling beside her, he decided not to interrupt.

However, he stayed there, watching as he continued to advance towards where he was. He knew he should move, but his feet wouldn't budge. Emanuele looked at him and stopped, with a trace of surprise on his face and a glint of sadness, he looked away. Being ignored by him caused a slight pain in his chest.

"Wait!" he shouted. Luca's strong voice reached everyone's ears, many stopped to see what was happening, however, Emanuele didn't seem to have heard him. Luka wasn't going to just stand there watching him leave with that girl, so, taking a breath, he ran towards him. Upon reaching him, he grabbed his arm and made him turn to face him. "What's wrong with you?" he asked, irritated. His eyebrows were furrowed, and his gaze seemed to show anger. Emanuele was surprised to see the cold way he was looking at him, he never thought he could give him that look, however, he had walked away suddenly and without giving any explanation, somehow he felt he deserved it.

"Nothing happened." He replied indifferently, as if things really were still the same. Luka got even angrier at the disinterested look he gave him, tightened his hand against Emanuele's strong grip and furrowed his brows even more.

"Really? Why can't I believe you?" He questioned, "you stopped talking to me, you read the messages, but there was no answer. You didn't even give me an explanation, and you say everything is the same, you're a lying bastard."

Luka's voice cracked at the end. All that time he had been waiting for a call, a message, even a sticker telling him they could still be friends, however, Emanuele never sent any sign that their friendship could continue, and when they met, he said that everything was fine, but, for him, everything was over.

Luka punched him in the chest with some force. "It doesn't matter anymore," he muttered, "if that's how you want it... It will be this way."

Luka walked away from him and ran off among the exiting students. Emanuele watched him go, unable to erase from his face the look of sadness he had at that moment.

...----------------...

Luka reached an alley, his legs were shaking and his breathing was ragged. His eyes were moist, but he didn't even realize when he had started to cry. And, the real question was not when, but why. It was clear they were just friends, yet something felt completely different. It was as if he was being abandoned.

He wiped his tears with the back of his hand and let himself fall to the ground. Emanuele was nothing more than a friend, or at least that's what he wanted to convince himself of. But, the truth was that since they met, their friendship had grown too fast.

They had similar tastes. For example, they both enjoyed days off at home, walks in places without many people, reading about any interesting topic, long conversations about anything, and, above all, they both shared a love for gastronomy. They were too compatible that it scared him at first. But, unknowingly, Emanuele was present in every day of his life.

When he stayed at home, or when Leandro made him cook for him, he always sent a photograph of what he was doing. At night, when his boss was killing him with work or when he had a date with someone, he always sought distraction with him. In any instant, Emanuele was there, but now that he had walked away, what was left for him, what could he do?

"Damn," Luka leaned back against the wall and let out a sigh of frustration"... It's really over..."

Luka closed his eyes for a moment, but it was long enough for someone to cover his head with a blanket and hit him on the back of the neck. He was so distracted that he didn't even resist.

...----------------...

He opened his eyes slowly, but all he saw was darkness. Something covered his head and prevented him from seeing anything. His mouth was sealed. His hands and feet were tightly bound. Any attempt to escape was useless.

Who knows how long he spent without hearing the slightest sound, but from one moment to the next, footsteps on the ground could be heard in the distance, but they soon approached him.

The hood was pulled off his face, however, a bright, blinding light prevented him from seeing anything. He frowned and closed his eyes, completely irritated.

"You knew how to hide very well for years. I must admit your father is a fucking genius. Imagine operating on you so that no one would know your whereabouts, that's another level," said a man from the shadows. Luka was confused, he had never had surgery and his father wouldn't worry about his safety. Those bastards had the wrong person.

He tried to say they had the wrong person; however, the gag in his mouth prevented him from making any sound.

"Well, let's take some pictures and start the auction."

Luka's eyes widened. When he was working with Leandro he had been investigating something about human traffickers, but he had nothing to do with it, he wasn't even an X25 male, as men capable of giving birth were known.

His panic grew when, from the door, entered two people with strange clothes and terrifying looks.

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