Broken Hearts On Boulevard Unirii novel Chapter 18

"Friends, what are we going to do?" asked Claudio.

"I want to say something," Gert said in his typical way of speaking."I don't understand what's happening here. I never want to go back there again. Indeed, it was nice, but it is over. That kind of life is not for me. Let's move on and leave it in the past."

Elia, who was really agitated, raised his voice and said to Gert, "Screwing around with a whore is not the same thing."

"What are you saying?" Gert answered. "If you've lost your head and fallen for Silvia, you may lose your family at the same time."

"Of course not," Elia answered. "The question is how we get back to our lives."

"Did you bring Mirella's number?" I asked Elia.

"Yes, here it is. I got it from Silvia," and he handed to me a little scrap of paper with her mobile number written on it.

I felt relieved but didn't let my feelings show.

Claudio began to speak. "I don't know how you people feel, but I'm confused. I must return to Bucharest to convince myself this is real. Does she truly love me, and if so, what do I do about it."

"I have decided what I'm going to do," Fabrizio suddenly interrupted. "I have been dropping hints at home that I'm planning to return to Bucharest to open a bar or perhaps a restaurant. I have already told Luciana that I'm coming back and she was very happy with the news.She immediately asked me if any of the others are also coming back. I told her that I didn't know. I for one am surely going back real soon."

Elia turned to Fabrizio and said, "I hope that Matilda does not know anything about this."

"Of course not. Do you think I would involve you in this matter?"

"Better this way. I am sure that eventually everything will work out fine. This is just a midlife crisis."

I didn't know who was negatively affected and who was not, who was pretending and who was really "infected" by the lovesickness. I assume that Gert and Elia were not at all affected by the "Romanian effect" whereas Claudio, Fabrizio and I were."

"Fabrizio, when are you planning to travel? Perhaps I'll join you. I'm starting to have some ideas of my own." I said

"Babbo,"[In Italian Tuscan: Daddy] I answered, "Either we go big, or we don't go at all. We must invest at least two hundred thousand euros."

"That is a considerable amount. We will have to take a loan from the bank for at least half of that," he said.

"Then let's take a loan," I replied.

A few days later the loan was arranged. I took the amount of ten thousand euro from the bank in cash and prepared myself for the next trip. The first thing I did was call Fabrizio,

"When are you planning to go?"I asked him.

"I don't know," he answered. "I spoke with Luciana..."

"What does it have to do with Luciana? Did you not tell her that you are planning to open up a bar or restaurant?"