Broken Hearts On Boulevard Unirii novel Chapter 42

At midnight everybody was drunk, wobbling around and laughing at nothing. The girls had all gone home, and only Luciana remained to help put the place back in order. Despite her objections, I escorted Oana to a taxi that would take her home, as I had decided to stay on with my friends.

We sat down in a corner of the bar to talk. Since it was impossible to breathe from all the cigarette smoke in the room, Luciana opened all the windows and doors in order to ventilate the place. She continued removing glasses from a table, when all of a sudden a pot-bellied man with a small beard and an angry look on his face entered the bar. He walked right over to her and punched her in the face. She fell on the floor screaming in pain as he kicked her.

"You miserable whore," he screamed. "Don't you dare show your face any more."

The four of us jumped up to protect her, but the man ran out. Fabrizio chased him down the street and almost grabbed him when the man turned around with a knife in his hand. With one swing of the knife he distanced Fabrizio from him but not before he managed to leave a deep cut his hand. When Fabrizio recoiled, the man got into his car and fled.

We ran out of the bar to help Fabrizio, but we saw that he was on his way back. We saw that he was wounded and that his shirt was stained with blood. When he entered the bar, Luciana ran towards him crying and hugged him hard

"I was afraid he was going to kill you. He is a dangerous person," she said.

"I understand that was the Turk you have been hanging out with," he said.

"I never want to see him again," she replied.

The party was over. Next day, Claudio, Elia and I, returned to our lives in Italy, but not for long.

"Bun venit în România,[Welcome to Romania]" the border police greeted Claudio, as he handed him his passport. Elia was right behind him waiting his turn.

Claudio smiled and said, "Grazie."

"How long are you planning to stay in Romania?" the officer asked.

"About ten days," Claudio answered.

"Business?" he asked.

"No," Claudio answered. "I came to visit a friend who lives here."

The officer stamped his passport and handed it back to him.

Claudio had barely walked a few steps, when he was approached by a customs officer who asked him, "Do you have any cash with you?"

"Yes," he answered.

"By law, you are allowed to bring up to ten thousand dollars in cash with you, without having to declare it. Do you have more than that?"

"No," Claudio replied. "I have one thousand euros in cash."

We split up between apartments. Angelo invited Gert and Elia to his house and Fabrizio invited Claudio. I said that I could not invite anybody because I didn't have any extra beds. Of course I didn't reveal the real reason, which Oana was due to come to my apartment as soon as she received a text message that I was home.

We went to eat in a typical Romanian restaurant, La Mama, which had many branches throughout Bucharest. For desert we had their delicious hot papanas.

The time had come to discuss our upcoming trip to Bulgaria.

"How are we dividing up? How many are we?" I asked.

"You are with Oana, Claudio is with Roxana, Elia is with Silvia, Fabrizio is with Luciana, and I will be with Elena. For you, Gert, I took care of it, you will meet her tomorrow," Angelo answered.

"Again you set me up with a girl in need," protested Gert.

"You are making a mistake. The girl I have in mind is a good friend of Elena's, like her, a lovely Bulgarian girl named Sofia. She is around thirty years old and is real keen about coming along," Angelo answered.

"Let's hope so," Gert said.

"Just don't immediately start checking out her ass," Angelo said.