chapter 8 Flávio

He drove us to the field, the drive was not long, at all.

At the back seat of the car were cameras, different sizes, wiritten boldly on them was NIKON.

"you're a photographer" I asked him

"oh the cameras, I'm not a professional photographer, it's more like a hobby, I use it to get away from the world" I nodded my head and smiled a little.

" how did you find the field?" I asked again, he was looking at me waiting for me to ask him more questions because he was ready to answer anything.

"I planted it, not by myself though"

"why"

" I sat quietly on a busy afternoon, I was at home, but we were having somethings fixed at the house, I stay with my cousin and two friends, there were workers carrying boxes and others were painting, I sat on the kitchen counter, and I saw four men carrying a chest freezer, I wanted to go over to help them set it, but I was too tired to even blink, so I sat there and watched as one of the men, in the process of setting the freezer, kicked a bucket of paint, at first, they had bought the paint by mistake because the designer didn't add purple paint to the list of paint we should buy, it was not a dark purple just the colour of these flowers. when the paint hit the white wall, it was beautiful, I sat there still watching and the idea came to my head, plant a field filled with purple flowers, well, not just that" he said laughing " I would take a picture of it, at sunset, I would take it at an angle that the colours would all blend in perfectly. I went online searched for people to help me, and here it is" he said spreading his hand, it reminded me of how I had spread mine earlier and I laughed, he laughed too. Watching him was something I enjoyed and the more I watched him the more mind-blowing he looked.

" so you were supposed to take the pictures today?"

"no not today, I carry my cameras around, just Incase" he finished his statement and looked at me dreamingly as if he was referring to me.

"cool" I said looking at the field, anywhere but at him. Did he really find me attractive or did he just do it because he's an expert in those kind of things... and when I say those kind of things I mean girls. It's too early to judge him but he's tall, handsome, he has a great smile, he smells nice, dresses like he's wanted in a fashion show...girls would drool over him, and somewhere up the line he would have learnt how to talk to girls, make them want him, he would have learnt the art of finesse, something some guys misuse. I heaved a breath, I'm already thinking about him aren't I?

"it's beautiful, the field, they're things I regret doing, but this field isn't part of them" he said and I nodded still avoiding his eyes.

The car was quiet, none of us spoke, I would have loved to speak but it would make me say things that would Introduce myself to him, he was right after all, I hid behind a mask, not just a mask a wall that I had built around myself, because I always felt vulnerable to pain, I kept people far, nobody ever crosses over enough to come close to me, except my dad who had died and left me feeling bad. I hadn't yet healed from that and Imagine I let another person into my life.

"Danielle?" I heard him say, I turned to look at him. "lost in thoughts" he asked me smiling sweetly.

" uhmm yeah" I said feeling a laugh build up inside me.

" tell me something" he said

" what? " I asked him

" tell me something" he said again.

" I don't get you" I told him frowning

" it's very simple Danielle" he said calmly.

" I don't know what to say" I explained

" can I ask questions" he asked me

" please let them not be too personal"

" when you say personal what do you hold as personal"

" everything about me" I told him laughing a little.

" I guessed" he started " but I'm curious and you have to tell me something, I'd ask questions and you'd try your best to answer, please"

" okay" I simply said.

" why are you in a rehab" he asked me

" why do people go to rehab" I asked cynically

" Danielle"

" sorry, I'll answer it" I started " drug abuse, I abused drugs". I said and he was quiet, I looked at his face, and I couldn't describe the look on it, he wasn't frowning but he looked like he was trying to out pieces together and it wasn't fitting.

"you don't look like someone who'd abuse drugs" he said

" I don't get you"

" I mean, you have to be sad and feeling your self as low to abuse drugs"

" okay"

" you're beautiful, you seem confident and you seem like you are loved, you have all these not a thing to worry about-faces." after he spoke I laughed, he called me beautiful.

" okay first of all, thank you for the compliment and secondly I'm not so beautiful as you described and lastly I'm not so confident, I'm very confused and maybe deranged" I told him and I watched the looks on his face crumple, he turned to the field.

"you're the most beautiful person I've ever seen Danielle and I've seen a lot of beautiful girls but you just happen to be at the top" he said this and I gave a small laugh, not at him but he made me happy.

the way he told me I was beautiful, I felt he meant it, and what is all this talk about beauty anyways.

" tell me how it started, the drug abuse"

One thing I was avoiding was starting to happen. I heaved a sigh and I grumbled, I opened my mouth to give an excuse..." Try what you can, you'd end up telling me, so you better save both of us time and start now" he said with a very serious face and so much authority in his voice.

I turned to face him, it took all the strength I had in me but since he wanted to hear the story I should as well tell him, it didn't take away my sanity, did it?

" Firstly thank you for the question" I said and he laughed, i laughed too.

" when I was little my dad took me around the world, I remember red earth like Terra cotta in south africa, and I remember camel back rides in Dubai, one time I was part of a pigéage in Italy, I and my dad were in a town somewhere in Italy and we were invited for a pigéage, we gathered round a big what would I call it... a barrel or something that was packed with grapes and we used our feet to stomp the grapes, we were dancing and at the same time making wine" he was smiling, and I could feel a build up of energy that was inside me, I felt more alive and I wanted to tell him More " one time we went to Sicily, and I asked my dad if ...was still in the streets, it made him laugh so hard he had to lay on the ground to take his breath, okay hear this one, I was about ten or eleven, I and my dad went to Ireland, it was a business trip and my dad had completed his job and so he suggested that we go out to see the village, he wanted to go somewhere that people was gathered and so we went to a pub, there was a pub near the hotel where we stayed, actually there were plenty of pubs, and we didn't really lodge in the city, it was in a small village near Dublin, my dad really liked to get his hands dirty and he really liked to associate with people, one of his many gifts, so when we were coming to this pub I looked into another pub, it was built like a pub, but it wasn't, it was somewhat a tavern and a strip club but picture it without the fancy coloured lights and fancy bikinis those stripers wore, while we were passing the strip club I looked Inside, the windows were so big and wide open, I saw not just naked women but also naked men, jeez before I could register anything in my head not that I wanted to but it was such a tempting sight, my dad covered my eyes with his hands, and we went to the other pub the boring one, I was so bored that I almost fell asleep, while my dad was talking to some women who had come to have a drink with him, my dad was such an attractive man, I looked more like him, back to my story, while he was occupied I slipped away and I ran to the other pub, it was night time, and the places were barely lit, I stood in one of the windows and I looked Inside, till now I never forgot what I saw, my dad came looking for me the moment he noticed I was gone, that was my last visit to Ireland" I said holding my belly and laughing " he was so mad wen he saw me holding the rim of the window, he screamed my name and I turned to look at him, he came marching towards me with so much rage, I won't lie to you I was scared as fuck, but then he carried me to the hotel and he gave me orange juice, that was all, he tucked me to sleep and he sang to me, he wasn't much of a singer but he did it anyways, anything to make me happy, that was his motto, he always told me that he'd do anything to make me happy"

it brought back memories, happy ones, I was smiling but I could feel my eyes get watery and I cursed, not in front of him, anywhere but in front of anybody.

" that's a beautiful story Danielle, I have questions, why aren't you somewhere exotic right now"

" my dad died, four years ago" I said, and the silence came, I could hear my own breathing.

"I'm sorry"

"yeah he died, leaving me alone to be by myself"

"your mum?" he asked me

"my mum...She never liked me, it's funny to say it out loud but I'm dead serious, that's why my dad took me closer to him"

"you're the only child?" he asked

"no I have a sister, real biological sister, her name is Velvet, she's nineteen, two years older than me"

"what about her"

"we never got along"

"where are they now"

"my mum remarried and they're living with my step dad"

He was quiet, staring straight at me, I was facing him and I couldn't pull my eyes off his, I stared at him openly, it was very funny, that he now looked more handsome than the first time I saw him, handsome was not the word I'd use, I'd rather call him pretty, except he had a manly build, if I'd call it that, but he looked like he was an athlete, his height, and his chest, I mean his shirt was unbuttoned so I could see through.

"why are you named Flavio?" I asked him

"what, sorry I wasn't paying attention"

"your name it's Flávio, it sounds italian"

" oh yeah, my mum's Italian"

" wow" I said hazed.