After the toast, Luciano cleared his throat. “It’s been good to spend time with you all. But Aida and I have an important date that needs to happen before I leave for France.” He held out his hand to Aida. “Ready?”
She blushed at his forwardness.
“What are you waiting for?” Felix nudged her.
Aida stood and took his hand. She stuck out her tongue at Felix. “Nothing.”
“Find me tomorrow,” Yumi told her as they were leaving. Aida knew this was polite speech forcall and tell me everything.
Aida promised, then briefly set her location to remain at Yumi’s apartment before setting off with Luciano into the night.
Aida linked her arm in Luciano’s as they traversed the dark Roman streets. Fewer tourists meant their path through the cobbled streets to the Spanish Steps was undisturbed.
“I wish I were staying,” Luciano said. “But I think her idea might work. And we’ve been out of options for so long.”
“I know. I just wouldn’t want anything to happen to you.”
“I’ll be fine. My aide never spends time with me at my locations, so no one will see me use the drive,” Luciano said.
“If Pandora’s in London, how will we get to her?”
“This virus scare can’t last forever. We’ll be back in London before we know it.”
As they approached the Spanish Steps, the grandeur of the location struck Aida anew. The steps, often swarming with tourists, were unusually quiet, casting the area in an almost serene light. Luciano led her around the corner to his uncle’s apartment, tucked discreetly on a narrow street. When they finally entered, Aida was met with an unexpected sense of elegance and calmness. The space reflected a life steeped in art and solitude. Artifacts of a rich, carefully curated life lined the walls. As the door closed behind them, the noise of the city faded into a distant hum.
Luciano moved to help Aida out of her coat, but she caught his hand, pulling him toward her. The tension that had simmered between them during their walk was now impossible to resist and she pressed against him, her hands roving through his hair. The taste of him was familiar and intoxicating. His coat slid off with a soft thud as he gripped her waist, drawing her in as though he’d been waiting for this moment as long as she had.
Their lips barely broke apart as they moved through the apartment, discarding their clothes along the way, a mad rush of months of pent-up desire finally unraveling in the space between them. When they reached the bedroom, they collapsed in a blur of entangled limbs. Aida could feel herself dissolving, her body arching into his embrace, every sensation heightened. Her fingers dug into his back as she lost herself in the moment—every touch, every breath was like fuel to a fire that wouldn’t stop burning. Aida became deliriously hollow, with Luciano filling her, her senses reaching upward, above them, soaring over theRoman rooftops, straining against the sky, endless stars, pinpricks of light pulsing, pumping in that voluminous dark, culminating in a collective hot sigh.
Afterward, they lay together in a haze, the quiet hum of the night filtering in through the open window. Aida felt as though she were floating, her body weightless and content. Luciano’s fingers traced lazy patterns on her arm, but they didn’t speak. They didn’t need to.
Later, when he walked her back through the quiet streets, they still said very little, the spell of the night still thick between them. Aida didn’t want it to break.
But it did when he pulled away from their final lingering kiss. “Be safe, Aida.”
“You too.” She watched him go, the lightness she’d felt replaced by a worry for what might come. When would she see him again? Would she?
Reluctantly, she headed down the street and let herself into the MODA palazzo.
The following days unfolded like pages from a dystopian novel, each bringing a new decree that tightened the grip of isolation around Rome. On March 11, the city’s vibrant pulse was muted as a partial nationwide lockdown was declared. The usual hum of life in the streets, the chatter from coffee bars, the rush of the metro—all were silenced. Movement was restricted, borders between cities became lines not to be crossed, and places of learning and leisure closed their doors. Aida, Yumi, and Felix now found themselves isolated in their own pockets of the city.
Luciano, across the border in France, felt like a voice from another world.
They changed my assignment. Now they’re sending me to the Promenade Plantée, an old railway line they’ve converted into an elevated park. Have you been to the High Line in NYC? This place was the inspiration.
An emoji of some trees and flowers accompanied his Signal text.
I’m relieved you’ll be outside, Aida told him.Maybe it will keep you from catching the virus.
Usually, the promenade is very busy, but I think people are already starting to stay home, he wrote.Macron closed schools and universities today. I think it will affect how many people I end up talking to for my interviews. I’m done here in three days and will upload everything then.
Aida replied with a fingers-crossed emoji. She hated the idea that he was mixing with people.You got out just in time. They announced a travel ban in and out of Italy with only a few exceptions, and those peoplehave toquarantine themselves for two weeks! This is so awful.
Don’t despair. We’ll figure this out.
But the next day, they closed the park, and since Luciano had gathered so little data, there was no reason to do an upload. They were at the mercy of the pandemic. Luciano was furious that he had decided not to remain in Rome.I’m stuck here in this big château with only Dolores and a staff who has been mostly invisible to me. To which god should I pray to end this quickly?
The gods won’t help you. We’re supposed to be the ones that end it, remember?Aida responded.
