Part 16

“Thank you very much, Carlo. The dinner was exquisite… But I am thinking about its cost. Would you agree to split it?”

“Absolutely not. Your lessons on statistics are much more valuable than any dinner. I will likely soon be able to help you with the simpler processing.”

“Still, these lessons don’t cost anything to me to give, and the bill for such a dinner is at least two hundred Euro. It is not fair that you pay it.”

“Is it fair that girls have so much more expenses than boys? Of course, no. So, this is a small compensation… Do you want to take a walk together? The streets around the Duomo are so beautiful when lit in the evening. It is just five minutes from here.”

Streets in the evening, in the city center, full with people! No opportunity to be alone and to have to be intimate!

“Perfect! I love the area!”

Turned out, Carlo knew about Milan architecture more than me. I was born here, but left at five, when my father died, to go with Uncle Franco. And spent the last eight years here too, but never had the time or the energy to watch the architecture. Shame on me… Almost half an hour we couldn’t tear our eyes from the Duomo. The biggest cathedral in the world, Carlo said. Then continued on the streets around it, watching the beauty of the buildings…

And me learning, not only about them, but about how to be a real man, from Carlo. He always stood so he would not obstruct my view of the buildings, carefully maneuvered me around uneven places on the sidewalk, unobtrusively offered a hand when I had to get on the pavement or back. Knew a bit or two about almost every noticeable building. Always noticed where I look and offered to go there, or followed my lead. Next to him, I was indeed a spoiled princess. God, what a man he was! He indeed deserved the best girl in the world. If I was a real girl, I would be madly in love with him. Even to the real, male me he felt like the perfect friend.

And the perfect teacher how to be a man…

“It is an hour to midnight already, Lexie. Would you permit me to accompany you to your home, just to be sure that you are safe?”

Where all that time went? Yes, we were already far from the Duomo, maybe even outside the city center, but still…

“Ummmm, of course! Thank you very much!… We have to take the subway, there is a station in this direction.”

“Are you sure? I’m not from here, but somehow don’t like it—”

“Of course I am sure! Let’s go.”

However, Carlo turned out right. The further we went, the worse the place looked. The streets became mostly dark, the buildings around unmaintained… Where we were really? I had thought we were somewhere around Museo delle Culture, but obviously was wrong. The further we went, the worse the neighborhood looked. Had we walked so far?

My hesitation whether to turn around was resolved by finding ourselves in a cul-de-sac. Everything around looked like a ghetto, and likely was. No matter how much I hated to admit it, I had chosen the wrong direction.

“Um, Carlo… Seems that I was in a mistake… May we turn back?”

“Sure,” a rough voice said behind us. “I want to see you better.”

Two figures were blocking the exit. One was a huge man, nearly two meters tall and almost as wide, with a neck twice as thick as his head and massive arms and legs. However, it was the other who instantly attracted my attention. Average height, maybe a couple of centimeters shorter than Carlo, not very muscular but wiry. There was something in him I felt rather than understood, sky-high self-confidence and absolute disregard for the others. He could be a cold-blooded killer.

“Heh heh, what a beauty we’ve got,” he said and sucked air through his teeth. “You’re gonna buy your passage out, cookie. The easy or the hard way, your choice.”

“What?!” The teeth of Carlo were bared with rage.

“Boy, get away. Or else.” He smiled sarcastically and made a gesture towards the exit.

Carlo jumped against him. The hood smiled and stepped back, just beyond the arc of Carlo’s fist, then pulled aside, next to a decrepit garden wall. Carlo recovered his balance, lost for a moment due to the miss, then attacked him again.

This time the bastard bolted forward with unbelievable speed, in an eyeblink pulling Carlo’s jacket over his head. Ducked with the same speed under the swing of Carlo and pushed him, so that the swinging fist hit the wall instead, knocking out of it a big stone that rolled a dozen of meters on the street. Such a hit might drop even the huge hood, passed through my head.

With the same movement, the psychopath tripped Carlo. Before he had even touched the ground, his opponent was already over him, avoiding the attempts to be hit with inhuman speed. Smiled sadistically towards me and started hitting at Carlo’s head through the jacket.

This smile tore me out of the trance. I jumped at the two, but the big hood caught me with a slap on the face that threw me several meters back. I rolled several times, but didn’t felt pain or any other sign of damage. The bodysuit protection, flashed through my brain.

“Pig, ya kill her, I fuck you!” the other hood hissed without stopping hitting Carlo. The giant turned against him and rumbled out something incomprehensible.

The blood rushed to my head. These two were walking corpses, I swore.

My purse was lying next to me. Less than a meter away from it was the wall stone Carlo had kicked off. A good piece of granite, about five or six kilos. In a fraction of a second I shook out the purse contents, pushed the stone in – it barely fit – jumped up, grabbed the long handle of the purse and rotated with it like a hammer thrower.

How convenient the heels were for that! In just a couple of seconds I had already gathered such a speed that the purse was making a swishing sound through the air. It made the big thug turn away from the beating of Carlo, towards me. Just in time to get it straight in the face. The strength of the hit almost lifted him off his feet and threw him towards the wall. He hit it and crumpled next to it, motionless.

“Pig, I told ya!” hissed the other goon without looking at us.

The purse was already gathering speed again. Your payment’s coming, Signor!

Just a moment before getting a hit, he looked at me and jumped up with the same inhuman speed. The purse however caught him in the chest. There was a sickening crunch of bones and he was thrown couple of meters away from Carlo, unconscious.

I jumped to Carlo and helped him removed the jacket from his head.

“Are you okay, Lexie?”

“Not a scratch. You?”

“I’m good. The bastard couldn’t get me straight through the jacket, all hits just grazed me. What’s up with him? Them?”

How he would feel learning that he could not do anything, and his girl took down both hoods? If I were him, I would die from shame. He deserved better!… Not counting that a girl who takes down two criminals like these would surely attract attention…

“Ummm… When you tried to hit that goon and he blinded you, you caught the big one instead. Dropped him down for good. And the other, you missed him several times, but then caught him in the chest… You must be really strong!”

“Did you call police? No? I’ll call them.” He quickly took out his phone. While he was talking, I used the opportunity to take the stone out of my purse and to put its contents back in without Carlo noticing.

Both a police car and an ambulance arrived in just a couple of minutes. The two hoods were cuffed despite being unconscious and pushed inside the ambulance. Fifteen minutes later, we were in the local police department, writing statements. When we finished that, an inspector came to see us.

“Miss, Mister, you have been in great danger. Both these guys are well known to us. One for using his strength exclusively for crime. And the other for being a psychopathic criminal and abuser of performance drugs. You are lucky to be alive.”

“Carlo is a real defender. And a real man,” I replied.

“That doesn’t even start to describe it, Miss.” The inspector looked at Carlo with awe. “Medics tell me that Cagliari, that is the big guy, got both upper and lower jaw smashed to pieces, all teeth on the left side knocked out, brain concussion, likely a cracked skull. All that from a single hit. And Rizzo, the performance drugs lover, has three ribs and sternum bone completely smashed, left lung punctured by their shards, heart missed by a miracle. Also from a single hit. If it was not for the medics, they might not survive. I wouldn’t want to be on your bad side for all the money in the world. I know you aren’t into boxing, otherwise I would have heard of you. The entire world would… Ever considered to make a boxing career? I know a trainer—”

“Thank you, Inspector, but no, I am a pacifist. Wouldn’t be able to hit even a criminal if they haven’t threatened my girlfriend with a rape. Boxing is not my thing, I am an ordinary IT geek.”

“I beg to differ. Very few boxers in the world pack a punch like yours, despite that you have no training. With a couple years of training, you could be among the best in the world… But the decision is yours.”

When the taxi stopped in front of my home, Carlo came out with me, to the door of the building. Before I could say goodbye, he quietly asked:

“Do you think I deserve a kiss?”

The idea of kissing a man revolted me. But if a man ever deserved a kiss from a girl, that was him.

And mountaineers always pay their debts, no matter that.

* * *

“Well, Lexie, about Carlo… Has he a good package?”

What?!

Do women talk of these things when in private? Obviously yes – all other women behaved like Lu asked something perfectly normal and apparently just expect me to answer…

“Ummmmm, it is too early to tell yet… I told you I am a bit conservative when it comes to, umm, physical closeness…”

“It is understandable, sweetie. I can only imagine how every man around tries to hit on you… Well, is he a good kisser?”

“Ummm… I don’t have much of experience to compare… But yes, it feels very good to kiss him…”

As expected, I felt absolutely nothing sexual during that kiss. Carlo was every bit a man, there was absolutely no way for me to imagine kissing a girl. However, to my great surprise, it was not as revolting or unpleasant as I expected. It felt embarrassing and sure as hell strange, but I could tell that if I was a girl, it would likely feel great. He was so supporting, tender and nice during the kiss. God, how much I had to learn!

Thinking of it, how I could tell that a girl would feel great?! Especially after I positively got from that kiss not a shred of sexual feeling?…

“Do his arms feel good around you?”

“Umm, yes, of course… Protecting somehow. Absolutely protecting… He didn’t hesitate a fraction of a second to fight those two, and they clearly looked dangerous. Unbelievably brave man.”

“That for sure. And you say, he took down both?”

“The inspector said that their lives were at risk. And he hit each of them only once. Almost killed with a single punch a guy like a mountain.” The bravery of Carlo deserved nice words.

“Wow. Strong guy indeed. Did he carry you in his arms?”

“Umm, we didn’t come to that yet… I guess he will…”

“And you will love it! Trust me, that is a thing you will never forget!”

Lu was positively right, I would surely never forget that. Just not for the reason she thought. Being carried in the arms of a man, without being hurt or ill – yuck… Well, not completely yuck if as Lexie, but still not my thing.

I imagined carrying a girl like Lexie in my arms, and felt in the heaven. Then, however, noticed that women exchange meaningful glances – my face likely had reflected some of the happiness, and they had noticed it. I felt blushing, which only led to more exchanging of glances. Then guessed what they likely thought I’m thinking, and felt the blush becoming stronger. Tried to hide it by focusing on the work. Luckily the women didn’t comment on it.

After some work however Lu suddenly declared:

“Hey, the men are taking a break! Wanna listen to them?”

I looked at her – she had put her stethoscope against the wall and was eavesdropping at men. Without waiting for an answer, she quickly took the earplugs out of her ears and glued one with some chewing gum to the microphone of her sound set.

“— believe you, I can’t imagine Lexie being easy,” was saying Nicola Petruccio.

“She is not,” answered Carlo. “A very decent girl.”

“Come on.” That was Tony. “Girls are humans like us. I bet she would love some sex, just is too shy to say it.”

“If a girl wants sex, she will find a way to show it,” Carlo replied. “Until then it is plain wrong to press her for closeness. She might be equally shy at saying that she doesn’t want it. If so, nagging at her for sex would be practically a rape.”

“I won’t be surprised if she drops you over that. Women want strong and decisive men, not doormats. And I bet that if you check her nightstand, you will find a vibrator there—”

Suddenly all my blood rushed to my head. I rose from the chair, clenching fists. This prick just had to be beaten into pulp!

“Lexie, don’t!” That was Mommy. “No sense in paying attention to Tony, he just goads everyone—”

“He will not after I beat that out of him!” I snapped.

In an eyeblink Lu was at the door, back to it, face to me:

“Stop, Lexie! Calm down, please! It does not befit you!”

“If I was a man, I would be a wimp if I didn’t answer such a challenge. Why shouldn’t a woman?”

“Because you are not a man! You might be tomboyish, but this is wrong to do! Women don’t behave like this!”

I wanted to take the bodysuit off right now and then. But no, it was not time yet. Especially not in the current situation. And if I pressed ahead with aggressiveness, the women might suspect something… With an immense effort I forced myself to sit back down and return to working. The great mood I had started the day with was ruined.

The sour feeling didn’t leave me even when the lunch time came – I didn’t feel hungry. The other women left the room, only Grace remained. I looked at her – she was looking back to me, with disapproval all over her face.

“Grace, at least you must be understanding me! Why should I tolerate this… this prick!”

Grace sighed and lowered her eyes. Hesitated for several seconds, then looked at me again:

“Want one more secret to keep?”

“Huh?… Yes?”

“Have you heard about BHZP?”

“What?”

“Bengaluru Heart Zero Patient.”

“No… What is this?”

“Twelve years ago, a research center in Bengaluru, India, boasted creating for transplantation custom hearts for patients from their own stem cells. I was watching them, another project of theirs was trying to use stem cells to fix some brain underdevelopments…” She gulped. “Their first patient was a 17yo boy with nasty congenital heart defect. He had spent almost all of his life in a wheelchair, and his heart had failed completely two years before. Since then, he was supported by a mechanical heart, constantly linked to a big machine to power it… They had grown a heart for him and implanted it, but it turned out that the heart is severely deficient, the boy was barely conscious most of the time. The media grabbed the news of their failure, maligned them, investors withdrew and they bankrupted.”

“Um… my compassion for losing a hope, but what that has to do with…?”

“The boy enrolled into a custom-tuned training regimen and gradually improved to the degree that he was able to live with this heart. Of course, even only getting up from the chair and walking a short distance was already risky for him, and the heart wouldn’t develop any further. But he was a fighter. Smart, inventive and decisive, despite also being bitter like hell because of his fate. He had decided to hide as much as he can that he is ill and less capable than anyone else…”

“You mean…?!”

“Exactly. By a wild chance I found that this patient is Tony.”

“What?! Tony is… disabled?”

“Ever asked yourself why he never does anything physical? Never dances, never runs, never walks a longer distance, never carries anything, always uses the elevator, never even moves quickly? It is not because he is pretentious. Even the walk to and from this office is already on the verge of risking his life.”

Oh God!…

“If he tries so much as to masturbate, he will likely die before getting off. And Lexie, do you know how hard is that abstinence on a young man? Their sexual urges are much stronger than ours. You can’t even imagine what is that to them…”

I just sat dumbfounded. In my head was swirling only that Grace had no idea how well I could imagine that. How familiar I was with it, thanks to the damned bodysuit…

“Grace… Are you sure that Tony is indeed…?”

“Yes. A year ago, right after I started here, I had to verify data for heart surgery follow-ups. The region of Lombardy had forgotten to remove the names of the patients from the data. We notified them and deleted the names from our copy, but before that one case attracted my attention. A boy, 28 years old, biological heart implanted in India, but no immunosuppressive treatment needed. It ought to have been a data mistake, only one person in the world had a transplanted heart grown from his own tissue… But that was him. And his name was Antonio Cardinale.”

“Gosh… But even so, he doesn’t have to be—”

“Remember what I told you about bitterness and suppressed desires? Joking at people’s expense hides these. If he was healthy, he would likely be a nice person. Remember when you told me that I am not a bitch, just overburdened by bad luck? That is much more valid for Tony.”

Gosh…

I had considered again a sufferer to be a deplorable. Exactly like Aunt Lauretta before. Carried on the wave of anger, fueled by male pride.

Maybe I really deserved to stay a girl. As a punishment for being the real prick in this situation.

Well, maybe Tony still went a bit too far in this situation. But he… he deserved to be understood. Especially after I had been so nasty to him because of refusing to help Carlo with the protected file storage. How could I know?… I had to forgive him, owed that to him. If I wanted to be anything like a real man.

Again, for fate knows what time, my only way to try and be a real man was to behave like a woman ought…

“Thank you for telling me this, Grace. Now I understand Tony a little better.”

Grace looked at me for some time. Then said:

“And you will forgive him for what he said in front of all men?”

“Given what you told me, I must. What he said is really nasty, but I owe him understanding… I will.”

Grace nodded and suddenly smiled.

“You are indeed unique, Lexie. There are many and many decent and nice women, but I haven’t seen before one that would feel bound to forgive Tony. To anyone else, I wouldn’t tell about Tony’s heart. To you, I decided to risk it, and you showed indeed to be the perfect woman.”

Oh, the irony – when you for once manage to behave like a man with integrity, those around see you as the perfect woman…

When I finally looked at Grace again, she was concentrated on work. I turned to the screen too, trying to distract myself from the thoughts and emotions swirling in my head.

Let’s see how I will be able to handle my situation with Carlo. That will show if I am a real man. Or a real woman. Whatever the difference. Or the similarity. Or whatever…

And today Carlo again gave me a lesson how a real man should behave. Not only he wasn’t telling jokes on account of women, and of me in particular – I had done that before with colleagues in the university, to my shame now. He didn’t hesitate to show to the other men in the room that honoring women is the right thing…

What a man, for God’s sake. Next to him, I was indeed like a spoiled girl. In the worst sense of the word.