OF LOVE AND CORAL

s and bikinis were having fun under the clear bright sunny Wednesday afternoon, was a fancy little restaurant next to the Gran Caffé,

letely restricted indoors away from the hot beach a few meters away from the other side of the road. For the few customers seated inside the public eatery while quietly enjoying their meal, the restaurant not only provided a cozy shelter away from t

ock struck two pm, an old man dressed in a grey shorts and light blue T-shirt walked into the restaurant accompanied by his little daughter whose puffy face was quite drawn to the eyes of the few customers watching them ente

firmly than he had done earlier when he walked in with her. The shopkeeper and the

g at the old man who seemed less impressed by her welcoming demeanor si

seaweed and hot c

the shopkeeper inquired again,

ha

opkeeper retorted, “

ckly despite feeling a lump of

take your sea

ffer, young lady but

t here for the dish while

o disappear into the back room for a couple of minutes before reappearing with two flat plates of fried seaweed. She d

he old man like she usually do whenever she was done as she dropp

t of his shorts and smiled at the older woman standing next to the shopkeeper. Then he took out the euro bills and handed it over to t

he older woman ecstatically said to the shopkeep

h his daughter near the entrance without protesting. It was only after Elettra had finished exchanging pleasantries with the old man that she noticed that Christina was pulling off her apron to leave the restaurant in haste. Elettra saw her head to the back room most li

y count the number of times she watched Christina leave the restaurant she inherited from her mother who had already passed away to pick her son from school, she could clearly recall that it had been six years since Christina’s divorce with her ex-husband that she had come to witness the same moment over time. To Christina, she was not blood related neither was she a family friend nor a close relative like most people living in the neighborhood thought abo

y of paying the bills for her son as well as the day-to-day expenses of the restaurant which she was battling to put deal with for the past six years ever since her divorce after the untimely death of he

tidy the plates, Elettra d

the old woman which she had a number of times craved to feel from her dead mother and sniffed a little to stop a tear from falling from her eyes when she realized that she was about to cry. It felt like a déjà vu to Christina but she was not going to let such circumstances of her crying heavily in Elettra’s arms repeat itself. She quietly washed off the soap fro

by the door after having forgotten to do something. She returned back and embrac

both squeeze each other’s body tightly, “Al

tina said feeling more cozy in Elettra’s h

she fixed her eyes on Christina who was almost about knowing what the older woman wanted t

na said as soon as she realized what was about

earing it from me

in.” Christina

. Aldo needs a fath

can’t let another man ruin my life a second time”, Christina replied, “N

there who is more trustwort

folded her hands across her chest. She was about weeping bitterly but she was quick to sniff twice to hold back the

n and the responsibility of raising Aldo alone is too much

y training Aldo to be a better man but I’m okay with it. I’ll endure it to make sure we have all the comforts we need to live a better life.” She said further and bro