Tricking My Cold Lover

More than two months had passed since their arrival in Italy. Salvi and Chan-Mi lingered longer in Florence due to the case filed against his mother's cousins. Many paper works had to be done, but fortunately, Spinello's side of the family swore to take care of the rest and follow through on the proceedings of the case.      

Salvi, Spinello and Chan-Mi went to visit Mrs. Bianchi's grave together. Spinello had an intimate house built over his wife's tomb, and it was from the inside that Salvi introduced Chan-Mi to his mother.      

"Mamma, this is Chan-Mi, my love, and future wife," said Salvi, kneeling down on his mother's tombed and touching the engraved name.      

He looked up to Cahn-Mi and reached for her hand, pulling her down to also touch his mother's grave. He said, "Say hello, Mi Amore."     

Chan-Mi did as Salvi suggested and she greeted, "Good morning, Mamma. I'ts nice to meet you. Thank you for giving me a wonderful man to love. I wish I could have met you."     

"Amore, your son has found his own Amore to call," said Spinello. "She is very beautiful, bright, talented and kind young lady and they are getting married soon. I will send you pictures of babies when it happens."     

"I want five grandchildren, exactly how we had used to plan," declared Spinello.      

His suggestion made Chan-Mi's eyes widened, and she said, "Oh, my goodness, Mi Amore, we need to work hard."     

Salvi and Chan-Mi wound up laughing. While they had been working hard, sadly, Chan-Mi had her period lately. Thus, they will have to work hard again when they return to Korea as they were leaving in a week's time.      

They spent another hour, talking in front of Mrs. Bianchi's grave. Mostly, Salvi shared his recent endeavors in Korea and his plans for the future.      

To Salvi, his mother was always there, listening to him. She may not respond, but he always felt her love. It never felt awkward for him to talk to his mother, either in the skies or in front of her grave.      

It wasn't Salvi's first visit during his vacation. The initial was right after he got out of the hospital. Back then, Chan-Mi was with her parents. This was the first time Salvi brought Chan-Mi to his mother's place of rest.      

When Spinello concluded it was time to go, they all heard voices coming from outside Mrs. Bianchi's resting place.      

It was only after stepping outside the roofed tomb did they see who the voices came from.      

"Ah, I knew it! Salvi and Spinello!" A woman in her late fifties called.      

"Spinello. Long time to no see. We were about to give your wife flowers and we noticed how gate to her resting place was open," said another man.      

"Salvi! It's really been a long time! It's nice to see you," said a blonde girl, seemingly of the same age as Salvi.      

Chan-Mi merely observed as the two families, clearly acquainted, greeted each other. She waited for her time to be presented.      

Only after they exchanged pleasantries, did Salvi took the opportunity to introduce Chan-Mi, "Uncle Gianni, Aunt Teresa, Maria this is Chan-Mi, my Mi Amore and my fiance."     

"Oh, how wonderful! This is the reason why you left for Korea," I remember, teased the woman whose name was Teresa.      

"Wonderful. She is beautiful, Salvi." Said Gianni. He turned to Spinello and said, "Looks like you will have grandkids soon."     

"Yes, I am very much looking forward to it," suggested Spinello.      

"I don't see an engagement ring?" The blond girl named Teresa pointed out, eying Chan-Mi's hands.      

"Oh, my engagement ring got delayed in production. My bad," explained Salvi, but we are in the works of getting married.     

"Chan-Mi, these are the Palermos. They used to be our neighbors, but they moved to a different neighborhood recently. Still, they are good family friends of ours," revealed Salvi.      

"Yes, Chan-Mi," said Spinello. "This is Gianni, Teresa, his wife, and their daughter Maria. They have an older son named Leo, but he is already married and resides in London."     

"I see. It's nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Palermo. Maria, it's nice to meet you," addressed Chan-Mi.      

"Chan-Mi, they were the same family who brought me the artichokes years back in Korea. They all love travelling as a family and sometimes they go to Korea," told Salvi. "It's just that we weren't together yet back then."     

The families exchanged a few more words before they decided to take the conversation to the nearest restaurant. It was during their lunch that the Palermos brought up the heartbreaking truth of Mrs. Bianchi's death.      

Aside from expressing their sympathies to Salvi and Spinello, they covered their future plans to visit Korea.      

"We are thinking of going to Korea again, maybe longer this time," said Gianni.      

Gianni and his wife looked at each other. They gazed at their daughter before they revealed, "Maria and her boyfriend, Alonzo broke up so she really wanted to go on vacation."     

"Oh, we are sorry to hear this, Maria," told Salvi. "You and Alonzo were together for a very long time."     

Maria nodded and said, "Yes, very much. That is why I wanted time to get away! And then I thought about you and how our last Korean trip was wonderful! So that was how we decided on going to Korea next."     

"We look forward to your visit and, Chan-Mi and I can show you around," suggested Salvi.      

"Yes, we would be happy to maybe take you to Busan or Jeju Island," told Chan-Mi.      

"That is very sweet of you!" Maria reached for Chan-Mi's hand and told. "I can tell, we are going to be best of friends!"     

Time went by in a blink of an eye for Salvi and Chan-Mi.      

With Spinello, they were bound to return to Korea once more, and Chan-Mi was coming home with an added friend on her line app.      

Chan-Mi did not realize how serious Maria was to making her a best friend. It was strange how the Maria was very friendly to her, sometimes even too familiar. However, Salvi told her that it was Maria's personality.      

Hence, she just let it be, having a newfound friend who was bound to visit them in Korea soon enough.      

The very first event Salvi and Chan-Mi attended to upon their arrival in Seoul was a concert invitation by Alexis' boyfriend, Jae-hyun.      

Han Jae-hyun was a music producer who managed several artists under his care. He was the lucky man who captured the heart of their cousin, Alexis Lu.      

Chan-Mi, Salvi, Nari had a special seat at the concert stadium, together with Alexis right at the very front.      

It was a lovely two-hour concert, full of music, and dance, but what happened next was something they did not expect.      

Han Jae-hyun, Alexis boyfriend, one of the most sought-after producers in Korea came out of the stage, singing a specially composed song; a dedication of love.      

Nari and Chan-Mi knew how Alexis left for Korea after getting her heartbroken, and it was clear by Jae-hyun's lyrics that he was promising only love for their cousin.      

As the song progressed, the spotlight shifted from Jae-hyun to their cousin, Alexis. That was when Nari and Chan-Mi realized it was not a simple song dedication!     

From their seats, Chan-Mi gasped, "Oh, my God, Lex! This is it!"     

"Oh, my - Oh, my!" Alexis was equally teary-eyed, fanning her face with her hands. She absolutely did not expect that day to come so soon, but she supposed it was already in order.      

From the big screen, the faces of both Jae-hyun and Alexis were flashed for everyone to see and the crowd wound up screaming in excitement.      

At the end of the lovely song, Jae-hyun kneeled in front of Alexis, taking out an engagement ring from his pocket.      

Even if Alexis was crying, Jae-hyun spoke, "Lex, will you marry me?"     

Alexis, naturally said yes, and it resulted in the crowd to scream in thrill.      

What followed next were a series of romantic songs sang by Jae-hyun's artists and pictures of Alexis and Jae-hyun's were flashed on the big screen during the concert.      

It was a celebrity proposal everyone could only dream of, and it left Chan-Mi and Nari eating vinegar for the rest of the evening.      

The entire time, their eyes glistened at the emotional proposal Jae-hyun gave Alexis and this was clearly seen by Salvi. He realized he needed to beat Jae-hyun in his proposal, seeing the envious eyes of his Amore.     

When the show was finally over, their party made their way to the parking lot, along with their security. It was during the walk that Chan-Mi muttered, "Wow, Lex had a great proposal, Salvi. Lex was completely the center of attention."     

She pursed her lips and seemingly looked around before adding, "Wonder what could be better than that?"     

Salvi just chuckled and said, "The man who will give the ring?"     

While Salvi tried to be calm about it, he sincerely felt the pressure. It was all thanks to Jae-hyun's grand proposal that he knew he had to come up with the grandest proposal.