Seborga X Belarus ~ One Month to Valentine's Day

Romeo sighed and placed his coffee mug back on the small kitchen counter of the office. The date was the 14^th of January and as it seemed, next month, it would be the first time since turning fifteen that he wouldn't have a date to celebrate Valentine's day with.

He didn't really care about this holiday, he really believed it was nothing but a stupid day invented only for the profit of the various patisseries, flower shops and restaurants, but he did deeply care about a specific woman that paid him no notice.

Courting his co-worker Natalya for months had got him nowhere, not even a small step closer to gaining her affection. Romeo was a very experienced man as far as flirting was concerned and had managed to make every girl he had ever targeted fall for him. He sincerely believed he could win over any woman he set his mind to, thanks to his good looks and flirty attitude that had absolutely never failed him. Natalya was the first woman ever to ignore his advances and it felt weird and mostly very hurtful, being rejected like this.

The fact that they shared an office didn't help things. Whenever he decided to move on, she would walk into the office and swirl her intoxicating perfume in the air and Romeo would realize that forgetting her would be impossible. At least, not while she was occupying the desk opposite his.

He had tried literally everything: Hitting on her cutely, hitting on her indecently, pretending to be her good friend, showering her with flowers and gifts... He had even tried to make her jealous by asking his brother, Feliciano to call him at work every day for weeks and then, Romeo would pretend to be talking to his hot girlfriend, but nevertheless, the young woman from Belarus wouldn't flinch at all.

He supposed Natalya and he would have been together a long time ago, if it wasn't for the existance of that big Russian guy of the office down the hall whom Natalya was obsessed over. She would come to work as beautiful as possible and would always make sure to pass by his office and greet him. The only positive thing in the whole story was the fact that Ivan was just as indifferent towards Natalya as Natalya was to Romeo.

“What goes around, comes around.” he chuckled sadly.

He decided he shouldn't mourn over this for the rest of his life. It had been already plenty of months. Romeo took a deep breath and made up his mind. He would give himself exactly one month to win over Natalya's heart and celebrate Valentine's day with her. If he didn't manage it by then, he had no other option but to forget her and in order to achieve this, he would have to quit his job and start looking for another.

Romeo realized that in order to make Natalya fall for him in the given time, he needed information. He needed to find out stuff about his competition. Why Natalya liked him. Ivan himself couldn't possibly know, and as things seemed to be, couldn't possibly care either, and Romeo decided to ask Natalya herself.

He hadn't done this before, but he was a completely crazy guy eager to go miles and do the weirdest things for the woman he liked. Once, he had hid in a tree and unwillingly tangled himself in its branches, in his effort to impress his back then crush.

The Italian walked into their common office with confidence. He knew showing confidence was probably more important than anything else. “Natalya, are you a light switch? Because every time I see you, you turn me on!” he said grinning. He was so used to hitting on her that he honestly didn't even know how to otherwise start a conversation with her anymore.

“God, not again.” Natalya commented to herself, rolling her eyes, but loud enough for Romeo to hear.

“Natalya,” the Italian said again, “you know I've fallen for you hard and I know that you don't care for me at all and I won't ever bother you again if you tell me why you aren't interested in me.”

Natalya turned to look at him. “You're mental.” she said annoyed.

“No, seriously, what's your type? What is it that Ivan has and I don't?” he asked, his smile never faltering.

“Height, for starters.” the Belarusian girl answered, dripping with irony.

“Okay, and what else?” Romeo asked unfazed.

The young woman turned back to the papers in front of her.

There was a pause and the Italian said, more serious, now: “Come on, I think I have the right to know.”

Natalya sat back at her chair sighing, looking up at him again. Romeo sure was attractive, but not at all her type. She simply liked him as a person. “He's tough and muscular. I'd feel safer between his strong arms.” she replied.

“Thank you” a grinning Romeo said, nodding with gratitude, and headed to his desk, his brain already trying to come up with a plan.

By the time Romeo opened the door to his house, he had realized that making Natalya notice him would be more difficult than he had thought at first. He wasn't a strong man, and for sure he was not even remotely as strong as Ivan.

As soon as he took off his coat, he convened an emergency family meeting. Lovino and Feliciano reluctantly came to sit at the living room table and waited for him to start talking. Usually, the emergency family meetings took place only for matters of grave importance like facing a serious issue with the house or a family member's financial or health crisis.

“I want to make Natalya fall for me.” Romeo simply said.

“Come on! It's been months! Just forget her!” the oldest brother answered indifferent. He didn't get up to leave, though.

“Veee~, you still having trouble, fratello?” a pouting Feliciano asked.

Romeo took a deep breath. “Si.” he said. “But, now I have a lead: She likes strong guys.” he added.

“Hmmm, I don't see how this can be of any help. You're not strong. Unless you mean that this “lead” will finaly make you realize that you stand no chance.” Lovino told him.

“But, it's impossible! I have never been rejected before!” Romeo loudly exclaimed, exasperated.

“Well, there's a first time for everything!” a jealous Lovino spat. The oldest brother was a great ladies man as well, but he couldn't claim that he had never been rejected in the past.

Feliciano brought the subject of the conversation back on its track: “How can we make you appear strong?” he asked then, sincerely curious.

Romeo shook his head in defeated disappointment. “I don't know” he answered in a low voice.

Silence filled the room for a while. The three brothers were thinking hard. A few minutes passed, but no-one had uttered a word. Only the clock counting the seconds was being heard.

And suddenly, Feliciano mumbled: “Citius, altius, fortius”

“What?” Romeo asked confused, perking up. His heart was racing. Had Feliciano had an epiphany?

“Faster, higher, stronger” Feliciano translated. “It's the motto for the Olympic Games.” he explained, nodding in reassurance.

“We know what it is and what it means, bastard. As if we wouldn't be able to understand three simple words in Latin!” Lovino yelled. “What's your point, though?” he asked, angry.

“Well...” Feliciano hesitated.

“Feli, speak up or I'm gonna hit you!” Lovino threatened, raising his arm dangerously close to Feliciano's face.

“Please, don't!” Feliciano pleaded frightened, also raising his hands, but him in order to protect his head. And then, he told his younger brother: “What if you confused her? What if you showed off your swiftness and she ended up thinking you're strong? You're pretty fast!”. Instead of looking at Romeo, Feliciano was all the while looking at his older brother, so that he'd be ready to run in case Lovino decided against his earlier pleading.

The oldest Vargas stared for a few seconds at Feliciano through thin eyes and slowly withdrew his hand. Feliciano took a deep breath in relief.

“Hmmm” Romeo grunted more confused than before. “Do you mean that I should enroll at a running club and hopefully win an Olympic medal?” he asked ironically.

Lovino wanted to facepalm. “And he's considered our clever one...” he thought to himself, unbelieving. “Oi, he means she needs to see you running, idiota!” he shouted annoyed.

“Oh” Romeo said blantly. “Oh!” he repeated immediately, eyes sparkling now that the realization had hit him. “That's actualy not a terrible idea. It seems to hold some potential!” he said excited. “But how?”

Silence fell in the room once more.

A few minutes passed and then Romeo hit his fist on the table with a bright smile on his face and then, pointed at Lovino. “You'll steal her purse!”

“What?! What are you talking about?” the oldest Vargas yelled offended.

“Yes, yes! You'll steal her purse!” Romeo repeated and excitedly nodded his head several times.

Lovino was looking at his younger brother incredulously, eyes wide and speachless.

“You'll steal her purse, and I'll start running. You'll take a turn and there, out of her sight, you'll wait for me to catch up with you and then, give it to me. We'll wait a few seconds, and then you'll leave and I'll go back with the purse! She'll think I'm a fast runner AND strong!”

“What is wrong with you?” Lovino asked simply, with a disappointed look on his face.

“Why?” Romeo asked hopeful. “It could work!”

“What if she starts running as well? What if she takes the turn and sees what's really happening?” the oldest brother exclaimed again. “What if you catch me sooner than the turn? What if I fall or hurt my leg and can't run anymore?”

“First of all, you'll be on your vespa, idiot.” Romeo answered, taking advantage of the chance to curse back his brother. “And secondly, she's always wearing high heels. She won't run.”

“And why do I have to do this? Why not Feliciano?” Lovino asked.

“You were the one that pickpocketed the other kids at school when one of us forgot his lunchmoney! Now, your little brother asks you to become a bag snatcher. If you succeed, then, who knows? Maybe there's a splendid career waiting for you!” the youngest brother mocked the oldest one.

“That's what I get for taking care of you!” Lovino shouted deeply offended. “Ungrateful brat!”

Romeo, for an answer, simply stuck his tongue out.

After the much needed pause for everyone to calm down again, Feliciano spoke: “Sounds like a good plan” he said, while scratching his head, thinking. “But, we all look alike a lot, won't she realize that you're related?”

The youngest Vargas shrugged and answered: “He'll have a helmet.”

“What?! No way! I never wear my helmet!” Lovino exclaimed again, subtly letting them know that he had accepted to participate in Romeo's crazy plan.

“You really should start wearing it, though” Romeo changed the subject. Truth be told, he really cared for his brother.

“Yes.” Feliciano nodded. “Fratello, why don't you wear it?” he asked, turning his eyes to him.

“It makes my hair look terrible! Instead of fluffy, it's rectangular!” an annoyed Lovino said. “And anyway, to get back to you,” he told Romeo, in his effort to get his brothers off his back, “I'm not wearing a helmet! How about a hoodie?”

“I guess it's okay” Romeo shrugged indifferently.

The next day, Romeo was feeling restless. His anxiety wouldn't allow him get anything done. He was just waiting impatiently for the time to go five and his only worry, besides the success of the plan, was to not let Natalya suspect something.

When the young woman from Belarus got up to leave, Romeo immediately got up as well, mentally thanking God Natalya didn't notice he had jumped up from his seat as if he were sitting on a spring.

“Wait for me!” he told her, grinning like an idiot.

The Belarusian girl rolled her eyes, but nevertheless, stopped in her tracks.

During the elevator lift to the ground floor, the Italian made another unsuccessful move on Natalya: “Use your pick-up line on me. I guarantee it'll work!”

Yet, Natalya's clear “I'm not interested.” didn't stop him.

When the doors opened, Romeo, for the hundredth time this month, asked her: “Do you wanna go for a gelato? Or maybe for a coffee or something?”

“No” she answered calmly. She wasn't annoyed: As the realist she was, she was sure from the very first minute he wouldn't keep his promise. Natalya once more thought, what a pity it was to have such a zealous admirer that just didn't get her motor running.

All the while, Romeo was struggling hard to keep his face straight: He was biting the inside of his cheeks to keep himself from laughing.

When they left the building, while Natalya was appreciating the warm, for the season, sun, Romeo discretely scanned the area and located his brother, around a hundred yards away, on his vespa, starting the engine. “Where have you parked?” he asked his co-worker in order to distract her attention.

“I'm not taking you home!” Natalya quickly told him, scowling.

“No! Just asking...” Romeo said smiling widely. Lovino was very close.

And then... Snap! Lovino was heading down the road with Natalya's purse. Before Natalya had even realized what happened, Romeo was already chasing the “snatcher”.

Unfortunately, nearing the prearranged turn, Lovino was forced to stop. It wasn't the red traffic light: Lovino violated traffic rules multiple times a day. It was the passing cars of the vertical street. Helping his brother was fine, but he didn't want to get himself killed, dammit!

“Fuck! We have to improvise!” Lovino said when he saw his brother approaching.

“Just pretend to resist!” Romeo anxiously replied, while pretending to “claim” Natalya's purse.

Lovino did as told, and as they were pseudo-fighting, his hoodie dropped. The whole of his head was out in the open for everyone to see. The Vargas signature curl, painfully, unmistakingly, was standing proud.

The two brothers stared wide-eyed at each other for a moment and then, Lovino hastily released the bag, to get his hoodie back on. “Go!” he ordered Romeo.

Without any more delay, the love-struck brother started running towards Natalya, not looking back. He heard Lovino, finally, driving off. When he reached to Natalya, she had an unreadable expression on her face.

Romeo, sure she had figured out everything – she wasn't stupid – sincerely apologized: “I'm so sorry for this...” he mumbled.

“I can't believe what you did.” Natalya cut him incredulously, taking her purse back and opening it to check her stuff, even thought she knew they were intact. “I can't believe what you did.” she repeated, shocked.

Romeo was thoroughly embarassed. He tried to speak, but nothing could come out. It was weird how his throat felt so dry, but his eyes so watery. Gathering all his courage, he whispered: “I'm sorry...”

As he turned to leave, he felt her hand gripping his arm. “Wait” she said in the quite authoritative voice of hers. “About that ice-cream you asked me before... What's your favourite place? I want to thank you for retrieving my purse.”

A dumbstruck Romeo turned to look at her and studied her face. She seemed cautious, but curious.

“I'll drive us there...” he gestured towards his car, confused.

After the initial shock was washed over, Romeo decided to grab every single given chance to show his interest. He soon noticed that for the first time, Natalya wasn't rejecting him. She wasn't flirting back at all, but wasn't shooting his advances cold down either. She was just silent.

He realized she wanted to make this “thanking” date work. Romeo couldn't help but smile.

They talked about themselves, their families and their hobbies. At a point, Natalya started nagging about work, but quickly, the experienced in dating Italian deftly changed the subject. He knew full well that talking about work at dates, especially between co-workers, is never a good idea. Romeo instead, brought the subject to dream travels. The result was an excited Natalya.

Romeo could see the young woman was loosening up as the minutes passed. He was finally winning the battle.

After Romeo was thanked once more for his “brave”, as Natalya called it, deed, he drove her back to their work place so she could take her car and return home. However, before she left the passenger seat, she had already agreed in going out with him again the next day.

The Italian told the woman from Belarus to take care and, instead of leaving, he was watching her through his window glass to enter her car and unpark it. He was nicely surprised when she gave him a reserved wave before driving off. With a huge smile, almost laughing, he started the engine to get back to his home.

Natalya immediately began opening up towards him. She had always thought he was handsome and a good guy but now, he had proven that he was courageous and capable of protecting his woman, too. She quickly started flirting back and many times, she was so eager to set their next date that she wouldn't even ask him if he was available.

A little later, the young woman from Belarus invited Romeo at her apartment. They spent a beautiful night together.

Romeo was very pleasantly surprised to find out that Natalya except for very pretty, strong willed and serious, was also cute and funny when they were alone. In his opinion, she was an amazing girlfriend. She was taking great care of him and was very loving and sweet, as well.

Natalya had quite some times left her desk at work just to go passionately kiss her boyfriend and she was always holding his hand when they were walking together. She also was very competitive with the other women as far as her lover was concerned. Once, when they were waiting in line to get tickets for a show, she had hugged Romeo and had inappropriately stuck her body on his while sending death glares to the woman in front of them that had tried to start a conversation with him. The woman, seeing Natalya's reaction and murderous stare, quickly abandoned her efforts. Natalya was extremely dominating and would never allow others take what was rightfully hers and Romeo liked that.

The Italian quickly realized he was spiraling in a dangerous, painfully sweet vortex. The more Natalya got interested in him, the more persistantly she claimed his attention and the more persistantly she claimed his attention, the more he fell for her.

Romeo was a very happy man, happier than he had ever been. Him and Nataya were finally an item. He got to spend the whole of the day with her: They slept together, they woke up and went to work together, they would return back to her place together. Without even asking her, but it was obvious she wanted this too, Romeo had practically moved in with her by day one. He would go back to his family house only to see his brothers and take a few more clothes.

The only black spot in his life was the fact that he couldn't introduce Lovino to his girlfriend. Though, Romeo wasn't too worried about it, it was too soon for this anyway. But, to be sure, he'd still try to delay the whole thing as much as possible so that by then, Natalya would have forgotten the looks of the bag snatcher. His job was easy, really: The only thing he needed to do was to keep his girlfriend and his brother apart.

But unfortunately, things don't always go according to plan and on Friday the 11^th of February, while Romeo was at his brothers' place, Natalya decided to go grocery shopping. At the exact same moment Romeo was calling a romantic restaurant to make a reservation for Monday, Natalya was driving around the market, seaching for a place to park. She had just spotted a crappy place crammed between a truck and a trash can when she saw familiar figure. It took her a few moments to recognize the snatcher of her purse, but when she did, she was absolutely certain it was him. Natalya reached her hand out to get her phone, but she realized that he'd soon leave. The police force was notorious for their delay, and they wouldn't care to catch a mere bag snatcher anyway. She decided to follow him. If she found out where he lived, the police had no other option but to arrest him.

An unaware Lovino passed right in front of her car when he crossed the street to get to his vespa. Natalya watched him wide-eyed riding it just a few meters away from her and starting the engine. When the vespa started moving, the Belarusian woman started her car as well.

A few minutes later, Natalya found herself in a nice-looking neighbourhood. The indifferent brat parked his vespa without making any economy in space and thus, occupying at least a whole car's park area and headed to a two storey house. Natalya watched to make sure this was, indeed, his home when he took out some keys and tried to open the door. Just as Natalya for the second time was reaching her hand out for her phone to call the police, the thief took the keys out of the keyhole and ringed the doorbell.

What Natalya saw next shocked her more than anything she had experienced before: The one who opened the door was her boyfriend of one month.

“How many times have I told you to not leave the keys on the keyhole, bastards? Why do I have to carry them around if I can't use them, dammit?” the thief's gruff shout was heard as he entered the house.

Natalya quickly abandoned her car somewhere random and marched at the house. She rang the doorbell and waited.

The smile Romeo had on to welcome the stranger was erased as soon as he saw who the stranger was.

Natalya angrily pushed him full-force and proceeded in the living room. What she was looking at was three looking alike men: Her boyfriend, her bag snatcher and a man she had never met before.

“He is your brother?” she yelled, pointing at Lovino. “This whole thing was set-up?” she shouted, breathing heavily in rage.

Romeo just stared at her wide-eyed, unable to utter a word. What was he supposed to say? He knew he had screwed up.

“You are such a moron!” she shrieked and slapped him hard. Infuriated beyond measure, she turned to leave.

The beating up seemed to finally “activate” Romeo. “No, wait, please! I can explain!” he cried. He followed her out of the house, but Natalya simply started walking faster. “I only did it because I love you!” he shouted as loud as he could. “Natalya, ti amo!”

The sparse people on the street started whistling and clapping at the show, but the only person that interested Romeo had already reached her car and opened the door with one hand while with the other she gave him the finger.

Romeo felt Feliciano's comforting hand on his shoulder as he watched the car getting smaller because of the rapidly increasing distance.

As he brought his face in his hands, he heard Lovino's low-voiced and worried: “Come on, let's get inside”.

He started calling the very next moment and kept calling all weekend. She wouldn't pick up the phone, she wouldn't return his calls, she wouldn't reply to his texts. Romeo was desperate. Later that evening, he went to the apartment to find that his key wouldn't open the door.

He spent most of the weekend outside her door waiting for her to either enter or come out. But she wouldn't appear. He couldn't hear any noise from the apartment either. He suspected she had left to stay at her sister's place, but he didn't know where Katyusha lived and he didn't want to risk Natalya appearing and him not seeing her.

When Sunday night arrived, he realized he would have to resign from his job. He would keep trying for sure, but if he failed – and he was afraid he would – he would have no other option but to forget her. What would the difference be if he quit his job tomorrow or two months later? He didn't like his job anyway. He would have quit a long time ago if Natalya wasn't also working there.

On Monday, he entered the office to find Natalya sitting at her desk. He opened his mouth to speak, but the cold stare she gave him stopped him. Placing the small cardboard box he was carrying on his desk, he began gathering all his stuff: His pens, pictures of places he had been or wanted to go, the silly “Marry me so we can be together for all of eternity” sticky notes Natalya would sometimes leave on his computer screen that instead of scaring him away, were making him want her more...

“You're late.” she told him bluntly.

Romeo was feeling almost too embarassed to even answer. “I'm not.” he replied, his voice nearly a whisper. “I was at the boss' office: I quit”

“Can you get your job back?” she asked.

Romeo turned to look at her. She had raised an inquiring eyebrow at him.

Natalya leaned to get something out of her drawers. She placed a beautiful bouquet of flowers on her desk. “Someone left these for you.” she said.

Romeo approached her desk smiling. She had always been a little weird.

He took the flowers lovingly in his hands. These were the first flowers Natalya gave him.

The card read:

You are an idiot.

I forgive you.

Be my Valentine.