Chapter 134

He looked at me again and kissed me again, two, three, four times, until he finally let me go and walked away. I heard the subtle creak of the steps under his weight and then the children’s shouting and laughter. I went up to my room to change, and a while later I returned to the kitchen, with the intention of looking at the recipe book and thinking about what to prepare for dinner.

After the bath, Mirko came to where I was; he gave me the wet towels to put in the washing machine. I lifted him onto the counter and smoothed his messy, wet hair a little, while I smiled at him.

The boy looked at me in turn with quite a serious expression. He usually laughed a lot when he spent time with me, and he talked non-stop. I liked that, because it gave me the serenity of knowing that I had his trust and affection, but at that moment I did not realize the intense scrutiny to which I was being subjected by Mirko.

I adjusted the hood of his sweater a little and heard him say: