Pic: The Wolseley London
* Music during reading (to feel better the atmosphere of this chapter I recommend this song in the background)
‘‘Are you not going to tell him the truth?’’ Asked a young woman to her friend, when they were approaching to three majestic arks, adorned with decorative grids that imitated golden flowers. The two girls were about to walk through one of them and get into The Wolseley, an iconic restaurant in the City of London, located at 160 Piccadilly, Mayfair.
Almost twenty years ago Chris Corbin and Jeremy King reopened the doors of this extraordinary neoclassical building, emerged almost a century ago to house the new models of Wolseley Motors and later converted into one of the headquarters of the Barclays Bank. This neighbour of the Ritz Hotel had to wait until 2003 to serve its first tea as an elegant restaurant and luxury café. Its interior, clearly inspired by the original design of the architect William Curtis Green, could transport anyone in time, to the epoch of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novels, but this time surrounded by the authentic English class.
The raindrops began to fall in a sudden and hurried way as if they were programmed by a clock, and ladies accelerated their step to enter through the middle arc, where the door of The Wolseley* was located. Between the contrasts of the mosaic floor and the marble that covered those walls culminating in vaulted ceilings, supported by classical columns, the clients of the restaurant were enjoying a quiet evening, not even noticing that rain.
The girls followed the head waiter up an elegant staircase that led to the second floor. From there you could see the hall where couples, friends, and families were chatting and savouring their dinner, while the waiters took their orders and carried trays with glasses of wine and elaborate dishes of the restaurant.
The Wolseley was not just a trendy London spot, the kind of places that gets famous for some time; It was a timeless classic that did not need to follow trends.
Two friends sat down and analysing the menu, they back to the conversation:
‘‘It looks like the Universe is giving me a second chance,’’ said Adina to her friend with the enthusiasm of a child who has just received the gift that she was waiting for.
Last night she was crying in the bathrooms of another iconic London place, but today her face was shining with the thought that she had regained a love she had given up on lost.
‘‘Adina, he will recover his memory sooner or later… even if that doesn’t happen, you are still married to his father,’’ her friend answered, while the waiter finished taking notes of what they were going to have for dinner.
‘‘I have discussed it with Christoph, and we have come to the concussion of telling Michael the truth little by little, but from a different perspective. After all, it’s not what you say, it’s the way you say it,’’ said the slanted-eyed young blonde, nodding for the waiter to serve them the wine.‘‘You can’t imagine how I felt when he looked at me the same way he did it when we were together, that look that I didn’t appreciate then, and that yesterday seemed impossible.’’
‘‘After all, it’s not what you say, it’s the way you say it.’’
‘‘And what about his sister? I don’t think she is going to like it very much…’’
‘‘Christoph is going to talk to the doctor to make everything simpler. Besides, she is not going to stay here for long, her whole life is in Madrid: Her husband, children, work… She will not be able to control everything that is going to happen here,’’ Adina answered, helping herself with the prawn and avocado cocktail, the starter they have ordered.
Is it the absence of the truth a lie? When a suspect is arrested, he is allowed to remain silent in self-defence. Following this logic, omitting information in daily life does not have to be classified as deception, if it is not even aggravation of a crime. Telling something or not is closely linked to the ethical values of each person; And like everything in this life, it is very relative. Human beings act to obtain the greatest benefit for ourselves: For someone, it is avoiding the remorse of conscience, while for others it is the benefit of silence. You just have to counteract the one that weighs more.
‘‘Telling something or not is closely linked to the ethical values of each person; And like everything in this life, it is very relative.’’
Adina didn’t know how much time she had thanks to that secret, but as a clever and calculating person, she was clear about how she is going to use every minute. Her purpose was clear: Even if Michael would remember everything, she is going to do the necessary to make him forget the past and to return into her life. Her plan would begin to work once she had a clear path, and for this, she needed her husband, Michael’s father, and his sister, to leave London. It was no longer an unattainable dream, as she saw it a few hours ago, now it was a possible goal.
‘‘It was no longer an unattainable dream, as she saw it a few hours ago, now it was a possible goal.’’
Her empty dish was replaced by an elaborate plate of salmon fillet with caramelized endive, raisins and capers. Without realizing it, Adina was completely immersed in this new idea that would change her life while her friend smiled at the screen of her phone moving her thumbs at the speed of light. Unlike her, that young girl she met when she first arrived in London, was not notable for her intelligence; She was one of those lucky people who was in the most appropriate place, at the best time to achieve that life of luxury. She was not a real friend, she was a free set of ears that Sommer-senior’s wife needed to vent herself. In general, the architect of this plan was a lonely and distrustful person, who acted for her benefit without thinking it twice. Each one has his truth, and she was sure about hers.
‘‘Each one has his truth, and she was sure about hers.’’
* * *
‘‘You have homework for when I return: To remember our trip to Las Vegas, it doesn’t deserve to be forgotten,’’ the handsome dark-haired man smiled at his friend, patting him on the shoulder, ‘‘but if you prefer to not remember that you’ve left me your Aston Martin, it doesn’t matter,’’ they both laughed, and after making the farewell gesture, Alex left the room with the certainty that he was leaving his friend in good hands.
As he walked through the door, he saw Michael’s sister, talking on the phone, leaning against one of those bare white walls of a hospital. Seeing him, she ended the conversation, approached, gave him a big hug, and spoke in his ear.
‘‘Thank you very much for being here, really. I couldn’t have done it alone,’’ she said while watching her brother’s father talking to the doctor. She felt like this guy that she had hardly seen a few times, belonged more to her family than that man.
The dark-haired nodded and saying goodbye to his friend’s sister, went to take the taxi to the airport, back to Madrid, to his business and to that blonde with curly hair and deep green eyes.
Knowing how to forgive is, perhaps, an innate talent, but as all the talents, it can be developed. People hold anger and resentment, thinking that they punish the responsible one for those emotions, when in fact, the greatest punishment they suffer themselves by being filled with those feelings. Eva knew it, so she let go that hate she had towards Christoph after her mother’s death. Her brother never did, a decision that made him lost both parents. To see him finally freed from that rage, due to the consequences of the accident, awakened in Eva a huge dilemma: Tell him how everything really happened and that he will hate his father and close his heart again or let the things flow, and that he finally will listen to what Christoph has to say to him.
‘‘Knowing how to forgive is, perhaps, an innate talent, but as all the talents, it can be developed.’’
* Due to the measures taken in relation to COVID-19, the schedule and access to some spaces may change.
TOPICS: ONLINE NOVEL – ONLINE ROMANCE – LOVE STORY – FREE NOVEL – THE WOLSELEY LONDON – TRENDY RESTAURANTS IN LONDON – RESTAURANT IN MAYFAIR – LUXURY RESTAURANTS IN LONDON
TINA KEVICH 