Carlo was a smart young man but he had to drop out of his studies due to the war and the poverty that came along with it. You on the other hand, you were rich and married to a high ranking general which meant you weren’t affect by the poverty but you were alone most of the time.

One day you were looking for a new worker, your gardener had fled for a safer place which forced you to find someone new, that’s when you found him. He looked slightly sick but he still looked beautiful, and the way his eyes lit up when you helped him, it made your heartbeat fastened.

You took him under your wing as your ‘gardener’ but in reality you were spending your whole day with him, teaching him languages and art history. He was company for your loneliness, he would spend time with your children, he was the one keeping your bed warm while your husband was away.

Your husband was away (like always) and Carlo had been taking his place in the household, he was sitting on the kitchen table with a book on art history. He turned his head when he heard your footsteps and smiled. “Morning, did you sleep well?”