Granny Ariel watched as the Modigliani chairman’s eyes puffed up like those of a goldfish. It seemed like this old friend of hers didn’t get rid of his habit of crying rivers. Or he had holded it in for so long that only just now it all came out. It was one or the other.

As the two bodyguards of his did their best to block the eyes of the passerbys so that no one would see the ugly face of their boss, said boss was busy massaging his eyes with a small ice packet.

He was so careful and precise with it that grandma Ariel was surprised with his ability “You’re quite good at it” she absentmindendly remarked.

Vittorio glanced at her, but soon looked away “I had to mantain the ‘Chairman’ face whenever I had to deal with my ex-wives. How could I ever show a crying face to my subordinates?”

“Your wives, you mentioned before, when you… asked me not to leave” the grandma choose her words carefully, for fear of the old guy to snub her.

“Well… I had five of them. The first one was terrible, the second one resembled the devil himself” at the memory the chairman shuddered, then kept going “The third one was alright, the fourth one was horrible and I kicked out the fifth one after I caught her cheating with one of the young executives in my company”

Ariel took a moment to understand his words “Huh, it seems like you have bad taste in women” for the first time, Vittorio shot her an angry glare

“And whose fault do you think…” realizing something, he quickly shut his mouth “Cough, I mean. The family wanted to build up connections. So I...”

Granny Ariel quickly interjected “So you went along with what they wanted” she sighed. Then she brought her hand to her face, her expression pensive “With your rebellious attitude I always thought they would never be able to force you”

The old chairman said nothing. He didn’t have the heart to admit to her that he fell into depression once she left. Even though he knew that she loved someone else, he couldn’t help but still think of her for a long time.

It was then that those old foxes of the family managed to sneak a wife or two to him. Really, the biggest mistake of his life. Just the disaster those wives of him managed to accomplish… if he hadn’t been quick to collect the money back, the family company might have filed for bankruptcy.

The ice pack was almost melted, but he kept on faking the same movements as before. He was too ashamed to face his friend. Just mentioning his wives was enough for him to bury his head five meters underground.

Especially since the fifth one was going to be present with her ‘new’ husband at this evening gala. But as he was thinking of the gala, his face gradually relaxed, his gestures stopping.

“Oh, actually” A big smile suddendly made way into his face, his hand unconciously massaging his chin “There’s a gala this evening at the Starlight Hall, how about you come with me? We’ll have fun like in the old days”

“I’m sorry, but I already have plans for the rest of the day” Vittorio looked at her like an abandoned puppy and she felt a sense of dejavù “Don’t look at me like that. We can meet each other on another day” at those words she could see his face light up. She could swear that she could almost see a dog’s tail wagging behind him.

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On the side, the two buff bodyguards had been confabulating with each other for a while now. Every now and then they would steal a glance to the eldery behind them, just for them to go back to whisper to each other.

Suddendly, the oldest bodyguard threw himself at his boss’ feets, his forehead touching the ground “Sir, I beg of you!” startled, Vicktor jumped on his place, hands raised on defense “If we don’t head out now, we won’t make in time for the opening speech”

Vittorio averted his eyes “But…”

“Sir! I have a family to feed!” he suddendly hugged his boss’ thighs “If we don’t come back in time, the director will cut our pay!” and just like that, his eyes became watery.

Watching the scene, Ariel felt like both the boss and the subordinate were a perfect fit for each other: they could both shamelessly beg the other party with no remorse.

Feeling pity for the poor bodyguard, the grandma decided to help him out “Oh my. Such a pitful young man. You don’t want him to even have his wife to kick him out after he comes home with no money, right?”

The old chairman fidgeted, hard pressed between spending more time with his old friend and not appearing like a heartless man. In the end he agreed to go back.

The two bodyguards highfived each other. Meanwhile Vittorio shuffled closer to Ariel. Out of his inner pocket, he took out a business card and handed it over to her “This has my personal number on it, give me a call when you’re free to meet”

After giving it a glance, Ariel put it in her bag “I’ll contact you soon” Vicktor excitedly opened up him mouth to add a few more things, but before he could the two bodyguards grabbed him by each arm.

Without showing any sign of fatigue, they lifted him up and scurried away.

Even as he was dragged away by his bodyguards, the Modigliani chairman kept wavying his arms energetically “Riri if you don’t text me soon, I’ll spam you everyday!” with a little laugh, she waved back.

It didn’t long for the trio to disappear from sight. With nothing else to do, Ariel headed back to the car. Leaving behind the still busy fair, the grandma did her best to adhere to the traffic laws. Not easy feat since she was in an especially good mood.

After a not-so-long trip back home, granny Ariel was finally ready to prepare her ‘surprise’ for the ENSS gathering tomorrow.

The Eldery Neighborhood Secret Society, ENSS for short, was a gathering for people over 70 only. Moreover, to join it one must be introduced by one of the members. It has such strict requirement to join, that many of those that know of its existence suspect the society to be a gathering for conspirators and those able to pull the strings of the leader of the country.

But that wasn’t true at all. Or at least, Ariel never saw such happenings since she joined.

It was a simple gathering of people in the same age range.

However there was a tradition: the ENSS members would gather once a month, the location and person responsible decided by a game at the end of the previous gathering. In the next gathering, the people that weren’t chosen for the planning, would need to bring a gift to the rest of the members.

The most important part, was that the gift would need to represent either themselves or the title that was given to them the first time they joined. If one didn’t bring a gift, they would suffer a penality during the activities that would happen during the gathering.

Usually the penality wouldn’t involve anything dangerous, however it might turn out to be extremely embarassing.

As the one that became quite famous between the members for having stuffed a robber almost to death with food, Ariel was preparing a fitting gift, something that she liked to call ‘Russian Roulette Fried Balls’.

In short, they were rice balls with each a different filling, then they were deep-fried to make them indistinguishable between each other. Once done, not even the cook herself was able to distinguish one from another.

And so, each of the mysterious fried balls were wrapped in a small package with a different clorful ribbon decorating them. Admiring her work, she let out a satisfying sigh.

She was definetly going to enjoy the other members reaction to her gift at the gathering the day after.