At that moment, Flavio, who was relaxing with his reading of the Quran in Arabic, had the optimistic hope that all his difficulties would vanish after he had made himself noticed by Professor Boccaccio. He would then be able to charm Nasoni without problems, he would pave his way in the Defense project and, above all, in the first days of the new year, he would seize with Flavia the opportunity that until then, as a poor and penniless student without concrete prospects, he had never felt he could seize.

Flavia, on the other hand, felt almost the stench of the difficulties she had just seen herself sink into up to her neck. She had failed to avoid having Franco shatter a series of hopes to which she had grown fond of. Hopes that concerned the fate of the cosmos and that of her genitalia. No matter how hard she tried, she could not find a way to push Franco back into the demonic region from which he had come with the intention of pouncing on Valdaora.

That evening, when she left her friends, extending the invitation to Franco was an established conviction, a right acquired by custom, as they would have said in a legal environment, or as the devil's advocate would have said. Flavia could do nothing but accept the verdict of the popular jury of the Drunk Teddy Pair.

Yet, she had had the feeling, very clear, that at least Cristina had understood what her intentions were. Flavia wondered what had gone through her friend's head to cause her change of heart and subsequent conversion to Alessia's religion. She pictured the trip she would have to make, alone in a car with Flavio and his pheromones, while Cristina, instead of being with them, traveled with Franco, giving him attention he did not deserve. From that moment on, her main concern became to dissuade Franco from following them to Valdaora.

She did not have many opportunities to fix the situation before leaving Rome and starting to alternate between Claudia's parents, between Florence and Valdaora, in a farewell tour to the colossal performance of the role of a female daughter that she had staged for six years. An impeccable performance, made even more magnificent by her being neither daughter nor female, but a male and an orphan.

During the days spent with Fabrizio deciding the furnishing of the house, she could see the first ice launching its invasion of the lake's surface. Its slow but inexorable and determined advance occurred during the night, almost in secret, veiled by conifers that, distorted, reflected on the shore. Flavia kept an eye on that advance, those reflections that were freezing over, the imperceptible growth of the rigid slab that, like an hourglass, marked how much past time she had left before her return to the present time, the time in which she lived before the hourglass had been flipped.

She took advantage of those weeks to drum again on Cristina about Flavio's wonders, not only singing his praises but embellishing them with with spectacular verbal virtuosisms via phone. In her twenty-seven years of life experience, she had never felt so narcissistic but, what the heck! For all she knew, there could be at stake the fate of the cosmos, not to mention that of her genitalia.

On the day of the winter solstice, while Flavia was finishing lunch with Fabrizio at the house in Valdaora, Captain Cristina Leanza, in Rome, entered the waiting room of Enrico Nasoni's office at D.S. SEAD. In polite and disciplined advance on her appointment with the professor, she announced herself with the wall phone and and took a seat across from the dark plexiglass door.

While she waited, she remembered the evening when Flavia had asked her to help Flavio by recommending him to Nasoni. More than a recommendation, she could have easily gotten him an order that secured him a place in the project, if she had wanted to. But she was convinced that instead of doing him a favor, getting him a job with Nasoni would have ruined his career.

She felt naive, almost stupid, to worry so much about someone she didn't even know. She already had so much to deal with to sort out her own life. Her relationship with Franco... a few days earlier she had almost come to break up with him for good. More and more often his lack of consideration made her feel tired.

It seemed promising, at first. Then she felt disappointed, then she had the impression that it was worth investing in, then again she felt him distant, while Flavia showed her more and more affection and consideration...

Now, after she had argued with him, after she had almost broken up with him, Franco had convinced her again. He had told her that he cared about her and their relationship, and he had promised to invite her to dinner with his parents, formally, as his girlfriend. He had convinced her that this time he was determined to commit to her.

«After Christmas, on the twenty-seventh! Give me the opportunity to show you how important you are to me. I want them to know too» he had said.

He had convinced her that he was sincere. Cristina wished, truly, that he was sincere... and yet, on the other hand... why was she so happy to go with Flavia to Valdaora, just the two of them, to take Fabrizio's car? She told herself that there was nothing wrong with it, she was also happy for the party they would have after New Year's Eve with the others. The fact of being alone had nothing to do with it. Besides, Flavia seemed so engrossed in that Flavio of hers...

Cristina returned to reality when a boy entered and, determined, headed for the wall phone.

«Mancini» he said curtly before hanging up the receiver.

Cristina's attention was all for him from the moment she heard the sound of that last name.

"It must be him!" she thought after she had sized up his tall and lanky figure.

She saw him sit down briskly on the sofa in front of her. Without deigning her with the slightest glance, he had curled up in a disheveled manner, unconcerned about appearances. He was ignoring her and kept his gaze low.

Cristina had never cared much for attracting attention, but she was not used to going unnoticed either, let alone when she was in uniform. Yet, the boy in front of her seemed not to give her any consideration, as if she were irrelevant within the world where his mind moved.

For a moment it seemed to her that he had sought eye contact but then, uninterested, he had started examining the beautiful plant that decorated a corner of the waiting room, still immersed in his own thoughts.

She thought she understood why it was so important for Flavia to help him make his way. If it was so difficult to get that boy's attention even for her while being in uniform and alone in a small waiting room, then helping him make his way must have been the only way to enter his plans.

Noticing his determination, that dreamy air turned towards ambition, and that reserved and inscrutable expression... she was not surprised that Flavia could succumb to that kind of charm.

Cristina could not resist, she felt she had to talk to him. She told herself that it was for her friend, that she had to do it. She leaned forward, with the feeling of being drawn to him and, still somewhat enchanted, moved her lips.

«You... are Flavio, right?»

The boy looked at her as if he had only just registered her presence and, for an instant, Cristina felt under examination. She stood up and, smiling, extended her hand to show that she was worthy of attention.

Flavio reciprocated by shaking her hand and answering curtly: «Yes».

«I'm Cristina, a friend of Flavia's.»

As soon as he had stood up to approach her, Cristina noticed how he could slouch down with his back and yet still force her to look up to meet his eyes, something that very few were tall enough to do.

«Flavia Felicetta?»

Cristina imagined that he must have known more than one Flavia in the Statistics Faculty alone, that it was normal that he had not framed with certainty whom she was referring to. Who knows how many he knew, she told herself.

«Yes, that's her...» she confirmed, and wanted to emphasize straight away that even if she did not attend the Statistics faculty, she was much more than an eye-candy doll. «The architecture student.» Then she smiled at him with complicity. «She talks about you a lot.»

«Really?»

To Cristina, it seemed like Flavio fell from the clouds, but was happy to see his curiosity. She took advantage of it to get acquainted and familiar with him. All cheerful, she approached him and, discreetly, took him by an arm.

«I shouldn't tell you this» she whispered in a mischievous tone, «but I think she's very interested in you! She keeps saying that you're a genius, that you're a talented guy, that you're the kind of person who has big dreams and projects...»

Flavio finally gave her a smile that Cristina couldn't quite decipher. It seemed to be a smile of liking, but she considered that Flavio might very well be smiling at the naivety she had shown him by exposing herself with such direct compliments.

«Maybe. Although Flavia...» and he looked intently into her eyes, as if he saw some confirmations there, «doesn't really strike me as the type who may like "geniuses".»

As he pronounced the last word Flavio had extended his arms to sweep the place where they were.

Cristina felt disarmed and laughed. She wondered if the liking she had felt blossom was so evident. She would never have expected someone to be able to read her so easily, unless it was Flavia. Yet, that was the feeling she had at that moment.

«Indeed, Flavia doesn't seem like the type at all» she admitted while noticing a female student, as pretty as unkempt-looking, come out of the offices to head for the waiting room. She looked at Flavio with curiosity and Cristina deduced that she was one of his classmates.

«You're smart» she told him, then allowed herself to wink at him. «Now I understand why Flavia is so obsessed with you.»

The student opened the dark plexiglass door, warned that Professor Nasoni was waiting for Captain Leanza and, after nodding a greeting to Flavio, went away with coat and notebooks tight to her chest.

«I won't be long, I just need to get a document. I will leave him to you right away,» Cristina promised.

«Don't worry» Flavio said from behind her, «take your time.»

She walked briskly down the short corridor that, floored with a cheap electric blue carpet, led to Professor Enrico Nasoni's office and entered.

The teacher, sitting at his desk, invited her to take a seat. Cristina, still standing, gave a furtive glance at the wall clock that marked a few minutes to two-thirty.

«Good afternoon, professor» she said. «I'm sorry I can't stay long, as I have to report to the project commission this very afternoon.»

Nasoni took two copies of the progress report and signed them in front of Cristina.

«Captain» said the teacher with phlegm and caution, «I would just like to ask you to extend the deadlines. If we could...»

Cristina answered without letting him continue, the tone of her voice was determined, yet it wasn't compromising cordiality.

«Now I don't have time to discuss it, professor. The issue is complicated and I'm not the only one who sets the deadlines.»

Cristina took a sheet of paper, examined it quickly but carefully, folded it and put it in a small leather bag that hung at her side. Then she bent down to sign the copy that Nasoni had slid on the desk towards her.

«Unfortunately» Cristina added as she wrote bent over the table, «I am forced to point out that the current staff you coordinate is not responding with the effectiveness and promptness that we expect in the commission.»

«But, Captain... you will realize that it is particularly difficult for me to strengthen the staff for the project with certain secrecy requirements!»

Cristina thought of what Flavia had told her and what Flavio was aware of.

«And yet, I have learned that your secrecy measures are not as impeccable as you claim.»

«What do you mean?»

«It's not a topic to deal with now» Cristina cut off. «As for the staff, however, the fact that you don't want to risk hiring collaborators with you doesn't mean that we in the commission can't assign them to one of our research groups. Be proactive, let us know if you come across someone interesting. This could help lighten your workload.»

Ready to leave the office, Cristina adjusted the strap of her small bag.

«Excuse me» Nasoni said, trying to stop her, «but I think that, without transferring resources to you, if you gave me a moment we could review...»

«Professor, I have to apologize» Cristina interrupted him, «I can't stay, maybe another time.»

Rushing out of the office, she closed the door, leaving behind Enrico Nasoni's insistence who began to get irritated. When she reached the waiting room, she saw that it was filling up with students looking for teachers.

«It's your turn» she smiled at Flavio. «It was nice to meet you, I'll leave you to your interview. See you soon!»

«What? See you soon?»

«In Valdaora, at Flavia's» Cristina reminded him. «You're coming too, right?»

«Oh, yes, I'll be there! Unless a meteorite falls on my head!»

Cristina burst into laughter. She found it funny how Flavio's tone was so convincing as to make the idea of a meteorite sound like an every day thing.

«Let's hope not, the place is unmissable!» she told him in case he needed more convincing to accept the invitation. Then she said goodbye with a kiss on the cheek. «I wish you happy holidays. Now you'd better not keep Nasoni waiting, he wanted to keep me there quite a bit longer, but I didn't want to make you wait and I cut it short. That put him in a bit of a bad mood.»

Flavio thanked her and disappeared down the hallway beyond the dark plexiglass door.