The bar looks like an endearing secret chamber. The entrance has some similarity but the exit with a distance of a few feet is exactly like a chamber door. It is embedded in a peach wall and two green bars that act as doors are on either side of it. 'Essenza' is spelled out just beneath the curve in the wall.

"This is the cutest bar," I express, admiring it. I take out my camera and snap a picture of it. After looking at it and pleased with the picture I took, I ask Alessandro and Harry. "You guys want to pose?"

They stand in front of the bar, Harry doing a peace sign with a grin and Alessandro with his hand around Harry's shoulders, giving a smile.

"Done," I say and show it to them.

"This is giving me a good feeling about our campaign." Alessandro says with a nod, looking at the picture of them. Harry looks at it with intent before saying, "What he said."

I beam and we all go inside. The wooden counter is the first thing I see when I walk in. It has an 'E' carved into one side.

"This is already becoming my bar," I say, pointing to the alphabet. "That's my photographer name."

"Just E?" Harry asks as we walk up to the counter. I nod. Alessandro orders two red wines. I figure Harry drinks red wine too. The counter doesn't have stools right next to it, like they usually are. They're there but there is a countable space. Unfortunately, they're occupied.

Alessandro asks me what I want as Harry goes saying he's going to look for a place to sit.

"Apple juice with ice, thanks." I tell him. I notice three lights hanging on the counter. The shelves behind it are filled with drinks of all kinds, mostly alcoholic ones. Three barkeeps are working. Alessandro hands me my drink and we look for Harry. It's not hard to find him. He's seated in the sitting area, already expecting us.

Alessandro puts down Harry's wine in front of him before pulling out a chair and sitting on the other side of the table. Since there's only one seat on the other side which he took, I sit beside Harry. Thankfully, we're not sitting that close so I might be free of radiation.

I take a sip of the juice and the coldness is so soothing I down the whole thing. Both of them look at me surprisingly.

"Can't stand the sun," I justify and they laugh. Since my drink is finished, I take out my camera and load the pictures. I slide it to Alessandro. He puts his wine down and inspects the photos.

Even though he hasn't given me any reason to doubt my work, I still feel a trace of uncertainty. I'm sure he will like them but this is my first shoot for a big magazine. A lot could go wrong.

I wish I had another drink right now and hadn't drunk all of mine in one sip. I cross my arms and lay back, passing myself off as confident, which I am. He's just taking his time. He keeps studying all the shots, his face impassive. I know there are a lot of pictures but I'd be grateful if he would speak as of now; tell me whether he approves or not.

I wait patiently and think of striking up a conversation with Harry. He's almost finished his drink too and is looking at Alessandro, examining the pictures with too much focus.

"So," Harry looks at me instantly. "How long have you been here?"

"About a week, I think." He answers and pushes his chair far so he can look at me properly. A poorly chosen solution, I admit mentally as he looks at me with more focus than Alessandro.

I nod in acknowledgement. "We've been staying at the Villa. It was easier since we were going to shoot there too." He continues and drinks the rest of his drink.

I glance at Alessandro and he's still looking. I didn't say anything to Harry or expressed discomfort but it's like he sensed my invisible feelings because he asks to distract me, "What about you? Have you been here long? You said you were staying in a hotel."

"I've been here for," I try to reminisce and the time span shocks me. "Almost two months."

"That's the longest I've stayed somewhere. Wow," I grasp the information and Harry nods like he understands. I guess, in a way he does since he goes on world tours.

"You travel a lot too,"

"I do, yeah." He's about to say something else when Alessandro hands my camera back to me, his face still the same as earlier.

"Well?" I interrogate, pushing myself closer to the table. "What did you think?"

He copies my laid back posture and grabs his glass of red wine. He sips it slowly and puts it back on the table. This is putting me on edge.

With his hands folded on the table, he looks at me and says, "As Roberta would say," He speaks in a hushed tone, mocking his sister's accent perfectly. "'Gniale semplicemente genial.'"

I lay my head against the chair and laugh. Alessandro's booming laughter echoes in the place just as Harry joins him in the effort.

"Damn," I curse. "You got me there for a second."

"I was just taking my time," He takes a sip. "There is a lot to consider in campaigns like this but there wasn't anything I didn't like in the pictures. They're taken perfectly and captured every element. They are brilliant. Roberta was right. I will give her more credit for her taste from now on."

"I wish we would have hired you for the previous shoots," He adds. "I love your work."

His feedback puts me at ease. He loved them. I got the approval of Gucci's ambassador.

I give him a sincere smile. "Thank you. I'm glad you love them."

"Thank you, really. For agreeing to shooting at the last minute. I'm sure you had other things going on."

"They lost their importance in that moment so it's all good," I assure him. He's way too nice.

"You should have my email address and mail the pictures to me tonight. Have my number just in case," He pulls out his phone and gives it to me. I put my number in and give it back to him.

"I'll text you my email address."

"Fine by me," He says and drinks his wine.

"So now that that's out of the way," Harry gets up from his chair and Alessandro laughs. "Does anyone want a drink?"

"I'll come with you," I get up too, trying to see if the stools are empty. They are. Grabbing my camera, I trail behind Harry.

"Un bicchiere di vino rosso per favore," Harry says politely to the bartender.

"Succo di mela con ghiaccio per me," I order after him.

"You speak Italian?" We ask at the same time. He laughs. Hearing him speak Italian was very captivating to my ears.

"Only basic sentences," He answers. "I feel that if you're in a foreign country, it's disrespectful to not speak their language."

Definitely something only he will believe. "That's nice," The bartender puts my drink on the counter and I realize I have my camera in my hand.

"Va bene se spingo lo sgabello più vicino al bancone qui?" I ask the guy who just made my drink.

"Si va bene. Le persone lo fanno sempre." He answers and I push the stool closer to the counter so that I can have my drink in my hand and place the camera on the long wooden fitment. Harry does the same. I didn't think he was going to join me.

"So that answers my question." He drinks before saying.

"I guess it does." I sit on the stool and drink mine. "I figured I learn some Italian while I'm here."

"Learning a language is fun until you go to another city and forget everything you learned," He says and I agree. It's so annoying. He looks at the camera. "May I?"

I think that Harry and Alessandro took the whole supply of kindness and the world is left with nothing.

When I say, "Yeah. Of course." He picks it up and looks through the picture. His face is the same as when he's talking to me. Like he's really listening to what I'm saying.

"These are amazing." He reacts as he keeps looking.

"Couldn't Alessandro say that too while he was looking?" Harry laughs. "He waited too long, didn't he?"

"He did," I confirm. "Does he always do that?"

"Only when he likes what he sees. The ones he doesn't like, he's quick to propose changes." He puts the camera back. "They're so good. You're very talented."

"You too. You're a natural." I put my glass down after finishing it.

"Thank you," He smiles.

My legs dangle off the stool and I see that his are touching the floor. I also take into account that stools don't offer that much room when two people are sitting together as his thigh accidentally brushes mine when he puts his drink down.

The stupid buzz is at work again.

Ready to think about something else, I say, "This was a badly selected seat. My legs are going to fall off."

He looks down at them and frowns. "I doubt that."

"Have you ever walked 30 miles, Harry?" I ask and he almost chokes on his drink.

"No. Jesus, why would someone do that?" He says but it's more of a rhetorical question. "Don't tell me you have."

"As of this day, yes I have. That's why my legs are going to fall off. Be ready to pick them up and throw them out the window any time now since they aren't useful to me anymore."

Harry lets out a roar of laughter. "If that's what you want, then okay, fine. I will do that." He inspects his drink then looks at me. I thought that we were already sitting to close but when he turns his face to me, the gap between us is reduced to an even lesser number.

"But before I do that, please tell me the story of how that happened."

"You really want to know? It's not that interesting."

He drinks the rest of his wine and turns to me again. The wine colors his lips crimson and his green eyes are illuminated by the lights. "Doesn't matter. I want to know why you want to throw your legs outside."

I laugh and shrug. "Alright. I should mention I'm a to-the-point storyteller. Not like people who keep revolving the story around like it's the Earth around the sun and never finish it."

"That's fine." He has the look again; when he listens with so much concentration that it makes me feel like I'm the only one who has wisdom to impart.

I narrate the events. How I walked at night till I reached Villa Lante but couldn't go in. That was around 15 miles. Then, I left the hotel I was staying at around 7 A.M. I walked to the Villa again. That was another 10 miles.

"Sorry to interrupt but wait a second." He looks amused. "How did you not notice the Villa at night?"

"I-" I think about it. "There wasn't any light. How could I have seen it?"

"But it's so huge. Anyone can see it." I see that he's holding back a laugh.

"Are you calling me blind?" I purse my lips. We stare at each other. Then, he starts to laugh and I do too.

"I'm dumb sometimes, alright? Give me a break."

"I didn't call you dumb."

"Yeah. You called me blind." He doubles up in laughter again. If he didn't look so arresting when he laughs, touching his nose with his hand bent so that the bones on his fingers graze it, I would have smacked him on the head instead of letting out a light chuckle.

"Alright, continue." He says once he stops and clears his throat. He takes a sip of his drink. "Ooh. " He takes a deep breath. "Okay."

"Then, I walked back to Selene's gallery to see who was calling for me. So that completes 30 miles." I finish.

"And then, you also stood while you were shooting. That must not have been good." He points out.

"I didn't think of that." Then, I look at him. "I was doing what I loved so it helped my case."

"Well, whatever the case," He says, holding his glass up, "This one's for you."

I clink my glass with his. "To me."

"To you." He takes a sip and I do the same. We finish our drinks and converse about different things. He asks me about how my exhibition went. I ask him how long he's going to stay here. He says he's going to leave in a day or two. He asks about my plans and I tell him I'm going to leave on the earliest flight tomorrow to Japan. I'm aware that I missed the inauguration but I still want to go. Maybe the exhibition is still going on.

I don't know how much time passed while we were talking. It's only when Alessandro comes to where we were sitting and says, "Forgot about me?"

My eyes widen and I look at Harry. "Uh.." He scratches his head. "Not really." He says, stretching the 'really.'

"We were just going to come there." I support his lie.

Alessandro laughs and waves his hand in the air. "I was messing with you. I was attending important calls anyway. I didn't notice. And about the call," he pauses, then with gleaming eyes, says,

"When the campaign is out, there will be a release party in Rome a week from now. Both of you are invited."

My eyes widen and I'm stunned.

"I'm invited?" What a foolish question to ask as I shot the whole campaign but I couldn't help it.

"Of course. You shot the campaign. I want you to be there." Alessandro reassures and I let out a disbelieving chortle.

"Wow, I mean, thank you,"

He puts his arms around Harry and me. "Good work, both of you. I'm going to head out. I'll catch a flight in the morning. There is work to do about the campaign. Does anyone need a ride?"

"I'm going to stay here for a while," Harry tells him, looking at me, awaiting my answer.

A few more minutes won't hurt so I say, "Me too."

Alessandro says his goodbyes and as soon as he goes, I contemplate in my head. There won't be any point going to Japan for only a week, right?

"Maybe I should stay here until the party happens." I wonder out loud.

"I was thinking the same thing." His gaze shifts to mine. "It's only a week."

"Exactly," I down the rest of my drink. "And Rome isn't so bad. Even though I haven't seen as much of it as I should."

"How much of it have you seen?"

"Let's see." I think back to all the places I've seen. "Sistine Chapel, Roman Forum.." I turn to him. "That's it."

"What about Colosseum? Trevi Fountain?" I shake my head no.

"I've got to see it too. I've only been working here and only saw a few places." His eyebrows quirk as if he's just gotten an idea, "How about we go together?"

"We?" I question.

"We're here for a week anyway."

I can't go with him is the first thought in my head. I'm already preparing to say no when he says, "Besides, what if you go alone and don't see the sculptures in front of the fountain?"

I turn my head to look at him immediately at that but he just drinks, his eyes lit up with amusement and mouth faintly smirking.

"Shut up, will you?" He just grins.

"Look," I finally say. "We worked together. This isn't work-related."

"Can't we hang out if it isn't work?"

"I don't do that."

"You can work then."

"How?"

"You can photograph everywhere we go. That will count as work, no?"

When I take too long to respond because of my heart beating loud, thinking about just spending time with him, he says, "We can be friends at work."

"Non-friend at work." I emphasize on 'non' and he laughs.

"If I agree to that name, will you say yes?"

No. I don't know.

"I might." It's half of the truth.

He thinks it over before saying, "Okay. Non-friend at work works for me."

We spend the rest of the time talking some more. He makes lame jokes and I shake my head but secretly loving them. We drink and eat and a few minutes turn into hours. When the clock strikes 11 P.M, I exclaim:

"Shit," I wipe the sauce from the pasta from my mouth with a napkin. "It's late. We should get going."

He tries his best to hide his disappointment. "Already?"

"I'm afraid so." I gather my things and put them in my bag and sling it on my shoulder. He gets up from the stool and offers, "Let me walk you out then."

We exit from another chamber shaped door. When we're finally outside, the chill in the air is unmistakable. I look around for a taxi and Harry wanders his eyes around for one too.

"Are you going to stay here or do you want to go with me?" I ask, praying he says he'll ride with me and simultaneously hoping for the opposite.

"I'll walk around for a while. You go ahead." I'm surprised at the pang in my heart.

"Don't walk too much. Exhibit A." I point to myself and he laughs. "I'll be fine."

From a few miles away, I see a taxi approaching. I turn to Harry and he's looking at the taxi coming our way.

"That's my cue," I tell him and wave my hand at the taxi. It stops abruptly. I turn to Harry and he's smiles.

He steps towards me. "Be ready tomorrow morning. I'll be at your hotel..?"

"Otivm." I finish for him. "Room 247."

"Right." He says.

I nod and open the door of the taxi and smile from the window. He waves and I wave back. In a few minutes, he's out of my sight. I rest my head against the seat and close my eyes, processing the events of the day. It's not possible for me to have lived it. But there's more of them to come.