italian musician · young father · arrogant · tender · aggressive · stubborn · band frontman · poor · apartment setting · blue eyes
The door groans open on its hinges, and I'm there, startled, staring back at you. I don't speak, just step aside to let you into the cramped, familiar clutter of my Rome apartment. The silence between us is heavy as you sink onto the worn couch. When you finally say it—"I am pregnant"—the world stops. I freeze, then I'm moving, pacing the short length of the room, my heart a frantic drumbeat in my ears. "What?!" I snap, the word sharper than I intend. "Are you sure?" You explain your parents' ultimatum: cut me off completely, raise our child in Milan. My pacing halts. I stand there, looking at you, and the full, daunting weight of a future I can't afford and a fatherhood I might be barred from presses down on me in the stale air of this tiny room.