Manhattan Reborn 1978

Europe, Italy.

Naples City, the easternmost part of the port area.

Inside an independent four-story building near the seaside.

Xina Osevia and Elena Mesa were sitting by a narrow, tall window, each holding a cup of hot coffee in their hands, looking out the window at a "stationary ship" on the sea in the distance. The ocean freighter is motionless, but the only sound in my ears is the ticking sound of an old-fashioned mechanical clock. .

"Tick, tick, tick~"

I wonder if it is because the gears of the clock have not been maintained for a long time. .

The regular ticking sound it makes always makes Xina feel that her sense of time is a little slower~

"Ring ring ring~" A slightly urgent phone ring rang.

Elena put down the coffee cup in her hand, walked to the phone and picked up the receiver.

"Hey~ it's me!"

"..OK."

"Any more?"

"Um.."

"I'll tell him..."

"Are you in Paris?"

"it is good!"

"goodbye!"

. . .

Zina turned to look at Elena who had put down the phone. She was about to ask something when she realized it immediately. .

Elena didn't want to hide it deliberately, and walked directly back to her seat, still looking at the freighter in the distance, and said softly.

"It's an old friend of Odis Parker's calling~"

"His name is Phil."

"He's already done part of the intelligence deal that David Romano negotiated with him."

"We were at the dinner party last night, and the man who argued with David Romano with a smile on his face... was the man who sent people around to find him, trying to kill him secretly!"

"Oh~ What about us?"

"Are you still going to stay here?" Zina took a deep breath and asked with some worry in her heart.

"Ok!"

"Fair told me just now that since last month, there have been a number of assassinations with very bad consequences in Rome, the capital of Italy, and several major cities in the north."

"While David Romano was traveling to New York, the leader of the largest party in the Italian Congress was kidnapped and murdered at his home."

"His body was dumped on the busiest street in Rome - only two streets away from the Congress building..."

"His family was not spared either!"

"There are also several strong supporters of the current Italian Prime Minister who have been included in the assassination list by some people."

"David Romano's name was also included in that hit list."

"..." After hearing the news, Zina couldn't help but feel a chill in her heart as she recalled the seemingly "singing and dancing" dinner last night.

Elena picked up the coffee, took a sip, and continued.

"Since the end of World War II, Italy has never had real peace~"

"Dozens of parties, large and small, make the Italian Congress quarrel like a vegetable market all day long, and it has become the laughing stock of all European countries."

"Naples, as the best deep-water port in southern Italy, only became one of Italy's most important port cities again under the post-war Marshall Aid Plan."

"Because this is the best transit point for transporting various supplies from the eastern United States to Israel."

"Oh..." Zina knew very little about the situation in Italy.

She stared at Elena's beautiful side face, held her hand, and whispered.

"You can leave a note for David Romaro and tell him the intelligence message that Fair has passed on."

"Let's go now!"

"..hold on!"

Elena looked down at her held right hand, with a smile on her lips.

"You didn't notice it last night?"

"We are only about a 10-minute walk from the U.S. Consulate General in Naples."

"David Romano specially arranged for us to live here, and also meant to stabilize us."

"So why did we leave without saying goodbye?"

"Could it be that we two women, who are pretty respectable except for their faces, have no choice but to run away in a hurry after being used by them?!"

"..." Zina was speechless.

The two beautiful women without makeup, but with their own mature styles, fell silent again.

after a while~

Xina picked up the coffee pot, filled Elena's cup with coffee, and laughed softly to herself.

"When I learned that I was going to Italy with David Romano..."

"The first thought that came to my mind was... Old Malkin was very dissatisfied with David for accepting my confession!"

"He just wanted me to come to Italy, which would be more convenient..."

Elena thought quietly for a moment, then slowly shook her head and said, "I've already said it."

"Polly found me specifically and asked me to accompany you to Italy... I didn't want you to stay here forever!"

"On the contrary~"

"I also want to thank you for fighting for it before me..." Elena didn't say it clearly, but Zina knew what she meant.

Elena's right hand held Zina's hand, and she said with a smile: "Polly once said something like this to me when she found me~"

"She said: David had confessed everything to her about everything he had with you and me the night before she left Hawaii."

"Including your first candid conversation with him in Bryant Park, and your drunken affair with Otis Parker."

"Also, when I accompanied David to London, I made him...the things about the pillow... He told Polly everything in detail~"

"..." Zina opened her mouth in surprise. All kinds of feelings kept coming up in her heart, and she didn't know what to say. .

Elena held her hand tightly with her hand and smiled: "Everything we saw with our own eyes...is not necessarily the truth!"

"There will only be more and more beautiful women surrounding David!"

"But his attitude and approach to how to deal with this matter is something I have never seen before..."

"He really wants to help everyone around him without asking for anything in return!"

"But it is his kind of...selflessness?! Let people like us, who have already been filled with darkness in our hearts, see a glimmer of...light?!"

"To be honest ~ I envy Miranella Webster!"

"She was lucky enough to meet David at the best age..."

"But we can only..."

"enough!"

Xina grabbed Elena's hand hard, stared at her with a frown, and whispered.

"I confessed my love to David... just because I couldn't restrain myself from falling in love with him anymore!"

"But I will only regard him as an emotional support and sustenance!"

"So, you don't have to use these words to test me anymore!"

"...Okay~"

Elena smiled slightly bitterly, let go of Xina's hand little by little, turned to look at the freighter in the distance, and whispered as if talking to herself.

"Reliance and sustenance?"

"I...why not?"

"..." Zina also turned to look at the freighter in the distance and took a deep breath.

The experiences the two of them had in the first half of their lives were very "wonderful" ~

It's just that most of Elena's "wonders" are that she is forced to perform various intelligence-gathering tasks + use her beauty to steal some unknown secrets. .

Most of Zina's "wonderfulness" stems from her "struggle" with life and her unwillingness!

In New York, she struggled for 20 years and was sad for 20 years.

What did you get in the end?

An independent apartment of your own + an [-]% new Chevrolet car.

Then. .No more~

What about Elena?

What did she get again?

Apart from. . "Freedom" means nothing!

If there is no Odis Parker, take her to the United States, take her to New York.

She may go back to the "old road" until she is completely "tired" of this world~

That's why the two of them inexplicably felt like they had found "kindred spirits" in each other. .

They are all "marginal people" who are deliberately ignored by people in a sense!

----

On the Pacific Ocean, Hawaii.

Near noon.

398 Corudilla Avenue, Honolulu Island.

Secretaries Maggie, Toby Olga and Kihara Nobunari assisted David in organizing all the manuscripts. They also thoughtfully set up some blank space + handwritten page numbers on each page so that he could modify or write them at any time. Add some content.

Toby Olga, because he has worked in the City of London, is very familiar with various professional terms often used in finance and banking.

With her help in proofreading, David was obviously much more relaxed ~

at lunch time.

At Miranla's suggestion, Cui Yingying prepared fruity shrimp noodles full of Hawaiian characteristics for everyone.

Madonna also joined in the fun and prepared an extra-large yogurt fruit salad for everyone.

Miranla, according to the recipe her mother taught her, also made a vegetable sauce to go with the noodles. Maggie and Toby, who were worried about losing weight, were full of praise after eating it~

David held a medium-sized plate in his hand and took a few bites of fruity shrimp noodles, and then a few bites of noodles + vegetable sauce. .

Finally, he put the last bit of yogurt and fruit salad on the table onto his plate, cleaning the "battlefield" cleanly, which made everyone laugh.

After meal.

David rubbed his belly with his hands and asked everyone to go back to the room to have a rest. He took Cui Yingying upstairs and asked her to go find her master Zhang Maochang.