Draft

Matteo (Without Realising)

It started with the watch.

Alessandro stood in the foyer one morning, hand outstretched out of habit. The space beside him was empty.

He looked back.

“Matteo?”

No answer.

The watch lay on the dresser upstairs, exactly where Matteo had placed it the night before—then simply… left it there.

Matteo noticed only later, while watering the plants in the courtyard, sunlight warm on his hands. He paused, confused for a second, then continued as if nothing had happened.

That was new.

Small Omissions

The next week:

The wallet wasn’t in Alessandro’s coat.

The shoes weren’t polished.

The socks weren’t warmed near the heater like Matteo always did in winter.

Not rebellion.

Not intention.

Just… absence.

Alessandro corrected it himself. Once. Twice. Three times.

He told himself it was nothing.

But the house felt different. As if something essential had stepped back.

Distance from Giulia

Matteo stopped waiting for Giulia to speak.

He no longer asked about her day.

No longer reminded her to eat.

No longer defended her to himself.

When she passed him in the corridor, he nodded politely—like one does to a guest.

Giulia noticed.

She told herself she didn’t care.

But the silence followed her into her room at night, louder than arguments ever were.

Lorenzo — Still Chosen

Only with Lorenzo did Matteo remain unchanged.

He still woke him gently.

Still brushed fingers through his hair.

Still waited up if Lorenzo studied late.

Still smiled—not the hollow smile, but the real one.

Because maybe, without knowing it, Matteo had begun to understand something terrifyingly simple:

Love cannot survive everywhere.

But it can survive somewhere.

And Lorenzo was that somewhere.

The Shift No One Named

One evening, Alessandro returned late and found Matteo already in bed—with a book.

No waiting.

No glance toward the door.

Just reading.

Alessandro stood there longer than necessary.

“You forgot my jacket,” he said.

Matteo looked up, genuinely puzzled.

“Oh… I’m sorry.”

And he was. Truly.

But he didn’t get up to fix it.

That was the moment Alessandro felt it.

Not anger.

Not hatred.

Loss of orbit.

For years, Matteo had revolved around him like gravity itself.

Now… Matteo was beginning to stand still.

The Truth Matteo Didn’t Say

Matteo didn’t wake up one day and decide to stop loving Alessandro.

He just stopped erasing himself.

He stopped shrinking to fit spaces that never welcomed him.

And the cruelest part?

He didn’t even notice he was changing.

Because when you’ve been neglected long enough, survival feels like neutrality.

Giulia didn’t plan to scream.

It just… burst out of her.

“You’re ignoring me now,” she said, voice sharp, shaking. “You only care about him now.”

Matteo froze.

Giulia stepped closer, words tumbling faster, angrier—like if she stopped, she’d break.

“You come here, replace my mother, act like some saint, and now you’ve decided I’m not even worth keeping what do you think of yourself

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