Chapter 133 - Proposal

"Hey kid. Don Gonzalo wants to see you." The Lucas finally returns to Tayaw by the restaurant's entrance.

"… Like, now?" Tayaw is taken aback. He only wanted to see how it will go and is not expecting to be called in.

"Yes. Now." Lucas says firmly and won't take 'no' for an answer. 

"Well, did he like my present?" Tayaw asks.

While his painting was very close to the photograph that he based it on using his skills in engineering drawing, he is still anxious. After all, he only finished the painting in a few hours the previous night and is not confident if he was able to draw the essence of Quarteri Spagnoli to the canvas. 

"Don't worry kid, he liked it." The Lucas says, noticing Tayaw's odd expression.

"Alright." Tayaw replies and Lucas escorts him inside.

As the two make their way to Don Gonzalo, Tayaw feels scared, deep inside, but is not showing it. While he knows that he has crossed the limits of a human body, he is still not confident in running away from 52 people who have their guns with them. 

Reaching the boss' table, Tayaw takes a deep breath and calms himself down.

"Buona sera, Don Gonzalo, Don Sylvio. Don Gonzalo, ti è piaciuta la pittura?" Tayaw greets in Italian.

Tayaw is thankful he kept learning Italian after the Sorrento Film Festival. Because Italian is close grammatically to English, Tayaw picked it up quickly. With his skills as a musician, Tayaw also picked up the rhythm of the language. And finally, Italian being easy for the Teungebian tongue, Tayaw's pronunciation did not sound awful. 

The people present, on the other hand, including Don Gonzalo and Sylvio, are surprised at Tayaw's Italian and how young he seems to be to dare step inside a mob gathering. Tayaw also notices the other tables looking at him, examining him and his clothes. 

"Ah! Ciao, figliolio. Vieni pure più vicino. Non essere timida." Don Gonzalo smiles as he gestures to Tayaw to come closer and not feel shy.

Tayaw feels that Don Gonzalo is welcoming enough so he takes off his aviators, approaches Don Gonzalo and reaches out for a hand shake, not caring about the eyes on him. Tayaw however is  surprised when after Don Gonzalo shakes his hand, he is pulled closer and receives a kiss on both of his cheeks. 

"(Italian) Thank you for the gift, my boy." Don Gonzalo said after the greeting.

"(Italian) I'm glad you liked it, sir. It was difficult to come up with a gift for someone who has everything." Tayaw replies.

His answer impresses both Gonzalo and Sylvio. The rest of the top members however are confused as they do not speak or understand Italian. 

"Someone, grab this boy a chair." Sylvio orders someone.

Sylvio, and the rest of the top guys venerates Gonzalo very much for the legend he is, so they are glad to indulge the man. While the top people did not feel offended that an outsider like Tayaw gets to join their table, it is a little different for some of the caporegimes. 

"Thank you, sir." Tayaw thanks the fellow who brought his chair.

"Let's switch back to English. While it's great that you speak my language, I'm rusty and these guys are feeling left out. Native languages are forgotten in two generations after all." Gonzalo says.

"I like you kid. You have balls. You know who we are and you still walked in here." Sylvio patts Tayaw's back. 

"Honestly, I feel intimidated. However, I know that the people here have more integrity and principle than most people." Tayaw says.

Tayaw's reply made the people at the table laugh out of amus.e.m.e.nt. Even though Tayaw was sincere, he vaguely understands why the gentlemen found his comment funny. 

While he knows that most, if not all of the people present in the restaurant are criminals, they are not the type of savage criminals who will hurt him without reason. 

"Now, now. While I appreciate your gift for my father, my boy, who are you really?" Sylvio asks and the atmosphere suddenly becomes cold.

"Well. First of all, my name is Isaac. I'm just a kid from Teungeb and I have a tendency to admire self-made men." Tayaw stands up introduces himself. 

"I see. Are you sure you're not from the Landopil from California?" Sylvio says as he sips on his wine.

Tayaw realizes that he did not realize being Teungebian will become a factor. The Landopil is an active crime syndicate started by Teungebian immigrants in San Jose, California in the 1920s when the U.S. Congress at the time passed a bill granting Teungebian immigrants the right to become American citizens.

Tayaw, however is surprised why a crime family in the other side of America is concerned about the Landopil.

"Ah. No, sir. I'm just an aspiring painter." Tayaw says as he points at his painting on the table.

"I'm also a musician, and a film maker. That you can be certain of." Tayaw says. The gentlemen looks at him skeptically however.

"I would not dare to tell lies in front of you, gentlemen. That would be foolish." Tayaw says.

"I believe you kid." Gonzalo nods. "It was me who invited the kid in, remember? You weren't expecting to sit here, were you Isaac?" Gonzalo asks. 

"No, Don Gonzalo. I was just hoping to get an interview from you through the phone number I wrote behind the painting. I would not dare intrude on your dinner." Tayaw says.

"But I know that an average artist would not have found out about our dinner tonight, or have the balls to just walk in." Gonzalo asks. 

Tayaw considers carefully how to answer but ultimately went with honesty.

"I actually know of one Peter Duhill." Tayaw begins.

"Peter Duhill? Remind me who that is?" Gonzalo asks as he has never heard of a Peter Duhill before.

"It's that guy that runs your real estate business in Long Island." Tayaw clarifies. 

"A few days ago, I ran into him in the coffee shop he recommended to me. At that same shop, he was meeting with one of your soldiers." Tayaw points his hand at Lucas.

"Me, not knowing what kind of movie I would make next, I decided to follow your soldier for 'inspiration', and maybe try making a film about the life of a mobster. 

"While I was tailing him for the past few days, I happened to overhear his phone conversation with one of your caporegimes about this gathering tonight. So, I read more on your family and that's when I was fascinated even more by your story, Don Gonzalo." Tayaw concludes. 

"I knew it! I knew I wasn't being crazy." Lucas almost exclaims at the revelation, but he suppresses his emotions immediately when the bosses looks at him.

"No, you weren't. I hope we're even when you flashed me your Colt earlier." Tayaw says. Lucas' face freezes for a moment before he nods.

"Well, what do you want, my boy?" Gonzalo asks.

"I want just want to arrange a sit-down interview with you, Don Gonzalo." Tayaw says.

Gonzalo then goes silent. The rest of the people in the table also know the possible implications of Don Gonzalo indulging Tayaw's request. 

Tayaw knows how difficult his request is and is not expecting Gonzalo to agree. Gonzalo has done a lot of illegal things in his time, although by proxy. Even if he does not tell any of those illegal activities to Tayaw, many others would assume that Gonzalo would. A small slip from Tayaw's mouth to the wrong people will also get Gonzalo in a lot of trouble. 

After thirty seconds of Gonzalo not talking, Tayaw realizes that Gonzalo will not agree to his request.

"You don't have to agree, Don Gonzalo, it's a presumptuous request after all." Tayaw says as he sipped on the glass of wine he was poured. 

"However, I still want to ask permission to make a film about you. It's going to be a film that is loosely based on your story that I can gather from the internet and people on the streets." Tayaw clarifies.

This gets a more positive reaction from the table. 

"Before I give you my permission, boy, are you qualified to make a film on me?" Gonzalo finally speaks.

"I admit to being a bambino, Don Gonzalo but I assure you, I'm at least qualified. Are you familiar with the yearly film festival at Sorrento?" Tayaw asks.

"No." Gonzalo answers, wanting Tayaw to explain more.

"If I may, Don Gonzalo. It's that international film festival where the best artistic films compete each year." A mobster from another table remarks. 

"Ah, I might have heard of it. What does that have to do with it?" Gonzalo asks.

"I won the best director award and my film won the top prize. I beat out veteran film makers and their films, Don Gonzalo." Tayaw reports as he pulls out his phone, googles himself, and passes it to Sylvio to read. 

Sylvio, however has bad eye sight like Gonzalo and is also not versed in technology so he calls on a young soldier. After the soldier read Tayaw's qualifications, the people at the table changed their impression of Tayaw.

Despite their image as criminals, Italian mobsters especially, appreciate finer things in life like good food, good wine, and good art. Tayaw being a critically acclaimed artist earns him some respect. 

"Do you need investment, my boy?" Gonzalo asks, assuming it as Tayaw's intention.

"No, sir. After my film comes out here in America, I will take what I will earn from it and use it to make my next film." Tayaw says.

"Well, then I see no problem. Fellas, what do you think?" Gonzalo asks the other top men. 

"I don't see a problem too, Don Gonzalo." Amos says.

"We will have to take a look at your script first, child." Sylvio, on the other hand, adds a condition.

"But of course, Don Sylvio. Even though it will be, like I said, only be loosely based on real events, my movie will last forever, and so does its association with Don Gonzalo. I don't want to make it a bad movie." Tayaw concurs. 

"Good. If you want help with the film, you can come to me. Over the years, we have also gotten involved in the movie industry from time to time so I have connections." Sylvio nods.

"Then, I thank you in advance, Don Sylvio." Tayaw smiles.

"Then, let's drink to it! I'll leave Isaac here the task of giving me immortality…" Gonzalo says gleefully and he raises his glass.

Despite the cheery tone of Don Gonzalo, his words seemed heavy to the mobsters, especially to his son Sylvio. Don Gonzalo after all, is already 92 years old today. Even though he is still healthy, no one knows what would happen.