The Bet

Chapter 8

Emilia's POV

"Nick, please that's enough." I begged Nicole as she pulled more dresses from the stall. Our little 'ice cream' party had became a shopping spree. I though we were just going to the the little ice cream shop that I spotted just a block away from her condo but I was wrong. It was shocking when she went to the day care and borrowed a car seat. She then placed it in her car, secure Madeleine and shove me to the passenger seat. The first thing she bought in the mall was a car seat then here we were in the children's department getting clothes for my little sister. "That's the fifth one."

"Yeah, only the fifth, if we were going to leave Maddy in the day care, she needed a lot of clothes and these are only dresses, later we'll get some shorts, shirts and shoes for her." She blinked and then disappeared from my sight. I felt shy at her spending money on us. We didn't deserve it and I really don't want her pity. I was just relief that I managed to convince her to buy in the department store instead of those designer shops.

"Nick? Maddy?" I shouted between racks as if they purposely hide from me.

"Over here!" I heared Nick shouted back and saw that they were in the dressing area. I sprinted towards their direction only to see Madeleine in cute navy blue dress. "Isn't she cute?" I must admit, the dress was both simple but elegant.

"Do I look like a princess?" Madeleine asked and spun around.

"Yes you are little girl and from now on, you're going to be my princess... okay?" Nick said and Madeleine nodded and hugged her. It was so heart warming seeing those two.

"Aw, they are so cute." I heard one of the sales lady said. "You're so lucky with your husband. Not all men would show their affection in public for their child."

"She isn't ..." I was about to correct her but Nicole cut me.

"She is my little princess after all." Nick said. I wondered why she didn't correct her. "We are going to take these too and all of those." She said pointing at the clothes in the basket.

"Ok sir. Let me help you check them out." The sales lady must have thought that Nicole was a guy. Well, she do dressed like one and even I thought she was a he the first time I met her.

"Just how many did you buy?" I asked. My last count was five and that's definetely more than ten.

"Don't know, I didn't count." She said. "So my little princess, shoppings over, are you ready for your ice cream?"

"Yey!" Madeleine squealed in delight. "Carry me?"

"My pleasure!"

Nick's POV

"So what do you want my little princess?" I asked Maddy as we stood in front of the counter of an ice cream shop. Before we proceed to get an ice cream, we went to the car first in order to put the shopping bags. I might have did it caused the trunk of my car became full, I should have brought my truck, it had more space.

"I don't know... there's so many..." she said. I knew she can't read yet so I guest she was looking at the different flavors in the counter picture as well as the ice cream itself. "Pick for me."

I looked at Em for help but she just shrugged. "Okay, let's go with the basic then. I'll order you chocolate, then I'll order different flavor so you can check which ones you like better. Ok?" She nodded in understanding. "What do you want Em?" I asked and she shrugged again. "Come on, don't tell me you haven't had an ice cream before?"

"I'll have strawberry." She finally said.

"Okay, you and my little princess here take a seat over there and I'll order for us." I brought Maddy down and they walked towards the booth.

Not long, I went towards them with three ice creams in a tray. As discussed, I ordered chocolate for Maddy, strawberry for Em and vanilla for me. For now, I chose to order the basic flavor, we can go back again to try some more next time.

"Here are your orders my princesses." I said. Maddy exclaimed in excitement while I saw a slight blush on Em's face. A small smile crept to my face as I pictured how great this feeling was. I wished I had known them earlier.

"This is so good!" Maddy yelled.

"So which one do you like most?" I asked.

"All of them!" She said as she swayed her arms to make her point.

"All of them? Come on... one must have stand out."

"I like them all, but I guess I like the chocolate better." She finally admitted.

"Don't worry my little princess, we'll come back here and you can try other flavor." I then looked at Em. "But only if your sister agrees."

"Can we Em?"

She just sighed in defeat. "Of course."

We went to the arcade after eating some ice cream. I bought us tokens to Maddy could play. Em was just walking behind us, maybe observing us. "Which one do you wanna play next?" I asked.

"That one!" She said pointing at the crane machine. "I want that panda bear."

"Oh..." I was never good at cranes so I felt a little guilty to disappoint the girl. "I'm not really good at that but, let's see." I shove my hand in my pocket to get some tokens, I had a lot more so if needed, I'll spend every last piece of it in that machine.

"A little more! Carefull! Yes!" Maddy said as I finally got the panda after seventh try. I almost gave up but the look on her eyes gave me determination. "Hello Mr. Panda!"

"Maddy, what are you going to say?" Em said.

"Thank you Nick! You're the best!" Again, the little girl flung herself to me and enveloped me in a death defying hug. I then felt her yawn. "I'm tired."

"Let's go home then." I have no choice but to carry the fallen girl out of the arcade and unconsiously pulled Em's hand which was soft and smooth despite the fact the she worked who knows how many jobs. Again, I was delighted that she didn't pulled back. We reached the parking lot hand in hand.

I removed Maddy from the car seat that I borrowed and carried her using the right side of my body. I used my left hand to carry most of the shopping bags. I refused to let Em carry heavy loads. When we arrived at the lobby, we were greeted by an unwanted visitor who was seating comfortably in one of the couches. I felt Em got nervous but I gave her an assuring smile.

"Ms. Smith, what a pleasant surprise!" I said sarcastically. "Are you here to check out on my princesses so soon?"

She stared at us with that annoyed look on her face. She probably was angry for having to loose a battle with me. "Yes I am."

"Okay then, please get a visitor's pass from the reception and then follow us."

"I already took one. I was just waiting for you since they knew that you went out. Now, I'm a very busy person, please show me your place so I can assess." She played with her glassess and walked towards the elevator leaving us behind. I can't help but chuckle and fortunately, I guess Em find it amusing too.

"So here we are, unit 707 please feel free to explore as your heart desire." I said as I went towards the room and tucked Maddy in. I made sure to make it quick as I don't want to leave Em behind. "So how do you like my place?"

"It's good. Neat and clean. There's food and supplies." She answered nonchalantly.

"Are you satisfied now?"

"Perhaps. But I'm still not convinced. I'll be back." With that, she left my unit.

"That was... " I started but couldn't find the right words.

"Scary?" Em completed.

"Yeah. She looked like a strict old lady that hasn't gotten laid in her whole life. Or maybe she is." I joked. It was then that Em and I finally released the air that we didn't notice that we were holding.

"Thank you." She said as I retreated to my room. I turned around to look at her. "For everything."

"It was nothing. Rest well. Good night my princess."