Bees & Honey [H.S]

Chapter 49

"You okay babe?" He asked with a light laugh at me acting weirdly.

"Mhm." I pushed out in reassurance. I didn't know why I felt guilty, and I hated that I did feel like he had caught me doing something that I shouldn't have, so I opened my mouth again.

"Just watched a random clip of a Fleetwood Mac performance while waiting." I shrugged while standing up, "let's go baby." I reached up on my tiptoes to give him a kiss.

Our first day was filled with him showing me around his favourite places in his lovely city. I understood why Paris was called the city of love. It was absolutely made for falling in love. Just from this first day I understood that the french lifestyle implied enjoying the art of beauty in different forms, enjoying quality over quantity, and lastly- never pass on the opportunity of drinking wine.

I knew I had more to learn, but I was impressed with myself from already catching up on a few of their rules.

Philippe's parents were already missing him too much, and when they heard that he had met me in London, they insisted on having us over for dinner later tonight. That I was nervous was an understatement. I had never before met a partner's parents. So when we finally stood outside their fancy door, I almost felt ill.

"You'll be fine." Philippe reassured me one last time, leaving a kiss on the top of my head before ringing the bell.

They must have been hanging on the door by how quickly it opened up.

"Enfin!" The dark haired women with glasses cheered on the other side of the threshold, not wasting any time to step over it. By how much Philippe were her alike, I knew it must've been Mrs. Marceau. She gave her son a motherly loving peck on the cheek and a hug before she turned to me. Who I assumed to be Mr. Marceau stepped right up behind her with his very tall figure.

I reached out my hand with the bouquet of flowers I had brought with me, and she smiled down at them. So far, it seemed like they at least didn't hate me- and that was better than the worst case scenario I had created in my head, so I counted that as a success.

The rest of the evening continued in the same theme of success. Dinner was lovely, both the food and the chats. For most of the time, they asked about me- who I was, how I had grown up, my ambitions, and simply just trying to get to know me. We talked a bit about London, and the two months me and Philippe had spent there. They were especially curious how we had met, even if I knew that Philippe had already told them the story over phone.

When dessert arrived, we had transitioned into more everyday topics, and I was actually starting to feel completely relaxed. Still, Philippe kept his hand on my thigh under the table, rubbing it every now and then.

"So what do you have planned for these two months?" Mrs. Marceau asked and I did a little shrug with a small smile.

"I don't know Paris at all, so hopefully get to know the city. I don't really have any specific plans yet." I answered her back, optimistic. Her dark eyes behind the glasses sparked up.

"Oh, but you have to come to the vernissage for our new exhibit at our gallery! It's next week." She insisted and looked at her husband to make sure that he agreed, which he did with a firm nod.

"You have your own?" I asked fascinated, my eyes flickering excitedly between them. Mr. Marceau cleared his throat.

"We wanted to do more than just photography, so we started this gallery. Now we display both our own work whenever we have a new series and for the rest- and most of the time, we let other artists put up their work, whether it's photographs, paintings or sculptures- et j'en passe." He explained, and I had no idea what the last part meant, but I took it as just a filler expression. Looking into his amber, they were the same as Philippe's. At least that were something he had got from his father.