BEHIND CLOSED DOORS | 18+ |✔

37

"Oh my!" Aileen laughed, "Was it a joke, my dear?" 

"Yes!" Raul exclaimed heartily, "It means...something." 

"Antonia, tell us," Clementine turned to the history professor, "what does it mean?" 

"Mi hermosa mujer," Antonia spoke fluently, "tu madre ya se convirtio en una vaca," she took a deep breath to control her laughter, "means 'my lovely woman, has your mother become a cow yet?'" 

Clementine howled with laughter, and so did Rhys, holding their stomachs until it hurt to laugh anymore. Aileen cried tears, wiping them off as she trembled out laughs. Once they had settled down, Aileen tried to maintain the atmosphere.

"Do you miss Spain, my dear?" 

"Sometimes." 

"It must have been hard, to adjust to the rain after the sunny days back there." 

Antonia smiled softly. She did miss the weather back there, but she had grown used to the gloomy and wet skies of London. 

"Oh! I know!" Raul clapped his hands, "Why don't we plan a family trip to Spain this year? Toni, you can join us too!"

 "Toni?" Rhys clenched his jaw. Antonia patted his thigh to console him. 

"I'm pretty sure your Academy does not give holidays," Antonia smiled, "so it's going to be a little difficult for me."

"Touche."

"You could ask the chancellor personally," Clementine smirked, "I'm sure he'll let you have a week off, a month if you can persuade him enough."

"I must be a little tired because whatever you say, Clementine," Rhys fixed her with a death glare, "automatically translates to  'fight me' in my head." 

"You're obviously tired." the physicist brushed him off. 

There was pin-drop silence once again, and Aileen gave up on trying to bring back the happy atmosphere. Instead, she ate her food, sparing glances every now and then at Antonia. The young woman was not the beauty Aileen had grown tired of seeing, instead, her tanned skin, long curls and deep-set ocean eyes seemed to hold the power to captivate God, and Rhys was merely human. 

However, it was not only her looks that had surprised the old lady. Antonia was humble, and she made it clear that the wealth and riches of their family did not hold any worth to her. She did have a soft spot for her son's cars, as she noticed, hearing him speak about the nicknames she gave them. 

"You're not calling it Johnny." Rhys finished the discussion. 

"But it's so cute," Antonia whined, "then, if not Johnny, then how about Henry?" 

"Darling, think of a more fitting name," Rhys smiled earnestly, surprising Aileen, "it's a Porsche." 

"Perry?"

"Like the platypus?" 

"How about Jake?"

"Could be an option."

"Or it could be Nate." Raul provided.

"What about Richard?" Clementine pointed her spoon at the chancellor. Rhys sighed, thinking hard about what name his Porsche could have. The other three looked up expectantly at him, hoping he would like at least one of them. 

"How does James sound?" They looked at the old woman, and her bright eyes and none of them had the heart to refuse the name. 

"James it is." Antonia bubbled, picking up an olive from her plate and gobbling it. Rhys and the other nodded in agreement, resuming their eating. Aileen saw the tranquil expression on her younger son's face and it seemed to her that for the first time in a long time, he was happy.