***
"This is Alina's room, it's a bit girly, but that's what you'll have to expect from a 6-year-old girl," Her Nonna chuckled as I walked into the room.
Everything... was pink.
It truly felt like walking into the life of a little girl in the early 2000s. There were One Direction posters hung up on the wall, barbie dolls placed neatly next to a dollhouse on the cabinet, the walls were pink, but at least the floorboard wasn't pink, it was white.
Fairylights hung on the wall behind the double beds' headboard, and family pictures were framed on the wall... I don't think I have ever felt so out of place before.
"My husband's gone fishing with his friends, I'll let you know when he comes home so you can greet him," I absentmindedly nodded my head, still awestruck by the room. I can just imagine a young Alina fangirling over the boys from that band.
The sound of hurried feet approaching us was heard, and as I turned my head away from the barbie dolls, Alina was stood there by the doorframe, panting as she glared at her grandmother.
"What are you doing, Nonna?" She asked, face red in embarrassment.
"I'm just showing your husband where he'll be staying? Anything wrong with that?"
"I thought he'd be staying in the guest room," She whisper shouted.
"Why would he be staying in the guest room? He's your husband, so it only makes sense for him to stay with his wife," You know, I really liked her grandmother.
"But-But... Don't you think the bed is too small? He won't fit," Seriously? That's the best excuse that my darling wife could come up with? Besides, the smaller the bed, the better it was for us.
"Now, it's not like you to be all shy, Alina," Her Nonna chuckled.
"Yes, it is. You know that I'm a shy person," She replied, baffled.
"Point is, you are both husband and wife, it's only natural for you to share a bed, it's how couples grow closer, and how marriages last," Yes, I think I did like the grandmother.
The conversation was cut short when we heard the front door being unlocked.
"Is anyone home!?" An old man's voice called. Oh, he must be back from fishing.
"Oh, yes we're home darling, did you have fun with your friends?!" Nonna shouted back, spinning on her heels as she left the room.
"Why yes, I did. We caught some-" The poor man got cut off.
"Forget that. You'll never guess who came to visit us today?" If only my wife was excited to see me as her grandmother is...
Talking about my wife, she stood there glaring at me with a furious blush tinting her cheeks and chuckling at her, I turned to look at the posters that hung on the wall.
"You never told me you were a one direction fan?"
She gasped, embarrassed, quickly running and grabbing a hold of my arm as she tried pulling me out of the room. "The cringy self that I used to be no longer exists," I laughed at her reply, standing back as I watched her close the door before she gave me one more glare and stormed down the stairs to go and greet her grandfather.
And I can safely say, that this old couple has no qualms against me, I guess it really is just Alina's father that has a problem with me.
"Do you like chess?" Her grandfather asked me, eyes twinkling with the hope of a good reply, but I wasn't one to satisfy the desire of someone else if it meant gaining nothing for myself. Lucky for him, I did, in fact, like chess.
"Yes, it's safe to say that I'm quite a good player too," I sipped on the chamomile tea that Nonna had given me.
Currently, Nonna was sat beside me as she tried knitting, she wasn't very good at it is what I surmised, but she enjoyed it, and I was chatting with Alina's grandfather in front of the firepit, Nonno, as he asked me to call him.
And Alina was cuddled up in the far corner of the couch, wrapped up in a blanket with a cup of piping hot chocolate in her hands as she read a thick book, looking as adorable as ever.
"Then, would you care for a game?" Nonno asked.
"Why not?" I shrugged my shoulders, it would be nice to play with someone other than my secretary or butler for once.
So, for the next half an hour or so, we played a game of chess, light chatter surrounding us, my eyes drifting over to Alina every few minutes until she decided to be the first to go to bed.
"Goodnight," She kissed her Nonna, and then her Nonno, and as I patiently waited for my kiss, she stuck her tongue out before ignoring me, going on her merry way. That little minx! She was really working on testing my restraint, wasn't she?
Her grandma chuckled as she threw another log into the firepit.
"If you think it's that easy to make it up to your wife, then you've got another thing coming," She said, going to sit back down on the couch and carrying on with her knitting.
"She's not wrong, you know. When we were still newlyweds, we'd get into fights all the time, and I can tell you that I was always in the wrong, but still, I was a stubborn man and refused to accept it at the time," He chuckled, throwing his wife a kiss as she laughed at him.
Here they are shoving their old love in my face as if to spite me.
"I know that I was in the wrong, and I know that I need to apologise to her. The only problem is that I don't know how," Figuring out love seems to be more difficult than any mathematical equation right now. I wish my parents could have taught me that before they died, they really were quite useless to me in their lifetime.
"If I told you the answer to that, the two of you will never be able to move forward in this relationship... But, I will tell you that it is important to acknowledge your mistakes and to learn from them, and then let her know that, not just with words, but actions," Nonno patted my shoulder before going to move his next chess piece.
"Look at this old man, I can tell you now that he's speaking out of his tush, trying to sound like some wise old man," Nonna nudged me, loudly whispering in my ear.
"Must you always call me out like that? I'm trying to enjoy their young love," He glared at her with a smile on his face.
But, listening to his words, even if he was speaking out of his ass, I can say that I understood what he meant, and may even believe for it to be some good advice.
"If you want my advice, and I can assure you that I got it from experience, I will tell you this; Alina is not a simple young woman, her name means light, and as she is the light of all of our lives, including yours, I imagine, you need to give her something worth fighting for,"
"Hey! You just got that from that Disney movie, the one with the little red dragon, what was it called again? The Chinese one... Oh, right, Mulan!"
Is giving advice to me a competition for these two or what?
"I think I'll be retiring for the night, you two should get some sleep too,"
Because I think they definitely needed it.
And as I walked into Alina's childhood room, I stopped dead in my tracks as she gasped, quickly rushing to cover herself with her nightgown that was sprawled out on the bed.
Oh.
Oh, well this situation has certainly turned in my favour.
"Don't you know how to knock!?" She whisper-shouted as I quickly shut the door behind me when I heard the footsteps of her grandparents walking up the steps, and I did not want anyone other than myself to see her like this.
"I didn't think I would need to. If you're getting changed then why don't you lock the door?" I innocently replied, trying to keep my eyes from repeatedly running up and down her body.
I could have seen her naked a hundred times over, but I know that I still wouldn't be able to get enough of her. Even though, all she wore right now was a nightgown, nothing but her legs on show, knowing that there was only a bra and underwear on her under that material excited me beyond words.
"There is no lock," I turned my head away from her for a moment to see that she was correct, this door didn't have a lock.
"Then why are you getting changed in here? The bathroom is right there," I gestured to the door out in the corridor, this house only had two bathrooms, one upstairs, and one downstairs.
Her face lit up with a blush as she fidgeted with the gown.
"Did you want me to come and see you like this?" I smirked, knowing it wasn't true.
"Don't be silly, I'm upset with you right now," She scoffed as I moved away from the door and towards her small, vulnerable self.
"Then answer my question, Mi Amore," Wrapping an arm around her waist, I pulled her to my chest, brushing strands of hair away from her face.
"There... Was a spider," She quietly whispered.
Well, that explains it.
Alina's fear for spiders is not something that could be rivalled with anything.
Laughing at my dear, adorable wife, my hands moved down to her bottom, and I picked her up in my arms, going to the bed before lying her down.
"What do you think you're doing?" She scolded, simultaneously trying to push me away and keep her oversized nightgown from slipping off of her.
"Putting my wife to bed, it is late, and I want to sleep,"
"Then let me get changed first," She debated.
"We usually sleep naked together anyway," I kissed her hand.
"That-That's because we usually do..."
"Do..." I pushed, amusing myself with her shyness.
"N-Nothing... Goodnight," But before she could spin around to move away from me, I leaned down, capturing her lips in a kiss.
"That's my goodnight kiss that you forgot to give me before,"
***---***---***
"Can you please go buy the groceries for me?"
"Sure, Nonna. What do you need?"
My ears perked up as I heard the conversation happening downstairs. One good thing about living in such a small house is that you could easily eavesdrop without even trying. And I was smart enough to use it to my advantage.
Quickly, I pulled on my trench coat over my black jumper and pants, snapping my wristwatch on, and shoving my wallet into my back pocket.
"I'll come too," I said, walking down the steps.
"You don't need-"
"My, isn't that a wonderful idea!?" Nonna cut Alina off, and I subtly winked gratefully at the old woman as she chuckled, jokingly hitting my shoulder.
Breathing out a small sigh, Alina shrugged her shoulders, going to sit on the staircase as she slipped into her timberland boots, and without another thought, I quickly got on my knees in front of her, brushing her hands off as I tied the laces for her.
"I can do my own laces, you know," I heard her huff as a small smile crept onto my face, but I didn't turn my head up to look at her, focusing on the double-knot instead.
"I know," I simply replied.
"Goodbye, stay safe, both of you," Nonna stood at the door as she waved us off, and just before she closed the front door, we heard the faint sound of Alina's grandfather. "Don't forget to buy my medicine! I need that to live!"
"I'll call Dante, he can take us-"
"Evan, stop being such a rich boy... We'll take the bus," I stopped in my tracks after hearing her words, turning to look at her with narrowed eyes as she stuck her tongue out at me, continuing in her footsteps towards what I'm guessing is the bus stop.
"I have so many comebacks for that sentence, I don't know where to start," I huffed, catching up to her, leaning down to hold her gloved hand in mine.
"I think I proved quite well that I'm not a boy, or do you need more convincing?" I whispered in her ear as she jumped, surprised by my words, glaring at me with a red face to which I only replied with a laugh.
"And, must I remind you, once again, that I can't stop acting rich if I am rich. And, since you're married to me, that makes you rich too,"
She coughed out a laugh at my words, looking at me from the corner of my eyes as I smirked. Shaking her head in amusement, she pulled me onto the bus behind her, and I don't ever remember being in such an uncomfortably crowded place before.
We sat down on some spare seats, and Alina pointed out the window as we passed certain areas of land, and I made sure to cling onto all her sentences.
"I used to play there with the neighbourhood kids all the time. And, over there, I had a snowball fight with Nonno, he was really bad at it. And, papa, being used to the hot Italian weather, couldn't cope very well in Russia," She smiled a reminiscent smile.
"Well, there's one thing that I can relate to him about," I mumbled. "You know, I had a chat with him, and your mother, before I departed for Russia," I added on, catching her surprised reaction as she turned to look at me.
"You... Did?" I nodded.
"How did it go?"
"With your dad? Terrible, I asked him where you were and he said he would never tell me. But, with your mum?... She's quite a nice lady, she looks a lot like you when she smiles, or I guess I should say that you look like her," A small smile broke onto her face at my words.
Eventually, we got off the bus once we reached our destination, and we walked down the streets, hand-in-hand, and I was reminded of our first date. That feels like it was so long ago.
"Alina," I called, stopping us from taking another step forward.
"Yes," She replied, looking at me with a raised brow.
"I know that we've hit an obstacle in our relationship, and I am very well aware of the fact that I am the one that caused it, and for that, I am sorry, along with many other things, the main one being that I hurt you with my lie..." I looked her in the eyes, placing a hand on her cold cheek.
"I want you to know that what I said that day, those words, they were lies... In fact, I do love you, quite a lot... I was afraid that you had too much of me in control, and I was afraid of getting hurt, as well as being afraid of losing you. I thought I'd hurt you before you could get the chance to hurt me, I'm sorry... I love you, Alina, so much,"
Moments of silence passed between us, the cold breath leaving our lips, and turning into fog between us, dispersing into nothing.
And, just as my hand was about to slip off her cheek, she leaned forward, gently resting her lips against mine.
Compared to all the kisses we've shared in our life, this is possibly the most PG one, but it's safe to say, that this was probably my favourite one. Nothing but our lips were touching, but it felt as though our very souls were embracing one another.
"I was in pain from your words," She whispered. "But, I know it was a lie. I could see it in your eyes, you were afraid of something. So, thank you for telling me what that something was," She smiled, her hands holding mine.
"And, I want you to know that you are not the only one in love in this relationship... I hope that one day you can see how much I care about you, and how much I cherish you... I love you, Evan. So much. Oh, and I forgive you,"
Okay, I think that's enough of the PG-rated things.
Cupping her face in my hands, I jumped forward, crushing her body to mine as I moulded my lips against hers, wrapping an arm around her waist as I pulled her closer to me.
"I'm never going to let you go again, no matter what," I breathed into her ear.
Closing her eyes, she laughed, her forehead leaning against mine, her breath tickling my lips, and I gulped, closing my own eyes before leaning in and pressing my lips against her nose.
"Ti Amo," I whispered.
"Ti Amo," She replied.
It truly felt as though I had the whole world in the palm of my hand right now. And I loved it. Since I now knew that just as she was mine, I too, was her whole world. Now, I just have to make sure it stays that way.
"What was it that your grandmother needed?" I asked my wife on the phone as I stood at one of the aisles in the convenience store, holding a bag of apples in my hand.
"I'll send you the list. Just get what it says, and if there's anything you want then just get that too," She replied. We were supposed to go shopping together, but then she stated that it would be quicker if we separated.
So, she's at the pharmacy right now, buying her grandfather his medicine, and I was sent here to pick up the groceries. I've never been grocery shopping before, we had people do that for us.
I felt so out of place right now, but it's what Alina wanted, and therefore, I have nothing to say against it.
"Is there anything you need?" I asked.
"Um... Some pads, my body cream, you know which one I use, and..." I raised a brow when the line went silent for some time. If she wasn't embarrassed about asking me to buy her pads, then what could be more embarrassing than that?
Personally, I didn't find it the least bit embarrassing to buy my wife some pads, there was nothing to be embarrassed about. But, I do remember Alina being a bit embarrassed about it when Clyde first asked her if there was anything she needed.
"Alina...?" I curiously called.
"And, um... some... condoms, for you." I froze.
Did I?... Did I hear her right just now? I wasn't going mad, was I?
"Condoms?" I repeated.
"Yeah, bye," And she quickly hung up.
Oh my god, I haven't gone mad.
And so, as my precious wife had asked, I bought everything she asked for, making sure not to forget a single thing.
I didn't really like wearing condoms, but since she asked me to buy some, it could only mean that she hasn't been taking the pill, I guess using condoms for a few days won't hurt. I'm actually quite impressed that she asked me to buy some instead of convincing both herself and me to wait for a few days until the pill kicked in again.
I ignored the weird look that the cashier and a few other customers gave me as I bought my wife her pads, but didn't pay any attention to them.
"Have you got a problem with me buying my wife some pads? Have you never had a fucking period before?" I raised an offended glare, pulling the required amount of money out since my card wouldn't work in this country.
"O-Of course not, sir,"
"Then stop looking at me as if I'm an animal at a zoo," Grabbing the bag, I left the shop without looking back even once, the glare melting off my face when I saw Alina walking towards me.
"Let's go, Mi Amore... I had Dante book us a hotel room," I grabbed her hand, walking over to the side of the pavement before waving a taxi over.
"A-A hotel room?" She stuttered, face heating up with a blush despite the cold weather.
"Yes, a hotel room. I have enough decency to not make love to my wife in her childhood home, especially when her grandparents are under the same roof," I whispered as she jumped at my words, giving me a joking glare to which I replied with a kiss on her temple.
...