--Angelina POV--
"Aurora, be careful," Lucian called after our daughter as she played on the climbing frame in the distance while I sat with him on the picnic blanket.
"Where does she get that energy?" He mumbled, stretching his legs out as he sat beside me, peeking over my shoulder to see the book I was reading.
"According to your mother, she got it from you," I chuckled.
"Me? How so?"
"Because you were a crazy child that couldn't sit still in one place," I pointed out as his lips parted in an 'Oh' motion, apparently having forgotten that.
"But still, she's a little girl, what if she falls and breaks something? What if she rubs her hand against that wood and gets a splinter, her cute little hands will be in pain. Honestly, what heartless maniac thought to create such dangerous-"
"-Darling, you're doing it again," I hummed, reading over the same sentence of the story that I've been trying to finish for the past hour as he shut himself up.
"Right, sorry. I can't help it, you know I worry about her," Shutting my book, I turned to look at him with a small smile as he pouted, falling forward so his head rested on my shoulder.
"I know, it's alright. You're a parent, so of course you're going to worry," I assured. "But, I thought of something the other day. Back when my father was still alive, he kept trying to get me to enrol in self-defence classes, but I kept putting it off,"
"Self-defence?" He echoed as I nodded along.
"Yeah, I was really mad at myself when I got kidnapped by Donovan all those years ago for not being able to defend myself, so I thought that if my daughter is ever put in a situation where she'll need to defend herself, she'll be able to do it,"
"That's quite a good idea," He put a hand to his chin as he thought about it. "Of course, for as long as I'm alive, I'll make sure that she's never put in such a dire situation, but it will help to reassure me if I know she has the capabilities to defend herself,"
"It's a brilliant idea, Angel. I'll start looking for the best teachers straight away," And before I could stop him, he had already stood up and gone to stand a few feet away as he called someone and started talking.
I sighed, not being able to hold back my laughter as I looked at him, the way this man worries for his daughter is like no other.
"Oh, would you look at who it is?" I paused when I heard the familiar voice, turning to see the face of Mr Marcos Romano, confusion fawning over me.
"Mr Romano? What are you doing here?" I asked.
"Please, call me Marcos. And, I had a business meeting with the CEO of my German branch, the company's close to here," He gestured to a grey-slated building that we could see standing in the distance above all other buildings with its tall height.
"Don't tell me you saw me out your window and decided to drop by," I chuckled as he laughed at my words, shaking his head.
"My wife and kids came with me on the trip, and we'll be returning home to Rome in a few hours, but before then we decided to enjoy our leftover time here in the park. It's a beautiful place so it felt like a waste to not visit," He explained, turning to look behind him as I looked with him as a young woman approached us.
"Hello," She greeted in a warm tone of voice, a smile on her face as she did. She was a beautiful woman with light brown hair while some strands looked gold under the sunlight, sun kissed caramel skin, and bright hazel eyes.
"Mrs Vandenburg, this is Dahlia Romano, my wife," He proudly introduced as I moved to stand up, shaking her hand.
"It's only fair for you to call me by my name if you ask me to call you by yours, so just Angelina is fine. It's lovely to meet you," I greeted her while Marcos took the opportunity to go and bother Lucian who was still talking away on his phone call.
"Likewise, I've heard a lot about you, so it's nice to finally meet you," She spoke in a polite tone of voice as I blushed at her flattering words.
"Please, you make me feel like I'm a celebrity," I waved her off.
"You might as well be, I think you already are, in the business world at least," She chuckled as I gestured for her to sit down on the blanket with me which she happily did. "Which ones yours?" She gestured to all the children that were spread out around the park with an amused laugh as I went to look for my said child.
"The blonde one that's drawing with chalk on the ground over there is my Aurora," I pointed out as she laughed, nodding her head along to my words.
"She's adorable," She laughed, looking at her.
"She's an adventurous little girl, doesn't know how to sit still for more than a minute. So, Lucian and I thought it would be best to use her energy towards something that could be more useful so we're planning to put her in some self-defence classes,"
"That's a great idea, maybe I should do that for my children,"
"As parents, we'll always be worrying for our children, so it'll at least calm the nerves a little to know that if they're ever put in an unfortunate situation, they'll at least be able to defend themselves," She nodded along, agreeing to my words.
"What about you? I know of Giovanni, but the last time I saw him was when he was five, and he was quite the child back then," I chuckled at the memory as she laughed.
"Yes, he's ten now, but still the same as ever, and he's always been wanting a little sibling, so Marcos and I have been trying for years. I've had quite a lot of miscarriages in those years, but I managed to successfully give birth to my Lilliana, she's three now and is in good health,"
"And what about you?" I asked as she sighed, shrugging her shoulders.
"Giving birth isn't easy for anyone, and it's taken its toll on me," She sighed. "But I'm grateful, to my children for being healthy, and to my husband for being so supportive and caring," I couldn't help but smile at her words, I've not had a miscarriage before, but I couldn't begin to think of how damaging that would be to a parent.
"Mama, when are we going to go home?" Gio asked as he paused in front of us.
"We just got here, why don't you play with Lily a bit?" Dahlia replied, gesturing to a little girl that was quietly playing on the swings in the distant as Gio sighed, shaking his head in boredom before coming to sit opposite me.
"Is that Sherlock Holmes, the final problem? I love that book," He noticed the said book I had been reading sitting on the blanket as I picked it up, handing it to him. "Who's your favourite character?" He asked as I took a moment to think about it.
"Moriarty, he's on par with Sherlock when it comes to brains. What about you?"
"Lestrade, I like his character the best, but-"
"-Mummy, mummy, mummy, look at what I got?" We turned to see Aurora running toward us with her hands clasped shut, a large, excited grin on her face as she approached me.
"Oh, dear. Please tell me she hasn't captured another caterpillar," I quietly begged as she jumped to sit down between us all and undid her hands as a little butterfly sat on her palm, fluttering its wings before flying off.
"Wasn't it pretty?" She exclaimed, putting her hands on my knees as she gleamed up at me and I nodded with a little laugh, stroking her blonde locks out of her face.
"Yes, it was," She paused in her excitement to look at the two people that were keeping us company, and she looked back at me curiously, waiting for an introduction.
"This is Miss Dahlia Romano, my new friend, and this is her son, Giovanni, he's the one that gave me the idea of your name,"
"You picked my name?" She curiously asked the older boy who shrugged his shoulders.
"Wow, that's so cool. Mummy, I want to name someone too?"
"Really? Then, what name would you pick?" I entertained.
"Hmm... Bubbles?"
"Bubbles?" Both Dahlia and I choked on our laughter. "Why Bubbles?" I asked, poking her cheek as she took another moment to think about it before shrugging her shoulders.
"I don't know, I just like the sound of it, Bubbles," She giggled.
"That doesn't make any sense, why would you name someone Bubbles? It has no meaning, and it doesn't even sound that good," Gio asked with a confused look on his face.
"Well, what's your name?" Aurora asked.
"Giovanni Romano. Giovanni means gracious in Italian, and Romano is a family name that's short for Romanus, meaning someone that comes from Rome,"
"Do you come from Rome?"
"That's why my name's Romano," He said in a 'duh' tone as Aurora hummed.
I watched as the two of them bickered around with one another, and while they did that, little Lilliana ran over on her little feet as she sat down on her mother's lap, being followed by the two men as Lucian came to sit behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist as he peppered the top of my head with his kisses.
"Aww, look at you two getting along so well with each other. I'm guessing that in around 15 years you both will fall in love; Wouldn't that be cute?" Marcos joked as he sat beside his wife, kissing her forehead as he did.
"Don't be ridiculous, papa. It'll be at least 20 more years, not 15," Gio corrected with crossed arms as I heard Lucian start choking behind me.
"Wait, so you mean you plan on marrying my princess?" He asked as if to be sure, clearly taking Gio's words quite seriously.
"I'm still too young so I'll have to think about it in more detail in the future, but she looks like she'll make a good wife. She's pretty, and cute, and she comes from a good family," Gio pointed it all out as he stared down at an uninterested Aurora who was too busy complimenting Lilliana and her stuffed toy.
"Why you-"
"Hey now, don't pick a fight with a child," I whispered, cutting my husband off as Marcos laughed aloud, pointing an amused finger at Lucian.
"I don't approve, just because you're a cute child doesn't mean you'll be cute forever," Gio glared, offended by Lucian's words as Dahlia and I tried to laugh it off in an attempt to disperse the awkward situation.
"Here, Gio. Have an apple," She stated, changing the subject.
"I don't want to think about marrying my daughter off already, she's only 5, Angelina. I'm getting emotional just thinking about it, especially when this boy is trying to be her groom, this heartless, expressionless little child," Lucian complained in a hushed voice from behind me, his voice tickling my cheeks as I laughed.
"Alright, I get it. But it's as you said, they're still children, so we're not going to think about it, okay. Now, how did that call go?" I changed the subject as he sighed, but went along with it nonetheless.
"She'll start self-defence classes next week," He let me know.
"And I'm sure she'll be happy to hear that," I leaned my head back on his chest as he kissed my cheek, tightening his hold around my waist.
"Do you know what that means?" He excitedly whispered.
"What does it mean?" I asked, amused.
"More me and you time, isn't that exciting?" His voice went deeper when he spoke, and I felt the chills running down my spine, my face lighting up at his words.
"You, Lucian Vandenburg, are a man like no other," Is all I decided to say with a loud sigh as he laughed, peppering the side of my face with kisses while I jokingly pushed him away, accidentally catching his eyes as he grinned.
And, taking my hand, he kissed the back of my knuckles.
"Only for you, my Angel. Only for you,"
...
BONUS CHAPTER COMING SOON.