--Dahlia POV--
Having a cold was not part of the plan.
While I did wake up to feeling dizzy, and my nose was running with ungodly amounts of snot, I didn't pay it much mind, and simply dismissed it as hay fever. But clearly, this was no longer just hay fever, because I had somehow, apparently, been unfortunate enough to catch a cold.
At this inopportune moment, I've caught a cold. And now that I was diagnosed, I realised just how bad having a cold is, I hated it.
I was supposed to be getting dressed up, and worrying about my first ever date. But here I was, unable to sit up without feeling the blood rushing to my head in a dizzying spell with an uninvited cold. A stuffed nose, throbbing head, and churning stomach, this situation could not have gotten any worse.
"Hey, darling. How are you?" I groaned, turning to my side as I pulled the blanket up to cover my face when my bedroom door peeped open, and Nino walked in with both a worrying yet amused look on his face.
There was no way that I was going to stay at Marcos's house in my feverish state, so as soon as I could, which was five minutes, I called Oliver to pick me up, and as soon as I got home, I slipped into my pyjamas before jumping into bed. I think that was a few hours ago, because I haven't moved since then.
"I'm terrible..." I grumbled, having to pause with a coughing fit as I gulped back the urge to throw up from just speaking.
"Here, eat something," I outwardly gagged as he attempted to place the tray of food on my lap, hunching over to the side, and away from the food as I covered my mouth and nose. Forget eating food, I couldn't seem to keep anything in my stomach.
"Maybe all those colds you managed to steer clear of are finally coming to hit you in the face all at once?" I groaned at his words, berrying my face in my pillow as he stroked my hair with an entertained laugh.
"When will I get better? Being ill is horrible," I complained with a muffled voice.
"And yet you used to try and fake being ill so you wouldn't have to go to school," He reminded.
"Yeah, faking it and actually going through it are two different things." I pointed out as he hummed along, placing the tray of food on the side cabinet as I continued to complain to him for the next few minutes until I eventually fell asleep.
But I'd be lying if I said I didn't like it even a little bit, because, to be honest, it was nice to have a day off, I don't remember the last time I had a day off, maybe a few months ago? It was also nice to be coddled by my two fathers. Despite how much I hated worrying them, it reminded me of how loved I was when they did worry.
I had a dreamless slumber that night, and when I woke up the next day, while I still felt groggy and had an annoying stuffed nose, I felt much more alive than I did a few hours ago, and to add to that feeling, I was able to walk without my vision trembling.
"Morning, sunshine,"
Nico greeted with a cheerful smile as he always did when I entered the dining room to see him sat at his usual place around the circular table, a cup of tea in one hand, and the daily newspaper in the other.
"Morning," I grinned, kissing his cheek before going to sit in my seat.
And not a moment later, Oliver walked in with his usual stoic personality, going straight to kiss my forehead before feeling the said forehead for any sign of an elevated temperature.
"How are you feeling?" He asked.
"I'm on my way to making a full recovery,"
"Well, thank god for that. With the way you were acting yesterday, we thought you were at death's doors," Nico joked as I glared at him to which he replied by raising his hands in surrender, puckering his lips as Oliver went to give him a kiss.
"What's the plan for today?" I asked as I dug into my waiting breakfast.
"Well, I'm going to work, and so is Oliver. You'll be staying home until you're fully recovered, and I don't want to hear any complaints, is that understood, Dahlia?" Oliver spoke as he dug into his own breakfast, looking at me as if I were a troublesome child.
"Yes, dad," I grumbled, shoving a pancake into my mouth.
"Don't worry, I'll bring some of my best flowers over to cheer you up, they're sure to brighten your day," Nico cut in with a grin.
"If you say that then you know I won't leave..." I drifted off when I noticed an added presence entering the room, and turned my head to see who it was, almost swallowing my tongue in surprise.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, pointing an accusing finger at him as he casually strolled into the room as if he lived here, and came to sit down on the chair beside me as I shuffled away from him, a threatening glare on my face.
"Well, you wouldn't let me visit you when you were ill so I had to come later. Later being now... How are you feeling?" He placed the back of his hand on my cheek as he checked my temperature, and while I didn't push him away, the glare was unmoving from my face.
"Marcos..." I called as if to make sure that he was real and not an illusion.
"Yes, Dahlia," He leaned forward on his chair as he smiled at me, assuring me that I wasn't dreaming.
"Did you both let him in?" I turned to glare at both my fathers, and while Oliver continued to silently eat his breakfast, Nico looked guilty as he grinned a cheeky grin at me.
"Why? I told you not to let him in," I grumbled, side-eyeing the said man that looked as though he just walked out of a photoshoot. And then there's me who's still in her pyjamas with scruffy hair and a recovering face that made me look like I've just walked through Hell.
"Because they know that I like you for more than your looks. I appreciate you trying to show me your best sides, but I need you to know that I plan to fall in love with all of you, and that includes you when you're at your worst," He leaned his cheek on his hand as he smirked at me.
I sighed, rolling my eyes while I hid the fluttering butterflies in my stomach, and I believed I did it quite well as he blinked, not having expected my lame reaction to his heartfelt words.
"I'm trying to eat breakfast right now, can you save the sweetness for later," Oliver spoke up from his seat as I bit back a grin at his blunt words.
"Will you three take every opportunity to gang up on me like this?" Marcos grumbled.
"It's what you get for leaving our precious daughter suffering alone with a broken heart," Nico pointed out as I rolled my eyes once again.
"Haven't you got work?" I asked Marcos as he nodded his head.
"I've got a late start today, so you have me all to yourself before then,"
"Well, I won't be doing much since I'm still recovering. It's best you stay away from me unless you want to catch my cold too. Trust me, it's not nice," I leaned in to whisper to him as he chuckled at me, not bothering to hide the amusement.
"Being ill has really revealed your true colours, hasn't it?" He stared at me with an odd look on his face that I couldn't put a finger on. It wasn't anything bad, in fact, I believe it to good, he looked as though I had the whole world wrapped around my finger.
"You have no idea." Oliver mumbled once more, and this time, both me and Marcos turned to glare at him as he simply continued to eat his breakfast, unaware of our glares.
"Anyways. I have to- Oh? What's up Jeff?" I turned to look at the entrance of the room with Nico to see our butler stood there with an awkward look on his face.
"I hate to interrupt your breakfast, but there's a lady whose here to see you,"
"Another uninvited guest? But the day hasn't even properly started yet?" I sighed as Jeffery itched the back of his neck, something I noticed he only does when something's amiss.
"Who's the guest, Jeff?" Oliver asked, patting his face clean of any remnants of his breakfast.
"Oh, um..." The butler seemed unsure on what to say.
"You can speak without worry, there are no outsiders in this room," Oliver added, and I watched as Marcos's face lit up at his words when he realised that he wasn't considered an outsider, and that action alone caused my heart to almost leap out of my chest.
He really planned to fall in love with me. It took time, but I finally seemed to believe his words.
"It's not that, sir... I'm afraid the guest isn't someone that you will be willing to meet..." He drifted off, fiddling with his hands as we all continued to stare at him, he was really adding fuel to the fire with the way he was going on about this mysterious guest.
"Can you just spit it out?" Nico exclaimed, being the first to burst.
But he regretted it as soon as he heard the answer. And he wasn't the only one.
"A lady that goes by the name Sophia Accardi-" The name didn't ring any bells.
"-She claims to be Dahlia's mother,"
Three shots of eyes turned to look at me, but none could have been as surprised as mine.
"I'm sorry, what did you just say?"
"Should I let her in?" Jeff asked, an uncomfortable look on his face as I gulped back the large lump in my throat, but even after that, it refused to go.
My mother? I had one?
I knew absolutely nothing about my birth parents, nothing other than the fact that I had been abandoned by them from the moment I was born. The first three years of my life was secluded inside an orphanage that I never left with a single, constant thought, echoing in my mind.
How hard of a person am I to love?
"Dahlia... What do you want to do?" Marcos asked.
And now, after all these years, they're appearing in my life just as I was about to forget them.
"I'll see her,"
And I didn't say that with any hopeful intentions, I simply wanted to see the face of the woman that worked hard to give birth to me, because while she isn't my mother, she gave me life, and I have always been grateful for that despite everything else.
...