Elsa
“Elicat, remember that one time where we took mom’s car and we accidentally dented it in a parking lot?” Tessa laughed, making me smile at the memory.
“Don’t you mean you dented it? You were the one who drove the car yet I was the one who got spanked with the wooden spoon.” I said, now frowning at the memory.
“Wait, your mom hit you with a wooden spoon?” Arianna looked at me both surprised and amused.
“Yup. My mom is not shy with the wooden spoon and would pull it out whenever we misbehaved. However, Tessa being the favorite child, got out of it almost every time. By the way, how does it to be the favorite child?” I gave her a fake sweet smile.
“Amazing! You should try to be one.” She winked while grinning and I flipped her off.
“It was always me and Asher who got in trouble. Actually, Asher got spanked the most.” I chuckled. The three of us were known to be a bit wild when we were younger.
I already felt Nicholas’s gaze on me as soon as I talked about Asher, and I purposely kept my eyes down as I bagged the last dress.
“Who’s Asher?” Arianna asked.
“Just a friend we grew up with.” I said dismissively so we wouldn’t keep talking about him with Nicholas present. I didn’t want Tessa to accidentally reveal that I had a huge crush on Asher when we were kids. And maybe a little bit before I got involved with Damiano. He would not be happy to learn about that.
“Here you go!” I handed them their bags which were quite heavy with the number of dresses they had bought. Arianna took her bags and practically shoved them into Nicholas’s arms for him to carry.
“You’re too spoiled.” Nicholas frowned but still carried them.
“I’m your baby sister, I deserve to be spoiled!” She dramatically flipped her hair back, making me laugh at her.
“See, this is what happens when you spoil them too much.” I gave a knowing look to nicholas, hinting at the conversation where he said he was going to make sure to spoil our baby. He gave me a half-smirk with a wink, making me roll my eyes with a smile.
“With the shit I had to go through, this is the least they can do for me. I deserve to be spoiled for life with the long hours of them beating my ass in training.” Arianna scoffed and handed me dante’s black card.
“I bet he regrets giving you his card now.” I chuckled. They had chosen some pretty expensive dresses and even with a discount, the total was still at the high end. I felt sorry for Dante.
“Please, this isn’t even going to make a small dent in his bank account. While you’re at it, you should give yourself a hundred percent tip.”
“You are seriously enjoying spending someone else’s money, huh?”
“It’s fine.” Dante said, not caring about the amount Arianna was spending. Sometimes I did forget what kind of people I was involved with.
I guess it was not a too shabby career path.
“No, thank you. You bought half of the boutique and that is more than Just as we were done, the sound of the door opening made us all turn to see who it was. My mother, who was distracted with rummaging through her purse while walking further into the shop, didn’t notice the rest of the company present as she was focused on getting something.
“Hi, mom.” I greeted her, trying to get her attention.
“Hi, honey.” She said while still distracted with whatever she was trying to get from her purse.
“I have just put my phone in my bag, and now it has disappeared! How does that even work?” She said frustrated, and let out a sigh of relief when she finally managed to get her phone. Finally, she looked up and stopped in her tracks. She looked at Dante first and then at Arianna, confusion written all over her face.
“Mamá!” Tessa said excitedly, making my mom look at her and gasp in surprise at the sight of her.
“Tessa, my love!” My mother opened her arms and hugged Tessa tightly.
“You see what I mean with her being the favorite child? I didn’t even get half of that when I came back home.” I joked to Arianna. She chuckled and patted my back to comfort me, making me let out a small laugh.
I knew my mother loved us both equally. She just made sure to show it more toward Tessa since she rarely saw her. It didn’t bother me because Tessa didn’t have a parent who showed her love the way my mother did. It only made me happy because she truly deserved to be happy and showered with love when she was stuck with a father who deserved to rot in hell.
“Look at you! My beautiful Tessa.” My mother leaned back to look at tessa with a big smile, her eyes twinkling with happiness.
“When did you come?”
“Couple of hours ago. Thought we would make a surprise visit for Eli.” Cara explained, making my mother look back at Arianna and Dante with slightly raised brows.
“And since I’m getting married soon, I thought you should meet my fiancé, Dante.”
“I see. Hello.” She gave a smile to Dante without stepping closer to him. I sighed, knowing it was a fake smile as I knew she wasn’t fond of anyone from the Donavan family. DAnte gave a short nod in return with his blank face. Not that I was expecting him to smile back.
“And I’m Arianna.” She walked up to my mother to give a handshake with a big smile on her face.
“I’m the younger sister and also the prettiest one.” Arianna grinned, making my mother chuckle at her comment.
“Nice to meet you.” My mother took a look around after she shook Arianna’s hand, watching them carefully. I didn’t know if I should be annoyed with the way she was looking at them or if I should be more understanding as to why. Nicholas and Dante were both very tall, intimidating men, and together, they were taking the word terrifying to another level.
“How long are you staying?” My mother asked Tessa , giving her a soft smile as she spoke.
“Just a few days before we have to go back. There are still things I need to get done before the wedding.” Tessa explained and started to talk about the wedding.
My mood dampened when I heard they would only be here for a few days. Would that mean Nicholas was leaving with them? He did say he couldn’t stay for too long and had to leave in a few days. Even though I would be going to California soon, the thought of being away from him, even for a little, was already making my heart clench in sadness. The last time we had to say goodbye was hard on me, and now that I was pregnant, my need to be around him was stronger.
I shook the thoughts of him leaving soon out of my mind. They were starting to make me feel sad to the point tears started to form in my eyes. I didn’t want to cry and then have to explain why. I could only imagine how pathetic they would think I was if I said I was crying because Nicholas was going home soon. And I couldn’t blame it on my hormones. That would be too suspicious.
Shit… If I was already this emotional then I couldn’t imagine how it would be when I was further ahead.
A hand caressing my cheek brought me out of my thoughts. The beautiful grayish blue eyes that I had fallen deeply in love with were looking at me, making me forget about the people around us. Sometimes it was terrifying that he had this much effect on me. To have me forget about everyone else and only focus on him. I felt hypnotized by his eyes. Like I was drowning in them as I couldn’t look away.
“What’s wrong?” Nicholas asked quietly only for me to hear. His brows were slightly furrowed but his expression was soft. I smiled a little. He could always tell if there was anything wrong.
I didn’t say anything and leaned into him. He wrapped his arm around me, pulling me in closer. For now, I was going to enjoy every minute I could get with him.
“… How about you all come to dinner tonight?” My mother asked, making me look at her in surprise.
“Since we’re all going to be family, there is no reason why we shouldn’t get to know each other.” She smiled, and her gaze lingered on me and nicholas for a little while longer.
“That would be lovely.” Arianna replied for everyone, and Tessa started to excitedly talk about what kind of food she wanted as she had missed her cooking.
“It’s settled then. Elsa , let’s close so we can do grocery shopping and prepare for dinner.”
“All right, then.” I shrugged. It was way too early for us to be closing but since it was dead quiet today, I was happy to close.
The rest of the group took the bags to put them in the car. I pulled Nicholas slightly away from the rest and waited for them to get out of the boutique. My mother went downstairs to lock up anything important in the safe as she usually did before we closed.
“I was thinking that we should keep the pregnancy to ourselves for now. It’s still too early to tell anyone, and I want to make sure everything is fine.”
“Why? Do you feel something is wrong?” His body tensed, looking at me with worry, and put a hand on my stomach. My eyes widened a bit because I didn’t realize my words had come out as if something was wrong.
“No, nothing’s wrong! I just meant that after we have been to my doctor’s appointment.” I said quickly. The tension from his shoulders slowly disappeared when I reassured him I was fine.
“That’s fine. Whatever you want.” He gave me a small smile.
“Oh, and also, can you at least try to get along with my mom tonight?” I gave him my best innocent, sweet look.
“Get along with your mom?” He raised a brow, not liking the idea.
“You keep glaring at her…Can you stop doing that? She’s my mom and your baby’s grandmother. She’s going to be around whether you like it or not. So please, try not and kill each other tonight.” I was not in the mood to watch them glaring at each other from afar. Especially now that my mother had just said she wanted to get to know them all. He should at least make the same effort.
Nicholas looked at me for a while without saying anything, making me think he was going to dismiss the whole idea.
“…Fine.” He frowned, having me laugh at how he said it.
“Thank you! I love you.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and placed a soft kiss on his lips.
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