The vacation that Archer and I were supposed to take had been postponed to next week due to my family being here instead of back in my old pack. It's been three days since the incident and I couldn't shake off the guilty feeling that latched onto me since that afternoon. I felt heavy everywhere as if something was heavy against my body and I couldn't rid of the memories of my mother's disappointed face. I felt utterly depressed when I should be happy, Archer had been trying to put a smile on my face, but his attempts were in vain as I only managed to give him a fake smile, and that hurt me even more.
The day after the incident he surprised me with a bunch of white roses, his attempt to cheer me up only brought a small smile to my face and a kiss. It sat in my room, every time I looked at it, I felt even more terrible for not reacting happier or bubbler. But, it made me realise he was trying, so at least I should be trying too. It did make me feel alright when he'd come to my room in the middle of the night and wrapped his large arms around mine and sleep peacefully.
Now, I was facing the people that I should've faced earlier. I was standing right outside the house they were staying at with a stomach worth of nervousness. I didn't tell Archer where I was going, I had to do this by myself. I heard my siblings laugh softly inside the house, a small smile painting on my lips until I heard my mother and father's voice talking to them. I sighed deeply before walking to the door, my hand knocking softly on the door two times before waiting nervously. I fiddled with my fingers as I heard the talking cease and a slight murmur behind the door. I exhaled, trying to calm my jittery nerves.
The door made a clicking sound and my breath hitched as it slowly opened to reveal the face of my mother who gave a look of surprise as she saw me. I managed a small smile.
"Hi mum," I greeted pathetically, giving her an awkward wave as the door opened fully to reveal my whole family.
"Irene!" My sisters screamed in delight and engulfed me in a large hug, soothing my slight worries.
"Hiya squirts," I teased, rubbing their backs softly before they let go of me.
"What are you doing here?" Elena said curiously as her mate appeared out of nowhere, wrapping his arms around her and she giggled softly
"I'm here to talk to mum," I told her honestly, watching as my mum nodded slowly.
"Oh, at least have lunch with us then," Elena offered and all my siblings cheered in agreement.
"Of course," I smiled as I bent down to grab Johnny who laughed in delight.
I went inside the house, my parents not saying anything and retreated back to a room as I took in their living space. It was quite nice with the colour scheme being grey and white. It gave off a cottage vibe as I saw the open plan kitchen and living room. It was a one-story house, but it looked quite large from the outside. The kitchen had high ceilings and a grey feature wall, black marble countertops and white cupboards as well as a small white island in the middle.
"We're having fried chicken, my mate's speciality," Eleana enthused as she gave him a small kiss on the cheek. He blushed softly, returning the kiss as he headed to the kitchen where he was cooking.
"That's nice," I commented, taking a seat on the small love-chair near the kitchen, seating Johnny on my lap as Elena sat on another chair.
"Yeah, I swear he's making me fat with all his cooking," she chuckled, rubbing her stomach as she rolled her eyes.
"You look fine," I told her as Johnny giggled in my lap.
"Irene! Irene! Look at my drawing!" Eva yelled from across the room with a piece of paper in her hands. She came up to me and showed me a beautiful drawing of a branch filled with small pink flowers. Eva was always the artist as a child and it seemed to be paying off as I stared at the beautiful drawing she created. It was neat and it had to shade, it wasn't too over the top and the simplicity of it made me smile, it warmed my heart looking at it.
"It's beautiful Eva," I cooed softly as she beamed proudly at me.
"Thank you, I drew it at the backyard, Alpha Archer made sure it had beautiful flowers," she glowed bringing the picture back to her, trailing her fingers across the artwork. The thought of Archer made me smile brightly as Eva gave me another beaming smile.
"I'll tell him you said thanks," I said and she nodded in reply before running out of the room and into another one.
"Alpha Archer has been coming to visit the past two days, checking up on us, even if mum and dad don't like it. He's grown quite close with Eva and Timmy. He's quite a catch despite what he's done," Elena commented, twirling a strand of her brown hair in her fingers.
(ELENA, but with blue eyes)
"Really?" I asked, shocked at the news that despite Archer not being on the nice of my parents, he still came by the check up on them.
"Yeah, mum and dad don't talk to him much when he's around, but he usually comes around Lunch time. He planted the flowers himself for Eva after discovering she was an artist," she sighed with a smile on her face. I felt a smile peak at my lips, even when my parents don't like him he was trying for my family. I could feel my heart tug, knowing that I was slowly falling in love with him more and that he was taking care of everyone when I couldn't bring myself to.
"He's really sweet," I sighed with a smile her face, brushing my hair back as Johnny played with it. Elena gave me a knowing look, a smirk on her face as she saw my expression.
"You're falling in love with him, aren't you?" she grinned, twirling an accusing finger at me, causing heat to rise to my cheeks.
"You are!" she beamed happily, clapping her hands joyfully making my blush even more.
"So, what about it?" I said, trying to play it off calmly when I was practically bubbling inside.
"What about it? You're falling in love with despite everything! You looked past everything and saw who he really is! You love him even when mum and dad say no," she informed me with a smirk. I shook my head, giving off a shaky laugh at her assumptions which were all true.
"I guess so, but, I'm scared, what if I do confess that I love him and he sight doesn't come back to him? What if I feel for him is just an infatuation and he'll feel angry because what I feel for him isn't true," I panic, thinking of all the possibilities that could happen if it turned out what I feel for him isn't true.
"What! No, what are you thinking Irene? What you feel for him is true. I can see it in your eyes," she scoffs, proving a point.
"I don't want to think too much into it, right now, I want to talk to mum and dad, worrying about my feelings with Archer is not on my priority list right now," I told her. Johnny squiggled out my lap and ran around, getting bored of just sitting and went to bother Elena's mate.
"Right, right, okay priorities. Mum and dad have been meaning to talk to you, mum's been devastated that even if you could've communicated, you didn't. I understand what you're going through and I'm not mad at you, none of us besides mum and dad is," she said, pointing to the door my mother and father was at. I sighed, rubbing my cheek softly and went over what I was going to say to them.
"Don't worry Irene, they're upset, but won't stay mad at you for long alright? Just try to talk to them and see how they feel," Elena comforts me, giving me a reassuring gaze as I looked at the door my parents were hiding behind.
"Alright, time to suck it up and deal with it," I said, trying to cheer myself up. Elena gave me two thumbs up and I stood up, walked to my parent's door and knocked three times, trying to push down my nervous feelings that settled back into my stomach.
Let's do this Irene, I can do it.