"All locked?" Sophia asks, as she stands on the sidewalk. I nod.
"Yeah, I made sure the car is locked. Triple checked," I say as I jog to catch up with her.
"So I'm assuming your mom went out shopping yesterday just to make sure that we're fed, right?" she asks. I nod.
"Yeah. Trust me, the last thing she needs is me saying 'I'm hungry.' She's got us covered. We may come again tomorrow, but my parents will come along," I say, as I push my thumb into the doorbell.
"I wonder how this is going to turn out," she says, and before I can come up with a response, the lock clicks and the door opens. Standing there is my cousin Natalie. Her 5'7" figurine makes me feel a little bit short, and her blue eyes light up when she sees Sophia and I here.
"Ray! Oh my gosh, you're here! Finally!" she squeals, and she goes in for a hug.
"Hey, Natalie! How are you?" I ask, and I let go of her. "I'm doing fine! Come in, everyone's waiting," Natalie says, and she beckons for us to come inside.
"Who is this lovely lady?" she asks, taking glance at Sophia as we enter the house.
"This is my girlfriend, Sophia," I say, and Natalie's face lights up. Sophia holds out her hand.
"It's nice to meet you, Natalie!" she says gleefully. Natalie takes her hand and shakes it vigorously.
"So polite! Sweetie, you don't have to be so polite. Ray, she's a sweetheart. Come here! It's nice to meet you!" Natalie says, and she goes in to hug Sophia.
"You're a pretty girl, Sophia. Ray got lucky. And you seem like a lovely person," Natalie says, and Sophia smiles.
"Wow, you're really sweet. Thank you!" Sophia says, and Natalie smiles.
"Did I hear Ray? He's here?" a voice says from upstairs. I hear footsteps leading down the stairs, and my aunt Danicka enters the dining room. Her elbow length, chestnut brown hair is in soft waves, and her pure blue eyes are scanning the room in the hopes of finding me. I wave frantically towards my aunt.
"Ray! You're here!" she squeals, and she runs towards me. She engulfs me in a bone crushing hug, while everyone watches like we're both insane. I can see Sophia smiling happily when she sees my aunt again, and I can't wait to see my aunt's reaction when she sees Sophia again. My aunt lets go, and her head turns so that she can see Sophia.
"Sophia! You came! Oh, it's been so long!" Aunt Danicka says, and she also engulfs Sophia in a tight hug. Sophia hugs her too, and she looks over at me.
"You doing okay?" I mouth to Sophia. Her thumb shoots up, signifying that she's fine. "You got prettier since the last time I saw you! How are you, sweetie?" she asks, while stroking her hair and placing a hand on her face. Sophia shrugs.
"I've been doing fine. I missed you!" she says, and my aunt beams. She's probably going to explode from happiness.
"Oh, I missed you too! How's your friendship going?" she asks, looking back at me. Sophia looks at me with a satisfied look on her face, and I take it from there.
"Aunt Danicka, we're dating," I say, and I'm actually scared that my aunt's going to explode out of excitement.
"You're dating?! Oh my gosh, finally! I'd always wanted to see you dating!" she squeals, and Sophia giggles out of her reaction.
"I didn't think that you'd start dating so soon, Ray," a steely voice says. My lips tighten together at the voice that's behind me. I know exactly who that is, and it's time to face what I've been so nervous about. My head cranes itself to the sound of the voice. My eyes fall upon my aunt Basia, standing there, with her arms crossed. Her lips are pressed together, and neutrality is all that is painted on her face.
"Hey, Aunt Basia," I say, in an effort to keep things simple. My aunt walks over to me, and she wraps me in a loose leaf hug. It's almost like she's a germophobic and she doesn't want to get sick.
"Hello, Ray. I'm glad you're back. And who did you bring with you this time?" she asks, with her gaze shifting over to Sophia. Sophia taps her foot a little bit, and I can tell that she's getting a little bit nervous.
"Hi. Nice to meet you. My name's Sophia, and I'm Ray's girlfriend," Sophia says, and she gulps a little bit. Aunt Basia raises an eyebrow, tilts her head, and it looks as if she's thoroughly examining Sophia. It's not a pretty sight.
"It's nice to meet you, Sophia. You can call me Basia. As you know, I'm Ray's aunt. I'm sure you treat him well," she says, but with a little bit of suspicion flicking her eyes. It's almost like a father interrogating his daughter's boyfriend when she brought him to meet her parents for the very first time. Sophia nods.
"Oh, Ray is my world. I'd do anything for him. He means so much to me," she chants, and I smile.
"That's my belle," I think proudly, as Aunt Basia continues her evaluation.
"That's good. I'll leave you alone now," she says, and she trots over to where Aunt Danicka is. Sophia almost runs towards me, and she's still a little bit pale from Aunt Basia's thorough examination.
"You okay?" I ask, and Sophia nods.
"I'm fine. Just got a little bit nervous from that," she says, and I chuckle.
"Don't worry. I'm sure she doesn't mean to scare you," I assure, but at this point, I don't even know if I'm telling myself or her the truth. Aunt Basia can be a little bit critical sometimes, and it can be really annoying. I just don't want Sophia to worry.
"That's fine. Now, who else do we have to meet?" Sophia asks.
"You're forgetting about me," a deep voice announces, and the figure appears right in front of us. He's crossing his arms, which conceal his slight pot belly. He has a bright smile, and is staring straight at us. I throw the person an equally bright smile.
"Hey, Uncle Filip!" I chant, and he brings me into a bear hug. Sophia looks a little bit more pale, probably because my uncle has the same name as Roman's stepdad. Once my uncle releases me, I introduce them.
"Sophia, this is another Philip. This is my uncle Filip, who is nothing like Roman's stepdad," I say, and Sophia smiles a little bit.
"It's nice to meet you, Mr.... I'm sorry, I don't know what to call you," she confesses, and my uncle chuckles a little bit.
"You're a very nice young lady, Sophia. And you can just call me Filip, dear. So, you're Ray's girlfriend?" he asks, and Sophia nods.
"We've been dating for a few months. Best few months of my life," she proudly exclaims, and I beam. I'm a lucky fool for having Sophia. I don't know what I'd do without her. Filip smiles, and sees the wholesomeness of our relationship.
"You guys are cute. Also, Sophia, I'm really sorry about Basia. She can be critical sometimes. A little more than appreciated," he says, apologetically.
"Yeah, you don't say," I think, but Sophia just shakes off Uncle Filip's apology.
"Don't worry about it. I've dealt with worse," she says, and Filip nods.
"Noted. Say, how long have you guys known each other? I'm guessing kind of long since you guys are dating," he says, and a squeal is heard behind us.
"RAY HAS A GIRLFRIEND?" a female's voice shrieks, and when I turn around, my cousin, Anna, is standing there. The look on her face indicates that she's completely fangirling over us right now.
"Anna! Wow, you're surprised," I exclaim, and Anna runs in for a rib crushing hug.
"Dude, I can't believe your dating. You used to be a scrawny, short 13 year old kid who would go around throwing flour everywhere when we cooked. Now, you're all tall and dating. Ah, time goes by fast," she exclaims, while playfully pinching my cheeks like I'm a baby. I swat her hands away.
"Ah, stop it. Yeah, I'm dating," I say, and Anna looks at me with admiration.
"Aw, my wittle baby is dating now. You're so cute! I remember when you would blow us bubbles, and laugh whenever we made faces. You're so big now," Anna teases, while pinching my cheeks again. I push her hands away.
"Oh, stop it, Anna," I say, blushing out of embarrassment. Anna snickers. "Aw, my wittle Ray-Ray is bwushing! How adowable!" Anna says in a baby voice. I groan and roll my eyes. She chuckles.
"I think that's enough. But come on. Don't be embarrassed. It's not like the time with the orange food colori-," she says, but I cut her off.
"Yeah, don't mention that incident. I don't need to be re-traumatized," I say, and she chuckles.
"Oh, fine. But I am teasing you about it later on. Don't think about escaping," she says, and I roll my eyes again.
"Enough about you. Who's the unlucky lady that you forced to be your girlfriend?" she asks, and I scoff.
"Unlucky? She should be lucky to have someone like me," I say jokingly, and Anna rolls her eyes.
"Nah. She's unlucky for having to deal with your ego that's larger than Czech Republic itself," she says, and I roll my eyes at her.
"That's actually not true. I'm really lucky to have Ray and his golden heart," Sophia says, and I think I can see Anna blush a little bit.
"You're such a cutie! Ray, you're a lucky guy for having someone like her. Aaand I didn't even catch her name! What's your name?" she asks.
"The name's Sophia. Let me guess, your name's Anna?" she asks. Anna nods.
"Yes! How'd you guess?" Anna asks, sarcastically.
"Oh, just a hunch, I guess," she says, and they both chuckle.
"She's funny. I like her," Anna says.
"Like who?" another voice says, and with that, two more sets of feet run towards where we are. This time, it's my other two cousins, Eduard and Kristyna.
"Oh, I like Ray's girlfriend. She's a funny little thing," Anna says, and Kristyna's jaw drops to the ground.
"Since when did you have a girlfriend? I'm getting old," Kristyna exclaims. Anna shrugs.
"Not my fault, grandma. Where's your walking stick?" Anna says, and Kristyna playfully shoves her.
"Okay, before this turns into a wrestling match, I'm just going to introduce myself. Hi, I'm Eduard, and I'm the only guy surrounding these two hot messes. What's your name?" Eduard asks, while extending his hand and getting eye rolls from Anna and Kristyna.
"I'm Sophia, Ray's girlfriend. I'm the one who has to monitor Ray's ego so that it doesn't swell like a balloon," she says, while everyone chuckles.
"I applaud you. That's not an easy task," Eduard says, while I roll my eyes.
"Also, Aunt Danicka, where's Uncle Noah?" I call.
"I banished him to the supermarket with Lauren and Jasmine to get some food for tonight's dinner. Yeah, he hates shopping. Watch him come back complaining and crying like he had to run a marathon with no water or energy," she comments, while we all laugh. While we're having our funny moments, I can feel the glare of someone burning into my back. It's just so noticeable, and I don't know why.
"Ray, can I talk to you for a second?" my Aunt Basia calls. Immediately, I know that this isn't going to be good. The tone in her voice and the timing of when she calls me is the worst ever. Gritting my teeth, I turn around to face her. I trot over to where Aunt Basia is standing, and I nod.
"Yes, Aunt Basia?" I ask. Aunt Basia raises an eyebrow at me.
"You said that she's your girlfriend?" she asks. I nod.
"Yes, and I'm very happy to have her as a girlfriend," I say defensively. Aunt Basia frowns.
"Well, I'm not. I don't think she's fit for you. There's something off about her," Aunt Basia says, which leaves me appalled. She only talked to her for about 2 minutes, and she's already judging her?
"How can you say that? You didn't even talk to her that much," I say, and she scoffs.
"Ray, I know people really well. I know there's something off about her that she's not revealing. I don't like her," she says. I cross my arms.
"So? I'm happy with her, Aunt Basia. That's all that matters. Why do you not want that?" I ask. Aunt Basia sighs.
"Fine. I can't argue with you. But that's what I think," she says, and swiftly walks away. With a little bit of anger still running through my veins, I turn around. When I turn around, I see what I don't want to see.
Sophia is sitting down, kind of far from where Basia told me, but even she heard what was happening. A hurt look is lightly painted across her face, and my heart sinks down to the pits of my stomach.
This is not going to be fun at all.
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Wow. Just wow. This isn't good. What do you guys think of Aunt Basia? Let me know in the comments.
Hey everyone! What's up? Are you all well? I actually had a lot of fun writing this chapter. I love Anna, because she's insanely funny. Some people have been waiting to meet Anna *looks at a certain someone.*
Also, if you guys didn't see my announcement, then I'll say it here. Thank you to everyone who voted for I Never Imagined in the Hot Chocolate Awards. I was able to advance to the next round thanks to you all. Thank you all so much! It means a lot!
That's pretty much it. Hope you all liked this chapter!
Please vote/comment/share/follow/message if you like my work. See you all next Sunday with the next chapter of I Never Imagined! Have a great week!
Love you guys,
Shree