I have to admit, this turned out better than I imagined...” Adele commented, tapping her finger against her chin slowly as she stared at the Christmas tree there in front of her, to which Rose and Andy were finishing adding the last details “ Of course, it could be a little bigger, as our ceiling allows it, but...”
“But none of us could spend a week decorating a ten-foot-tall tree, Granny.” Andy chuckled, dangling one last colored ball from the lowest end of the pine tree “Besides, it's not like we left your favorite decorating company out of work this Christmas. They even decorated the rest of the house for us, but Rose had a great idea by suggesting we at least put up a tree ourselves this year. We haven't done this since…” she finished that thought, but just the way her expression fell and she bit her lip made Rose sure that Andy was thinking of her mother.“She would be very happy to see the good things this last yWith a weary sigh, Rose breathed in the cool breeze, standing on the small balcony off the Vamcaps' dining room, which was now completely empty and the long table clean, after Christmas dinner and the opening of presents. And although the day had been busy, as she needed to take care of Nick and also bake a few things, even though the Vamcaps had hired the entire state caterer to take care of supper, Rose was feeling more than satisfied with that perfect day, with the exception of Alec having been forced to visit his parents, of course.Outside, the snow had given a break, although everything around was covered in white and the lights of the city in the distance made up a very beautiful landscape, which Rose was now admiring alone. Alec, Grace and Adele had been in bed for a long time and Andy, Jullian and Aaron were probably about to go, although they had taken advantage of the occasion to drink some of the drinks from the Vamcaps' famous wine cellar, which Rose was a little s
“Are you sure this isn't too much to handle alone, Andy?” Rose asked for the millionth time that day over the phone, worried "I know Alec is very well behaved and I'm sure his friends probably are, too, but still, babysitting three kids…""Relax, Rose, and put your babysitting spirit to rest." her friend laughed on the other end of the line, at the same time that Rose could hear the voice of Alec and the other two boys talking excitedly about superheroes, nearby “The boys are much more concerned with asking every five minutes what time the movie starts and whether they can get more than one of the toys that come with the lunch, rather than making a mess. Believe me, everything is under control. If you want to worry about something, worry about yourself. You haven't even been in bed for two days, so try to relax and make sure you're fully recovered, okay?"“I'm already fine, I said. I'm just going to have the flu.” Rose shrugged, though
Feeling as if she might die of embarrassment, Rose sank into the pool again and went as close as she could to where the water was churned up by the whirlpool, leaving only her head out, knowing that with that crystal clear water, Aaron could still see her entire body, if she stayed in the quietest part. Not that she thought he would be interested in looking at her that way, but...“I… I'm sorry.” Aaron stammered and, gathering what courage she had left, Rose turned her burning face towards him, finding him on his back with the muscles in his back like rocks, they were so tense "I swear I didn't know you would be here. Alec had said he was going to the movies with his friends today, and when I called Andy, she said she was with them, so I just thought you were too..."“Uh… She made me stay home to get some more rest.” she said, between stutters, “Actually, she was the one who gave me the idea to try hydromassage for the first time
When she first set foot in Vamcap Manor, Rose had the distinct impression that, despite her best efforts, that year would pass very slowly. Now, however, as she looked at the open calendar beside her bed, she could hardly believe that time had passed so quickly and, in a matter of just over two weeks, her marriage contract with Aaron would be over.Hugging her own legs so she could rest her chin between her knees, Rose looked around the room that had once felt cold and empty, but was now her definition of home. Over the months, not only had she bought many cookbooks and things to decorate her room, but she had even received new furniture as gifts from Andy and Aaron, however much she had refused to accept them at the time. Now, instead of a lot of dark wood and cool tones, things were decorated in light and warm pastels, matching the white wardrobe, bed and dressing table, which together made up the best and most beautiful room she had ever seen. ever had in his entire life. An
“You know what's going to happen in two weeks, don't you?”At the sound of Andy's question, Aaron looked up from his computer screen and checked the nearby calendar, becoming even more confused to find nothing important marked on any of the dates there.“Uh… should I know?” he asked his sister, earning an eye roll.“Frankly, Aaron. For someone who is in love, however in denial you may be, you are proving to be far more airheaded than I expected.”"I already told you to stop saying that kind of thing, Andrea…" Shoulders immediately tense, Aaron looked away, not wanting to give her the satisfaction of seeing how his expression got whenever he thought about Rose lately “How many times do I have to repeat it? Just because Rose and I became friends doesn't mean I have feelings for her..."“You two will be married for a year soon.” Andrea cut him off, gaining his attention immediately, so that Aar
“Thanks again for the hospitality, Mrs. Bell. It was a pleasure to visit her home. I promise I will call soon.” Rose said to the elderly woman on the other end of the call, as she finished turning off the notebook that was on top of the table in the room that, now, she and all the other Vamcaps called her office.“I'm so happy, Rose. I'll be waiting." the nice little old lady replied “You were the future tenant that I liked the most until now. I really hope you get the apartment.”“Your house is also the property that I liked the most so far. You can be sure that once I've made a decision, I'll let you know. Until later." she smiled as she hung up, although the feelings that were taking over her at that moment weren't so positive.The small one-story apartment of Mrs. Bell was certainly very lovely, although it was old and some rooms could do with a good makeover. There was enough space for her and Grace to live very well, as well a
“Okay, class, let's give a round of applause to thank Mr. and Mrs. Townsend for letting us know how a winery works and Jasmine for bringing them in today.” Mrs. Greenman, Alec's teacher, encouraged the class as the little red-haired girl's family took their seats again to the sound of class applause, although it was quite noticeable that most of the children were more concerned with talking to their parents than paying attention "Now...” the teacher held the roll call up to eye level for a moment, before smiling “How fast time has flown by. It's time for the last performance of the day. Alec and Mr. and Mrs. Vamcap, would you come over here, please?”With a smile, Rose got up from the small chair she was sitting in next to Aaron and Alec, accepting the hand that the little boy extended to her, leading them to the square and the eyes of the class, who now seemed more focused on them than all the other parents. And Rose couldn't understand why, until
In the hall where the principal's office was located, it was dead silent, and not just because the rest of the rooms around it were in the middle of classes, very different from Alec's. And, sitting there, watching as Rose cradled his sobbing younger brother in her arms, Aaron felt like he'd failed. The most frustrating kind of failure, where he had tried everything he could to make that little boy happy and not let Alphonse and Hazel ruin his life again, but in the end, he hadn't succeeded. Like it or not, those two bastards were still their parents. There was always a void in Alec's life that people would always make a point of reminding him of, like that day. And there was nothing Aaron could do to stop it, because it was beyond his control.So yes, in the end, he had failed his brother.“It's okay now, Alec. It’s over.” Rose murmured, patting his back until, finally, the sobs subsided a bit and, with an exchange of glances, she and Aaron seemed to sil
She could do this.The past was in the past and that scared, easily intimidated Andy was no more. She had been locked in that broom closet, with her hands bleeding and at the bottom of that lake, on that dark night, so many years ago. Now there was only Andrea Vamcap, a competent lawyer and part of a family she would never allow to fall apart, if only because she hadn't had the courage to face her memories and meet with the only person who could save the Vamcaps from Alphonse in that moment."Ms. Vamcap.” a female voice called and, as he turned around, Andy realized that she had been so deep in her own thoughts that she hadn't even noticed that the smiling secretary had returned and was now standing beside her “Mr. Ferrars will see you now. Please, follow me.""Thanks." Andy groaned, his throat raw with nerves.Biting the inside of his cheek to force his body to hold steady, Andy followed the woman to a private elevator and then down a wide hallway that certainly could have held an ent
“And finally, I want to thank our lead developer, Grace Evans, for making this indie initiative the game of the year.” Timothy Collins, the owner of the game development company Grace had been working for for almost 6 years, pointed her out from the middle of the row of all the other people who had worked alongside her on that project “This award belongs to all of us, folks. Thank you again."At the sound of that last sentence, the audience rose to applaud them and, right in the front row, Grace saw Simon, sitting next to Timothy's husband, with that beautiful smile on his face, looking at her as if he were seeing a Goddess on top of that stage, instead of a human being. And as thrilled as she was that her most beloved work had won the award that was every developer's dream, Grace couldn't wait to step off that stage and give her husband a hug.Finally, after another round of applause, she and her co-workers were finally able to step down from the stage and, without even worry
"And this is where Simon's old room used to be." Mrs. Dickinson announced excitedly, opening the door for Simon and Grace to enter “I left him as he always was, at his request, but it breaks my heart to see how simple everything here is. Especially now that his help has made our children's rooms so beautiful and cozy...”"It's just as cute as he is..." Grace sighed, making Mrs. Dickinson laughs and Simon blushes.“Well, that was the last place I wanted to show your girlfriend. Oh, I'm always so happy to see you here again, my boy..." the old lady sighed, going to hold Simon's face by the cheeks as she had done since he was abandoned at the door of the orphanage, in a box, as a baby "And even happier to know that now you knew what love was. I've never seen you so happy before, not even when I was giving you extra time on my living room computer.”“It was great meeting you too, Mrs. Dickinson.” Grace smiled, looking genuinely thrilled to be there “It was so amazing to see the
“Stop swinging your legs like that! It looks like a tremendous duck!” Elisabeth scolded Grace for the millionth time that day, causing her to stop nervously shaking her legs as she sat in the waiting room of the restaurant where her parents had taken her to meet her mystery fiance “And stop biting your lip or you'll get lipstick on your teeth! God, I never met a girl more slovenly than you! How can you be my daughter?”“Shut up and stop causing an uproar!” Michael growled in a low tone, reaching over to grab his wife's arm after seeming to have finally finished confirming the reservation with the waiter who had accosted them the moment they set foot in that huge restaurant and who screamed exclusively "We have to make a good first impression on our son-in-law!"“Don’t you dare talk to me like that!” Elisabeth spat, moving her arm away from his grip, but at least in a lower tone “Do you have any idea how long it took me and how much makeup I had to spend to make her even remote
It had been exactly 7 months, 2 weeks and 4 days since Grace had asked to see her best friend's dick, and even after the day Simon had gotten up from the table so fast as to break his own computer and end the conversation, she felt that he was still awkward around her, even though they had made a silent pact not to mention her request again.The funny thing was, Grace couldn't even feel embarrassed. Not that she didn't know that asking someone to be naked during a video call was weird, but… She honestly wanted to see that part of Simon. The only thing that made her feel bad was the fact that, from some of their conversations, Grace had the distinct impression that Simon thought she had asked this out of pure and simple curiosity. And unfortunately, whenever she tried to explain that she really was physically attracted to him, and even more so, Simon seemed to panic and end the call.Her parents had always said that she was very strange, and maybe Grace really was. Because she
“Please make yourself comfortable, Mr. Evans.” Mr. Conti touched Simon's shoulder in a friendly way as the waiter poured a glass of whiskey at the table he was sitting at "It's a pleasure to have you here again."“Thanks again for the invitation.” Simon forced himself to smile, since, of all the people he had met since he had started making a lot of money and being invited to that kind of high society club, Mr. Conti and his wife seemed to be one of the few people who were being genuinely kind to him.“Let me say hello to my other guests, but I'll be back here shortly so we can talk a little, yes?” the old man smiled, as if he knew perfectly well that Simon would not fit in easily here among all these men who were twice his age and never had to worry for once in their lives about what they were going to eat the next day “Why don't you try to take a walk and meet the other gentlemen? I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun.”Suppressing a sigh, Simon just smiled a little and nodde
“Grace...!” Rose called out to her, still inside the living room where Alec Vamcap, the nephew of the man she had married, was now happily playing with his adorable puppy; however, Grace pretended that she hadn't heard her and continued to walk quickly towards the room where she was staying in the Vamcap mansion, with the Christmas card, which she had questioned about, in her hands.It was still hard for her to believe that her sister actually looked so happy, in fact happier than she had ever been in the Springs, here with the family of the man she had forcibly married. Not that Grace was bothered by that. After all, Mr. Vamcap had turned out to be a better person than she realized, not only preventing Rose from being assaulted by Michael, but also bringing Grace into that mansion months ago, when she still had to wait until she could move into the dorm. Of course, she had been absolutely surprised when he had done this, as she had painted an image of him in her mi
Simon knew he was acting like he was 8 years old again, hiding in corners and just observing everything around him, letting shyness get the better of him, instead of doing what he really wanted to do. But dammit, whenever he glanced in Grace's direction, his heart raced, his palms turned cold, and he was more certain than ever that he still didn't have the courage to walk up to her and simply introduce himself. Not if it meant his looks might disappoint her and she wanted to stop being friends with him.Of course, he also knew he shouldn't have taken advantage of the fact that she had told him where her college was and given him the opportunity to go there and see her, on the day he knew Grace would be coming to apply, but... He wanted so much to see her up close. Or, at least, from a few meters away, as he was doing now, sitting at one of the tables in the college cafeteria, while he watched Grace standing in line near one of the rooms, hugging some documents and looking very
Most kids learned from their parents that strangers were not to be trusted, especially strangers you met on the internet and had never seen their faces before. In the case of Grace Springs, however, it was her older sister who had taught her that. So she knew very well how horrified and worried Rose would be to learn that she was doing exactly that right now."How's your day?" The message flashed in the in-game personal chat after the match ended, and with a smile, Grace clicked to open the message and reply from her friend Simon.Well, theoretically his nickname was still TallMole95, but they were long past that stage of knowing each other's real names. Seven months in all, in fact, since she'd managed to get hold of one of the notebooks in her father's study. Rose always said that she needed to avoid getting into trouble with Elisabeth and Michael as much as possible, especially while her sister wasn't back from college, but after those two had sold the portable game con