"Honey, wake up." I tried to wake Evan as he groaned and curled himself up under the sheets. I smiled and shook my head. "It's your birthday baby, get up.” I said again. And at the mention of that, he got up on the bed and clapped his hands in glee.
"It's my birthday!" He repeated excitedly, making me chuckle.
"Happy birthday, baby." I wished him, wrapping my arms around him and hugging him close to my chest. I kissed his chubby little cheeks.
He giggled and kissed me back. I let him go and he ran out of the room. I made my way towards Emma's bed and woke her up. "It's time to wake up, baby girl." I ran my fingers through her hair and she opened her eyes. "Happy birthday, darling." I grinned and hugged her tightly.
"Thanks mommy.” She smiled and snuggled in my chest.
"Come on. Let's take a shower now." I coaxed and carried her to the bathroom.
Once I am done with showering Emma, I showered Evan, despite his protests. He wanted to open his gifts first.
After showering and dressing them up in their clothes we all made our way downstairs. Juliette and Starvos were sitting on the couch and watching James Corden's show while Damon was standing by the French window, talking on his phone.
He's always on his phone.
Damon and me...well, we have been fine lately. The air around us has been light and we both are surprisingly comfortable with each other. He hasn't made any attempts to take our relationship to the next level and he also hasn't brought up the talk of getting married and for that, I was especially grateful, because I was not ready to marry him again and I could only hope he wouldn't push me to do that.
"Happy birthday, princess." Damon wished Emma first and then turned to Evan. "Happy birthday, buddy.” He kissesd their cheeks and they both thanked him with a huge smile plastered across their small faces.
"This is our first birthday with you, daddy." Emma said with a grin and Evan Nodded, smiling widely. Damon nodded in agreement and kneeled in front of them.
“And, I hope this will be your best birthday so far." He smiled lovingly at them.
The kids walked towards their grandparents and Juliette and Starvos wished them and kissed their heads. Damon then got up and strolled towards me, his eyes lingering on my body as he did, making me nervous.
"Hi." He went formal with me.
"Good morning." I greeted in response, avoiding his gaze, with a nervous smile on my face.
"I invited your parents, and Louis. Liam too and his girlfriend. We're going to have a family lunch and then, we will go somewhere." His eyes were fixated on my lips as he spoke, and his warm breath fanned my face, making my breath hitch.
"Where are we going?" I inquired from him. "And by 'we', you mean?"
"That's a surprise, you don't get to find out until we are there. You, me and the kids." He answered. I furrowed my eyebrows at him and he smiled, shaking his head. "I'm not telling you where we are going." He says. I pout and sigh. He leaned down on me and my breath hitched. He kissed my cheek and left his lips there for a few seconds before finally pulling away. My cheeks heat up and I try to say something, but he beats me to it.
"You remember Zayn?" He asked
“Who wouldn't. How is he? It's been long since I've seen him." I lamented.
"Yea. I invited him, too. Is that okay?"
"Of course. Zayn is your best friend and I actually miss him. We were friends remember?" I beamed and he concored. Zayn and I were actually close. He was like a brother to me and we both had a very good relationship.
"How was the talk with Louis?" I inquired, after few minutes of silence.
Yesterday, Damon and Louis had a talk. I met up with Louis the day before and told him about my decision regarding Damon.
He was upset in the beginning but as I explained everything to him he had calmed down a little. And he requested to talk to Damon and of course, Damon agreed though I was kind of worried. But then, I couldn't say no.
"It was fine. He warned me that if I hurt you again or the kids, he wouldn't think twice before kicking my ass.” He laughed. "He wanted to threaten me but it was kind of funny.” He chuckled lightly.
"We are talking about my brother here." I tried to sound angry but I failed. I joined him and we both laughed lightly.
"I promised him that I will never leave you again.” He continued, his tone was very serious. I looked up and met his gaze and he held mine.
"Mommy! Where are our gifts?" Evan's voice pulled us out of our staring contest.
"Maybe you aren't getting any gifts this year." I teased him as I walked into the kitchen.
"What?!" He shrieked. “It's my birthday. I want gifts." He pouted, following me into the kitchen while Emma walked towards Damon. He lifts her in his arms and follows us towards the kitchen.
“You get gifts every year." I keep teasing. Evan wraps his arms around my leg and holds on to it.
"Mommy." He gives me the usual cute puppy eyes, ones he knew I could never resist.
"Okay, fine." I sighed in defeat, while he squealed in delight. "But you have to wait. You need to finish your breakfast first." I gave him my condition and he pouted but shrugged afterwards. I placed the cheese toast I made on the table and served them on the plates. Juliette and Starvos joined us.
"Juliette and I are going out for breakfast. You know, some alone time?" Mr.Walter announced, wrapping his arm around Juliette's waist and winking at her. Juliette nudged him with her elbow while I laughed and Damon shook his head at his parents but he had a smile on his face.
"Have fun." I grinned and they both smiled before walking out of the kitchen and then the house. I served Damon some toast as he sat at the head of the table. He smiled at me as I put the plate in front of him. "Eat." I held myself from blushing. He smirked at me before digging in.
"Um… can I ask you something?" I stared up at him as I sat at the table adjacent to him and he looked at me before nodding. "Can I um… invite… Harry?" I asked, hopefully. It's not like I needed his permission to invite my friend over to my house. It's just that we both haven't had a fight in the past few days and I didn't want to ruin that. Especially when I wanted to invite Harry. I just want to make sure Damon won't make any nuisance when he sees Harry. I can't afford to ruin my children's special day.
“What?” He asked to make sure I said the right words.
"I want to invite Harry. He's my friend and he has always wanted to meet the kids." I explained.
Damon dropped his fork and knife and turned to me, and from his facial expression, I can already tell what his answer would be. He doesn't want me to invite Harry.
"Why are you asking? This is your house.” He shrugged.
"I just don't want to ruin the kid's day. If you're-" I was saying, but he interrupted me.
"You can invite him." He sighed. I looked at him for confirmation, and he sighed again. "You can invite him if you want, but don't expect me to be nice to him." He forewarned, picked up his fork and knife and began to eat.
"Thank you." I smiled at him and he nodded faintly.
When we finished having breakfast, I texted Harry inviting him for lunch and he said he promised to come
Damon and the kids were sitting on the couch in the living room, watching football (soccer). Though Emma And Evan knew nothing about the game they couldn't stop cheering whenever their dad did so. Damon laughed at them and turned into a kiddies Disney junior.
"Mickey!" Emma squealed when she saw Mickey Mouse appear on TV. "That's my favorite!" She clapped and chuckled in excitement and Damon smiled at her. All of them continued to watch and I made my way back into the kitchen. I need to prepare lunch for the guests. I mean, my family and friends.
I already decided on the menu.
*Crisp potato cheese and meatballs for starters.
*Chicken lasagna and Vegetable fried rice for main course.
*Chocolate cake and chocolate chip cookies for dessert.
I started to chop the vegetables and jumped when I heard a voice behind me.
"Need some help?" I turned around and found Damon standing behind me and was in such close proximity that I could feel his breath on me. I turned away, ignoring the heat that arose within my body.
"It's okay, I can manage." I refuse his help.
"I want to." He said and pushed me to the other side and began to chop the veggies. I rolled my eyes at him and opened the cupboard to pull out the flour for the cake.
"I know you rolled your eyes at me.” He chuckled and I smiled at him, but he didn't see it, because he had his back facing towards me.
The next two hours passed really quickly as Damon and I prepared the three course meal. I am pretty surprised that the meal turned out good and smelt good. I hoped it'd taste the same way it looked and smelt.
There was a knock on the door and I nodded at Damon before going to open the door. I glanced at the kids and they both were still watching cartoons. I opened the door to reveal Liam and Sophia. Liam immediately wrapped his arms around me and I hugged him back waving at Sophia. She waved back and walked inside. I heard the kids squeal and I immediately pulled away from Liam.
“How are you?" He asked and I knew what he meant. I told him about forgiving Damon and he wasn't very happy about it but then again, he was fine.
"Good." I smiled and he smiled back at me. He kissed my head and we both walked back inside after I closed the door. The kids' eyes fell on Liam and they both scurried towards him.
"Liam!" They tackled him in a hug and Liam being strong, caught both of them in his arms and twirled them around.
"Happy birthday my babies." He said in a baby voice and the kids giggled.
The next couple of hours fast paced as everybody except Harry entered the house. We all sat in the living room awaiting the arrival of the last guest too. Zayn wasn't here yet and neither was Harry. My phone rang and I excused myself to answer it. I looked at the ID and it read 'Harry'.
“Hey Harry." I answered the phone.
“Hey, Lucia." He said. "Look, I'm sorry I won't be able to make it to lunch. I have an important meeting to attend with my boss and I can't skip it." He sighed and from his tone, I could tell that if he had his way, he'd be here already.
"Oh, it's okay. The meeting is important." I assured him.
"I promise to see you soon and finally meet the kids. Okay?" He asks.
“Sure Harry, carry on. Bye." I said.
“Wish the kids on my behalf. Bye." He hung up after I said a quick yes. And I walked back to the living room and announced to everyone that Harry wasn't coming.
From the corner of my eyes, I could see Damon sigh in relief and I glanced at Liam who was smirking. I ignored both of them and we all talked while Molly, Emma And Evan watched TV. There was a knock on the door, interrupting our moment of laughter and Damon walked to open it.
"Sorry, I'm late." I heard a slightly deep voice and I turned to see who it came from. My eyes grew wide when I saw the unforgettable face of Zayn, who was in a white long sleeved shirt and a pair of black jeans pants. I leaped up to my feet and ran to hug him. His arms wrapped around my shoulders as mine wrapped around his torso.
"Oh my goodness, Zayn, I missed you." I cried into his shoulder. I heard him laugh before giving me a reply.
"I missed you too, little sister." He chuckled
and pulled away. "It's good to see you again."
"Yes, it is." I agreed and smiled widely.