I had been out on the tracks jogging for well over two hours. It had left me drenched in sweat. My parang buriko tail had become loose over that time and stray hairs stuck to my neck. I was breathing heavily. I went into the gym changing rooms and took a quick shower. As much as I wanted to stay under the flowing water forever, I had to pick up my little angel from the nursery. As I knew I was going home, I dressed in casuals: light blue skinny jeans and a white tank top. I dried my hair under the hair dryer, but gave up quickly. My dark curly hair fell well below my shoulders. It would take ages to completely dry it off. I grabbed my gym bag and headed towards the nursery.
"Hey, Amanda," I greeted one of the moroi staff at the nursery. She got along well with Kady, I think she was actually Kady's favourite here.
"Oh, hello, Guardian Hathaway." I knew I liked her, always respectful and polite. "What are you doing here?" she asked smiling warmly, although a little confused.
"Ummm…to pick up my daughter," I replied in a 'duh' tone. What else was I going to do here?
"She already left. Princess Dragomir came to pick her up at lunch," she informed me.
"Oh…okay," I sinabi slowly. "Well I'll see you later." I turned around and headed towards our wing. Why had Lissa picked up Kady? I always picked my daughter up. And why had she picked her up so early? For lunch? Well, I wasn't angry, just…confused. I could've tried pagbaba her thoughts now, but decided not to. Lissa didn't like that I could read her off the bat, it estola away her privacy. Anyway, she probably just wanted to surprise Kady or something sa pamamagitan ng taking her out to lunch. That must have been it. I stopped speculating and instead looked pasulong to seeing my little angel. Despite being on duty all araw and my two oras jog, I always had energy for my beautiful daughter.
As soon as I entered the apartment, my little angel ran up to me shouting, "Mommy!" and jumped into my open arms.
"Mwah," I kissed her soft rosy cheeks, "I missed you."
"I missed you too, mommy," she sinabi sweetly, hugging me.
The pag-ibig between mother and daughter was nothing to what I had expected or experienced. The pag-ibig between a mother for her child is a beautiful thing. The pull I had towards my little angel was so big that it physically hurt to be away from her. My puso would ache. The first few times I had spent away from her were puso wrenchingly painful. She was on my mind every single segundo of every minute, tears would build in my eyes just thinking about her. God, I loved her so much. And when I'd see her again after a long days work it felt like the beginning of a new day, she was my sunshine. Every time I looked at her I would thank whoever there was up above, if it were God, then I thanked Him daily for such a blessing.
"Rose, finally," Lissa interrupted my thoughts in a slightly exasperated tone. However, underneath the surface I could feel her excitement emanating towards me. Huh…she was also blocking her thoughts and emotions. Yeah…I know I sinabi I wouldn't do that, but I was intrigued. I narrowed my eyes at her.
"What are you up to?"
"Nothing," she replied innocently and a bit too quickly. Hmmm…she'd picked up Kady early from nursery - way early - and now she was trying to block me out of her head. "Relax, its nothing," she ensured as I continued to paghahanap her face. She wasn't giving anything away.
Kady jumped off of me and ran into the living/kitchen/dining room and plopped onto the sopa beside Sparky, who naturally wrapped his arms around her. They were watching 'Shrek' - man I loved donkey, he was awesome!
"Dinners at 8," Lissa announced.
"We usually eat at 7," I stated.
"I know, I've been busy today so dinner's been pushed back."
"Yeah, about that. How comes you picked up Kady so early from the nursery?"
Lissa opened her mouth to answer, but Kady cut in, "Me and Aunty Lissa had lunch, mommy. Yeah, it was this reeeaaally nice pagkain place," she nodded her head enthusiastically.
"Restaurant." She shrugged. My three taon old hasn't mastered the art of saying 'restaurant' quite yet, bless her. I smiled to myself.
"I haven't been able to spend much time lately with my favourite niece," actually Kady was her only niece, "so I thought I'd treat her to something special." I guess it was true. Lissa was very busy with wedding plans, it ruled her life at the current moment. On tuktok of that, she had recently graduated from college and the reyna (Bitch) took the opportunity to throw Liss in the deep end of moroi politics. She was doing great, fighting the right for moroi to learn offensive magic and defensive combat. I was so proud of her. She enthralled her audience and the moroi politicians with her natural charming personality.
"Well, since dinner's later on I might as well give Kady a bath."
"Mommy, I wanna watch Shrek."
"No, Kady, you're having a bath." I switched on my no-nonsense mother voice, gentle yet stern. However, Kady was the daughter of yours truly. She turned around in the sopa to face me, crossed her arms around her chest and pouted.
"No. I want to watch Shrek." I sighed.
"I'm sure you can watch that another time, now come on."
"No," her voice full of determination. Please tell me this wasn't going to be one of those 'Kady tantrums', I pleaded.
"Kady," I raised my voice ever so slightly. She simply glared back. I raised my eyebrows, giving off the don't-mess-with-me look. She stood her ground. Times like this I wished she was madami like her father, never disobeying authority. Then again, a secret part of me loved that she was so like me.
I walked over to her and picked her up. She thrashed around, yelling, "No!"
"See you guys in a bit," I called to Liss and Christian nonchalantly, as if I wasn't carrying a manic three taon old.
"Be there at 8," Lissa sinabi sharply. They were used to 'Kady tantrums', which honestly didn't come too often. But she was a child, and lets face it, kids want what the want. However, I was going to raise my child up right and there was no way in hell that I was going to take orders from a three taon old, no matter how charming and angelic she could be at times.
I closed their apartment door just as she screamed, "I don't want a bath!"
"Tough," I replied sternly. I knew once she was in the bath she'd be fine. She loved splashing around in the bath tub, even madami so in the pool.
And what do you know? As soon as she was in the bath she was back to her normal self, giggling and splashing around. Hearing her laugh was music to my ears. When I finished giving her a bath, I dressed her up in cute black shorts and a white T-shirt which sinabi 'MY MOMMY KICKS BUTT =P'. Adrian had ibingiay it as a gift, a gift as much for me as it was for Kady. He loved showering Kady with gifts throughout the year, there didn't need to be a special occasion for him to express his pag-ibig for his little princess.
"What's for dinner, mommy?"
"I don't know, angel. We're just gonna have to wait and see. Come on…" I sinabi as we made our way to their apartment. I glanced at the clock before shutting the door. It was exactly 8:10. Oops, we were 10 minutos late.
As I opened Lissa's apartment door Kady ran to the living/kitchen/dining room. Sigh. Am I going to have to say that every time I mention that particular room? Let's call it the living room from now on, shall we. Great, I was talking to myself. I shook my head slightly and made my way through the dim lit hallway to the living/kitch- oh yeah, sorry…the living room. I frowned. I could hear madami chatter in the living room than usual.
"This is Kady, Rose's-" Lissa was cut off. sa pamamagitan ng me…
"Dimitri," I breathed, my puso accelerating a million miles a minute. All heads turned towards me, however, I only had eyes for one person. That person was the pag-ibig of my life, the father of my child.
"Roza," he whispered, his voiced laced in that hot Russian accent, which had become madami pronounced. He smiled. Almost. His lips turned up at one corner ever so slightly. And let me tell you he looked as sexy as ever.
I gulped. This could not be happening. Why was he here? He left me. He left me to be with her? Tears threatened to escape from the brim of my eyes. I blinked and fought them away.
"Wha-" I cleared my throat and tried again. "What are you doing here?" my voice slightly clipped.
He noticed. "It's the Princess' wedding," he replied politely, guardian like, as if this was fricking guardian business! I had half a mind to go over there and slap him. Whereas, the other side of me wanted to go over there and halik him so passionately he'd be gasping for air. I chastised that part of me that was happy, thrilled even, to have him here. He was taken.
"Lissa's wedding is in a month."
"I wanted to be here. You know, to help Lissa and Christian prepare for their wedding." And that ladies and gentleman was…Tasha fricking Ozera. Ugh. Correction - double ugh. Not only is she with the man I love/father of my child, she was too freaking nice! It was impossible to think badly of her. She was just…too damn nice! I sighed internally. I guess at least Dimitri didn't leave me for a grade A skank.
"Oh," I replied oh-so eloquently.
"Is this your sister?" she asked, smiling at Kady who was perched on Adrian's lap. He always came to sumali us for dinner. Although I think it was madami that he joined Kady and I for dinner.
I cleared my throat again before uncomfortably answering her question, her stupid question. Like my mom could have a baby at her age. Okay, maybe she could, but I refused to believe she was even mildly capable of being sexually active. Gross!
"No. This is my daughter." Kady smiled widely at a surprised Tasha. Dimitri's head snapped up to look at my daughter…his daughter. He looked at Kady, then his eyes shifted to Adrian and then finally he met my eyes questioningly. I swear I saw a little bit of hurt in his eyes and shoved that thought away, again reminding myself 'he left me'!
"Adrian-" he barely whispered, shaking his head slightly in disbelief.
"No," I cut him off sharply. Plus, I really didn't want to get into this conversation with my baby sitting right there. I sighed and looked at Lissa, who was confused at our little conversation. 'Why does Dimitri look upset?' she thought to herself. I gritted my teeth trying to get out of her head and away from her ignorant questions. "Lissa, can we just get hapunan over and done with? Kady's hungry."
"Oh, yeah, sorry. Come on, princess. I made your favourite pasta," Lissa held her hand out to Kady. Kady elegantly jumped off Adrian's lap and grabbed Lissa's hand with her own chubby ones.
"Yay!" she jumped excitedly.
"Dinner's served guys, why don't you come over to the dinning table," Lissa motion towards, well…the dinning table. She plopped Kady on her special high upuan so as she could reach the table. I took my usual place beside her, with Adrian sitting beside me. In the middle of the dinning mesa was a huge authentic Moroccan tagine, the steam rising in the air. I caught a whiff of the pagkain enclosed inside. I moaned internally, Lissa sure did know how to cook. She could so moonlight as a chef, I thought to myself. madami chairs were pulled back. Great. Tasha sat across from me. Frickedy frick frick. Dimitri sat beside her, across from Kady.
"What's your name?" Kady asked Dimitri.
Dimitri smiled warmly, his eyes twinkling. "My name is Dimitri Belikov. What's your name?"
"My name is Kaitlin Marie Hathaway," she replied proudly, "but you can call me Kady," she smiled brilliantly.
"Kady," he nodded to himself, trying it out on his tongue. His eyes lowered to her T-shirt. "'My mommy kicks butt'," he read out, amused. He looked at me but I quickly dropped my gaze to my food, which Lissa served up - Moroccan style lamb…mmmm.
"You know Dimitri taught your mommy how to fight," Tasha told Kady.
Kady's eyes widened. "Wow, cool. Is that true, mommy?" she asked me sweetly, dazed. I always loved how she'd ask me before believing anything. She had so much faith in me, and she was only three!
I couldn't help but smile, as I looked down at her. "Yes, angel."
She looked back to Dimitri, impressed. "Could you teach me how to fight, Dimitri?" she asked, bouncing in her high chair excitedly. Dimitri chuckled softly that sent me chills, in a thrilling way.
"Kady, enough talking. Eat your food," I pointed at her pasta, she wasn't allowed the Moroccan food, which would be too spicy for her. That was distraction enough and she tucked in hungrily, and messily mind you.
hapunan was surprisingly pleasant. At first I was uncomfortable, but slowly I eased into the conversation - Lissa and Christian's summer wedding. Their wedding plans…blah, blah, blah. I kind of couldn't wait until it was all over. Wedding planning honestly wasn't my forte. Dimitri was silent for the most part, making me that much madami comfortable i.e. I could ignore him easier; and Kady was silent as well, too engrossed in her food.
"Mommy, I want more," she pleaded.
"No, angel. You've had enough." She'd already had two servings, small three taon old helpings. She sulked in her chair.
"No fair."
"Well, okay," I sighed, "you can have some madami pasta." Kady immediately brightened up. As I got up to serve her madami I continued, "I guess you won't be having the delicious panghimagas your Aunt Lissa made."
"What? No, no, no," she shook her head quickly. "I want dessert, mommy." I laughed silently.
panghimagas was a messy affair on my three taon olds part. She had ice cream all around her mouth and hands. She sat there on the chair trying to lick all the ice cream off her hands. I laughed out loud this time. "Come on, angel, let's get you cleaned up." I picked her up and moved over to the kusina so I could wash her hands and face. I pagtunaw the familiar intoxicating aftershave waft behind me. Dimitri followed us closely behind. As I washed Kady up he waited patiently, leaning against the counter beside me. My puso was thumping in my chest and I could feel the mga paru-paro swirling around my stomach. However, I kept my face composed and pointedly ignored his presence. Once I finished with Kady I set her down on her feet and she ran towards the others, leaving Dimitri and I alone. Of course we weren't alone alone, but the others wouldn't be able to hear from here if we talked quietly.
"Rose-"
I cut him off, "So how long are you staying here?" I sinabi sharply, keeping my eyes anywhere but at him.
Dimitri sighed and inched closer towards me. I finally looked up as he looked down at me. God, my memory had not done him justice. His brown hair, which I ached to touch, fell to his shoulders. His face took on that vulnerable look I remembered clearly every time it would be just me and him, alone. God, those lips. Those gorgeous kissable soft lips. And his eyes. I was getting Nawawala into those deep brown eyes, where I could see into the very depths of his soul.
"We need to talk," he sinabi huskily, breaking me out of my reverie. I blinked. "I know your upset and you have every right to be. I need to set everything straight," his eyes bore into mine intensely. He had his very own compulsion over me.
I closed my eyes, cutting off that connection. It was easier for me to stay composed that way. "There is nothing to talk about. You left," 'me' I thought in my head, "so you could be with her. End of story. Nothing to talk about." I opened my eyes to find him staring back at me. I shook my head and closed my eyes again. "Ugh…stop it!" I hissed.
"Stop what?" he was genuinely surprised sa pamamagitan ng my outburst.
"Stop looking at me like that. I can't…I can't think. I can't think when you look at me like that?" I shook my head again, eyes closed, rubbing my forehead trying to think straight. God damn it! All I could think, all I could smell, all I could feel was him! Wait…feel? I opened my eyes slowly and felt Dimitri's hands gently tug my hand away from my head. He continued to look intently into my eyes.
Someone cleared their throat. I jumped back, only now realising, horrified, how close in contact we had been. I looked to find Adrian standing there…smirking. "Interrupting something?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.
"No," I glared back. I pushed him aside and made my way to the couches where the rest sat, seemingly oblivious to mine and Dimitri's…whatever the hell that was. "Come on, Kady. We're leaving," I sinabi slightly madami fiercely than I had anticipated.
Kady frowned. "But, mommy, I wanna stay."
"Baby, it's ten o'clock. Its way past your bedtime."
"Go on, princess. We'll see you in the morning." Christian bent down and kissed her on the head.
Kady walked over to me, looking a bit down. I bent down so I could look her in the eye. "How about you come to the gym tomorrow with me? It'll be Friday," I smiled.
"Yay!" she jumped into my arms and hugged me tightly. She then went over to the others to hug and halik them goodbye. I was glad that she simply waved at Tasha. "Bye, Aunt Lissa."
"Kady, aren't you missing something?" Kady looked at me and frowned. Then it clicked. She looked back at Liss and smiled.
"Thank you for dinner, Aunt Lissa. It was really yummy," she nodded her head. She paused for a split second. "Oh! And thank you for taking me out today," and she gave Liss a bug hug and a 'Mwah' on the cheek.
"Your welcome."
Finally, Kady made her way over to Dimitri. He crouched down from his 6ft 6 height so he was a few inches taller than her. "Dimitri, promise to teach me how to fight."
Dimitri looked at me for permission. I paused and then nodded my head slightly. "I promise, angel," he said, looking back, unknowingly, at his daughter.
"Thank you, Dimitri," Kady gushed and wrapped her arms around his neck. He stiffened for a split segundo and hugged her back, halik her on her curly brown hair, which was the exact same shade as his own. I fought the tears again for the segundo time tonight. Kady let him go and he got up. "Goodnight, Dimitri."
"Goodnight, angel."
Kady grabbed my hand. "Let's go, momma."
"Hey, Amanda," I greeted one of the moroi staff at the nursery. She got along well with Kady, I think she was actually Kady's favourite here.
"Oh, hello, Guardian Hathaway." I knew I liked her, always respectful and polite. "What are you doing here?" she asked smiling warmly, although a little confused.
"Ummm…to pick up my daughter," I replied in a 'duh' tone. What else was I going to do here?
"She already left. Princess Dragomir came to pick her up at lunch," she informed me.
"Oh…okay," I sinabi slowly. "Well I'll see you later." I turned around and headed towards our wing. Why had Lissa picked up Kady? I always picked my daughter up. And why had she picked her up so early? For lunch? Well, I wasn't angry, just…confused. I could've tried pagbaba her thoughts now, but decided not to. Lissa didn't like that I could read her off the bat, it estola away her privacy. Anyway, she probably just wanted to surprise Kady or something sa pamamagitan ng taking her out to lunch. That must have been it. I stopped speculating and instead looked pasulong to seeing my little angel. Despite being on duty all araw and my two oras jog, I always had energy for my beautiful daughter.
As soon as I entered the apartment, my little angel ran up to me shouting, "Mommy!" and jumped into my open arms.
"Mwah," I kissed her soft rosy cheeks, "I missed you."
"I missed you too, mommy," she sinabi sweetly, hugging me.
The pag-ibig between mother and daughter was nothing to what I had expected or experienced. The pag-ibig between a mother for her child is a beautiful thing. The pull I had towards my little angel was so big that it physically hurt to be away from her. My puso would ache. The first few times I had spent away from her were puso wrenchingly painful. She was on my mind every single segundo of every minute, tears would build in my eyes just thinking about her. God, I loved her so much. And when I'd see her again after a long days work it felt like the beginning of a new day, she was my sunshine. Every time I looked at her I would thank whoever there was up above, if it were God, then I thanked Him daily for such a blessing.
"Rose, finally," Lissa interrupted my thoughts in a slightly exasperated tone. However, underneath the surface I could feel her excitement emanating towards me. Huh…she was also blocking her thoughts and emotions. Yeah…I know I sinabi I wouldn't do that, but I was intrigued. I narrowed my eyes at her.
"What are you up to?"
"Nothing," she replied innocently and a bit too quickly. Hmmm…she'd picked up Kady early from nursery - way early - and now she was trying to block me out of her head. "Relax, its nothing," she ensured as I continued to paghahanap her face. She wasn't giving anything away.
Kady jumped off of me and ran into the living/kitchen/dining room and plopped onto the sopa beside Sparky, who naturally wrapped his arms around her. They were watching 'Shrek' - man I loved donkey, he was awesome!
"Dinners at 8," Lissa announced.
"We usually eat at 7," I stated.
"I know, I've been busy today so dinner's been pushed back."
"Yeah, about that. How comes you picked up Kady so early from the nursery?"
Lissa opened her mouth to answer, but Kady cut in, "Me and Aunty Lissa had lunch, mommy. Yeah, it was this reeeaaally nice pagkain place," she nodded her head enthusiastically.
"Restaurant." She shrugged. My three taon old hasn't mastered the art of saying 'restaurant' quite yet, bless her. I smiled to myself.
"I haven't been able to spend much time lately with my favourite niece," actually Kady was her only niece, "so I thought I'd treat her to something special." I guess it was true. Lissa was very busy with wedding plans, it ruled her life at the current moment. On tuktok of that, she had recently graduated from college and the reyna (Bitch) took the opportunity to throw Liss in the deep end of moroi politics. She was doing great, fighting the right for moroi to learn offensive magic and defensive combat. I was so proud of her. She enthralled her audience and the moroi politicians with her natural charming personality.
"Well, since dinner's later on I might as well give Kady a bath."
"Mommy, I wanna watch Shrek."
"No, Kady, you're having a bath." I switched on my no-nonsense mother voice, gentle yet stern. However, Kady was the daughter of yours truly. She turned around in the sopa to face me, crossed her arms around her chest and pouted.
"No. I want to watch Shrek." I sighed.
"I'm sure you can watch that another time, now come on."
"No," her voice full of determination. Please tell me this wasn't going to be one of those 'Kady tantrums', I pleaded.
"Kady," I raised my voice ever so slightly. She simply glared back. I raised my eyebrows, giving off the don't-mess-with-me look. She stood her ground. Times like this I wished she was madami like her father, never disobeying authority. Then again, a secret part of me loved that she was so like me.
I walked over to her and picked her up. She thrashed around, yelling, "No!"
"See you guys in a bit," I called to Liss and Christian nonchalantly, as if I wasn't carrying a manic three taon old.
"Be there at 8," Lissa sinabi sharply. They were used to 'Kady tantrums', which honestly didn't come too often. But she was a child, and lets face it, kids want what the want. However, I was going to raise my child up right and there was no way in hell that I was going to take orders from a three taon old, no matter how charming and angelic she could be at times.
I closed their apartment door just as she screamed, "I don't want a bath!"
"Tough," I replied sternly. I knew once she was in the bath she'd be fine. She loved splashing around in the bath tub, even madami so in the pool.
And what do you know? As soon as she was in the bath she was back to her normal self, giggling and splashing around. Hearing her laugh was music to my ears. When I finished giving her a bath, I dressed her up in cute black shorts and a white T-shirt which sinabi 'MY MOMMY KICKS BUTT =P'. Adrian had ibingiay it as a gift, a gift as much for me as it was for Kady. He loved showering Kady with gifts throughout the year, there didn't need to be a special occasion for him to express his pag-ibig for his little princess.
"What's for dinner, mommy?"
"I don't know, angel. We're just gonna have to wait and see. Come on…" I sinabi as we made our way to their apartment. I glanced at the clock before shutting the door. It was exactly 8:10. Oops, we were 10 minutos late.
As I opened Lissa's apartment door Kady ran to the living/kitchen/dining room. Sigh. Am I going to have to say that every time I mention that particular room? Let's call it the living room from now on, shall we. Great, I was talking to myself. I shook my head slightly and made my way through the dim lit hallway to the living/kitch- oh yeah, sorry…the living room. I frowned. I could hear madami chatter in the living room than usual.
"This is Kady, Rose's-" Lissa was cut off. sa pamamagitan ng me…
"Dimitri," I breathed, my puso accelerating a million miles a minute. All heads turned towards me, however, I only had eyes for one person. That person was the pag-ibig of my life, the father of my child.
"Roza," he whispered, his voiced laced in that hot Russian accent, which had become madami pronounced. He smiled. Almost. His lips turned up at one corner ever so slightly. And let me tell you he looked as sexy as ever.
I gulped. This could not be happening. Why was he here? He left me. He left me to be with her? Tears threatened to escape from the brim of my eyes. I blinked and fought them away.
"Wha-" I cleared my throat and tried again. "What are you doing here?" my voice slightly clipped.
He noticed. "It's the Princess' wedding," he replied politely, guardian like, as if this was fricking guardian business! I had half a mind to go over there and slap him. Whereas, the other side of me wanted to go over there and halik him so passionately he'd be gasping for air. I chastised that part of me that was happy, thrilled even, to have him here. He was taken.
"Lissa's wedding is in a month."
"I wanted to be here. You know, to help Lissa and Christian prepare for their wedding." And that ladies and gentleman was…Tasha fricking Ozera. Ugh. Correction - double ugh. Not only is she with the man I love/father of my child, she was too freaking nice! It was impossible to think badly of her. She was just…too damn nice! I sighed internally. I guess at least Dimitri didn't leave me for a grade A skank.
"Oh," I replied oh-so eloquently.
"Is this your sister?" she asked, smiling at Kady who was perched on Adrian's lap. He always came to sumali us for dinner. Although I think it was madami that he joined Kady and I for dinner.
I cleared my throat again before uncomfortably answering her question, her stupid question. Like my mom could have a baby at her age. Okay, maybe she could, but I refused to believe she was even mildly capable of being sexually active. Gross!
"No. This is my daughter." Kady smiled widely at a surprised Tasha. Dimitri's head snapped up to look at my daughter…his daughter. He looked at Kady, then his eyes shifted to Adrian and then finally he met my eyes questioningly. I swear I saw a little bit of hurt in his eyes and shoved that thought away, again reminding myself 'he left me'!
"Adrian-" he barely whispered, shaking his head slightly in disbelief.
"No," I cut him off sharply. Plus, I really didn't want to get into this conversation with my baby sitting right there. I sighed and looked at Lissa, who was confused at our little conversation. 'Why does Dimitri look upset?' she thought to herself. I gritted my teeth trying to get out of her head and away from her ignorant questions. "Lissa, can we just get hapunan over and done with? Kady's hungry."
"Oh, yeah, sorry. Come on, princess. I made your favourite pasta," Lissa held her hand out to Kady. Kady elegantly jumped off Adrian's lap and grabbed Lissa's hand with her own chubby ones.
"Yay!" she jumped excitedly.
"Dinner's served guys, why don't you come over to the dinning table," Lissa motion towards, well…the dinning table. She plopped Kady on her special high upuan so as she could reach the table. I took my usual place beside her, with Adrian sitting beside me. In the middle of the dinning mesa was a huge authentic Moroccan tagine, the steam rising in the air. I caught a whiff of the pagkain enclosed inside. I moaned internally, Lissa sure did know how to cook. She could so moonlight as a chef, I thought to myself. madami chairs were pulled back. Great. Tasha sat across from me. Frickedy frick frick. Dimitri sat beside her, across from Kady.
"What's your name?" Kady asked Dimitri.
Dimitri smiled warmly, his eyes twinkling. "My name is Dimitri Belikov. What's your name?"
"My name is Kaitlin Marie Hathaway," she replied proudly, "but you can call me Kady," she smiled brilliantly.
"Kady," he nodded to himself, trying it out on his tongue. His eyes lowered to her T-shirt. "'My mommy kicks butt'," he read out, amused. He looked at me but I quickly dropped my gaze to my food, which Lissa served up - Moroccan style lamb…mmmm.
"You know Dimitri taught your mommy how to fight," Tasha told Kady.
Kady's eyes widened. "Wow, cool. Is that true, mommy?" she asked me sweetly, dazed. I always loved how she'd ask me before believing anything. She had so much faith in me, and she was only three!
I couldn't help but smile, as I looked down at her. "Yes, angel."
She looked back to Dimitri, impressed. "Could you teach me how to fight, Dimitri?" she asked, bouncing in her high chair excitedly. Dimitri chuckled softly that sent me chills, in a thrilling way.
"Kady, enough talking. Eat your food," I pointed at her pasta, she wasn't allowed the Moroccan food, which would be too spicy for her. That was distraction enough and she tucked in hungrily, and messily mind you.
hapunan was surprisingly pleasant. At first I was uncomfortable, but slowly I eased into the conversation - Lissa and Christian's summer wedding. Their wedding plans…blah, blah, blah. I kind of couldn't wait until it was all over. Wedding planning honestly wasn't my forte. Dimitri was silent for the most part, making me that much madami comfortable i.e. I could ignore him easier; and Kady was silent as well, too engrossed in her food.
"Mommy, I want more," she pleaded.
"No, angel. You've had enough." She'd already had two servings, small three taon old helpings. She sulked in her chair.
"No fair."
"Well, okay," I sighed, "you can have some madami pasta." Kady immediately brightened up. As I got up to serve her madami I continued, "I guess you won't be having the delicious panghimagas your Aunt Lissa made."
"What? No, no, no," she shook her head quickly. "I want dessert, mommy." I laughed silently.
panghimagas was a messy affair on my three taon olds part. She had ice cream all around her mouth and hands. She sat there on the chair trying to lick all the ice cream off her hands. I laughed out loud this time. "Come on, angel, let's get you cleaned up." I picked her up and moved over to the kusina so I could wash her hands and face. I pagtunaw the familiar intoxicating aftershave waft behind me. Dimitri followed us closely behind. As I washed Kady up he waited patiently, leaning against the counter beside me. My puso was thumping in my chest and I could feel the mga paru-paro swirling around my stomach. However, I kept my face composed and pointedly ignored his presence. Once I finished with Kady I set her down on her feet and she ran towards the others, leaving Dimitri and I alone. Of course we weren't alone alone, but the others wouldn't be able to hear from here if we talked quietly.
"Rose-"
I cut him off, "So how long are you staying here?" I sinabi sharply, keeping my eyes anywhere but at him.
Dimitri sighed and inched closer towards me. I finally looked up as he looked down at me. God, my memory had not done him justice. His brown hair, which I ached to touch, fell to his shoulders. His face took on that vulnerable look I remembered clearly every time it would be just me and him, alone. God, those lips. Those gorgeous kissable soft lips. And his eyes. I was getting Nawawala into those deep brown eyes, where I could see into the very depths of his soul.
"We need to talk," he sinabi huskily, breaking me out of my reverie. I blinked. "I know your upset and you have every right to be. I need to set everything straight," his eyes bore into mine intensely. He had his very own compulsion over me.
I closed my eyes, cutting off that connection. It was easier for me to stay composed that way. "There is nothing to talk about. You left," 'me' I thought in my head, "so you could be with her. End of story. Nothing to talk about." I opened my eyes to find him staring back at me. I shook my head and closed my eyes again. "Ugh…stop it!" I hissed.
"Stop what?" he was genuinely surprised sa pamamagitan ng my outburst.
"Stop looking at me like that. I can't…I can't think. I can't think when you look at me like that?" I shook my head again, eyes closed, rubbing my forehead trying to think straight. God damn it! All I could think, all I could smell, all I could feel was him! Wait…feel? I opened my eyes slowly and felt Dimitri's hands gently tug my hand away from my head. He continued to look intently into my eyes.
Someone cleared their throat. I jumped back, only now realising, horrified, how close in contact we had been. I looked to find Adrian standing there…smirking. "Interrupting something?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.
"No," I glared back. I pushed him aside and made my way to the couches where the rest sat, seemingly oblivious to mine and Dimitri's…whatever the hell that was. "Come on, Kady. We're leaving," I sinabi slightly madami fiercely than I had anticipated.
Kady frowned. "But, mommy, I wanna stay."
"Baby, it's ten o'clock. Its way past your bedtime."
"Go on, princess. We'll see you in the morning." Christian bent down and kissed her on the head.
Kady walked over to me, looking a bit down. I bent down so I could look her in the eye. "How about you come to the gym tomorrow with me? It'll be Friday," I smiled.
"Yay!" she jumped into my arms and hugged me tightly. She then went over to the others to hug and halik them goodbye. I was glad that she simply waved at Tasha. "Bye, Aunt Lissa."
"Kady, aren't you missing something?" Kady looked at me and frowned. Then it clicked. She looked back at Liss and smiled.
"Thank you for dinner, Aunt Lissa. It was really yummy," she nodded her head. She paused for a split second. "Oh! And thank you for taking me out today," and she gave Liss a bug hug and a 'Mwah' on the cheek.
"Your welcome."
Finally, Kady made her way over to Dimitri. He crouched down from his 6ft 6 height so he was a few inches taller than her. "Dimitri, promise to teach me how to fight."
Dimitri looked at me for permission. I paused and then nodded my head slightly. "I promise, angel," he said, looking back, unknowingly, at his daughter.
"Thank you, Dimitri," Kady gushed and wrapped her arms around his neck. He stiffened for a split segundo and hugged her back, halik her on her curly brown hair, which was the exact same shade as his own. I fought the tears again for the segundo time tonight. Kady let him go and he got up. "Goodnight, Dimitri."
"Goodnight, angel."
Kady grabbed my hand. "Let's go, momma."