Chapter 18 - Surprising Argument

Ava

On the evening of the day of watching the sunrise with Ace, Liliana explained everything to her mom and Ace's mom. They had been every bit supportive a girl would have wanted her family members to be in her situation. They even promised to explain it to Grandma and Grandpa when they would return.

I was really happy to see everyone congratulating Liliana and her baby by having a little party among ourselves with a cake. I was glad to be a part of it. Day by day, it was getting easier to fit in with them, as if I had always belonged there.

However, I would have been glad if I didn't have a huge pimple on my forehead in the photos clicked during the party.

Towards the middle of the party, I went to the kitchen to get some water, only to find someone crying in there.

"Mom?" I called out.

Luna quickly wiped her tears and turned to me with a bright smile. "Oh, Ava, what brings you here?"

"I can ask you the same," I said and approached her. "What's wrong? Why were you crying by yourself here?"

"It's nothing. I just remembered something. There's just... it's too nostalgic. I remember Thomas throwing me a party when I became pregnant with our first child."

I smiled and wrapped my arms around her shoulders. "Are you missing him?"

She nodded and murmured, "Him and..." She didn't the sentence and let out a few more tears.

There was nothing I could say to make her feel better, other than giving her a comforting hug, so that's what I did. But the hug seemed to have made her break down harder. She tightened her grip on her as her breathing got more unstable.

I had a tough time digesting that the always-smiling and cheerful Luna was breaking down. She really must miss her husband a lot. But for some reason, I felt like that wasn't it. There was something else about tonight that was making her emotional, but I had no idea what. I could just hold her as she cried.

A few minutes later, Ace walked into the kitchen. "Ava, what's taking you so long— Mom!" I barely managed to pull away from the embrace as Ace rushed to hug his mom. I hadn't noticed earlier, but Luna was shaking badly, almost as if she was having a seizure.

"Ace, I'm sorry. I swear I'm happy for Lily. But I just—"

"It's okay, Mom. It's okay. I get it. I really do," he murmured, his voice trembling slightly.

I stood there awkwardly for a few moments, feeling scared but helpless, before I decided I should leave them alone. As I was walking away, I heard Luna sobbing as she said, "I wish she was here today."

"I miss her too," Ace replied.

Who was 'she'?

Before I could wonder more, I felt my underwear getting wet and let out a series of curses.

Of course, I had to get my periods in the middle of a goddamn party.

Life couldn't suck more.

###

I somehow managed to breeze through the night, but the next day, I felt cranky as hell. Ace had to leave early for work that morning, so I didn't find him when I woke up or at breakfast.

I was quiet during breakfast, but no one mentioned it, and I was glad for it. What if I had snapped at someone by mistake?

However, I did ask Luna if she was feeling alright now, and she just smiled at me and replied that she was okay and not to worry. She also told me to forget all about it. Thus, as much as I had been curious, I decided to put that incident in the back of my mind.

After breakfast, I cleaned up the bedroom and rearranged everything in my closet from the next room, which I had named Velvet's room. My OCD started every time I had periods. Everything had to be in the right place, at the right angle. Otherwise, I would feel weird and agitated.

After fixing the room, I felt exhausted and thirsty. To quench my thirst, I felt like drinking lemonade, so I made my way to the kitchen. I could've told one of the servants, but I wanted to make it myself. What if they didn't make it right?

As all the office-goers were at work and Emma at school, no one else should be home. Liliana could be, though. She was feeling exhausted, thanks to her morning sickness.

I got into the kitchen and started making a glass of lemonade for myself.

"Can you make another glass?" came a sudden voice from behind.

I looked around and saw Simon, smiling brightly at me. Of course, right, he was at home out of all the people. Didn't he have work, though? Oh, well, who cares? It was none of my business.

"Did Lily want a glass of lemonade?" I asked to be sure.

He shook his head. "No, it's me. I can see you are about to make a glass of lemonade. So can you make that two?"

"Sure," I replied politely and took another glass. "Is Lily feeling better yet?"

"Oh, yeah. She even left for work. Thank goodness, the senior lawyer she works under is kind enough to forgive her for getting late once in a while. But I don't think even he would forgive taking more days off than necessary," Simon replied.

"Being a first-year lawyer sure is tough," I agreed. "Does her boss know about her pregnancy?"

"Nope. She said she didn't want people to treat her like a handicap at work, especially now that she's in a crucial stage. If she can do well in her current case, it will be really good for her reputation."

I nodded my head. "I'm sure she will do great. She's a really talented lawyer."

"True."

I finished making two glasses of lemonade and handed him one before making my way to the living room. He followed me as I sat on one of the couches.

It was awkward now as we didn't have anything else to talk about.

As I took a sip, he spoke up once again, "Ava, I know things are weird between us, but I want to start fresh with you."

"How do we do that, Simon? You could've easily told me you loved Lily, and I would've never even agreed to the wedding. Nothing would have to be this complicated."

He sighed. "I know, it's my fault. But can we please start once again by being friends? You are a great person, and I don't want to lose you." The way he looked at me when he said those words, I felt weird—a bad weird.

I must be overthinking.

"Sure, we can try being friends at first." It was better not to have an awkward relationship with someone who was going to be a part of this family soon.

"Great!" He grinned and reached out his hand to shake it with me. "Friends, then?"

With a slight hesitation, I shook my hand with his. He brushed his thumb over my hand, which was why I pulled my hand back at that instant.

"What's wrong?" he asked with an innocent look. Didn't he realize what he did or was he acting to be innocent? Or was my period making me touch-sensitive?

"Nothing," I mumbled and got up from the couch. "I have to go and call Dad. He had something to talk about with me."

I walked towards our bedroom and closed the door quickly. It was so awkward with Simon, but I had to think positively. Liliana loved Simon, and he loved her. I must be overthinking due to my periods. Definitely, this was the case.

I took my phone and called Dad to chat with him for a while.

###

Sitting on the bed, I flipped the page of the new novel I started reading. I finished the previous one this evening.

"Whatcha doing?" Ace asked me when he got out of the bathroom, fully freshened up.

"Nothing much. Just started reading a new novel."

"Already done with that previous one? You still had half of it left last night," he mentioned.

I rolled my eyes and retorted, "Don't underestimate the power of a reader, Ace."

"Sure." He chuckled lightly and sat on the couch with his laptop. "Anyway, how was your day?" he inquired.

"Boring. I have nothing to do the entire day. Now that Grandma and Grandpa aren't here, no one is home until dinnertime. When I was in Denver, I could hang out with my friends there almost every day, but here, I feel lonely the whole day."

He hummed as he thought it through. "But shouldn't Emma be home after school?" he asked, which made me sigh.

"Emma goes to the restaurant and helps out Mom," before he could ask anything else, I added, "I suggested it to her so that she can slowly come out of her shell."

I talked to Emma and Luna about it last Sunday afternoon. While Luna was absolutely thrilled at the idea, Emma had been hesitant, but I pushed her for it. If she didn't like it there, she could always quit. She could even hide her identity as Luna's daughter if she was afraid to mess up and ruin her mom's name. I assured her that there was no pressure and that it would just be a nice learning experience. In the end, she accepted it.

"So you were alone the entire day?" Ace asked.

I shook my head. "No, Simon was there."

He arched an eyebrow. "You were alone in the house with Simon?"

"Yes," I answered casually.

"And you didn't even bother to call me?"

This time, I looked at him on the couch. "You are always busy in the office."

"And I did say that I was never busy for you, Ava."

Okay, so was he in a mood to argue? Then, I was ready.

"If I had called you, what would've you done? Would you have left your work for me? Never," I stated.

He narrowed his eyes in my direction. "You should've tried."

I let out a sigh in disbelief. "I don't understand. What's the issue since I was alone with Simon in a mansion filled with staff? Are you having trust issues with me now, Ace?"

Immediately, he shook his head and stood up to come up to me. He sat down on the bed beside me and took my hands in his. "I trust you, Ava, but I don't trust Simon. I still feel like he's a danger, and you should stay miles away from him."

"Why can't you trust Simon? Lily loves him, and he loves her. What's so dangerous about him? What can he even do? All I think is, you don't trust me. You think I feel something for him, don't you?" I pulled my hands away from his hold and got up from the bed.

"Ava, you are misunderstanding me. It's not like that." He got up as well, but I had already stormed off the bedroom in anger.

Guilt immediately engulfed me as I took a few angry steps away from our bedroom. Maybe I overreacted a little. Okay, not a little. A lot.

However, I didn't want to face Ace when my head was still fuming. I decided to go to Emma's room. I knocked on her door and said, "Hey, Em. It's me."

"Come in, Ava," she responded from inside.

I opened the door and found her sitting on the bed, writing something in her diary.

"What are you doing?" I asked curiously as I sat on the bed beside her.

"Just writing my personal diary. What about you?"

"I thought of having a sleepover with you if you have no problem," I offered, and her smile widened.

"Sure!"

"So how was your second day at Mom's restaurant?" I inquired.

She bit her lower lip and mumbled, "I spilled coffee on two people, but thank goodness, they weren't hot. I didn't manage to converse with them like other servers, but everything else went well."

I chuckled and patted her upper arm. "Don't worry, everyone makes mistakes, and I have faith that you will get better at conversations just like them."

"Thanks," she said, giving me a cute smile.

"Anytime, sweetie." My eyes fell on her ironed school uniform kept on a hanger outside her closet, and a frown covered my face. "You know, it really sucks that you guys still have uniforms, despite being in high school."

After I said that, there was a deafening silence, only to be broken by the soft sound of a whimper.

I snapped my head at Emma to find her crying.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong?" I asked immediately, slightly panicked, to find her crying out of the blue.

"Ava, I... I don't like my school, Ava," she confessed, and my eyes widened in realization. Is this what she had been wanting to tell me ever since I came to this house? But she always seemed to lose her nerves before speaking, so I hadn't pushed for it either, because she needed to learn to express her feelings on her own.

"This isn't the high school life I always dreamt of. I want to attend a public high school and feel what it's like to be a real high schooler. Every day is a repeat of the previous day. There's nothing that keeps me motivated to keep going, you know? The private high school is literally like a boarding school. Everyone is all about studies and co-curricular activities. Not to mention, how self-centered almost everyone is. Even the teachers. They are just all business."

I grabbed some tissues from the tissue box at her nightstand and wiped the tears that slid through her eyes. "Did you tell Ace or Luna how you feel about all of it?"

She shook her head in denial. "I was planning to tell Mom later. I know her. She will agree in a heartbeat."

I smiled in agreement. Luna was just like that. Her happiness lies within her children.

"But it's Ace who I am scared of. You know, he's the one who makes the big decisions for our family ever since joining the business. It would probably make him mad if I don't continue in this private high school? What if he scolds me for being able to deal with a simple challenge as getting through high school? I know he's my brother and he only wants the best for me, but Ace is always busy. I never have the time to just have him sit down patiently and listen to me. I can't obviously talk about stuff like this at the dinner table. Please, Ava, do something about it."

I nodded my head in understanding. "Don't worry, Em. Now that I know about it, there's no way I'm letting you continue in that prison of a high school. I will talk to Ace about it and see what we can do to transfer you as soon as possible." I couldn't let her deal with that toxic environment longer than she needed to.

She nodded, still sniffling.

I twitched my lips, trying to think of some idea to cheer her up. My face lit up when an idea came to my head. "Hey, do you want to play dress-up?"

"What?" She gave me a confused look.

I gave her a grin and told her, "We will both dress up in each other's clothes and do some private modeling in front of the mirror. I promise it won't be that long to keep you up late for school."

"I'm not sure if I have the confidence..." she trailed off.

"Hey, it's just me. I won't judge, I promise. Plus, I'm pretty sure you'd look fabulous in my clothes."

"Really?" she asked meekly.

"Yep, really! You're really beautiful, Em. Just have faith in yourself." I got up from her bed and added, "Once you gain the confidence to play dress-up in front of me, we will have Lily join us as well. Unless you want her to join now, which would be totally amazing."

Emma smiled shyly. "Actually, I probably wouldn't mind her joining."

"Perfect! We will have a blast on our girls' night. I'll go call her and bring some of my clothes that I think will fit you guys the best. Be right back, Em." with that, I hurried out of her room.

This was the only time I was grateful that my closet wasn't in Ace's room, but rather in Velvet's room to it, so I could easily slip in there and take some of my clothes.

Yet, for some reason, I was expecting Ace to be out looking for me, but he wasn't. Maybe he wanted to give me some time to cool down, which was good. Because we were about to have a long conversation about Emma tomorrow.

Emma trusted me enough to confide in me about something she hadn't even told her brother and mother, so there was no way I would let her down. Emma deserved the life she dreamt of, and she would get it. It was Ava Valentino's promise.