34: Vincisgrassi

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Chapter 34: Vincisgrassi

"Do you wanna stack lego with me?" Claire asked.

"Yes sure," I said while staring out of the window distractedly. I promised I wouldn't let the paranoia get in my way. Yet today was one of the most important days for me and I just ran away from my problems again. I was excited to start this marketing project for La Casa and maybe discover my potential. But I had a major panic attack after going through Vincent's search history hence I am at Blair's house away from Vincent to calm myself down.

Claire dragged her whole box of lego to the living room where I was sitting. "Let's play!"

Before Claire could start taking the legos out of the box Blair walked into the room. "Claire finish your breakfast then play with Nora. In the meantime, I will talk to her."

Claire begrudgingly left her legos and went to have breakfast. Blair offered me some pancakes but I denied them despite not eating anything till now. I wasn't hungry. My stomach wasn't doing well since I was so restless. Blair was expecting the baby to come any day now. After her run to the hospital on the day of her baby shower, the doctor advised her to be a little careful. So she has been mostly staying home and Keith, her husband has been mostly running errands around the house.

"Are you okay Nora? I can tell something is troubling you," she said, worry etched on her face.

"I don't know what I am doing Blair. I think- I think I like Vincent. But my past experience has made it difficult to trust men or anyone for that matter. "

"Well not everyone is the same. People are different. We just need to hold someone's hand and depend on them to not fail us."

"He knew something and then I found out about it. I don't know-." I sighed in frustration. I wish I could share this with people around me without always walking on eggshells.

"Well did you talk to him about it? I am sure he has some kind of explanation for it. I am not trying to take his side but there must be a reason for him to hide it from you."

"You're right. I should go talk to him instead of jumping to several conclusions." I dreaded doing that as that would mean talking about my past life and I despised talking about it.

"I know him for a long time Nora. You're a lucky girl. He is a good man. He will keep you happy. And you're perfect for him," Blair said with a reassuring smile.

"I know he is great. He is a good person."

"A great boss too. That boy gave me a three-month maternity leave. No one in America does that!"

I laughed. "A little too nice. No wonder his ex stole all his money and fled."

"Oh, Sarah? That bitch. I never really liked her. We should have warned Vincent about her the moment we saw her horrible fashion sense," she scoffed.

I laughed.

....

"Nora where were you?" John asked as I rushed to get inside the kitchen. I decided to show up at the restaurant after I left Blair's house. Talking to her made me feel a bit better. Also, I couldn't sacrifice discovering my passion for some inconvenience. I have to keep my chin up and get working.

The next few hours went in a rush. I apologized to the lighting cameraman whom we hired to supervise the lighting for our photos and videos for being so late. They were very understanding about it. John took the photos while Vincent and I gave them directions on how to place everything. I avoided Vincent the whole time since I wasn't ready to face him yet. Also, avoiding him keeps my anxiety at bay as I am not reminded of the incident.

After eight hours of shooting, we were done. I didn't realise it was going to take so much time but making each dish for every shoot was time-consuming. But everyone was very cooperative. "Great job Nora!" John high-fived me. John was usually indifferent towards me but he is warming up to me these days.

For dinner, everyone got to have all the food we shot and it was amazing. "I was pretty upset that we started the shoot late but the good food made up for it." One of the cameramen we hired said appreciatively as he ate risotto alla milanese con ossobuco which was one of Vincent's specialities that we newly added to the menu. Vincent didn't cook in the kitchen but I talked him into it. He could cook some of the dishes which were chef's specials as he was the best cook among them.

"I guess we could get a discount if we cook you more food."

"Dude you might get a discount right now after I take my second portion of that lasagna. " we all laughed in unison.

"Can you pass me some more Vincisgrassi?" Vincent said. John and I were sharing food while Vincent sat with Greta. He was continuously looking over at me the whole day but I avoided his glances. I promised myself to talk about the whole situation later tonight. John passed the Vincisgrassi to Vincent. He mumbled a little thank you as he looked between us. 

After finishing dinner I was hanging out with Greta and Lisa as we were wrapping up our shift. Since I wasn't able to put much time at the cashier these days Greta and Lisa have been taking turns handling it. "I don't want to go on a date with your grandson Greta!" Lisa said counting the money.

"It's just once. Trust me you will love him! He is really nice and works as an accountant. I promise you it wouldn't be like the last time."

"Wait, what happened the last time," I asked curiously.

"She set me up with her other grandson Andy, who was recently divorced. He complained about his ex-wife the whole time."

I laughed," Hey at least he is expressive about his feelings."

"A bit too expressive in my opinion. I'm sorry Greta. This time it ain't happening girl. I am already seeing someone."

"What? Whom?" I asked.

"It's a secret for the time being. We're taking it slow. I promise to tell you guys later," with that Lisa walked away.

"I knew it! There was no grandson I wanted to set her up with. I know they're all a little messed up in the head," Greta said.

"Wait you knew?"

"Yup. That's why I made it up. I saw her getting all close with someone in the alley beside the restaurant."

This was all news to me. "Did you see the guy?"

"Nope. I wanted to get it out of her but she wouldn't budge."

.....

"Dinner's ready!" Vincent said from the dining room. I was successfully able to avoid talking to Vincent till now. I had to go and interact with him. I know we sort of had dinner at the restaurant but we had to feed everyone including the staff we hired to work for us so John, Vincent and I barely had anything.

We both sat down at the table. We were both exhausted to make anything so Vincent just cooked up some ramen. I took my bowl and the smell of piping hot ramen instantly made me hungry. Exactly what I needed at the end of the day. "So.. what did I do this time?" Vincent broke the silence.

"Uh, nothing. Why? What happened?"

Vincent looked at me as if waiting for me to answer my own question. "Oh alright." He gave up and went back to eating his food. "I know you looked at my search history."

I felt like there was a lump in my throat. We're finally going to talk about it. I wasn't ready.

"I am sorry for getting marmalade the ultra high-tech luxury cuddly cat bed. I know it costs six hundred dollars but it's a good financial investment. It comes with state-of-the-art petting technology which puts your pet to sleep and-."

"What? I am not upset about that! You got Marmalade a six hundred dollar bed?! He is a cat. He doesn't even sleep in the normal bed he has. He prefers sleeping on the wet bathroom rug! Here I am trying to save your business from going bankrupt and you're wasting your money on a dumb cat bed!" I cried out. I get Vincent loves Marmalade but he had no right to make such an ostentatious purchase like that. I know it's his money and he can do whatever he wants but a six-hundred-dollar bed for a cat is too much.

"Okay, I am sorry. I will return it back if Marmalade doesn't like it. It has a thirty-day money-back guarantee. But can we talk about why were you upset then?"

I let out a small breath to muster up the courage for what I am about to ask him. "How do you know that I am a princess?" It was like ripping off a bandaid except the scar was still hurting a little.

He looked a little taken aback by my question. "It wasn't hard actually. You looked awfully like Princess Eleanora Montcroix of Eswana. I wanted to point it out but I wasn't too sure.  I know your hair is blonde as you retouch your roots every now and then. I saw you throw out your empty box of dyes. Then you would not wear lenses when you would get out of the shower."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I wanted to but you were always fidgety and restless. What if I tell you and then you run away from me? I can't afford to lose you," his expression softened. He got up and took a seat on the chair next to me, facing towards me. He kissed me softly. "You don't have to worry about anything. You can trust me. I can never hurt my favourite person."

His words helped me calm down a bit. "I am your favourite person?" After my mom died I always felt lonely. I had Terrence but he was always busy with work. Now I know why he was always busy as he ended up cheating on me. Then my grandpa trusted some stranger over me. It always felt like me against the world. But I felt like Vincent and I was a team. I can lean on him.

.....

Since people get confused about a lot of things I have decided to keep a glossary at the end of each chapter to give you guys a proper idea of what each term means instead of y'all dissing me in the comments. Also, Wattpad keeps on taking down my steamy gifs from each chapter so from now on I will just add the songs I listen to while I write every chapter. Boring I know, but I got nothing to do.

Glossary:

Vincisgrassi- It is a traditional Italian dish which consists of several layers of hand-rolled pasta, drenched in béchamel and an old-fashioned meat sauce.

lighting cameraman- the person who designs and supervises the lighting of scenes to be filmed


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