Chapter 7: Love is in the heir?

“Oh, Blarffy! Grown-up life is hard.”

After the kitchen renovation, The Rossinis were not doing quite well money-wise and Melia felt responsible. She sensed that bills would be deadly after her wild shopping session. And although the post of the bread winner still belonged to Eira, Melia was working her plum off to make some savings.

Cook, work, sleep. Repeat. That was her life. And it was no fun at all.

That’s why Damon’s call came in handy. He was overjoyed to announce that Katie just gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. And of course, he wanted everyone to meet her right away. Eira and Adrian, the family enthusiasts, didn’t need to hear it twice.

“Who’s your favourite grandpa, princess?”

“You are, Dad. You are everyone’s favourite. And now, step aside. I want to snuggle the plum out of my newest niece.”

“Watch your language around the baby, sis!” Damon reminded her jokingly as he headed to dinning room with Adrian, leaving Melia alone with Carmen.

“Hello, beautiful.”

Melia felt so strange, holding her little niece. She remembered how she met baby Damon, all those years ago. She was too small to hold him but she spent many moments talking and singing to him.

Melia saw and fed and entertained many babies throughout her life. But this was different. This was a first baby born after she has became the heir. She realized, more than ever before, that she was supposed to have a baby of her own soon. She, however, couldn’t see herself in that role. At least not yet. And it was surreal to see that her baby brother got ahead of her and he was doing just fine.

Meanwhile, in the dinning room, Eira was chatting with another new grandchild, an adopted boy named Colin.

“What a handsome big boy you are, Colin.”

“Thanks, Grandma! You’re big, too.”

Aww, kids. One just gotta love these little stinkers.

They had a nice time, catching up and exchanging baby advice. Especially Eira was happy – she just completed her Family Aspiration thanks to Damon’s kids.

And yes, Castor has another daughter!

Melia had such a great time that she didn’t want to leave – especially when she thought about all those responsibilities and chores that were waiting for her back home.

Damon was enjoying it, too. He couldn’t stop talking when he was seeing her out. He decided to be a stay-at-home dad, so he was really glad to speak with a grown-up for a change.

“Thank you for coming, Mel. I know you’re busy these days.”

“Oh, that’s fine. I really needed a little break from all that chaos,” she replied cheerfully but before she could continue, she noticed a beautiful house across the street.

“Oh, what a house? Who lives in a house like that?”

Damon teased her: “My neighbors, obviously.”

But Melia looked at him with her annoyed, ‘you don’t say’ face, so he replied quickly: “Goths. That’s what they are called. But they never came to meet us, so who knows.”

Melia didn’t know what to say so she just standed there quietly, hoping that Damon wouldn’t notice the perplexity in her expression . Alexander never mentioned that he was filthy rich. But it made sense. ‘That’s why he is unemployed and proud about it.’ she thought as she stared at the beautiful, old house in front of her.

And she couldn’t help but dream about living in something like that.

She rushed home, longing to hear Devi’s opinion about Alexander’s house and fortune. But Devi was not impressed.

D: “I thought you didn’t like him back! Did you just change your mind because of his house?!”

“But I do like him!” Melia reasoned, “I just wasn’t sure if that was IT! If it was, you know, love or something. Aah, I don’t know. But I…I was thinking about my future a lot lately. And I feel like it could be quite bright with Alexander.”

Devi looked at her sister very carefully. She wasn’t really convinced, but she understood that this decision was Melia’s and Melia’s only.

“Well, I’m not a love expert, you know that,” she said calmly, “I would say: Do what feels right to you. Whatever you decide, I will support you.”

Melia smiled and pulled out her phoned. She owed him an explanation, after all.

“Hey! Thank you for showing up.”

“Sure, no problem, Mel,” he said nonchalantly.

“You sounded concerned in the phone, so I brought you something to cheer you up.”

Melia was confused. Isn’t he mad at me? I was awful on our last day. And I was ignoring his phone calls and simbook messages ever since. Why is he so nice?

M: “Oh, that’s very…umm. sweet. Thanks. But I wanted…Let’s sit and talk a bit, huh?”

M: “Listen, I’m really sorry. About the last date, you know. I freaked out a bit, I guess. Everything is happening so fast and I’m…”

But Alexander looked distracted, like he wasn’t really paying attention to her words.

“Wait — date? Did you say date? Do you mean it, Mel? Are we , like, dating now?”

“Well, if you want to…”

“Oh, Mel. Of course, I want to.”

“And don’t worry about the last time. I understand,” he continued, “I shouldn’t be acting so forward. But you can’t blame me, really….”

“…I couldn’t resist, when you’re so amazing.”

Melia smiled. She had mixed feelings about it. She had a really nice time with him that evening, that was true. But she wasn’t planning to make him her boyfriend that night. Things were once again getting out of her hands. But isn’t love supposed to be like that?

She decided to go with the flow.

“Well, Mel. It was really lovely tonight. I hope we can see each other again soon.”

“I hope so, too.”

“Goodnight, Alexander.”