The moment Alexander and I arrive at his parents', Amelia runs to us and doesn't let go. She gives a detailed description of everything she did during the week, everything her parents did, everything Rosanna and her friends did. She's at the age where she just can't stop talking.

Alexander and I get a full report before we even manage to step into the house.

Alexander gives me a look, but he doesn't say anything. He loves his sister to death, but he admitted she can also annoy the hell out of him sometimes.

I grin at him when Rosalyn calls Amelia to go and tidy her room so she can join us and when Amelia goes away with a dramatic sigh, I turn to Alexander. "You better get used to this. Your sister is a good practice of what's waiting for you when we'll have kids."

He tilts his head back. "Fuck," he mutters and I giggle.

Rosalyn comes to us, hugging both of us as if she hasn't seen us in years. "Mum, please," Alexander protests, but he hugs her back.

It's still so weird seeing how much Alexander changed since I came here. He was so closed-off, filled with hatred and pain, not letting anyone love him and not letting himself love anyone.

He's a completely different person now, although it gets to him sometimes and he still has times when he believes he's not worthy of love. He's used to not showing any emotions and not letting people love him and be there for him so it's sometimes hard for him, but he's learning how to accept it and deal with it.

It helps that he's growing in such a supportive family. Rosalyn and Alfred literally live to give their children a good life. No matter the path they'll choose, they're always standing in the sidelines, cheering for them. And this is how parents should be.

"I haven't seen you for so long!" Rosalyn gushes. "But be careful with the words you choose to say today, okay?" She gives him a chiding look that lets him know she heard him say a bad word just minutes ago and I roll my lips into my mouth because of how regretful Alexander looks.

I might need to learn a few tricks from Rosalyn.

As if reading my thoughts, Alexander gives me a look that says don't you even dare and I just shrug, giving him a mischievous grin.

"Lean will come down with Amelia when she'll finish tidying her room and we'll have lunch then."

"Is Rosanna in the kitchen? I want to say hi to her."

"She is! She'll be happy to see you," Rosalyn tells me.

I go to the kitchen and smile to myself when I see her with her back turned to me, singing a soft melody to herself, completely oblivious of her surroundings. I quietly walk towards her and put my hand on her back, making her scream and jump around. "Goodness! Child! Do you want to send me to the grave?" she asks, her hand over her heart, breathing hard.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist." I grin. "How are things here? How's the new nanny?"

Rosanna shrugs. "Oh, it's just usual. And she's nice. She's good with Clara and Amelia likes her."

"Is Clara sleeping?"

Rosanna nods, looking at the clock. "Yes, almost for an hour already." She smiles softly. "But how are you? Is Alex good to you?"

I'm pretty sure I get a dreamy look on my face. "Yeah. He's the best."

"Good," she nods. "The study going alright?"

I nod. "Yep." I always liked how Alexander's family cares for me as if I was a part of it. They always ask and say things that make me feel like they really care about me. And I know they do. It's so nice belonging somewhere; to someone. Coming here, I didn't just get a boyfriend who I love very much, I also got a family and I'm also able to study what I want. It's nice and there are times when I get so emotional about it because it becomes overwhelming.

I came here having nothing and no one. And now ... I have everything. And more.

"Gabrielle?" comes Alexander's voice from the other room.

"Yeah?" I call back.

"Can you come here?"

"Well," I say. "It seems like he already misses me." I give Rosanna a wink and she just shakes her head.

I walk out with my hands in the back pockets of my jeans, feeling happy now that my hangover passed. I see Alexander talking to what I quickly realise is the new babysitter, his arms crossed over his chest.

I come over to them and, naturally, Alexander wraps his arm around me when I'm close enough.

The dark-haired girl turns to me and I give her a big grin.

"You must be Gabrielle!" she says with a strong accent.

She's gorgeous. Truly. She has black, long hair with bangs and really big grin eyes. She obviously works out because she has an athletic body. She looks nice as well, an easy smile on her face. "Yes, hi! Lean, right?" I ask, excited that I might get a new friend.

She nods. "I've heard so much about you. Both of you." She turns her eyes back to Alexander. She's taller than me and she can easily look him in the eyes whereas I have to tilt my head slightly back.

"Gabby, Look at the pony Lena brought me. It's from Germany!" Amelia shows a pony into my chest and I look at it, pretending to be amazed.

"Wow, look at how beautiful he is."

"Mum, can we go eat now?" Alexander yells, making me look at him. "What? I'm starving," he says to me. I can just sigh.

I look at Lena who's still looking at Alexander. It makes me a little uneasy and I get a weird feeling, but I tell myself to just stop overreacting and stop seeing every girl as an enemy and think that every girl wants to seduce him or whatever goes through the minds of most girls.

"Lunch is ready," Rosalyn calls.

"Finally," Alexander mutters and goes straight to the dining room. Lena and I walk together and when Alexander disappears into the room, she turns to me.

"So, you two are dating?"

I nod my head. "Yes," I say.

She only nods her head, a small smile on her lips and we continue without any further words. I frown a little, looking down at the floor, but I don't want to think anything of it. She just simply wanted to make a conversation.

I sit down beside Alex who's already getting his plate full.

"People are going to think I don't feed you at home." I nudge him.

Alexander puts his hand on his belly. "Yeah, well. I think I lost some weight," he says, earning himself a glare from me.

Lena sits down beside Amelia and Alfred and Rosalyn sit across us. Rosanna joins us as well.

I learn from Rosalyn that Sam was invited, too, but she knows she was celebrating her birthday yesterday and she's probably still sleeping her hangover off. I need to text her later to see how she's doing.

The lunch goes fairly well. I learn that Lena just turned 19 and she came here because she wanted to have that au pair experience before she goes to college. But I can't stop the weird feeling, especially when I catch Lena looking Alexander's quite a few times, giving me an unapologetic stare when she saw that she was caught. Alexander was thankfully mostly focused on his food, not really participating in the conversation.

That's until the conversation takes a little turn.

"Gabrielle came here from France and then my son fell in love with her, so she stayed with us," Rosalyn says as an explanation to Lena, giving me a warm smile.

That's right. I don't want to be rude, but I feel like floating every time someone mentions Alexander falling in love with me. We've never thought it would be possible, but look at him. Look at us.

"Oh! How nice," Lena exclaims, sounding like genuinely happy, and I think, hey, maybe I did her wrong and it's all in my head. I'm starting to see every girl as an enemy and it's becoming an ugly habit that I need to lose. But then she continues, making me freeze in my seat, "Maybe it could happen for the second time."

I look at her, literally glare at her, my smile now disappearing and I don't even try to keep it on my mouth anymore. I can't even try to act like I'm being nice anymore. Because I didn't imagine it, right? This didn't just sound wrong, this was plain wrong? I cock my head to the side, slowly, but she doesn't look at me. She looks at Alexander, having a wide grin on her lips as if she's saying, look at me telling jokes, haha!

"Maybe the second time will be the charm," Alexander says, changing the famous quote.

I slowly turn my head to look at him, my head cocking at the side, giving him the what the fuck did you just dare to say? He's wearing a carefree smile, sharing it with Lena suddenly but when he looks at me, his smile freezes on his face and then completely disappears.

He puts his hand on my thigh, but I slap it away. My hand hitting his skin is loud and the whole table falls silent, looking at us. I don't even try to look apologetic. I'm fuming.

We sit in uncomfortable silence until Rosalyn starts laughing and we all look at her. "Pardon," she says, still chuckling. "Sorry," she apologises again. Alfred's lips pull up into a smile.

"Ah, the young love," he says, shaking his head. "Boy, if you two had a dog, you'd have to share the doghouse with him. But now you're lucky and you'll just sleep on the couch tonight." He chuckles to himself. He leans forward as if he wants to share a secret with him. "Been there a few times myself. It's not fun and so not worth it, so I'd just suggest you act nicely."

Rosalyn gives him a sideways look.

Alexander grimaces and then looks at me. "Babe," he says softly, having an apologetic smile. "I was just joking. You know there's only you for me."

That wasn't funny. Not one bit. He puts his hand on my thigh once more.

"Yeah? Then start acting like it. And stop touching me!" I hiss, removing his hand again, not wanting to cause a drama, yet I'm fuming. I'm not going to just accept it and tell him it's okay because we're sitting with his whole family around us. This wasn't okay at all. If I ever said something like that to a guy, he'd kill him on the spot. I want the same energy in return.

Alexander looks perplexed. He reluctantly removes his hand and I turn away from him. I finish my lunch because I don't want to be rude, even though I'm so mad right now that food isn't really my concern.

After lunch, I go play with Amelia and Clara wakes up as well, so I busy myself. Lena joins me since this is her job now, but I don't pay much attention to her. It's not really her fault that my boyfriend said what he said, though I really don't like the way she's acting even when she knows Alexander is in a relationship.

"How long have you and Alexander been together?"

I look at her, wondering why she's asking me all these questions about our relationship. She could ask me questions about me and the life here, or, hell, even questions about this family and my own experience. Yet she's questioning me about my relationship. "A little over a year and a half," I say, watching her expression.

She only nods. "Cute," she says.

I shake my head to myself, just telling myself it's better to ignore this than encourage it further. Maybe I'm really just overreacting. But I can't help myself to get hurt by the things that just seem hurtful to me. I don't really care if I'm overreacting.

We don't talk at all after this. I'm in such a bad mood that my heart isn't really in the game to play with Amelia and Clara, so I go to the dining room where everyone is still seated, eating a dessert a politely declined. Alexander seems grumpy when I sit down beside him. Good.

Rosalyn tries to talk to him, but he gives her short, clipped answers that make me raise my eyebrows. What reason does he have to be in a bad mood? He seemed like he was having the time of his life before.

Alexander stands up, stretching. "I think we're just going to go now."

Rosalyn turns surprised and also disappointed. I start to feel a little bad. "So soon?" she asks.

Alexander shrugs. "Had a late night, mum. A man gotta sleep," he mutters. "Gabrielle?"

I give Rosalyn and Alfred an apologetic smile. "Thank you for lunch. It was wonderful. I promise we'll come soon."

I hug both of them while Alexander waits for me at the door. When I come there, Lena is there, saying goodbye to him. I roll my eyes, making sure Alexander sees me. "Bye, Lena. It was very nice meeting you," I tell her. I still hope I'm wrong about her. Maybe she's not as bad as she's making it look.

She gives me a smile. "You too." I don't know whether she means it or not, but I take it, anyway.

I walk outside before Alexander and he's right behind me.

We don't talk on the drive to our flat. He knows that when I'm in a mood, it's better to leave me alone and process everything in peace and by myself.

When we enter the flat, Alexander gives me a sideways look. "You still mad?" he asks.

"Yep," I say without even looking at him, going straight to the kitchen to get a glass of water.

"I'm going out for a run then," he says and goes to the bedroom to change. I go to the living room, turning on a TV and settle down on the couch, putting a blanket over me. I might just take a nap, maybe it will make me feel better.

I hear Alexander going out and I keep my eyes on the TV, not even watching whatever is playing until my eyes close.

˙˙˙

Alexander wakes me by nudging me softly.

I open my eyes to see what he wants. "Are you okay?" he asks.

I look around myself. The TV is now turned off and the light is turned on, meaning it must be dark out already.

I sit up on the couch. I feel like I could still sleep, even though I must've slept for hours. "Do you want some dinner?"

I shake my head. "What time is it?"

"Seven."

Oh. I slept for longer than I intended.

"I'm going to go take a shower," I say, standing up.

"Are you still mad?" he calls after me.

"Yeah," I say softly. I don't know if I'm mad. I don't know what I am. The one thing I know, though, is that I really don't like the feeling I go when he made that comment.

After the shower, I put myself in a comfortable pyjama and settle back down on the couch, not turning the TV on this time. I hear Alexander in the kitchen, probably making himself dinner.

When he comes out and sees me on the couch again, he frowns. "Aren't you going to go to the bedroom?"

"Nope," I say, looking straight forward and putting the blanket up higher.

Alexander doesn't say anything more, just goes to the bathroom where I hear him loudly shutting the door. I hear the shower run and then stop. I don't hear anything for long minutes until I hear him going out of the bathroom and into the bedroom and everything's silent after that.

Did he go to bed? It's early for him to go to sleep already. Well, it's early for me too. I know I'm not going to be able to sleep since I've slept for so long in the afternoon, so I don't even bother.

I don't know how long I lay in the dark and stare out the windows. It's probably for a few hours.

But then, in the middle of the night, or it might still be evening, the bedroom doors open. I wait and ... nothing.

And then I hear Alexander saying my name softly. Very softly.

"Yeah?"

"I think I might be getting a migraine."

*

I had such a long day today and I might go hiking tomorrow morning wow just shoot me.

And, ok, about this chapter ... idk, if my boyfriend ever joked like that about another girl ... booooooy, you're not sleeping on the couch, you're sleeping outside :))) (jk. but not really.)

Like and comment and when you're at it, come and follow my Instagram for poetry and my twitter for my (un)funny and sometimes depressing (?) tweets (both are