Diana's POV

He's hurt. The fact that he straight out ignored me right now tells me that it has to do something with what I said over the phone to the Derek. What the hell was I thinking? My tongue just slips like that when Derek's around, and I really need to work on that. We share a history of being fuckbuddies, and I need to get a hold of the thought that it's over now.

"Mom." Emily calls out for me again when I don't approach her.

I sigh as I go to the table and stand behind the chair she's standing on. "Did you have a look at your cake yet?" I ask and she shakes her head.

Well, I take that as my cue to remove the lid of the box and I reveal it to her, letting her make a squealing noise as she has a good look.

"Frozen!" She giggles and I smile.

She's a sucker for disney movies. I light up the candles and tell her to blow them while every child in the room ogles the cake.

"Make a wish baby." I whisper in her ear before she's about to blow out the candle.

She does that and everyone sings the happy birthday song to her as I hold her hand and let her cut the cake. Taking a piece of it, I make her have a taste and she wraps her arms around with me with a huge smile on her face.

You see, this is what I live for. My child isn't the demanding kind. Small things like the cake of her favourite movie makes her so incredibly happy that she doesn't seem to care for anything else. And the way her smile lights up, that's the only birthday gift I need every year.

"Alright, now it's time for Diana's cake." Connor announces and I frown at him.

"I just cut that cake with her." I tell him and he shakes his head.

"It's your birthday too, and everyone gets to have a separate cake and candles to blow on and make a wish." He winks and I smile.

He knows that I'm not too high on the ideas of birthdays, and this is his way of telling me to suck it up and live it while it lasts. I don't complain when they set up the candles in front of me.

"Make a wish." Ella tells me and my eyes shoot to Aaron, he's looking straight back at me with a smile on his face.

A smile appears on my face as I close my eyes and just wish for happiness. I'm not too high on the idea of making wishes, they seem surreal to me. But, while I still had a chance I just asked for it.

Emily cuts the another cake with me too, it's simple chocolate one. I sigh when Ella cuts the pieces and gives it to the kids. I'm kinda glad when most of the kids can feed themselves, although I do have to help here and there along with Ella and Shelly, but we don't mind.

Uncle Marcel, Connor and Aaron look in some deep conversation all the while, which I'm sure is nothing rather than about the corporate world. Shocker, there! I sigh as I look at Emily and glance at the bracelet in her tiny hand.

The clock strikes five thirty in the evening and Connor takes his duty to drop every kid back safely to their home. I may not talk to the people in building much, but our kids being the same age always has a plus point for me. I would forever be thankful to Connor and Ella for being there for me so much. For a fact I know that I wouldn't be able to handle Emily alone without their help.

"Hey." Aaron says and I startle as I'm busy picking up the toys from the floor.

"Always." I mumble as I laugh and turn to him.

"Need some help?" He asks and I shrug.

He kneels down as he helps me put all the toys in Emily's toy basket. His hand and mine brush over here and there but I choose to ignore it despite my very disagreeable hormones.

"I'm sorry." I utter and he looks at me.

"About what?"

"You know about what. It was out of habit, I'm sorry." I say, meaning it.

I wouldn't be glad to hear about his past relationships either. Well, not that I know about any of his past flings. I frown as the realisation settles in and look into his eyes. He complained all the time about me being a mystery, but I don't know anything about him either.

"It's alright. I was mad at first, but I can't change the fact that you and my brother share a history." He says and I sigh with relief.

"Are we still meeting for lunch tomorrow?" I ask and he nods.

"I'll join you straight out of college, wherever you want."

"Err.. the diner from that day? If it isn't too far away from you?" I ask.

"It's cool with me." He gives me a smile.

Emily comes crawling to me, and then keeps her head on my lap while she picks up a sponge ball and starts moving it between her small hands.

"Hey babygirl." I whisper as I lean down to kiss her forehead. "Emily, how old did you turn today?" I ask with a smile, encouraging her to answer.

She sits up straights as she yells, "Three." She says, holding up four fingers and I laugh.

"Yes baby, but this is four, remember?" I say, putting down one of her finger and then turning towards her, "Now that's three."

"Okay momma!" She smiles and I ruffle her hair.

My eyes meet Aaron's and I don't miss the way he's looking at me. There's something twinkling in his eyes as a small smile plays on his lips. He cocks his head sidewards as he keeps staring. When I clear my throat, he looks away but he still has this adorable smile on his face. He pushes his hands into his pocket as he takes out the box that I know has Emily's gift.

"Hey Emily." He calls out, catching her attention and she looks at him through her big eyelashes, "Happy Birthday." He says as he gives her the box.

She doesn't take it right away, her eyes moves towards me and I know she's waiting for my permission so I nod and her smile grows as she takes it from his hand. She opens the lid of the box after struggle and then looks inside.

"Wow." She says in her overdramatic cute little voice like she just discovered dinosaurs were real and I laugh.

"Like it?" I ask and she nods.

"Loove." She says, the word rolling over her tongue and she looks at Aaron, "Thank you, A." She grins at him before crawling towards him and giving him a hug.

He freezes in the place and stares at me with wide eyes at her sudden affection but I give him a soft smile and he slowly relaxes, hugging her back.

"You're welcome, Emily." He says with a smile as she parts and runs off to Uncle Marcel and Shelly who are in the kitchen.

"Wasn't I right about kids getting attached quickly?" I smirk and he nods, genuinely taking my words in.

"Did you guys start the gifts without us?" Connor whines as soon he enters with Ella and notices the box in Emily's hand who's in Marcel's arms as he holds her up and comes to sit on the couch.

"Aaron did, we didn't." Shelly says and they all glare at him.

"What? I just had the nice opportunity." He shrugs and everyone gets around the coffee table while Aaron and I still sit at the floor.

He just scoot closer to me, almost draping his arm around my shoulder. Ella winks at me at his actions and I shake my head at her.

"We'll go first." Uncle Marcel says as he pushes out a wrapped gift towards their favourite little girl.

They help her open it and as soon as they do, I think I almost hear my girl letting out a cry of joy. She looks at Marcel like he's the god and I frown as I slip out of Aaron's embrace and take a look at the gift.

"You've got to be kidding me." I glare at both Shelly and Marcel.

"She'll love us for this."

"Oh, that's not just it. She'll worship you guys for this. But the whole collection? Didn't she already spend her whole day watching Disney?" I gape at them, referring to the gift.

Like I said earlier, my daughter is a sucker for disney movies, and she wanted the whole collection of them and now, her two favourite people in the world granted her wish.

"Thank you Gramps and Grans!" She hugs them both and I sigh.

"She's going to kill us." Connor tells Ella but I catch onto that.

"Go ahead, it's anyway your turn." I glare at them before settling down in Aaron's arms again and he gives me an amused smile as I give him a look.

"Loosen up a bit." He says, kissing my hair and I huff.

"There you go, Em. If your mom kicks us out, blame it on the gift." Ella says as she passes on the gift to Marcel and he helps Emily open it.

Another squeal!

"What is it now?" I ask, rolling eyes and they show it to me.

Lego Duplo Play House! My eyes shoot to Ella and Connor, who just shrug back at me. "That costs a lot!" I argue and they give me a look.

"We spent it on our godchild, who asked for your opinion?" Connor brushes me off.

"You all spoil her too much." I say and Emily goes running in their arms.

"Yeah, well, what did you get her?" Shelly asks.

"I'll give it to her when all this is hidden away, not influencing how bad my gift is going to look in front of all this." I huff, genuinely pissed.

My daughter leaves everyone's side as she comes to sit in my lap and looks at me with her big dough eyes. Aaron let's go of me before that, maintaining the distance now. "Mommy, my gift please?"

"Fine," I say, giving my daughter a traitor look. I pull it out from beneath the coffee table as I rip it open and hand it to her. "It's a playhouse tent." I tell her and her eyes go wide with surprise!

"Set it up! Set it up!" She starts chanting and I laugh.

"I will baby, in your room, tomorrow." I kiss her and she pouts.

"You promise?"

I hold out my small finger for her as I grin, "Pinky promise." and she smiles back.

"Here's your gift." Uncle Marcel hands me over an envelope and I arch an eyebrow.

"Bribing me?" I say, sarcasm dripping my and he laughs.

"Sure, dear. Whatever." He rolls his eyes.

I turn to Ella and Connor, "I'm assuming you both didn't get me anything?" I say with an amused smile and Connor smacks my head, "Asshole." I mouth to him, careful about my words around my daughter.

"Friday night party is on us." Ella says and I grin.

"Alright, dinner time." Marcel says as he looks at his clock and I nod.

After setting the table up with everyone's help, I quickly feed Emily while everyone's at the dining table. She watches television while having food, which was only limited since for today I let her have a pass on wafers. A lot of them. She yawns and I pat her forehead lightly, knowing well enough that she'll fall asleep any second.

"Em, I'm going to carry you to your room, okay?" I whisper and she lets out a sleepy groan as I pick her up in my arms.

Connor stands from the dining table, moving to help me but I give him a reassuring smile and he settles back down. I enter Emily's room and in her half sleepy state, I let her out of her dress. She's tired, I can tell just by her dropping eyes, which doesn't end well for me as she starts crying.

"Aww, baby. Did I hurt you? Mom needs to change you out of the those clothes no, hun." I say as I slip a long shirt over her head.

She whimpers again and this time cries loudly and I wince. I pick her up in my arms and started rocking her a little, considering she's not so little and lightweight anymore.

"Hey, shush." I say, wiping off her tears as I look at her face.

She never cries this much, especially not when she has such a nice birthday. I check her temperature but it seems fine and then lay her down on the bed again, but this time I do the same and after a second she lies on top of me.

"Emily, does it hurt somewhere?" I ask, full on concerned. She shakes her head at that. "It's okay baby, just close your eyes and sleep. You're really tired." I whisper, running my hand up and down her back in a soothing manner.

"Mommy!" She cries with her lower lip trembling.

"Yes baby?" I ask, gulping as I witness the only person I love the most in this world crying. She always makes me feel helpless when something like this happens.

"Why don't I have a dad?" She asks and her questions leaves me stunned and speechless.