I walk down the stairs and I'm surprised to see Theo already waiting for me. He was seated on one of couches going through his phone and looks up when he hears me. His eyes immediately light up as he watches me intently when I walk up to him. 

''You look really pretty,''he compliments. I fight back a blush that threatens to creep up my cheeks.

 ''Thank you,'' I smile, ''you clean up pretty well yourself,'' he smiles then shuffles nervously.

 ''uhhh Ready?'' he asks.

I take a deep breath and exhale. ''Yeah, ready,'' and we walk out the door.

My nerves start to get the better of me as I start biting my lip in nervousness. Theo notices this and takes my hand in his. I gasp at the sudden contact and look up at him wide eyed.

 ''Athena relax, It's nothing big, just Mom, Aiden and Nadia. You'll be okay, so just chill,'' He says in a soothing voice to relax me.I find myself calming down instantly.

I look up at his towering form visibly shocked. He laughs a little at my clueless reaction. ''One of the few perks of the mate bond,'' he winks.

I look at him in disbelief. ''That's cheating,'' I cry out and he snorts a laugh, ''call it whatever you want love; at least it got you to calm down,'' He replies as we come to a stop, "We're here."

I take one last intake of breath and walk up the steps leading to the patio. Before we can even knock, the door flies open and I see a girl who looks about 20 yrs old with curly brown hair and shining grey eyes smiling from ear to ear. 

''They're here!'' she calls out to someone inside. ''Come on in, please make yourself comfortable,'' She says sweetly and the both of us walk in simultaneously.

''Oh my goodness. look at you two, so perfect together!'' I hear a woman say as she walks up to us. I look at her and see where Theo gets his looks from, the woman is fairly tall with the same light brown eyes, she has a few stray grey hairs but all in all she seems like a well maintained female.

 ''Oh you're so beautiful my dear,'' She gushes as she pulls me into a hug making me freeze in my place.

''uhhh mom, you're making her uncomfortable,'' Theo says slowly as his mom releases me from her grip.

''Oh I'm so sorry dear, I didn't mean to; I'm just really excited to meet my son's mate. We have been waiting for so long for this moment and now it's finally happened,'' She says,tears building up in her eyes.

''It's okay, ma'am,'' I manage to croak out as my throat dries up.

"Ma'am? ma'am? no, no, no dear please, call me Lila or mom'' She smiles sweetly and I can't help but give her a smile back. 

''Come in have a seat, dinner will be ready in a few.''

I take a seat on one of the couches and Theo sits on the one opposite mine. I look around and see beautiful floral decorations over the walls, the living room is quite quaint and cozy, almost similar to  my home back at Crimson. 

''It's not Theo's ultra-modern, extra huge house and all, but it's home," Lila says as she sits on the couch on my right. ''It's beautiful,'' I respond and continue admiring the floral art. 

''Ahhh this, this is all Nadia.'' She exclaims,following my line of sight.She is obsessed with floral art, comes up with something new every day, it's a blessing and a curse i tell you,'' she grumbles as I let out a soft laugh.

 ''No, seriously, some of her art work is really good, it helps in material designing for our textile companies,'' Lila adds. My eyebrows shoot up in surprise as I turn to face Theo who is casually seated,watching our interaction.

Before I could say anything else the oven dings and Lila gets up, "dinner's ready kids,let's go,'' she announces.

I see Nadia coming out followed by a boy who looks exactly like her except his eyes; which were deep brown, almost black. 

''Hi I'm Aiden he says as he pushes his hand forward for me to shake. ''Athena,'' I reply and he looks me up and down. 

''You're hot,'' he says and Theo lets out a  low growl.

 ''Manners Aiden!'' Lila scowls, ''she is your brothers' mate, show some respect,'' she reprimands him.

''When will this dog ever learn manners mother, he should be kept in a box in a corner where he can sit all day and listen to his ridiculous music,'' Nadia says exasperatedly which causes me to giggle but I quickly cover my mouth. 

''See, even Athena finds it funny,'' Nadia says proudly. ''You and I are going to be great friends, it's about time we got another girl in the house,'' she says and I smile at her politely.

''I hope you like lasagna Athena? '' Lila ask and I give her a nod. She serves some to everyone and we dig in. 

''So Athena, Theo tells me you have your own clothing line? How is the business doing?'' she casually asks.

''It's doing well; my second line is almost sold out, so I'm working on new designs for my third collection," I reply back.

''Shut up!!'' Nadia says at the top of her voice, you design your own clothes, you have your own line! That's so cool, it's like a dream job,'' She squeals. 

''Yeah, a dream job for people with talent, not someone who plays with flowers daily like a 2 yr old kid,'' Aiden snaps at her clearly annoyed from her previous insult.

Before Nadia can even respond,Theo commands the both them to stop bickering and show some manners.

''It's a miracle this house is still standing with these two living in it,'' Lila sighs with a shake of her head. 

We resume dinner once again before Nadia looks at me and asks, ''Can I pass by sometime and look at your designs, uhh if you don't mind that is?'' 

 I look her shocked at first but cover it up quickly. However, Theo notices the look on my face and answers her, ''Nadia, no. It's not good to pry in to someone's work like that.'' 

''But I just want to see,'' She says softly. 

''No, means no Nadia. You will not disturb Athena while she works, understood?'' He says sternly. 

''Okay,'' she says and looks down dejectedly.

I feel bad for the girl and speak up, ''you can pass by whenever you're free Nadia, I'd like to have a second opinion on the designs." Her eyes light up as soon as I speak the words. ''Really! that would be so great.'' She claps her hands in joy and I laugh a little at her excitement.

 ''You don't have to do that Athena; she will just distract you from your work,'' Theo remarks. 

''Or she can actually help me out with new designs, she already has the talent,'' I say and look at him disapprovingly which causes him to shut up. 

Nadia squeals in excitement. ''Thank you, thank you, thank you!!''

After dessert we excuse ourselves and get ready to leave. ''Don't be a stranger here Athena, consider this your home too,'' Lila says and hugs me, Nadia practically glues me to her and I have to pull away politely as we walk down the steps, towards Theo's house.

''You were great back there. At first I thought you would run out of the house when mom started asking all those questions.'' Theo says.

I hide back a laugh and reply, ''don't give me any ideas'' and he looks at me shocked. "Chill, I was just joking."

 ''Hey, how comes you didn't tell me about the textile factories?'' I ask after a few minutes of silence. 

''You never asked love,'' He replies.

In that moment I felt like the biggest jerk on earth. ''I'm so sorry, I...uhhh.... i just, gosh I'm really sorry Theo,'' I say feeling utterly embarrassed.

''It's okay Athena, it really is, no hard feelings, I understand how you're feeling, you must be overwhelmed too with everything that has been going on. I don't hold anything against you,'' he clarifies.

Oh goddess why does he have to be so sweet and understanding. I think to myself as we keep walking. I shoot him a small smile and he looks at me as though he wants to ask me something.

 ''just ask what you want to,'' I tell him. He looks at me in disbelief and tilts his head in question.

''Okay, uhh here goes.... Would, you uhhh ahemmm, would you like to have breakfast with me tomorrow morning?'' he asks nervously. 

I remain silent for a few seconds, contemplating on his proposal. A part of me wants to say no but this other part of me wants to give this........relationship a chance.

''Though I'll totally get it if you don't want to, no pressure,'' he adds when I don't reply.

''I think breakfast would be great,'' I reply looking up at him.

He looks surprised at first but covers it quickly and nods his head happily, causing me to let out a laugh as we head inside the house.

Once we get in, he heads to the fridge and puts in the leftover tiramisu his mom gave us. ''Better here than the fridge at that house, it wouldn't have made it through the night with those two there,'' He jokes and I laugh in response.

''Your siblings are nice,'' I say and he scoffs, ''you're just being modest love, they're ever hungry monsters, didn't you hear them bickering, honestly sometimes I feel like I'm their father,'' He comments and that's when it strikes to me that it's the first time he has ever mentioned his dad.

''Where is he, your father?'' I ask.

He turns to look at me then replies, ''he died 4 yrs ago.'' 

''ohh...I'm sorry Theo I didn't know,'' I say suddenly feeling insensitive. Good going Athena.

''It's okay really, it's in the past; we have moved on,'' he replies softly.

I catch a hint  of sadness in his voice and immediately feel sorry for him.Without even thinking further I close the distance between us and hug him.

He stiffens at first from the contact but then relaxes and wraps his hands around my waist. We stay like that for a while before I pull away.

He is looks down at me with softness in eyes and I notice his gaze move to my lips. My mind races to the many outcomes of this situation.

I clear my throat and take few steps back. ''I should...umm....go,'' I say flustered and rush upstairs to my room before I end up doing something I might regret.

***
Ohhhh they almost kissed,.
Who likes Theo & Athena already??
If you do, don't worry. There's a lot more of that coming. 😉

-Jessica.S