F A L L O N

"Dime si me echas de meno' aún. Dime si no me perdonas aún. ¿Qué harás con to' este veneno? Na' bueno."

. . .

I haven't seen Nicholas ever since the dinner with his parents. It's now two days later, and I'm a bit surprised when I find him in the main study room, going through some books.

He's usually locked up in the library, so it's weird to see him anywhere else in my house.

"Sorry, didn't know you were in here," I say, making him look up. But I don't leave the room. Fuck no. This is my house.

"That's okay," he says softly and puts the book down. I walk in, placing my laptop on the desk along with my cup filled with iced lemonade and a bag of chips.

I wanted a change of scenery and decided to binge some shows in here instead of my room. I used to sit here as a kid all the time and wanted to relive that feeling a bit.

"Uhm, I hope I didn't feel like an intruder when I had lunch with you and your parents," I say and turn to look at him. "I really enjoyed it, though."

He cracks a smile. "They did, too. And I didn't mind, it was nice."

Those words shouldn't have felt so assuring and nice. Knowing I was welcomed by him. I should care if I was welcomed by his parents. Not care about his opinion.

We lock eyes, and I suddenly don't know what to say. There isn't much to say, really. My heart skips a beat when he puts the book back in its place and takes a step towards me.

"Look, Fallon..." he begins and rakes a hand through his hair. "I wanted to say sorry for what happened between us."

"You already did," I bring out, feeling hurt course through me. Yeah, he's sorry. Sorry for the mistake he committed.

I'm the mistake. A mistake.

"Yeah, but I wanted to explain myself. I'm sorry for the position I put you in, it was selfish of me to do what I did, without thinking about the consequences," he says.

I don't know what to think about what he just said. It makes sense but then it doesn't. Or I'm just dumb.

"I... I see," I say instead, wringing my hands together. "It's okay. We uh... we don't need to talk about it again," I add.

He licks his lips. "Yeah, I know," he replies and looks back into my eyes. His lashes are so long, fuck.

"Okay, good. Because what we did was actually really wrong, and we could really hurt Stella with this. If you want to tell her, that is. I'm not going to if you're scared about that. Though it's my place to do so since she's my best friend but I haven't been a good friend lately and..."

"Stop," he orders and I do so. He takes a step toward me, and I take one back. Only to find out that the wall is behind me.

He takes another two strides and stops only a few inches away. "Look at me," he demands, and I lift my head, meeting his eyes.

We look at each other, the air around us becoming thick with tension.

Exhaling, he drops his head and runs his nose across my cheek.

"Your obedience..." he whispers. "You'd take everything so beautifully."

Goosebumps erupt on my skin. Fuck, if he were to ask me to drop on my knees right now, I'd do so without him having to finish the sentence.

I feel the heat coursing through me, and feel myself getting turned on. I'm sure there's a wet spot on my panties.

Groaning, he pushes himself away from me and shakes his head. "I'll see you some other time," he says, sounding tired and drained.

He then walks out of the study, closing the door behind him. And I'm left throbbing, and wanting so, so much more.

You'd take everything so beautifully.

Fuck if I'm not eager to find out what he means.

Two movies and bags of chips later, the doorbell rings.

Shooting up, I bolt for the door knowing that no one else is in the house. Except for Nicholas, but it's not his job to open the door.

Walking down the hallway, I go to the front door and open it, only to be met with a teenage guy who looks to be around fifteen years old.

His eyebrows furrow when he sees me, as if he wasn't expecting someone like me to open the door.

"Mom? I think we're at the wrong house," he shouts over his shoulder.

I look over his shoulder and see two other kids coming up the stairs, along with a woman and a man.

I recognize the woman instantly. That's Aurora.

I'm about to meet his sister. Older sister. If I was nervous with Athena and Vincenzo, I'm about to die out of stress when meeting this beautiful woman.

"No honey, I'm sure we're at the right address," she says and looks up, her eyes that are similar to Nicholas' meeting mine.

"Well, it's not Nicholas opening the door," the boy before me mutters. Ignoring her son, she reaches the front door with a friendly smile.

"Hello, I'm Aurora Silvestro," she introduces herself and extends her hand. "This is my husband, Riccardo Silvestro. We're here to see Nicholas," she says. Her husband is standing next to her, his hair black and his stubble matching the color.

Though some hairs are greying at the front, he's still very handsome and the maturity lines only add to the appeal.

Shaking Aurora's hand, I'm too stunned by her beauty.

Her face seems like it's carved out by the gods. She has a fine structure, a delicate body, and hair that cascades beautifully down her back.

Her full lips stretch out into a smile, making her little nose scrunch up and dimples pop out.

"H-hi, I'm Fallon Lopez," I introduce myself, wanting the ground to swallow me up. "Nicholas is..."

"Aurora, hey."

I jump up at the deep sound of her brother behind me and cast him a look over my shoulder.

"Zio Nick!" the girl at Aurora's side squeals and runs over towards her uncle, jumping into his arms.

"Hey Alyssa," Nicholas smiles and takes his niece in his arms, lifting her up and letting her wrap her arms around his neck.

The girl seems around twelve or thirteen years old. There are two other guys standing next to Aurora. There is an identical copy standing next to the boy who rang the bell. They're twins.

Both have dark hair and their eyes are on the greener side.

I step aside and let the others enter, seeing them all hug Nicholas.

"Hey Alessandro," Nicholas says and looks at one of the twins, then the other one. "And Dante."

"Hey uncle," one of them smiles and goes to hug Nicholas too. The other one gives his uncle a fist-pump and chuckles when Nicholas ruffles his hair.

Nicholas quickly asks the kids how they are, before moving his attention to his sister. "Hey stupid," he chuckles and takes her in his arms.

"Hey moron," she smiles and hugs him back. When she lets go of him, she turns to look at me. "I'm sorry to come to your house unannounced. We didn't really know where else to have a reunion with the whole family..."

"It's totally fine," I smile at her. "Come in! You guys want something to drink?" I ask and lead them all inside while the others greet Nicholas too.

I lead them into the living room and watch them all take a seat. "I'd like a glass of water," Aurora grins and her husband asks for the same thing, while their children ask for soda.

Walking into the kitchen, I get the drinks together on a plate while the family catches up in the next room.

Some sentences are spoken in Italian. The kids interrupt a few times, asking Nicholas a lot of questions. Alyssa says that she's missed him, while the twins are clearly in their teenage phase and try to act a bit indifferent around him. While it's clear that they love their uncle dearly.

Entering the living room again, I place the tray down on the coffee table and put the glasses down.

"I'm home!" Stella's voice yells down the hallway. "I saw a car standing outside, who's here...?" she asks and trails off when she stops in the doorway of the living room.

Her eyes widen when she takes in the scenery, and she loosens her hair from the bun it's been in.

"Oh, hey there," she brings out and shows us her mega-watt smile that got her out of a lot of trouble in the past.

Aurora sends Stella a little smile and stands up. "Hey Stella, we've met before," she says and goes over to hug her soon-to-be sister-in-law.

"Yeah, we did. It was very brief, though," Stella says and walks further into the room, her uniform giving away that she has been working.

She greets Riccardo politely as well and says hi the other kids quickly. "Well, I'm going to change quickly into some proper clothes and I'll be back in a second. Fallon, could you entertain them quickly?"

Refraining from telling her that I'm not a clown, I just nod and take a seat on one of the couches.

"So, Fallon, I take it you're the one who lives in this house," Aurora chuckles and looks at me. Too stupid to actually say anything, I just nod. "It's very beautiful," she says.

"Thank you," I smile and tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. "My parents aren't home right now, they work a lot," I add.

"That's fine! I'm once again sorry to barge in just like that, by the way. We're just here to quickly say hi to Nicholas, the kids were growing impatient," she chuckles.

"We're not kids, mom," one of the twin's groans. Aurora lets out a laugh. "Sure, sorry. They like to be referred to as teenagers."

"Practically a man," the other one shrugs. Riccardo snorts. "Sure buddy," he chuckles and drinks from his water.

The twins look exactly the same, I couldn't for the life of me tell the other one apart.

Stella walks back into the room, a yellow sundress clinging to her body and her hair combed through.

"Hello again," she chuckles and walks into the room, taking a seat next to Nicholas and putting her hand on top of his.

You'd take everything so beautifully.

I look away.

"So, Aurora, I heard you're a lawyer," Stella starts and looks across the room at Aurora, who is leaning against her husband.

He has his arm wrapped around her shoulder and seems relaxed around her.

"Yes, I am," Aurora smiles brightly, "that's how I got to know my husband. Sort of."

"It wasn't as innocent as it sounds," Nicholas mutters, earning a glare from his sister that reminds me of their mother.

"And you're a neuroscientist?" Aurora asks Stella, moving her gaze back to her.

"Neurologist," Stella corrects and straightens up a bit, squaring her shoulders. But that doesn't seem to faze Aurora. She stares right back, without faltering.

Stella has always been the alpha female in every group she finds herself in. Others were always intimidated by her, but nothing seems to scare Aurora, though.

"That's impressive," Aurora says, sending the blonde a smile. Stella sends a smile back, a look I recognize as insecurity quickly flashing through her eyes.

Pressing my lips together to stop a laugh from escaping me, I quickly meet Nicholas' eyes from across the room.

I always laugh at the wrong fucking time.

And I'm in a moment where I'm not supposed to be in. His family is supposed to meet Stella. Not me.

Clearing my throat, I stand up. "Well, I got to go. It was so nice meeting you," I smile. Aurora stands up and walks over towards me, taking me in a hug.

"It was nice meeting you, too," she says and pats my back before leaning away. Meeting Riccardo's eyes over her shoulder, I send him a polite smile and wave.

Then, I turn around and leave. Once at a good distance, I sprint back to the study and close the door behind me.

Now I can go back to peacefully watching my shows. But I know I won't be able to focus. And that my thoughts are going to go back to the dark-haired man who stood in front of me earlier today.

. . .

Update on the guy with a girlfriend; he kissed me three times yesterday.

When he was about to do it a fourth time, I stopped him and said that I'm not the type of girl to go after another one's man. Even though his girlfriend hasn't been kind to me, she doesn't deserve this.

I felt so, so, so disgusted when it happened. He kissed me again today after he told me he was going to break up with her.

He toxic af AND SUCH A FUCKING SIMP.

I can't with simps. I'M THE ONE WHO IS SUPPOSED TO SIMP, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND.

Also, I think I have a fear of commitment :)

I'm terrified of love and affection. He held my hand today and kissed it. I resisted the urge to throw up. And right after he kissed me, I went into my room and felt the tears well up.

Alexa, play NASA by Ariana Grande.

I'm good with writing smut for the rest of my life and just marrying myself.

Anyway, thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

I love you.