"Zaria and Zeus specially made lasagna coming right up!" He cheered and hurried out of the room, where the couple exchanged glances.
"Can he cook?" Asked Theodore, because his son was way too playful. He couldn't be pegged as the type to enjoy a homemade meal or make an effort to cook it.
"I would outright say no but this is Zeus we are talking about here. He is full of surprises." She reached for the bottle of wine. "Do you want some wine?""
"I should be the one offering you some and I'll take that as a yes." He picked up the stem glasses and poured wine into their glasses.
"Since our kids prepared this specially for us, we should not disappoint them."
"Truer words have never been said." She clinked her glass with his before they both downed their wine. '
He gazed at her and asked, "Your fans were curious to know what would become of us now that the truth is out. What do you think?"
She scoffed. "That's not the kind of question I expected you to ever ask. Don't you know what I feel for you, Theo?" She looked into her empty glass. "There's just so much involved but if it was my choice, you know better than anyone what I would do."
"I'll take that."
…
Once they had their romantic dinner thanks to Zaria and Zeus, they got to enjoy a special violin performance by Zaria. They were both pleasantly surprised.
"I didn't know you could play the violin so well, princess. When did you even learn?" Theodore gushed.
"I picked it up in college." She bowed slightly after her performance.
"You are so good at it, honey. Thank you for the performance." Lucy rubbed her head before settling next to Theodore, The two looked glued to each other, making her wonder whether they had made up.
Her role as cupid was done, so she winked at them. "I'll get out of your hair now." She skipped to her room, laughing when she imagined Theodore's expression once he learned that his room now looked like a honeymoon suite. In her defense, it had been Zeus' idea and he was also the one to execute it.
Once she got to her room and locked the door, she made a video call to Desmond who was waiting for her.
"Did you finish it?'" He asked as soon as the call connected.
"They enjoyed the performance." She reported jovially.
"Of course they would. You look beautiful." He complimented her. She was wearing a white dress that made her look like a blooming flower. Her hair was straight today, and it fell down her back with not a single strand out of place.
"Thanks." She pulled out the sheer scarf around her neck and threw it aside before flopping onto her bed.
"I want to tear that dress off of you." He expressed his naughty desire, staring at her chest area. While he had to admit that she looked way more innocent than she actually was today, he still found her seductive. Perhaps it was true that one saw what they wanted to see.
She placed her phone on the stand on her bedside table so she didn't have to end the call to change into her pajamas.
"Are you going to perform a strip tease for me?" He grinned when he saw her lift her dress to take it off.
"Actually, that's a good idea." She winked. She had not thought of it before but now that he mentioned it, she angled the phone to face her closet and walked over to it, then pulled her dress off slowly while swaying her body ever so slightly. Once it was off, she reached behind her back to unhook her bra.
"Zaria!" Desmond groaned on the phone, and that was her cue to take things even farther. She slipped her bra off and shimmied out of her lace panties, throwing them behind.
"Is that…" He sounded breathless. "Panties on my screen?" She heard him exclaim and turned to see that her aim had been a little too perfect. They had landed on the phone screen with a section of it hovering over her phone screen, which meant that Desmond was having a spectacular view.
"I'll take it off once I'm done." She promised, her hands finding her boobs.
"Okay but stop doing that." He pointed at her, She was driving him crazy.
"Doing what?" She feigned ignorance with a chuckle. He cursed, and that was a cue to find her pajamas.
She knew what she wanted to wear but bent to look for it in the lowermost drawers of her closet. After rummaging for a while, she rose back up to grab it from the top drawer. "There you are."
She turned to check out on her boyfriend who was getting the short end of the stick. Lust clouded his eyes and he didn't even try to hide it. Not that he needed to.
She wore her pajamas with him watching and climbed into bed before grabbing her phone from the stand. .
"I'm so tired, honey. I'll go to sleep now, okay?" She yawned.
"You will be the death of me." He groaned.
"I'll take that as a compliment." She smiled innocently, as though she had not just shown her boyfriend everything he was missing before dressing up as though nothing happened. It was bound to be a long night for him.
___
On Saturday, Desmond picked Zaria up at the agreed time like clockwork. She was wearing a pair of denim shorts today, because they had chosen to go to the amusement park with Rosaly. She had a colorful basket in her hands which he looked at curiously.
"Snacks for ROsaly. If she would like some, of course." She peeked into the backseat and then at him with a slight frown. "Is she not coming?"
"I decided to pick you up first so the two of you would meet before going to the amusement park." He opened the car door for her and closed it once she was in.
"Good idea." She fastened her seat belt, then hugged her basket nervously.
"Are you nervous?" He placed a hand on hers.
"Yes. What if we don't like each other?'"
"You don't have to." He leaned over to kiss her. "You are not obligated to feel anything for her. Just be yourself."
She nodded, but the thought was still worrisome. If she and Rosaly couldn't stand each other's presence for a heartbeat, would he have to pick sides? She hoped it wouldn't come to that.
She mulled over it the entire car ride and apparently, she was overthinking things. Rosaly dashed out as soon as she heard her father's car pull into the garage and she was out of the house by the time they made it to the door.
"Why aren't you wearing your shoes?" Desmond asked, only to be ignored.
"Zaria!" Rosaly blazed to her excitedly.
Zaria was taken aback. "You know me?"
She nodded, her eyes lighting up. "You are Laia's friend. The one who has a puppy named Des, almost like my daddy's name."
Zaria's lips curled upwards. Well, that was because said puppy was named after your daddy. She thought but dropped it.
"I brought you snacks." She gave the basket to her. Rosaly cheerfully rummaged into it and tore open the packet of chips after expressing her thanks. At the side, Desmond was just about to lament about how a puppy was more popular than him, but now it seemed that he couldn't hold a candle to a packet of chips either.
"Let's get in the house." He suggested, and they followed him in.
The living room was a hellish mess. It had happened before but he was still used to having his space in perfect order with not a single thing out of place. It still felt odd seeing the aftermath of Rosaly's games but it brought a smile to his face as one of the things that proved this to be true.
He took Zaria's hand to help her onto the couch without stepping on a barbie's head.
"Zaria, do you want to play house?" Rosaly looked up at her with pleading eyes.
"Of course." She had not expected this, but she took her place on the carpeted floor and sat, crossing her legs. Rosaly was in disbelief but she soon got over it.
"Can you be the mommy? I want to play the doctor." She grabbed a toy stethoscope.
"Sure." Zaria picked up a barbie.
"What about me?" Desmond asked from the side.
Rosaly thought about it with her head cocked. "Can daddy play the game too, Zaria?"
"I don't see why not. He can be the annoying neighbor."
"Hey!" He complained, but the duo was laughing too hard to want to change his role. It was alright to be the neighbor, but why did he have to be annoying?
"Alright then. I'll annoy the crap out of you." He sat down too, earning a smack on his head from Zaria. "What was that for?"
"Language." She warned.
Time flew past as the trio played. What had started as a game of house ended in beauty contests where Zaria would try different makeup looks on Desmond and have Rosaly judge the performance.
"I knew this was a trap." muttered Desmond.
When it was time to leave, Rosaly clung to Zaria's hand. "Will you play house with me again? I don't like playing by myself."
"I can play with you again when I don't have to be at work." She promised, though she wondered why Rosaly had to play by herself. Didn't she have friends?
"Do you have many friends?" She asked casually.
Rosaly shook her head. "Only Laia. I want Jessy to be my friend too but mommy won't let me."
"But why not?" She probed, even though she had no clue who Jessy was.
"Because her family is poor, unlike us."
Zaria was speechless. When Rosaly dashed off to drink her juice before their departure, she looked for Desmond and found him in his room.
"I think you are doing the wrong thing, letting Angela continue to raise Rosaly."
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m