273 Never stopped loving you
When Desmond returned, they had dinner at Theodore’s place after which he would bring Rosaly home.
Lucy and Zeus were there too, because they couldn’t wait to meet Rosaly. And they sure were excited to get to know her. She returned their affection with hugs and kisses; it was clear that she liked them too.
Meanwhile, Des was slotted in between Zaria and Rosaly and would rub his head against them once in a while to ask for pats when they forgot to give him some attention.
“You have become much better in the kitchen, Lucy.” Theodore remarked, enjoying the steak that Lucy had made.
“Thank your son for that. He would eat like a starved wolf every day and I’d have to cook more because he was constantly hungry.” She chuckled, taking the chance to tease her son. “I wonder what kind of girl will accept him.”
“Mom!” He complained as everyone laughed at him. To redeem himself, he clung to her arm. “If no girl accepts me because I eat too much, I’ll just live with you all my life. After all, I won’t be interested in any woman who’s not at least as beautiful as you anyway.”
Rosaly looked at the scene before her in surprise, then she turned to Zaria to whisper. “Uncle Zeus wants his mommy to hold his hand because he is scared.”
Although it was a whisper, everyone heard it and poked fun at Zeus mercilessly.
When dinner was done, Theodore headed for the kitchen. “I’ll wash the dishes.”
.....
The siblings exchanged glances before Zeus reached for Rosaly. “Do you want to play hide and seek?”
“Yes! I’ll show you my fun hiding spots.” She slid down the chair and ambled over to Zeus to grab his arm.
“If you show him your hiding spots, he will catch you when you start playing.” Lucy laughed at her cute antics. She was puzzled at her words and blinked in confusion with her small hand still grabbing Zeus’s.
“Don’t listen to her. Come on, let’s go play.” He called for Des as well, and the three disappeared upstairs.
Zaria cast a mischievous glance at her boyfriend. “Desmond and I need to discuss business. Will you be okay on your own?”
Lucy rolled her eyes. She knew what they were trying to do, not that she minded it in the slightest bit.
“Then I’ll not be unfair and waste your efforts. I’ll help Theo in the kitchen.”
She ignored their cheerful clap and walked into the kitchen. Theodore had just started loading the dishwasher.
“You don’t need to help with this.” He smiled over his shoulder at her, knowing why she was here.
“Let’s just say, I wouldn’t complain if I had to spend some extra time with you.” She admitted and took a seat at the kitchen island.
He smiled silently, taking her in. Well, they were too old to beat around the bush.
“I heard you got back into business with Nathaniel. To protect Zaria and Zeus?” He guessed. She hated the man too much to willingly do anything with him.
“And you.”
“What?”
She looked up, amused by his shocked face. “To protect Zaria, Zeus, and you.”
“I don’t need you to protect me. I can take care of myself.” He expressed his disapproval.
“You can also work your way up to make your agency what you want it to be.” She stood, moving closer to him. “You didn’t even have a penny to fund it. You also had a daughter to take care of and a ton of bills and you wouldn’t accept any help. Yet you made it. I must say, I’m impressed, Theo.”
A smile cracked his face. “My goal wasn’t to impress you. But hearing you say that is worth every sleepless night, every sabotage and every minute and effort I put into it.
Then he slid an arm around her. “You know that I never stopped loving you, right?”
Her face lit up with a smile. “I would be blind if I didn’t. And I didn’t stop loving you either.”
___
Meanwhile, Zaria and Desmond sat on the rooftop with their hands held and her head resting against his shoulder.
The cool breeze made a few strands of her hair flutter slightly and the scent of his cologne waft to her. She would never be less captivated by his scent. Every time she smelled it, she felt more addicted to it.
“Are you sniffing me?” He raised his brows.
She didn’t deny it. “Is it my fault that you smell so nice?” She countered.
He let go of her hand briefly and took off his jacket, which he gently placed over her shoulders.
She looked up at him with a smile and wore it. It was big enough to make her arms disappear but she folded it slightly to be able to hold his hand, pulling it closer to her. This felt like being in his bed. Except, the stars shone above them and the view below was to die for.
A brown stray dog snatched a bag of leftover food from a puppy and devoured it.
“Poor puppy.” Zaria shuffled and straightened up. He knew what she was about to do. He followed her lead back to the sliding doors that led to the rooftop, and into the house.
When she grabbed a box of Des’ food, he let out a laugh. “It’s a stray puppy, Zaria.”
“What? You can’t give a stray animal dog food?” She shot a confused look at him.
“I don’t know. You can, but I’m sure they are more used to human food.”
He had a point, so she made a turn to head for the kitchen, listening first to make sure they wouldn’t interrupt anything. It was quiet, which meant Theodore and Lucy had left. She beckoned to Desmond and made a beeline for the fridge, grabbing the meat she could find. They chopped it up, put it in a bowl and headed for the street. The puppy was still there, trying to dig the bins for whatever he could find.
He seemed to smell the meat from afar because he stopped digging and looked over.
Zaria placed the bowl on the ground. “Here, this is for you.”
However, the puppy scurried away. She looked up at Desmond in confusion.
“He is scared.” He guessed. “Let’s go. He will come back.”
Sure enough, by the time they got to the rooftop, the puppy was scraping off whatever was left of the meat. Luckily, the big dog didn’t snatch it away. Sated, he looked in the direction where Zaria had walked off too.
She smiled down at him. She would have adopted him if Des wasn’t so possessive.
They watched as a woman snuck into a house with her shoes off, laughing their hearts off as they made guesses of the situation. Was she having an affair?
“She married a silverfox for wealth but he can’t do the job well enough. So she found a handsome bloke at the bar and kept him as a lover while performing her duties as a wife at home.” He made up a possible story, making her laugh at his imagination.
“What about them?” She pointed down at a young kissing couple, who didn’t look a day older than twenty one.
“His friend’s sister. Her brother is a possessive jerk who won’t accept the fact that his sister is now a woman.”
She looked at the couple and laughed. “Or she was forced to marry someone else but she has a boyfriend.”
“That sounds like a novel I read in high school.”
They laughed and continued making random speculations, then a familiar white car stopped nearby.
A man stepped out, a mask covering his face and a hoodie over his head. He took a plastic bag out of the car and opened it, placing disposable plates at the end of the sidewalk and loading them with food. It wasn’t long before dogs and cats rushed over and nuzzled their heads and noses against him in greeting before digging in. He must have done this many times for them to be so familiar with them.
“Wait. That’s Devonte.” She gasped when realization dawned. “He doesn’t live nearby. What’s he doing here?”
“Looks like he comes all the way here in the middle of the night to feed stray animals.” He found it unbelievable too. Who would have thought that he was an animal lover?
When he was done, he took out another bag from his car and headed for another street. She rushed to the end of the rooftop but couldn’t see clearly how far he had gone, but she caught sight of a smaller silhouette. Was it a kid?
The pieces started to click. “A man who is kind enough to feed stray animals in secret and sneak off to give a street kid food in the middle of the night is not the kind of man who would ditch his girlfriend of a decade for his career. Something else must be going on.”
She jerked back as he returned, in fear of being seen by him.
Desmond was still angry with Devonte for breaking his friend’s heart.
“How are you sure he’s even Devonte?”
She rolled her eyes. “I’ve watched enough of his movies to be able to recognize him with my eyes closed. And that’s his car.”
It was a common model but she remembered the little figurine version of him on the dashboard.
She watched him, wondering whether they should go over and talk to him.
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