Chapter-17

Lucas Alberto's POV

"Are you okay?" Lucas asks once he stops the car in front of my house. It has been a week since Papa has been in the hospital. He has been discharges just two days ago and I have been going back to the office as usual. Lucas has been dropping me home since then. Too many things keep running in my mind since these past few days. Papa, Lucas, Felisa and office work. I sigh and try to give him a smile.

"I am okay." My voice is barely a whisper. He just looks at me. He knows I am lying. "I just... There is too much on my mind."

"You know what, today is Friday. How about we go for a long ride?" He asks turning the key of his car to start the engine and gets ready to drive. I let out a laugh.

"That sounds so tempting. But I am not in the mood for it." His face drops as soon as I say that. No, please don't be sad. "But, since today is Friday, how about you come in and we can watch a movie and have dinner at my house." That would be so relaxing and having him next to me would temporarily put a stop to my never ending thoughts. He smirks and I blush. "Stop that. Just a dinner and movie."

"I still like the sound of that. You are letting me in." He says and turns the car around. I look at him in confusion. "If we are going to have dinner, I am cooking my special spaghetti. Let's go to grocery store to get them."

"You know how to cook?" I just never imagined him to the type to cook. I mean, they have chefs in their house and he was always busy.

"You sound surprised, Angel."

I blush and tell him the directions to the grocery store.

He skilfully tosses the vegetables and adds some spices. He took off his suit before he started cooking and folded his sleeves up to his elbows. His light blue shirt looks so good on him. He drains the water in the spaghetti and washes it with warm water. I follow all his moments and forget about all of my worries as I watch him cook. I don't realise that I am staring until he speaks.

"You know I normally don't like the paparazzi taking pictures of me." He says as he washes his hands as he is in the middle of cooking and picks up my phone that is on the kitchen counter. He opens the phone and holds it up. I hear a camera shutter sound and a few more. Is he taking pictures of himself on my phone? He poses as he clicks himself on my phone. "But these." He comes to me and hands me the phone. I am sitting near the dining table that's fit for four people. "Are only for you." I blush beat red.

"I am not staring." Oh my! How can I be so stupid to get caught while staring at him? I bite my lip and hear him chuckle.

"Oh, you are. Look at me." I turn my face away as the redness won't leave my face. This is the worst. Getting caught while staring at your crush. "Look at me. Let me see that red face." I feel hot.

"No." I turn my face away again as he comes to the other side.

"There." He holds my chin and makes me look at him. I don't meet his eyes.

"I wasn't... staring. I was just... looking." Oh, this is so embarrassing.

"Yeah, you were." He chuckles. "So, here are my pictures. You can look at them anytime you want now." He shows me the pictures.

Lucas Alberto's POV

"Stop it." She pushes me off lightly and pushes her hair behind her ear. I can't help the laugh escaping my mouth. I get up and go to the stove to add the spaghetti to the sauce. All the while the smile stays on my face. This whole week she has been under a lot of stress and it's visible on her face. I want her to smile and blush like she does when she meets my eyes. I want her to be happy.

With everything that happened, even if we are finally together like we wanted to, that happiness last less than five minutes. I want her to enjoy this. I want to enjoy this with her. I look at her and she quickly averts her gaze back to the book that she opened to read. I am waiting for things to settle down to finally take her on a proper date. But we just can't seem to get there.

The table is already set. I put the spaghetti pan on the table and serve some in each of our plates. Sitting beside her, I take my glass and drink water. "Try it. Tell me how it tastes." She smiles and swirls the fork with spaghetti noodles and puts it in her mouth. I watch her as she enjoys the food I cooked for us. She licks the finger that has some sauce on it. It all goes in slow motion and her eyes sparkle as she eats.

"It is so good."

"Just good? I am hurt."

"It is amazing." She holds my hand that's right beside her. I caress her fingers with mine. "I never imagined that you would cook for me." Her voice sounds as if she is still in surprise.

"I will cook for you anytime, Angel." She smiles again at my words and seems relaxed.

We both eat and talk about random things. I made sure to not bring up any of her family members. There is too much drama there and I don't want her to think about anything other than us. She is here. I am here. This is better than a date. Just calm.

"Mama would have liked you." She smiles looking down at our hands. We are now in the living room. The TV is playing, but none of us are paying any attention to it. She is sitting beside me and I pull her closer. My other hand is over her shoulder. We lay a blanket on us to feel warm. She folds her legs on the couch and gets comfortable with me. I smile inwardly. I have been waiting for this day.

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Is it tough? Living with Felisa?" I take a lock of her hair and twirl it around my finger. She falls silent for a few seconds. We have never talked about this. Everyone in our family circle knew how things are at the Piccolo's mansion, but no one ever talked about it in open. Now that she is mine... Yes mine! I need to know.

"It is. A bit. But I got used to it." She sighs. "Besides, I knew since I was a girl that I have to keep my distance with people. They don't like me very much and I don't want to pursue them to like me. That's why the books became my friends. They teach me, understand me and don't question me." She smiles. I feel sorry that she has to go through all that. Especially someone like her should have more friends.

"I am sorry."

"You should not be." She looks up at me with a smile. "It's because of you that I was able to take a step forward. Now I have a few friends from office. Aria, Nicole, Alessandro, Micheal and your favourite Daniel."

"Daniel isn't my favourite." She gives me a really look. "He works hard and he deserves the credit."

"That's true. Life is... Better now. So, thank you." My heart fills with something warm at her words.

"There is still more good to come and I will make sure that you love life." I want to give her everything. I want her to feel happiness. I lean down and place a kiss on her forehead. "Tell me about your Mama. What do you remember about her?"

"She was sweet. She was always smiling. When my dad is around she used to become a little kid. They were both so in love." She looks at her mother and father's wedding day picture that on the table beside us. They do love so in love. Now that I have seen her mother, I know why Mr. Piccolo stares at her longingly. She looks just like her mother. "And she makes amazing cookies and desserts."

"You like cookies?" My fingers rub her shoulder.

"Love them." She looks excited for a minute. I chuckle and she blushes realising that she sounded too excited.

"Your father loves you. I can see that. He loves both of you." It's clear in his eyes. My thoughts go to Gemma. We still haven't told him anything. They still think we are going out.

"I know." She looks at the TV as she speaks, but I can see it in her eyes that she is not concentrating on whatever is playing on there. "I am worried about him. I want to move back to the palace till he better." That surprises me.

"You sure about that?" She sighs at my question.

"I just... I want to be there and look after him." There are Gemma and Felisa to look after him. If she goes there, I don't think Felisa is going to treat her any better than before. At the thought of Felisa, my mind goes back to the way she spoke in the hospital. It's clear that she wants Gemma and me to be together. I can't imagine that happening, not just because I like Annabel, but because I never thought of her that way. My eyes fall on the picture of her parents on the table.

"How did they meet? Your mother and Mr. Piccolo." Words leave my mouth before I even think about them. She stiffens for a minute and lifts her head to look at me. She gives me a small smile. "I am sorry, Angel. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"No. It's fine. I am just surprised that's it. No one asked me before." She bites her lip and looks down at her fingers. It's hard for her to speak about them. It's clear on her face. I place my hand on hers and hold it.

"Let's no talk about that-"

"No. I want to. It's no big secret." She looks at their picture. "They actually met through an accident."

"Accident?" I am surprised.

"Yes. Mom had this old car, the beat up trunk like Papa calls it." She grins. I can't help but smile with her. She looks happy talking about them. "Papa was drunk. It was early in the morning and he said he looked bad. It was the time he was having problems in the marriage and they decided to separate. At least Papa wanted to. They haven't still spoken anything about divorce. He moved away from the palace, left the city and went to some small town.

That's where he met mom. Grandpa was alive then. The great Mr. Piccolo. He was taking care of the things here then and let Papa be."

So, they met when Mr. Piccolo and Mrs. Piccolo decided to part ways.

"One day they met on accident as I said before and Mama was the one driving the car. Papa suddenly came around the corner and nearly got hit. He was already tired and frustrated with everything. So, when he nearly got hit, he got angry. Mama came out of the car and said sorry it seems. Papa said that his heart nearly got out of his chest when he first saw her.

He said that she was wearing a white dress and he stared at her. Apparently, it was her first day in the new car, which Papa clearly still doesn't like. It was a second hand car. She apologized, but Papa although he is attracted to her, he was still in a sour mood. He called her car names and she got angry. They had an argument. She thought that he is homeless man. However, at the end, she gave him a lift to the place he wanted to go.

She couldn't resist his charm as Papa says." She rolls her eyes. I chuckle. She realises what she has done and blushes. "Papa can be real cocky."

"That's a surprise." I didn't peg for him to be such person. He is always so down to earth.

"Since it's a small town, Papa saw her around the town a few times and saw her working in a restaurant as a manager. He joined as a waiter there just to see her."

Wow! That's quite romantic.

"Her presence calmed him he said." She sighs. "They slowly started to date and all this time, Mama didn't know who Papa was. He wanted to tell her, but they went too far already. They fell in love. It all happened quickly. It just took two months. Papa wanted to divorce Felisa and have a serious relationship with Mama. He applied for divorce and sent them to Felisa.

She told Papa that she had signed and filed for them. Papa wanted to marry Mama. He said that he never wanted to be in a relationship after Felisa. His and Felisa's was arranged marriage as you know."

I nod my head. Everyone knows that.

"He told Mama that he got a job here and they both moved here to this city... Into this house. Papa talked to Grandpa before the marriage to give their blessings, but Grandpa was against it. He wanted Papa to be with Felisa. Papa decided to give up everything for Mama. He wanted to be with her. Since Mama was an orphan, they have no one at their wedding. It was only them both. They got married a month later and that's when everything changed."

The news flash. Even I have seen that. I read about it when I was in university once.

The Scandal. The illegitimate marriage of Alessandro Piccolo. Who is the woman beside him? Is she the reason for the split between him and Felisa?

I could only imagine what would have happened next.

It must have been bizarre.

A/N:

Hey my cute dumplings!

I know it's been a late update. But here we are. My two love birds are going forward and I love it.

#Devil'sAngel

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