"Achoo!"
Adriana banged her head on the stall's door in a passive-aggressive manner.
"So annoying." She rubbed her nose with a sigh and exited the stall.
After washing her face, she picked up the incoming call from her phone. After giving Natalie the instructions and explanation of her questions, she hung up and stared at herself in the mirror.
Her nose was red, and she was tired of all the sneezing.
'Did I get a cold?'
She could tell that if she stayed out for a longer time, she might end up with a fever. Her immune system is weak, and so she gets sick easily. She could remember how cautious she was when she was pregnant since the doctors told her how difficult the process would be for a weak body like hers.
She dried her face with the paper towels and made sure her expression returned to normal so she wouldn't worry her daughter who had been warning her about the temperature.
She left the restroom after 5 sneezes in a row.
When she walked out Kimberly and Aria were trying out food from a stall nearby.
They had come to a park where there was some event. There were celebrating different cultures so there were all kinds of food, therefore the perfect place to attract Aria's tummy.
She almost laughed when she saw Kimberly trying to stay as low key as she could.
"Relax, I don't think anyone will recognize you. In fact, with that mask and sunglasses, all you will do is attract attention."
"It will surprise you how troublesome the paparazzi are. They are stalkers and they don't even let you breathe sometimes…. well, you must be familiar with them, right?" Kimberly asked.
"Hmm, I have better security than you, so it's rare when one finds me." Adriana wiped Aria's mouth.
After picking a few types of food, they sat down at an empty table. It was the furthest away from the rest of the tables so they could talk more freely.
"How do you manage that? I mean, you kept your face hidden for so long…. it's quite impressive."
"I can't say it was easy being recognized in the industry when all you do is wear a mask and hide your face. Either way, connections are quite important. The more I gained, the harder it was for them not to follow my rules. After that, all I had to do was present my work to the world."
"Agh, my idol." Kimberly hugged her arm.
"Auntie, that's my place." Aria pouted.
Kimberly grinned and made space or her beside Adriana.
Aria hugged her mother's arm and gave Kimberly a provocative glance.
'Who's your idol? This is my mommy.'
It startled Kimberly. 'Damn, possessiveness runs in her veins.'
Adriana ruffled her daughter's head and shook her head.
After eating, they walked around the park until they reached the item's section. "Ooo, let's go on a small shopping spree." Kimberly raised an eyebrow at Aria, who was still holding her mother's arm with no intention of letting go.
"Okay."
Aria likes her new auntie, but she felt threatened. Is this auntie trying to steal her mother? Impossible!
"Yay!" After Adriana's confirmation, Kimberly started searching for something warm for her to wear.
"Their super cute." Aria smiled when her mother showed her a bracelet she found.
While she put them on Aria's hands Adriana explained to her and scolded her in away. "Princess, your auntie, and I haven't seen each other in a long time and she truly cares about us. It's not a competition on who I love or will pay attention to the most okay?"
Aria nodded her head with a pout.
"Honey, why are you feeling like this? Do you not like your auntie?"
"I do! I just…."
"You can tell me."
"I guess I wanted to have you all to myself. You and brother have done things together that I haven't so I get jealous sometimes." She admitted, her eyes tearing up.
"I wanted to be with you since I was little too, but why did I have to be away?"
It broke her mother's heart hearing her say that. She always did her best to make sure Aria never felt this way.
Adriana picked her up and hugged her. "Don't cry. I understand how you feel. It is unfair that they had separated us, but no one had control over that. What matters is that we are together now. I will spend more time with you so you don't feel like this again, okay?"
Aria nodded her head slowly and wrapped her arms around her mother's neck.
"If you feel like this again, please tell me. You and James are always my priority, and I love both of you equally. I don't have a favorite, Aria."
Adriana walked back to the beach and still embraced her while they sat down.
"But I heard all parents have a favorite…..''
"That's not true. Not all parents are like that. I might have spent more time with James, but I love you both with all my heart. I carried you both on my tummy so how could I prefer one over the other?"
"I'm sorry, mommy. I won't doubt your love for me again."
It took her a moment to recover after hearing her daughter's words.
When Kimberly came back, she handed Adriana a warm coat, and they went back inside the car.
"We should go shopping again. You will need more warm clothes since the weather is quite irregular these days."
Adriana didn't know how to respond to that since she would go back to Paris in a few days.
Almost an hour into their drive, Aria had fallen asleep.
"She's mature. It surprised me earlier when she acted like that." Kimberly commented.
"Yeah, that's what makes me worry about both of them so much. Though they act like children in front of me I know how mature they can be. I'm happy that they are more aware of their surroundings than normal kids, but I don't want them to miss out on their childhood. You know James is already getting interested in computers and he's just 6. Aria is smart and she can read other's intentions easily. There are many other things I could list."
Kimberly was happy to hear Adriana telling her more about her niece and nephew.