Earlier,
When Aria woke up, she scolded herself for falling asleep instead of attending to her patient/mother. She looked around the room, but she didn't see her mom anywhere.
She got up and continued looking for her. "Ma..?" She walked into Adriana's room, but the bed was tidy, with no sign of her mother.
She then went to the kitchen, no sign of her mother. Finally, when she was walking towards the bathroom, she heard water running. "Good morning, mommy!" She shouted excitedly.
When the bathroom door opened the person in front of her was not her mom. She frowned and crossed her arms. "Where is mommy?"
Caroline placed her hand on her chest as if offended. "Are you not happy with seeing me? Look, your mommy went out, but she will be back soon. Now, do you want something for breakfast?" Caroline asked her while drying her face with a towel.
Aria still looked at her suspiciously, but when she saw Caroline's injuries she gasped. "Auntie, what happened? Tell me who bullied you? Me and mommy will get justice for you." She had a cute, angry expression on her face.
Caroline laughed and picked her up. "No one bullied me, princess. I fell down the stairs last night and your mommy came to help me. Well, guess what?"
"What?" Aria asked, still suspicious.
"This means we get to have a sleepover!"
Aria then shook her head.
"You don't want to have a sleepover with me?" Caroline pouted.
"That's not it, auntie. Brother is coming soon, how will we all fit here?"
"Huh... what did you say?" Caroline placed Aria on the dinner table and waited for an answer.
The little girl only covered her mouth with her hand.
'Sorry brother... I might have accidentally snitched.'
"Aria…" Caroline insisted. "Mommy got sick, and she was hot and sweaty, so I called brother for help. I gave mommy medicine and cured her. Brother still worried for mommy so... we texted auntie Cristy to bring brother here with mommy's phone." Aria was out of breath when she finished explaining.
Caroline placed her hand on her forehead and sighed. "You two…. go brush your teeth. I'll make breakfast for you."
"Nope! Auntie, I will eat cereal. A patient can't cook." Aria placed her hand in front of her face and shook it.
"Aww, is my niece worried about me." Caroline teased.
Aria shook her head and proudly showed her doctor's coat. "See, as a doctor I have to take care of my patients." She then placed her fingers in her eyes and pointed them at her face and then at Caroline repeatedly.
"I'm watching you…" She then hopped out of the chair and ran to the bathroom to brush her teeth.
"Aww, sister, your kids are so precious." Caroline smiled, feeling envious.
Since she had to listen to her doctor Caroline prepared a bowl of cereal for both her and Aria.
....
Before opening the door, Adriana needed to control her expressions. She had to discipline James. She was quite speechless. First was Aria and now James. Both of them did the same thing without her permission.
She needed to make sure this wouldn't happen again, but first, she wanted to know why James did what he did. It's not normal for him to make a hasty decision like this and disobey her. Especially, since she told him she would meet him in only a few days.
She would usually not be too harsh with her punishments. The twins behave well, and they admit their mistakes after she scolds them a few times. It's pretty rare when they get rebellious, and she had only received a few tantrums from them.
She didn't want to be too angry, but James had flown across the world without her permission and put his life in danger. It's not like people don't have an eye on her right now. There's a handful of them waiting for her to let her guards down.
She sighed and opened the door.
She saw the scene before she placed her hand on her waist.
James and Aria were hugging each other, Caroline was preparing cereal and the two bodyguards were in a corner minding their own business.
And Bryan was just talking with Caroline casually.
….
"Auntie, you said mommy will be back soon, but I don't know why she left without telling anyone." Aria pouted and explained all her troubles to her brother.
James thanked Caroline for serving him some cereal and then turned to his sister, who continued to question him about what happened in Paris while she wasn't there.
"Well, the grandpa who lives next door to us is moving to New York next week. He won't be able to garden with us anymore." James broke the news to her and Aria pouted again.
She would miss that. Every summer the grandpa would teach them all about gardening and he would sometimes even come over to their house and look at their garden. They learned a lot of things about plants and they enjoyed it very much. It's a pity that he would move to New York City. That meant they wouldn't be able to see each other unless their mother brought them here again.
After that James explained how the things Simon ordered for Aria arrived at their home in Paris instead of their hotel, by accident.
"It's okay! When we go back home, we can open the package." She then shyly expressed her feelings towards his arrival.
To be honest, Aria quite missed her brother. She enjoyed her time in the city, but without her brother, it wasn't the same.
Aria's excitement overwhelmed James, but he too was happy to see her again. So, he brought her into a quick hug.
"I missed you brother."
"I missed you too Aria."
Meanwhile,
Caroline glared at Bryan. The little assh*le is quite daring, isn't he?
"Bryan, how about you shut up and go back home? Nobody needs your presence here, okay?" She gave him a big, pretty fake smile.
Bryan chuckled. "Come on, you're just salty because I'm speaking the truth."
"There's no use talking to you." Caroline poured the milk into the bowl, still glaring at him.
"I hate to say it but I told you so…." Bryan shrugged, pissing her off even more.
"I warned you, don't fall for the bastard tricks but no you willingly-"
Finally, he shut up!
Caroline then realized why when he heard the door close across the room.
James was happy to see his mother was looking better, and she no longer had a high fever. Still, he knew he would get in trouble for making such a reckless decision.
"Are we having a party so early in the morning? You even traveled from so far, it must be quite an important event right?"