"Say, Joaquin?" Astrid called out.
"Yes?" He asked, taking a short sip of his coffee.
"Let's say, hypothetically, you're engaged to someone and—"
"No. We're not doing that today." Joaquin stopped her from going further, shaking his head.
"Doing what?" She asked, confused.
"The hypothetical thing. We both know it's about you and Darius. Just tell me what's going on. I won't tell him anything you're not comfortable with." His smile after those assuring words were enough for her to pour her heart out.
She took a bite out of her warm toast and sighed. "I don't like how he talks to me, sometimes." She didn't know what to say after that.
Even to someone she could trust, she still couldn't explain everything. How could she tell him the things Darius had said and done to her without feeling judged?
Besides, Joaquin and Darius were best friends. It was awkward enough that he thought she was truly engaged to Darius.
"And how does he talk to you?" Joaquin asked.
"Not so respectfully." She looked down at her plate, events of her confrontations with Darius playing in her head.
"As his best friend, I know that he doesn't have the slightest filter when he talks to people. I also know that there's supposed to be a limit. Have you tried talking to him about it?" Joaquin inquired.
"We barely have civil conversations. We always end up going at each other's throats." She admitted.
"What do you think might be the cause of it? Pre-wedding stress?" He emptied the mug of coffee with a final sip and set it aside.
I don't think so. Mostly because we're never going to get married. Maybe because we don't love each other. Plus, he just doesn't respect me and it pisses me off.
Those were all the things Astrid wanted to blurt out, but she settled for a tired sigh and a "maybe."
"I don't want to pry into your personal issues, Astrid. It feels like a betrayal to my best friend, and I'm not one to give advice on relationships when I'm not in one. You'll both get over it, though." He gave her a faint smile and went back to using his laptop, rubbing his blue-rimmed eyes.
"So, which one of you four best friends is not a workaholic?" She giggled.
"None." He answered, typing aggressively on the laptop's keys.
Astrid finished her toast and used a spoon to pick out the strawberries in her yoghurt. Joaquin noticed that she didn't like them because of how scrunched up her nose was. He just smiled and shook his head at her.
Rose, Caleb and Nikoleta suddenly entered the dining room. "Good morning." Astrid greeted. Joaquin tensed up as he saw them. How had he forgotten that her parents were in the house?
Not wanting to make things awkward with his dirty jokes that he knew parents wouldn't like, he stood up, files and laptop in his hands.
"Good morning." He nodded at them, leaving immediately. Nikoleta, who knew how Joaquin could be, smiled at his retreating silhouette.
"Be prepared, Astrid. You, your mother and I are going bridal shopping today!" Nikoleta announced, causing Astrid's heart to drop.
"I'm not doing too good today," She feigned a grimace, holding her head in her hands. "I have this terrible headache."
"Really? I should make go you that ginger tea that you like, to calm your nerves." Rose said, walking towards the kitchen. Nikoleta sat beside Astrid, feeling her head for her temperature.
"Your temperature's just fine. If you have a headache, we'll just postpone the shopping. How does tomorrow sound?" She asked.
"I should be okay by tomorrow." Astrid nodded.
She closed her eyes, almost smiling in relief. She managed to postpone the bridal shopping that would go to waste if it ever happened. She would just keep making excuses until Darius arrived, then she would leave the lying duties to him.
"Has Darius called you?" Nikoleta asked.
"Not yet. He's probably tired or busy." She answered smoothly, giving herself a mental fist bump.
Does he even have my number? She thought to herself. He probably did. He must have known basically everything about her before she arrived at his doorstep, considering that she had mailed her info to him. Too bad she didn't get the job she had applied for.
"Most likely. He should have arrived in Italy by now." Nikoleta tapped her fingers on the table. "Are you sure there's nothing you're hiding from me, Astrid?"
Astrid frowned, shaking her head. "Why do you think I'm hiding something?" She asked.
"I don't know if you are, but I know that Darius is. Is something bothering him?" She asked, staring at Astrid like there were answers in her eyes.
Astrid's dark brown eyes moved to the table, biting her lower lip in guilt. What did such a sweet woman do to deserve the lies and false hope? She internally asked herself, ashamed.
"He hasn't told me if anything's bothering him." She shook her head.
"Hmm." Nikoleta scanned Astrid's demeanour for a whole minute. "Just two minutes ago, I said I didn't know if you were hiding something from me, but now I know. You're both hiding something from me." Astrid's guilt only doubled as she saw the hurt in Nikoleta's eyes.
"Don't say that." Astrid shook her head, her heart pounding harder inside her chest, making it hurt. Rose arrived with the cup of ginger tea, Caleb right behind her.
The tension between Nikoleta and Astrid was invisible to Rose and Caleb. Maybe it was because of how Nikoleta smiled and talked to them like the past five minutes didn't just happen.
Astrid was thankful for it. About ten minutes of her blowing the heat away from the piping hot tea and taking little sips, her phone rang.
The dining room fell silent, all eyes on her. She saw that it was an unknown number. Sure enough, it could have been anybody, even though all other names but one disappeared from her head.
Darius.
Astrid reached for her phone, taking a deep breath. What would she do if it was Darius? She scanned the number and was thrown into confusion.
The country code was definitely not one from Greece, but it wasn't from Italy either. It couldn't be Darius. Whoever was calling her was calling from England.