Aaron Vaughn-Solomon's point of view
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THIS WAS THE SECOND TIME THAT her mom had mentioned something related to food, but yesterday I didn't really paid attention to it. Was that my mistake? Does Thays has or had some eating disorder that I should be aware of? She seems to eat just fine, so I would never had thought further about it if it wasn't for her mother.
And what was that at the ending? Was she going to ask something about bleeding before her daughter interrupted her to hang up? Could it be something related to her period? I can't think of another type of bleeding for her to have.
But seriously. Now I'm worried about her.
I may not have told her beforehand about Graham being married, or about his wife, or anything about my family, since I thought she knew it from my mom's blog, but this isn't the same. It's regarding her health and her mom seems genuinely worried.
What was that that her mom said? About something bad having happened before even though Thays told her she was okay... She also asked if she was overworking herself, which means she has that tendency. Though she told me she doesn't spend all of her time working thanks to her managers. Was she lying?
Bea also said that Thays has a habit of bottling everything up and not telling anyone when she's hurting physically, emotionally, and mentally. Which actually sounds like her. Although I do that as well, but not that much. When things get too overbearing, I always talk about it to avoid loosing my sanity.
Even if talking means sitting in front of a mirror and letting it all out to myself. What matters is getting it out of our chest. But Thays looks like the type to straight up explode when she bottled up more than she could hid from. Which is definitely something bad and unhealthy, for us and especially for herself.
"Here is yours food," Giovanni came to us with two trays in hand and placed them on the table, breaking the exasperating silence that had settle between me, Thays, and my brother. "Ragú with Creamy Polenta, Gnocchi Cacio e Pepe, Veal Osso Buco. And," he put the bottle of wine that he was also holding on the table, "a Livio Sassetti Brunello di Montalcino Pertimali 2015."
"Thank you, Giovanni," she spoke in her perfect Italian again, giving him a warm smile. "Can I ask you something personal?"
He nodded excitedly to talk more with her, and I felt uncomfortable again, "Of course!"
And she asked in English this time. "Do you have a boyfriend? Because you are too handsome to be alone," oh, okay, she has balls. Graham bit his bottom lip to hold a gasp, mirroring myself, as we waited for his answer.
The boy blushed, "Not yet. But I do have a thing going on with the captain of the Basketball in school," oh. She was right? "Can I ask you one too?" Now he switched to Italian.
"It's fair. Voice your curiosity," she smiled.
"Since when are you and Mr. Aaron dating? How did it happen?" Okay, that's indeed personal.
"We've been dating since August but we've had something going on before that. And I think it might be because we are neighbors and we bickered and fought each other for three years and a half. We still kind of do," she held my hand and I intertwined my fingers with hers. "But that only makes our chemistry stronger. And we understand each other too. So, that's how, I guess."
A wide smile took over the boy's lips, "That's really beautiful. You two make a beautiful couple, Mrs. Rossetti. If it ends up in marriage, I'll be happy if you invite me!" What?
She squeezed my hands tightly and I had to told it together to not look startled by what he just said. "If that happens, then we'll invite you." Damn, she's better than me at reacting to those situations. If I was alone I would have probably cursed.
"Amazing. Now, I'll leave you alone. Have a good lunch, Mrs. Rossetti, Mr. Aaron, Mr. Graham. You are always welcome in here!" Then he left and we finally let out a sigh of relief.
"What did you told him?" Graham asked curious. "In Italian, I mean."
Thays let go of my hand and opened the wine, than elegantly poured it to our glasses. "He asked how me and your brother happened, and since when we were together. So, I told him," she rolled her shoulders.
And the bastard waited for us both to begin eating, to talk again, "But as you two are almost 30, so, hm, you two are together with marriage in mind, right?" We both chocked on our food and in a synchronized motion, we drank a sip of our wine. "You've talked about it, no?"
"Graham," I bit my lip to hold the curse.
"It's… it's a little too soon," she mumbled and he turned to her. "To talk about marriage like that. We've only been together for around 5 months, Graham." But before he could say a word, she kept going. "But, yes, of course, we are in this with marriage in mind. We take each other seriously," then she turned her intimidating eyes to me, "right, darling?"
Nodding, I got a bit closer and kissed her lips softly, and she went with it, as if it was perfectly normal and natural for us to do this, "Of course, sweetheart," I kissed her again, and turned to my brother. "That's what a serious relationship is about. But as she said, not yet, okay? So, don't rush us."
My brother seemed genuinely relieved, "I'll be the groomsman. I'm already saying it before anyone say a word about it. It'll be me. At least I'll be the first one," can we stop talking about this? It's too much.
"Deal," she agreed smiling and for a second I was caught on it. And it annoyed me that she was smiling like that to him and not me. "Oh, Graham, what place would you like to spend some free time on? Like, somewhere you would love to be with your wife for a week, other than NZ?"
"Bali," his answer was quick. "Why? Want to give us a ticket and free pass in your Bali hotel as a Christmas present?" He grinned.
"Hey, stop it," I warned at him. "I hope none of you will try to use her just because of her work, got it?"
She paused her hand on my lap again, making me look at her, "It's okay, darling. And yes, Graham. I kind of intend to give you all a present for Christmas. It'll help me win your family faster, no? Everyone loves presents."
I placed my hand above hers. "You do not need to do that, sweetheart. They will try to pry on you because of that. And it's your work, you don't have to," I won't feel good if she does that. She'll be losing some income. And she already does that twice a year for her entire family. It's a fools bargain.