"Where could everyone have gone…"
"Surprise!!!" Several voices screamed followed by the sudden illumination of the entire house.
The startled figures let their eyes examine the sweet-smelling room which was decorated in red and white.
If not for the fact that everyone present there were aware of their marriage they would have mistaken this setup to be for a marriage proposal.
"What on Earth is going on here?" Xander demanded. He glared at the maids and security guards who were dressed differently.
"I was the one who forced them to dress up like this, so there is no need to be hard on them," Giavanna explained in her sweetest voice.
She didn't forget to wear a bewitching smile too as she hurried to where they stood.
"Big Sis, today is not yours and Xander's marriage anniversary neither is there any special occasion taking place, so I wonder what is this," Eve asked as she gestured at the centre table arrangement of flowers and candles arranged around it.
"It's just as the banner says," Giavanna smiled and pointed at the banner hung on the iron rails of the first-floor corridor.
"Happy reunion, Gia and Xand. May your love last forever…" Eve subconsciously chuckled before Giavanna could finish what was written on the banner.
WHOOF! WHOOF!
Eve coughed and acted as if her snickered earlier was due to the cough.
'Laugh as much as you want because the final victory will belong to none other than me'.
Giavanna declared inwardly, her murderous glares fixed on the face of the lady whose attempt to suppress her laughter wasn't very successful.
"Come, let's sit over there," Giavanna said excitedly. She acted as if she didn't hear Eve's mockery earlier.
"Let's get drunk together and…"
"Sorry but I don't think that is possible," Xander was quick to reject her. He brushed her hands off his body as if she were some stranger.
"I have an important meeting tomorrow and as such needs to leave the house early..."
"You can always wake up early. I am not asking you to stay up all night..."
"I also need to review some documents before I retire for the night," He cut in. Others who were present there went on with their stuff.
They pretended to be deaf and dumb even though they were not.
"Apart from the fact that this party is to celebrate our reunion. I wanted to use this medium to apologise for how I behaved earlier in the morning. I don't know what came over me," Giavanna murmured.
Her head hung low like someone who was really sorry for her actions.
"Will you still say no even after hearing this hmm?" Giavanna asked. She extended her hands and held him once again.
When Eve saw that Xander wanted to say something, she leaned in and whispered, "It looks likes she would burst out in tears if you continue to say no, so why don't you agree?" Eve whispered and pulled away from him.
"It looks like you guys are gonna be busy the entire night, so why don't I go upstairs?... I don't want to end up being the third wheel," Eve smiled.
She moved towards the stairs almost immediately.
'He was mine to begin with so how dare that brat act like she is doing me a favour?'
Giavanna, who had been provoked so many times that day, suppressed her anger as usual.
"What are you staring at?" Xander demanded when he realised in time that something else had her caught attention.
"Nothing," She remarked as she pulled the reluctant guy to the centre table where everything was set up.
Zeus, Roman and others took their sitting down as the cue to exit the room.
"Can you believe that I still remembered all your favourite dishes although I had problems with my memories?" Giavanna grinned.
She took it upon herself to reveal the covered dishes one after the other.
"You had issues with your memories?" Xander asked what he was concerned about.
"Yeah, didn't I tell you that I was in a coma for a long time?" Giavanna replied, her attention focused on the shrimps she was working on.
"You were in..." Giavanna slid the shrimps into his opened mouth without giving him heads up.
"I heard nothing tastes better than having shrimp with red wine so tell me, what do you think?" Giavanna asked. She passed him the glass of wine she poured.
He took a sip from the glass of wine and returned it to the table in front of them.
Giavanna wasn't pleased with how cautious he was when she had his favourite wine in front of him.
Because how would she get to execute her plans for the night if she doesn't get him intoxicated?
She was in deep thought thinking of her next step and didn't notice that Xander's gaze has been on her face for a while now.
Giavanna raised an eyebrow when she realised how intently he stared at her as if the answers to his curiosity were written on her face.
"Why?" Giavanna asked without avoiding his eyes. "Why do you stare at me so? Do you also think I have become prettier?" Giavanna added despite having guessed what her husband's problem was.
She waited for his reply but he said nothing even after two minutes had passed.
"Indeed, your face isn't as pale as in the past neither is your lips deprived of colour and life in it..."
"I love your indirect way of telling me I am pretty," Giavanna grinned. She pretended not to know what he was hinting at.
'Of course, I am not ghostly paled and that is because my sickness is gone. My weak body and system have been replaced with something so powerful that you can ever imagine'.
Giavanna leaned in and placed her head on his shoulders.
"I find it more romantic than those pickup lines..."
"But you look, sound and behave differently now," He finished his sentence he couldn't complete because of her interruption.
"Geez... did the bastard expect me to be the same fool I was back then after the betrayal he slammed at my face?" Giavanna tilted her head sideways and mumbled the words.