Ailee tossed and turned around but couldn't fall asleep. Her mind was filled with a lot of thoughts.
"What happened?" Xavier asked, sleepily.
" I don't know," she whispered.
He hugged her close to his chest and ran his fingers through her long and wavy hair.
After a few minutes, she spoke,
"I miss mama and papa"
Xavier stopped and pulled away a little.
"Do you want to go to them?" He asked, rubbing his eyes. If that's what will help her ease her mind then he'd gladly drop her there himself.
"Mhmm" She sat up and tied her hair into a bun while he picked up her pillow.
"Will you be okay?" She asked even though she knew the answer.
"Mhmm I'm lying in your room with everything yours, so practically you are here with me" he kissed her now exposed neck to which she blushed and nodded her head with a silly smile.
" It's okay, Zai. I'll go by myself, you sleep." She took the pillow from him and stopped him from getting up before kissing him on the lips and leaving the room quietly.
How she got so lucky is beyond her.
Humming with excited steps she knocked softly on the door. After some ruffling, the door was opened and there stood her father who was surprised to see her there.
"Lily, honey, what is wrong? Did Romano say something to you? Did you guys argue?" He let her in and asked worriedly because it didn't make sense for her to come to them in the middle of the night when her precious boyfriend was right there next door.
Her mother sat up when she entered and exchanged worried glances with her husband, silently asking him to tell her why she was there.
Ailee started laughing at the priceless reaction of her parents and shook her head, smiling.
"No, papa nothing like that happened. I just missed you so much so I thought..."
She said, fidgeting with her fingers.
"Of course, my love, you're always welcome" Juliana hugged her, sighing in relief and patted her head. She got emotional when she heard her saying that she missed them because before she came both her and Calvin were talking about their children only. They miss how carefree their lives were and now each one of them have their own sets of difficulties. No parent would want that for their children.
"Come on, let's sleep" She lied down between her parents and smiled broadly, looking at the ceiling.
"Mama? Papa?" She said quietly.
"Hmm?" They said in unison.
"I love you both" she said and they chuckled.
"We love you too, our little Lily" Calvin said and patted her head.
"Oh! What about Romano? Poor child, is he sleeping alone?" Juliana asked Ailee.
" Yeah, he said he was fine sleeping alone," she smiled at his thoughtfulness.
"Hmm, how about we call him here too?" She suggested and Ailee laughed in response.
" No Ana, you know how he isn't comfortable around people. Why would you torture him like that?" He reasoned.
" That is true but it would have been nice if he could spend more time with everyone"
She suggested.
" Mama, he is trying. He has changed so much over the months, I believe a day will come when he'd join us for the sleepover"
"I don't know but he's really a sweet boy"
They didn't sleep for another hour just talking about general things. Deep down in their hearts this is what each one of them actually wanted but were hesitant to ask. Parents thought that they might be interrupting their privacy now that they're all grown ups and children were too busy in their own lives.
Ailee was able to sleep peacefully in the comfort of her parents who always stood by her side no matter what.
___
Early in the morning, Xavier woke up to go to his office but before that he had to drop by his home to get changed and pick up some important documents.
Yesterday was spent with his girlfriend and so he was sure there must be a pile of pending work waiting on his desk and it will keep on increasing as the day goes by.
Times were rough and he can not afford to slack off in any way.
He has got to look after the issue with the person who is out for his blood and all the paperwork he is doing side by side in order to legalize the leftover bits of his other business.
Soon he will have nothing left from his legacy. Just the company that he started on his own and raised with his own blood and sweat.
First thing after getting some time will be to send some of his stuff here.
Alex's clothes are a bit tight on him.
He wrote a little message on a pink post-it for Ailee and left it on her bathroom mirror where she'd find it easily.
It simply wished her a good morning and asked her to take care of herself and that he is leaving for work. If anything were to happen, she must call him immediately.
Freshly bathed in his Coco's coco shampoo, he walked out looking around the pictures in the hallway.
"Oh Son, you're leaving already?" Juliana stopped him near the kitchen. She and Calvin were being served breakfast by the maids.
"Yes" he didn't bother asking about Ailee because everyone knows she won't be waking up even in the next three hours minimum.
"He is so punctual and look at our boy, Alex" she whispered to Calvin who just shrugged.
"Oh sorry, come on, have some breakfast. I'm not letting you go on an empty stomach" she led him to the table by his hand and forcefully made him sit.
He did not want to come off as rude so he complied otherwise every second to him is invaluable at the moment.
He was served pancakes, coffee, toasted bread with various bread spreads and eggs.
He just had two pancakes with coffee while having a light conversation with Calvin.
"Thank you for the breakfast" he said and stood up.
"Oh no, dear. Thank you for being a great partner for our daughter" Juliana said with a warm smile.
He nodded and Alex walked in the room with his PJs still on.
"Alex, why are you still in your night suit? Don't you have an office to go to?"
"I'll get ready in a minute, mama, right dad?" He asked, putting a hand on his father's shoulder but he shrugged it off.
"I'm not going to wait for you, sir. I'm in fact leaving" he said and left, nodding towards Xavier.
Xavier too, followed suit but he was joined by Alex while they waited for Mr Laurent to drive away and his car to be brought to the front by the driver.
"Hey man, I just wanted to say that....." he said nervously, causing Xavier to raise his eyebrow questioningly.
"For what you said about Lily not being a burden on us, appreciate you, man" he mumbled almost embarrassed to say it out loud but it had to be said.
"I just said the truth" he gave him a firm pat on his shoulder and sat in his car, driving away.
___
He was attacked by Doodle as soon as he stepped inside.
The maids were cleaning around the house and automatically scurried away when he entered. He paid no attention to anyone who was there and hurried up the stairs with Doodles in his hands. He gave him all the patting and rubbing on his way up because other than that he got no time.
He switched clothes and breathed freely in the perfect size of the clothes and stopped by his home office before leaving again.
He suddenly thought of removing all the helpers from the inside of his house for the time being because anyone can be a rat and if that actually happened it will become more troublesome for him.
So he quietly instructed his head security of the estate and asked them to take care of it and Doodles personally till he comes back.
He got out of the car and handed over the keys to the valet and walked in.
The atmosphere turned serious with his presence and suddenly everyone was working with increased speed but a little less stability.
Sighing he took off his coat and sat down on his chair and turned on his system while simultaneously going through the stack of documents on his table.
It was quarter past one when he received a text from his Coco that said that she was going on a short trip with her sisters to divert her mind.
He quickly sent an okay as a reply and got back to work.
It wasn't until four in the evening that he was disturbed from his work by a call.
He picked it up because he only ever gets calls when it's an emergency, especially when it's Enzo.
"Sir" Enzo's voice flowed through the speaker indicating the seriousness of the matter.
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