ROSALIE

The thoughts from yesterday's revelations have been on my mind since I woke up today. When I looked at Amelia, the puzzles of where she got some of her looks finally started setting in place. I watched with keen interest at the way he held her yesterday with so much care and tenderness like a fragile egg and it was so emotional.

"How did your date go yesterday?" Ava nudges my arms using hers. I turn to look at her, when did she even get here? I send a small smile her way as she takes a seat in front of me.

"It was alright." I say, still contemplating whether or not to let the cat out of the bag.

"Just alright?" She asks.

"Well..." I stretch as I speak.

"Well???" She raises an eyebrow at me, eagerly waiting to hear what I have to say.

"There is a whole lot that happened yesterday." I say.

"And?" She asks.

"He is Amelia's dad. Sadie confirmed some part of the story with respect to when she found me. Apparently, I am married to him." I watch her eyes widen in surprise as she listens to me speak.

"Wow. Just wow. So you are a Galanis?" She asks and I nod, giving her an affirmative answer.

"By marriage, technically." I say.

"Meaning, you are married to a billionaire." She adds to what she said.

"Yes, Ava." I roll my eyes at her, my patience already running out.

"I see you are not in the best of moods. Take care. I am off to see Russell." She stands up to take her leave.

"Hey, I am sorry." I stop her as she stands up.

"No hard feelings, dear. I understand this is alot for you to take in and that is why you are edgy." She winks, making me chuckle.

"Thank you." I appreciate the fact that she tries to see reason with me on this.

"You are welcome." She says shortly before leaving me alone in my thoughts.

My curiosity got the better part of me and I find myself picking up my phone to dial Nikolas' number, which he picks after three rings.

"Nikolas Galanis. Speak." He says over the phone, exuding the aura of a boss.

"Hello, Nikolas." I say.

"Amethyst." He says in a deep breath and takes a pause before speaking. "Is it okay to call you that?" He asks.

"Yes." I say.

"How are you doing, moro mou?" He adds.

"I am fine, thanks for asking. How about you?" I reply.

"Not doing bad." He answers.

"Can you come over to my house today so we could talk?" I ask.

"Sure." He replies immediately.

"I am sure you already know the place." I say. He just chuckles.

"Is 6pm okay with you?" I ask him.

"Yes, anytime you decide is good enough." He replies.

"Alright." I say.

"See you by 6pm, then." I end the call and get back to work.

•••••

After picking up Amelia from school, I head to get some groceries so that I can cook something different for the evening since we would be having Nikolas coming over. The sudden need to impress him comes to my mind, plus it is his first time visiting my house asides the date we had last night.

"We will be expecting a guest today, baby." I chip in after the work.

"Really?" She asks in a low voice.

"Yes, baby." I answer, touching her cheeks adorably.

"I need you to be a good girl." I state with a serious face.

"But I am always a good girl, mummy." She says slowly, this baby and her smart mouth.

"Yes, you are." I watch the confused expression on her face. She shrugs and we finish up the work we had left.

I tune in the TV to cartoon network and head back to check the rice which I left cooking in the kitchen. It is ready and all dried up, great! Next, I get all my ingredients for the chicken sauce and clean up the chicken before cutting it into tiny chunks. I marinate the chicken with spices and onions then cover with a clingfilm to allow the flavours sink in. I clean the peppers, carrots, Irish potatoes and onions to prepare for chopping. The marinated chicken is set on the gas stove to cook for a little while, after which I start chopping the vegetables and the potatoes.

"Mummy. Someone is here." Amelia calls from the sitting room.

"Coming!" I quickly rinse my hands with running water and dry up with a clean towel before heading to open the door.

"Hi." I say, nervously as I open the door to him.

"Hello." He smiles to me and follows me into the house.

"Please have your sit. I am busy in the kitchen." I state.

"You are cooking?" He asks in surprise.

"Yes. Is there anything wrong with that?" I ask him.

"Nothing." He says, making himself comfortable on the sofa. I catch Amelia taking glances at him from the corner of her adorable eyes. I stare at both of them intently.

"Well, I guess I will be back soon." I quickly rush back into the kitchen to continue cooking.

NIKOLAS

Right now, I am standing in front of the door to her house, nervous as hell. What if today does not turn out great? I can only get the answer to that by trying. Sighing, I knock on her door and patiently wait.

"Hi." She says, as she opens the door to let me in.

"Hello." I smile and follow behind her into the house.

"Please have your sit. I am busy in the kitchen." She says. Kitchen? She sucks at that section.

"You are cooking?" I ask in surprise.

"Yes. Is there anything wrong with that?" She shoots back in defense.

"Nothing." I say, making myself comfortable on the sofa.

"Well, I guess I will be back soon." She says before heading back to where I guess is the kitchen. Honestly, I am surprised at the fact that she can cook now.

"Hey." I whisper to this little beauty who kept stealing glances at me under the pretense of doing some home work.

"Hello." She says in a low voice, grinning and exposing her set of perfectly white teeth to me.

"Hi. I am Nikolas." I say to her. 'Your Daddy' I wanted to add so desperately.

"My name is Amelia but you can call me Mimi." She says in her lovely voice. God, my daughter. All I want to do right now is lift her in my arms and shower her with so much love to make up for the years I had missed in her life. She puts the bottom of her pencil in her mouth as if confused.

"Need some help? You look stuck." I ask.

"Yes, kind sir." She grins again, melting my heart. This baby right here is my child and it seems unbelievable. Now that I can see her eyes and face properly, she did have some of my traits.

"I got something for you." I reach into my suit pocket and pull out all the chocolate candy wraps I had kept in them. She shakes her head in response.

"Mummy says not to collect anything from strangers." My heart swells as I hear that. She did a good job instilling morals in this child.

"It is okay, baby. You can accept them." Amethyst replies, looking at us fondly. Way to go, great timing.

'Thank you.' I mouth to her. She smiles  in return and head back to the kitchen. Already, the sweet aroma of whatever she was preparing was already filling my nostrils.

I take off my suit jacket and fold the sleeves of my shirt then scoot closer to Amelia so we could attend to her assignment together.

"Dinner is ready." Amethyst's voice takes us off our own little world, making me wonder how long we have been in this state. I chuckle as I help a very tired Amelia to stand on her feet, careful not to hurt her.

"My legs." She complains. Say no more! I scoop her into my arms and she breaks into a fit of giggles. I tickle her sides and listen as the sweet melody of her laughter fill the air.

"Dinner is ready, you two." I look up to see Amethyst, folding her arms as she stares at us. Is that adoration I see in her eyes? Walking towards her, I place this little angel on the seat beside me.

She prepared boiled Rice with some Chicken sauce and it really tasted great. I guess over 5 years of being a single parent did really have its toll on her. I take a glance at her as she helps Amelia, she catches me staring and I quickly look away so it does not look awkward.

After eating, we are going to have 'the talk' so she finds out who exactly she is. Even though I am still adjusting to the fact that she is actually here in person, I am super glad that she is alive. At least, it is better than the thoughts and miserable feelings attached to her being six feet under. I look at them from the corner of my eyes in admiration. Mother and Daughter did look alike but I could not miss some other traits on her that screamed me.

A small smile forms at the corner of my lips and I did not notice that I had stopped eating until raised eyebrows from Amethyst are directed at me and she guides her eyes to my cutleries. God, I am a mess and a sucker for this duo.

ROSALIE

After doing the dishes which Nikolas insisted to assist me with, we tuck Amelia safely in the sheets and head back to talk.

"You both sleep in the same room?" He asks me.

"Yeah. The house is what my budget can afford." I reply, shrugging my shoulders.

"Hmm. Okay. We would have to change that." He mumbles.

"So about me." I say in a suggestive tone.

"You would want to sit throughout this." He holds my hands and leads us to the sofa to sit.

"Where do I start from? Hmmph." He sighs and places his hands on his chin.

"Any part of the story." I roll my eyes at him. What is it with everyone and playing with my patience lately.

"Your birth name is Amethyst Celestine Leon. You are the only girl and the last child with three older brothers. You have a bestfriend named Maya who happens to be my younger sister. You liked the idea of cooking but sucked at it, so bad that at a point you were actually banned from the kitchen after you slept off while cooking." He says, looking at me in the eyes. I nod my head at him and he continues, though I find the last part quite hilarious.

"At 23, you were arranged to marry me. At first, it was a loveless marriage of convenience because we both signed a contract between ourselves, but along the line, we worked things out and fell in love. However, one day you met with an accident and died." He says in a very sad tone.

"Your whole family and life is in New York. I will be forever grateful to Sadie as we all thought you were dead all these years. I have mourned your death year after year. I know this is sudden but can you go back with me?" He asks, completely taking me off guard as he stares into my eyes with so much hope reflecting in his.