She would persevere

Chapter 17

'Til all my sleeves are stained red
From all the truth that I've said
Come by it honestly I swear
Thought you saw me wink, no
I've been on the brink, so

Coming home, I was immediately bombarded with Teddy's animated replay of his day. From school to his friends. And then he said something that restored a small bit of the faith that I no longer had in humanity.
Our father had apologised to Teddy.
He apologised. He had told Teddy he was sorry. Sorry for taking Adaline's side in the incident. That he should've been more fatherly towards Teddy.
To say I was shocked was an understatement. But for Teddy there was still hope they could have a good bond.
Qui and I went to his room to play a few rounds of CS GO together before we were told that dinner was ready.
Getting down, I sat in my standard chair with Teddy next to me. But Kiel sat next to Adaline. I looked at him confused as to why. He simply smiled at me. Noah was the last to enter the room and with all the chairs filled, he had to sit next to me. I looked back at Kiel as Noah sat down. Sending him a happy smile. He knew I wanted to repair the strained relation I had with Noah, this was his way of helping.

As food was served and people started talking, I tried with Noah.
"How was your day?"
No reaction.
"Dinner is delicious isn't it?"
Still nothing.
I went on until I had nothing left, he simply ignored me. When Adaline started to talk, he replied to everything she said.

All I could hear was a further crack in my heart. I knew I looked confident. I knew I was strong. But with these people... I couldn't fully commit to that confident strong girl I had built myself up to be. I was crumbling from the inside. And I didn't know how much my heart could take. I didn't know how much it would take for the pieces that I was able to glue back together over the years to be torn apart again.

I was still busy with my inner dialogue when something Adaline said peaked my interest.
"But Noah, think about it. An alliance with the Americans would benefit us all. And if you promise Adrian King my hand in marriage then the alliance will be golden." Adaline said seemingly proud of herself.
"Sweetheart, the Americans will never willingly go into an alliance with us. I've already tried to talk with Adrian, but that kid is just too stubborn." Father replied.
I smirked. Of course the Americans would never consider the Italians. Not even with a marriage prospect to Adaline.
One. The Italians have an Alliance with the Spanish. The Americans have one with the french. Spanish and French hate each other.
Two. The Italians would first have to get an alliance with the French before the Americans even think about it. But Pierre St. Clair is a stubborn man. His son, Julien, is just the same.
Three. Adrian Matthew King is no kid. He's 27 years old. Almost the same as Noah en Kiel.
Four. If my information is correct, there is already a woman out there that he is in love with. She's just not in the spotlight, so Adaline has no chance at anything with the guy.

And Five. Adaline is...
"But Daddddd..." There she goes.

Five. If Adaline is not scheming to be the most adored. She's whining. A lot.
I excused myself from the table, no longer being able to stomach sitting next to Noah who would just openly ignore me and went to my room.
I was in the middle of talking with maman when someone decided to knock on my door and walked in.

"Can we talk Tesoro?" My father asked. I nodded at him.
"Maman, Can I call you tomorrow? Tell Riri I said hello. Je t'aime aussi, Maman. Bonne nuit."
Hanging up the phone, I sincerely wondered what he wanted to talk to me about.
He sat down at the side of my bed. Looking at him, I gestured that he could talk.
"Where do I begin? I wanted to apologise, Tesoro. For how I've acted towards you since you arrived."
Okay, I did not expect that.

"Instead of welcoming you, I questioned you. I needed to have all bits of information that I was not privy to and I understand that the way I went about it together with your brother was not the way to do it. The way I wanted to go about rules and such, I should've formed my words differently.
Do not get me wrong, Tesoro, I love you and I am really happy that you're back home. And I know we haven't seen each other in a couple of years and I want to know everything about you, but have to remember that I was not there in those moments. For example, ordering you to get your tattoos removed was a wrong move. I wasn't there. I can't make decisions on choices that were made when I wasn't present. Please forgive me. I want us to try again."