𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 ( 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐎𝐧𝐞)

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲-𝐎𝐧𝐞-𝐂𝐚𝐭 𝐎𝐮𝐭 𝐎𝐟 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐠

𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐞?

  ~𝐏𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭~

𝐋𝐢𝐚

"Would you excuse us to talk to the kids, please?"

"Without us?" My mother raised an eyebrow, surprise etched on her face. You could tell she was daring my father to push and stock up what she thought was transgression for having not told her of my relationship.

"It's business, cara." his gently spoken response has her eyes softening, conceding to grant him his wish. We watch them leave, and uncle Rom signals Luc to close the door.

He does, and they stare at us long enough to make is feel like we are under a microscope.

"So, why now." uncle Bruno lifts his brows, he now has his legs up at the corner of the desk where my father is perched. 

Luc clears his throat awkwardly, and I wish I'm seated instead of standing in front of three pairs of exquisite eyes.

"I recently remembered something you said when I first moved to Italy."

His father nods, his eyes intensely on Luc so much so that I want to squirm because I know my turn is coming. Why did I think this would be easy? Like, tell them, hear excitement or felicitation and leave, easy-peasy. But noo, not on their watch.

"What did I say?" Okay, that question tells me we are going to be here for a while. They will probably be late for the meeting uncle Rom mentioned earlier,  but they don't seem like they're in a hurry.

"Something about some of us loving once."

He nods again. He still has his eyes on Luc. "And do you think you're one of those?"

This is an inquisition. If I knew this before hand, I could have convinced Luc to postpone it.

"I guess."

Guess? I repeat it in my brain at the same time the three of them say the word like it's a curse—a forbidden word.

I'm lost in my thoughts, planning ways to skin Luc alive, kill him slowly, tortuously.

"You're not sure?" His father's jaw tightens, his green eyes turn cold, glaring down at him.

"I am" this time, he sounds sure, certain, confident. "Wrong choice of words." He corrects quickly, matching his father's stare.

"Good. Lia. How did you know we know or did Luc tell you?"

It's my time to be grilled, and though I should be prepared having watched Luc go through it, I'm not. I don't cower, though, I fix my gaze right at uncle Bruno and say, "Seb said there is no way in hell you didn't know."

They grin. All of them. They are impressed by Seb.

"Smart boy," my father says. "There is nothing that happens under this roof that we don't know about."

I flush. So deeply I know my face is as crimson as my hair. How could I not? I know exactly what he means.

Thankfully, they don't say anything, or react to my embarrassment. I can't look at Luc to find out whether he is as embarrassed as I am. 

"Why didn't you ever say anything?" Luc asks, his voice normal and I wonder how he could still sound normal when our fathers have just revealed they know everything.