Chapter Six

By three o’clock that afternoon, Thelma had announced to Astrid that Darius wanted to have lunch with her. Her heart raced fast in her chest as she put on a silk flower-print dress, reaching the middle of her thighs.

“I see you’ve started to have your meal.” She said as she was led to the garden at the back of the house. She saw an array of different flowers, even the ones she never thought she could see in real life. Butterflies hovered above them in different colours, along with birds. It gave the place a serene feel.

She sat on the picnic bench, beside him. He said nothing as he downed his orange juice. “Why are we having lunch together? It's not really necessary.” She mumbled.

“Let’s just go by my rules.” He responded.

“I have rules that you need to follow, too.” She turned to look at him.

“Oh,” he seemed taken aback by her statement. “And what rules are those?” He asked, suddenly interested.

“I should be allowed do whatever I want.” She answered. Darius stared at her for a long while.

“But what happens when whatever you want to do contradicts my rules?” He smirked.

“W-Well, then I won’t do it.” She pouted.

For the second time that day, she was making Darius lose his control over himself. He just stopped talking and watched her eat from the corner of his eye.

Astrid nervously spread marmalade on a slice of bread. Darius’s eyes almost bulged out as she licked the marmalade off the butter knife. She paused as she saw his face. “What?” She questioned innocently, having no idea of what effect she had on him.

“Darius Titan.”

They both looked up and saw a woman looking at them. Darius tensed up as he saw her. “Mother...” His voice broke before he could say anything else.

Astrid and Darius stood up immediately. She slowly walked toward them, never taking her eyes off Astrid. “You fool,” she looked at her son this time. “When were you going to tell me?”

“I didn’t think that you would want to hear me out.” He replied with a soft voice. Astrid immediately knew that he could only act as the big, bad wolf to everyone else, but his mother was his weakness.

“You should have tried.” She turned back to Astrid. “She’s very beautiful.” She walked closer and took Astrid’s hands in hers. “What is your name, dear?”

“Astrid.” Astrid replied, looking down. She never expected to meet his mother this soon. What would happen now?

“Astrid. How lovely.” His mother’s Greek accent rolled down her tongue freely.

She was beautiful, standing tall at five feet, eight inches. That was two inches taller than Astrid and five inches shorter than Darius. Her eyes were the brightest brown, similar to Darius’s eye colour under the influence of good lighting. Her black hair was straight and long, reaching the middle of her back.

“Call me Nikoleta.” She smiled and pulled Astrid into a hug, frowning at her son. “Sit.” Nikoleta ordered as she sat across from them.

They both sat slowly, still recovering from the shock of seeing her. “I want to know everything; how and where you met, how you both knew you were in love, and why you never told me.” She said the last part while glaring at Darius.

“We met at—”

“Let her answer.” Nikoleta stopped Darius from answering.

“Well, there was this project he had with my father, and we happened to meet in my hometown, back in England. We both didn’t realize we were in love at once. It just happened.” Astrid let the lie come out of her smoothly, impressing even Darius.

“And why didn’t you tell me?” Nikoleta looked at her son with apprehension.

“You were angry at me.” He said back.

“You’ve heard the stories about my son, haven’t you?” She asked Astrid. Astrid nodded. “And you still want to marry him? It doesn’t change how you feel about him?”

“What can I say? Love catches you by surprise. Doesn’t it, sweetheart?” Astrid smiled sweetly at Darius.

“It does. It really does.” His eyes raked her body as he answered. Her cheeks reddened as she saw what he was doing.

“Then I don’t object. If you want to get married, go ahead and get married.” Nikoleta smiled at them.

“Will you come back home?” Darius was quick to ask.

“Did you miss me?” She smirked at him.

“You know damn well I did.” He had a pleading look in his eyes.

“As punishment for not telling me about your fiancée, I’ll move back in after a month.” She told him.

“As long as you’re coming back, it's alright.” He smiled.

“Well I just came to confirm what I saw on TV. I’ll be heading back now.” Nikoleta stood up and kissed Astrid’s forehead. “Take care, my love.” She whispered.

“What about me?” Darius frowned, expecting Nikoleta to shower him with similar affection.

“You won’t get anything. That’s another punishment.” She pulled his ear and walked away.

“You love her.” Astrid said, looking at him.

“I do.” He nodded, watching his mother’s retreating figure.

“What’s going to happen when she moves in next month?” She inquired.

“Of course, we can’t break things off after a month.; it’ll be suspicious. A few months after that will do.” He answered.

“My parents won’t like this.” Astrid shook her head.

“You don’t have to tell them it’s all an act.” He shrugged.

“I already told them. In my defence, that was before you told me not to tell anyone. And they're my parents. You don’t expect them to be in the dark about this.” She said.

“Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?! You know what it is for us to have people who know about this, roaming freely?!” He raised his voice at her.

“I know they won’t tell anyone.” She defended.

“Still, Astrid. They need to be protected, even. When people find out that they’re your parents, they’ll have them under their gazes everyday! Did you think the paparazzi would just let this slide?” He stood up.

Astrid didn’t think of that before agreeing to the whole thing. She never thought of the effect it would have on her family. “What do we do now?” She asked.

“We’ll have them transported here tomorrow morning. Call them and make them understand.” He ordered, making calls of his own to the people who would be in charge of transporting her parents.

After arguing and shouting for minutes, Astrid’s parents decided to come over. After all, they needed to be there for their daughter. “I’ll just go inside. I’m not that hungry.” Astrid announced and walked away, making Darius regret raising his voice at her.

What was happening to him?