CHAPTER 16: FAMILY REUNION. Emma averted her gaze from her mother at the question she considered out of place and unnecessary."Of course he's not my boyfriend, mom"."And who is he then?""He is my boss".Her mother was silent for a few moments, grimacing, as if struggling internally not to laugh at her daughter's words."You can't lie to me, Emma, I'm not stupid".The girl took something out of the fridge and began to prepare it quickly."I'm not lying to you, he's my boss...""Why would your boss come to your house?"Emma remained silent, unable to find a logical answer to that question."He is very kind, that's all"."I used to say your father was very nice to me too," laughed the woman, "Come on, Emma, we both know that's not your boss, he looks too young to be your boss, I may not have the best memory, but your boss wasn't young the last time I saw him"."Well, he's my boss's son, which is technically the same thing, mom, just that".Emma brought out the butter, making a quick
Emma finished ironing her hair, pinning it to one side, and then adjusting the dress she was wearing, a red one like the wine her family was supposed to drink that day.She looked at the time on her cell phone: seven o'clock at night. She had agreed with Leonardo that he would go to her house at seven thirty, from there, Emma would tell him where to drive to her parents' house. She still didn't understand what logical reason her mom had found to invite her boss to a family dinner, they weren't even friends, why would she invite him to her family dinner? Worse, Leonardo didn't even know his mother's name. Emma cursed, it would be too awkward for him to go to a family dinner, she knew her aunts would immediately start with the assumptions, with the off-hand comments, but even her dad seemed okay with her boss attending a family dinner, family!Emma's cell phone rang, it was a message from him. She had added him as "Boss Leonardo" always keeping formalities, although the kiss they had sh
Gladys' eyes revealed immediate surprise, but it was not even a quarter of the surprise that peered into the eyes of Emma and Leonardo, who offered each other a mutual look of bewilderment. A blush took hold of Emma's sweet cheeks, who at that moment thought that running away was the best alternative, evidently, she did not."Wh-what?" Emma asked, clenching her fists, perplexity covered by fury, "Did you...""Yes, I'm her boyfriend," interrupted Leonardo, earning a puzzled look from Emma, who looked at him as if a third arm was growing in his skull. The girl was forced to blink five times, as if she was in one of those strange dreams in which waking up was very complicated, in one of those dreams where everyone acted in a stupid and incoherent way, because only he could explain the words that came from Leonardo's lips, so much certainty was heard in them that Emma even for an instant, was prone to believe him."Congratulations, precious girl!" Gladys shrieked, with a huge smile on her
CHAPTER 19: KISS, KISS! They were all gathered together, like the family they were, in a circle where the main points of attention were Leonardo and Emma, plus Leonardo. No one had ever seen anyone so elegant here, it was heard to be said, sometimes a morbid silence was formed, and all eyes fell on them, who barely spoke, Emma was too embarrassed and stressed for the words to flow naturally enough, so she had to force herself to speak."So, Emma" The girl raised her eyes when she heard her uncle's voice calling her, she cursed inwardly, knowing that an awkward and out-of-place question was coming. "Tell us a little about your companion, he is very quiet".At that moment, Leonardo smiled, like someone who hears ‘happy birthday’ sung to him and doesn't know precisely what he should do, or how he should act. His eyes fell on Emma, who seemed to know less than he about how to respond to her family."Yes, he's very quiet," was all Emma said, crossing her fingers that the conversation woul
The blush had not left her cheeks yet, even though the kiss had been a full ten minutes ago.She knew that her relatives would never stop talking about it, at all the family reunions she would be reminded of how she had kissed a man in front of everyone, or rather, how she had been kissed by him, by a wealthy guy.She could almost hear everyone's voices, intoxicated by happiness, she knew that none of them saw beyond the money Leonardo had, it was obvious. More than once, she had taken her boyfriends to a family dinner, and they had been strongly criticized and rejected, not because they were worse than him -in fact, many of her old boyfriends were not as bad as her family wanted her to think-, but because they were not rich, like the man who drove the car where she was, looking out the window in a lost way. Thinking, thinking. Her mind was unraveling drop by drop, the thoughts would drive her crazy.There was only silence between them, one too uncomfortable, she did not want to be ki
She remained paralyzed, completely static, the color left her face, her limbs lost their strength, and not falling down turned out to be a complete struggle for her. With great effort, she looked into his eyes, completely perplexed, Leonardo's words resounded like violent thunder in her ears, speech left her for an instant. Holding the hand of her boss, who had just proposed her to be his girlfriend, Emma trembled. Was it all a crude joke? She wanted to know, still without giving him any answer. She looked at him, hoping that regret would show in his eyes, but she saw only firmness in them, he had said what he had said and he didn't seem to regret it."Your girlfriend?" she stammered when she was finally able to loosen the choking lump in her throat."Emma, don't you realize that I liked you from the first time I saw you?" The girl did not answer, still holding on to him, looking in all directions, as if trying to find an escape from a situation that did not have one. The firmness in
CHAPTER 22: TRIUMPHANT.She had told no one about Leonardo's proposal, only her mother, with who she was talking at that moment, moving agitatedly from one side to the other, holding her cell phone tremulously while she looked at the dress Leonardo had given her. Not only a dress, but some jewelry, some earrings, some shoes... she felt it was too much, she was on the verge of collapse and there was very little that could calm her down at a moment like that."And what did you say to him when he proposed that to you?" asked her mother with interest."That I was going to think about it," answered Emma, sitting down on her sofa and looking at the clock, it was exactly one hour before Leonardo would pick her up, "But I don't know what to say...""Don't tell me you plan to give him a negative answer, Emma"."I don't know, mom...""Emma, for everyone's sake, you must tell him that you agree to be his girlfriend".Emma stroked her temple impatiently, she knew that her mother would answer her
CHAPTER 23: AN ANSWER.It was the most beautiful place she had ever seen in her entire life.A huge off-white house, with each of its margins adorned, a huge chandelier adorned the ceiling, Emma noticed as she entered the place, holding Leonardo's hand. She swallowed saliva, trying to regulate the volume of her breathing, she felt how a couple of glances fell on them, the first thing her paranoid mind told her, was that from far away everyone could see that she was not high class, that she was just a simple secretary.Leonardo looked at Emma, tense as a rock, but beautiful as a diamond, it was very easy to read her eyes, it was as if by looking at her, he had the ability to know what were the thoughts that were in her head, at that moment, she felt the glances stuck in her body, in the bodies of both, she did not know that she was the first woman with who Leonardo White went to a party like that. Of course she would be the winner of every one of everyone's stares.Soft music could be