Five years ago “Hey there! It’s been a while!” Kate said as she came up to sit in front of Nadia with a bright smile looking like the perfect businesswoman in her designer suit. “Hi! It sure has been,” Nadia answered smiling at her cousin as she sipped from her juice and looked around the hotel rooftop. “I can’t believe how busy I have been since I decided to take over for your father at the company,” She complained. “You’re doing fine. I can clearly see that you’re more cut out for business than I am ever going to be,” She reassured her, “Still, I feel a little bad about taking a position that should have been yours from the start…” She said giving Nadia a guilty look. “I keep telling you not to worry about that. My father and I will never see eye to eye. Not to mention that Mark and I are too busy getting our own company ready. I’m more suited to coding behind a computer than handling office work, so things worked out perfectly for us,” She told her and Kate smiled brightly at
“There should be a limit to how extravagant this is going to get…” Nadia said feeling a headache on the making as she stared at her tablet. “With my mother, I don’t think that the word Limit and parties can even be put together in the same sentence,” Dean answered as he leaned back on his desk staring at his laptop with a wry smile. “This is a freaking Ice statue! I haven’t seen one since the last grand winter gala last year. And that’s the biggest event of the year in Starlington City,” Nadia complained and Dean sighed. They were currently in Dean’s office trying to catch up on the work they hadn’t been able to do thanks to this fiasco. But as soon as they were on lunch break, they got an email from his mother with the details of the engagement party she had decided to throw for them, and singlehandedly was preparing on her own… “I don’t have the willpower or the energy to try to stop her,” Dean said, “Why don’t we let her do whatever she wants to do?” Nadia furiously flipped thr
Nadia’s mind was a mess after the short conversation with Leilah. She stood there for a few long moments thinking about what she said. Leilah was their PR specialist, and one of the best in the company too. The way she handles tricky situations leaves nothing to be desired which is why they were able to safely handle the scandal from both inside the company and outside of it. The way she explained it made it clear to everyone that they were a couple capable of separating work and private matters, and the employees seemed to mostly accept their relationship without much negativity. Of course, it was still hard to deal with the bitter ones who had their eyes set on Dean. But that was something she’d had to deal with before and it was nothing much to complain about. But, in Leilah’s case, she asked for complete transparency. Nadia told her what she could but there were still truths she couldn’t bring herself to talk about to anyone. Like her revenge and her alter ego, WhiteFlowe. Th
“Luke! My little cupcake! How have you been?! Do you know how much Aunty missed you?” Leilah raved as she pulled Luke into a long hug. “Aunty Leilah! You’re hugging me a lot! I can’t bweath!” Luke complained then started giggling when she gave him butterfly kisses. “Okay, that’s enough. We’re in public. They’re going to take you for a pervert,” Nadia said and Leilah pulled away with a smile. “I don’t really care. I mean, look at the healing power of this little face,” She added pulling Luke’s cheeks as he patiently waited for Leilah to be done fawning over him. He was so used to her that he would just wait for the greeting phase to cool down. It was funny how the more composed one is the five year old and not the thirty-something businesswoman, “Aunty Leilah! If you still want to cuddle, we can sit together as we wait for Mommy to wear her dress,” Luke said eliciting another swoon worthy reaction from Leilah. After a few more moments, she carried Luke around on high heels. Somet
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Dean asked as he strode toward them taking Nadia’s hand away from Mark’s. His voice was low so as to not draw too much attention to them. His hand remained on Nadia’s as he came to sit beside her at the booth. Mark’s almond-shaped eyes went to their linked palms narrowing for a moment before he looked up at them with a provoking smile. “I see you two are still living the dream…” He said and Dean stiffened beside her. “What do you want, Mark?” She asked with a cool tone. “You know very well what I want, Naddy,” He said. Nadia could see the answer in his eyes. She could almost hear it. Even though he would never say those words in front of Dean. He was too careful for that to happen, which is why he was making her revenge much harder to get. ‘I want you… And I am going to get you,’ That’s what Mark wanted to say. But instead he was covering it with that annoying smirk acting like he was having the most pleasant conversation with them. “
Rushing into the apartment, Nadia was greeted by Leilah. She was holding a basin filled with water and a towel looking so worried and pale that Nadia would have feared the worse if she hadn’t known better. “Nadia! I’m so sorry! I don’t know how this happened. He suddenly broke into a fever and I didn’t know what to do. Daniel says that it's normal for children his age but I-” “Calm down! Everything is going to be okay!” Nadia told her with a wry smile. For someone who wasn’t used to taking care of children, a fever is something that they would probably freak out about. She freaked out the first time Luke was sick when he was still a baby. Mrs. Payne had to beat some sense into her back then. It became a learning experience for her later on. Before she could manage to calm Leilah down, Dean rushed past her heading into Luke’s room. “What’s wrong with him?” Leilah asked breaking out of her panic mode. “He had been like that all the way here. I kept telling him that Luke was probabl
“There you go, one more bite,” Nadia said as Luke took the spoon into his mouth chewing the already hashed porridge before making a show out of gulping it down. “Good boy. Now you’re going to heal much faster,” She said ruffling his hair and he gave her a flushed proud smile. Dean watched the exchange with a smile before their eyes were on him. “What?” He asked. “The porridge was delicious, thank you, Uncle Dean,” Luke said, “You’re welcome buddy. It was my pleasure,” Dean answered with a smile. “You know how to cook very good food even though you’re a boy, and you also wear an apron,” Luke said and Dean leaned forward ruffling his hair. “Knowing how to cook doesn’t have to do anything with being a boy or a girl. There are girls who don’t know how to cook and there are boys who know how to cook,” Dean answered. “That’s true. Mommy is a bad cook even though she’s a girl!” Luke said with enthusiasm and Dean laughed. Nadia glared at them both with fake indignation. “It’s not lik
Nadia had woken up in the middle of the night to find herself practically in Dean’s arms. He had one arm under her head and the other on her waist heavy and uncalculating with sleep but still close enough to make her heart face fast. Reaching for Luke who was snuggled between them, she checked him for a fever to find that he was still a bit hot. As she got out of bed to fetch the cold compress and Dean’s eyes cracked open as his hand reached for her empty space. The simple gesture surprised her and the familiarity with which he seemed to unconsciously deal with their unusual situation struck her again. Making her way back into the room, she found Dean and Luke snuggling into each other peacefully asleep. Once she changed the compress, she debated whether to get back into bed with them. Her tired body got the better of her and she got back into bed with them. As soon as she could feel their warmth, Luke’s small hand reached to clutch her shirt at her stomach while Dean’s hand stret