Not His (Sequel to Not Mine)

2

Chapter 2

Venezia woke up the next morning and stretched her arm out so she could grab Vincent's arm but she didn't feel anything. She opened her eyes and looked over, surprised to see he wasn't in bed. She groaned because she realized that this meant it was time for her to wake up seeing as everyone else must already be up.

She got up, took a shower and changed but just as she was about to leave her room, she stopped. Venezia stood there in front of her mirror and flashbacks and old memories started flooding through her mind. At that point, she really realized that she did miss this, her old life, her family, her home.

"I should thank you," Angelo's voice was just above a whisper as he had come into Venezia's room to talk to her. "You stopped it." He was talking about their almost-kiss.

"Angelo," Venezia shut her eyes and turned around so her back was facing him. It was her attempts of avoiding eye-contact with him. "We really should not be talking about this." She had a heavy feeling on her chest that didn't seem like a good sign.

Angelo placed his hand on her forearm. He slowly turned her around but Venezia kept her head hung low. He slowly brought his hand under her chin and lifted her face so she was forced to look at him.

"Venezia, if you didn't stop me, I would have done it." He was whispering and Venezia could feel his minty breath fan over her face.

"Angelo-" Her voice was weak and hardly even a whisper but it didn't matter because he cut her off before she could even start.

"No, don't. Just let me talk." He stared straight into her eyes, his voice filled with emotion Venezia never heard from him before. Venezia didn't understand what the hell was happening.

She had waited for something like this to happen for so long. She always wanted to be like this with Angelo. For him to hold her and for her to be this close in his embrace but it felt wrong because he was with Penelope.

Venezia wanted this, she wanted him but she knew it was wrong and she refused to be the 'other woman'. Penelope was loyal and didn't deserve this.

Angelo's eyes glanced down at Venezia's lips and she gulped because she knew what was about to happen. He inched his face closer to hers so his lips now hovered over hers - as if he was daring to place his on top of hers.

Venezia wanted him to kiss her so badly though she knew it was the wrong thing to do.

"Angelo, you're going to regret this." She quickly muttered before he could make a move and before she would fall in deeper and let him kiss her. "Don't do this to her."

Angelo shut his eyes, took a deep breath and then took a step back, letting go of Venezia.

He looked at her for a minute before he spoke up, "Venezia, you can't help what I feel."

Before she could say anything further, he walked out of her room.

"Venezia?" Bella's voice rang through Venezia's head, pulling her out of her thoughts.

"Huh?" Venezia abruptly turned around, a little dazed and a little confused. She didn't understand why that memory of all the millions of memories she has had to be the one she flashed back to.

"Breakfast is starting, want to head down?" Bella asked, not noticing Venezia's state.

"Oh yeah, of course." Venezia forced a smile and threw the memory to the far end of her mind so she wouldn't overthink it and the two headed down the stairs. Just as they reached the bottom of the stairs the doorbell rang.

"It must be Chandler, she was coming over." Bella said.

"I'll get it, you can head to the kitchen." Venezia smiled, knowing that Bella's favourite meal was breakfast. As long as the girl had pancakes, she would live happy forever.

Venezia reached the door and was ready to greet Chandler, "Hey, I thought you sl-"

"Venezia."

"Angelo."

Venezia froze, her eyes widened and staring straight at Angelo who stared right back at her. Neither of them were expecting each other nor did either of them know how to even breathe in this moment.

"Angelo." Venezia exhaled. Her body filled with sudden nostalgia and happiness and her first thought was to hug him, hug the life out of him but she was also too shocked and embarrassed to move. She never thought about it before but seeing him standing in front of her for the first time in five years, she suddenly felt guilty and like she had stolen something from him. She never even said goodbye nor did she ever call him, e-mail him or in any way contact him or make an effort to see him in the last five years. Maybe it wasn't a big deal but at the same time, they grew up together and saw each other every single day and one day she just got up and left without even saying goodbye.

"Venezia, hi." Angelo snapped out of his daze although he still felt like his body was floating in midair. "How are you?" Angelo didn't think that was enough to say but he was unsure of what else he could really say.

"I'm uh... I'm well-" Venezia cleared her throat. "I'm good. Do you want to come in? We're just about to eat." She tried her hardest to remain calm but she could feel her heart pounding against her chest and that didn't make it any easier.

"Yeah, Galen actually called me and told me to come." He told her, awkwardly plastering a small and in-genuine smile on his face. His response made Venezia want to slap herself because she felt like she should have known that... but no, she was too busy sleeping.

The two awkwardly walked to the kitchen and dining area where the rest of the family were already in the midst of conversations.

"Aye, Angelo, my man." Galen grinned as he walked over and gave Angelo one of their bro-hug things. "And Venezia, my favourite sister." He surprised her by embracing her in a big bear hug.

"Your only sister." She muttered as she playfully smacked his chest and then went to find a seat.

"Where's Chandler?" Aria, Venezia's mother asked Galen once everyone got seated.

"Her grandparents are flying in from Europe today so she wanted to be there to pick them up from the airport." Galen explained as he got orange juice from the fridge and brought it to the table. "Oh Angelo, you haven't met Vincent yet." Galen pointed out before he had a chance to sit down. "Vincent, I've told you about Angelo and Angelo, this is Vincent, Venezia's husband."

Angelo was close to almost chocking but luckily he didn't and nobody noticed. "Husband, right. Nice to meet you." Angelo smiled politely.

"You as well, though it is a delayed meeting." Vincent chuckled lightly. Angelo smiled and then looked down at his plate in disappointment because he was hoping he would find a reason to hate Vincent right off the bat...

Angelo glanced over to Venezia but she was forcing herself into a conversation with Bella.

"Angelo, smile man." Galen whispered subtly into his best friend's ear, keeping a small grin on his face as he spoke. "That sour look on your face will create a very awkward and unnecessary conversation once my mother sees it."

"Right." Angelo quickly counterfeited a convincing smile and indulged in a conversation with Galen about things he didn't have a single care about because all he could think about was Venezia.

"So Venezia, how does it feel to be back home after all this time?" Dave asked as he sipped on his coffee.

"Good dad," She smiled but it wasn't heartfelt. Everything that seemed so good last night as she sat in the lounge and caught up with her family now felt wrong and disoriented. She didn't want to admit it was because of Angelo but that's what it was. Old feelings and memories were now fresh in her mind but all she could feel was the desire to push it all away but she didn't know how to.

Partly through breakfast, light conversation was going around the dining table when Vincent turned to Venezia. "Are you okay, babe?" He asked softly, whispering in her ear.

Angelo didn't fail to notice the whispering. As much as he tried to redirect his attention, he found himself constantly turning and glancing back at Venezia.

"I'm fine." She exhaled, a tight smile on her lips.

"You sure? You seem a bit-"

"I'm fine." Venezia cut him off and stated firmly. She was the slightest bit angry and did not want to get into this but she also couldn't understand why she was angry.

Suddenly the table went quiet. Venezia didn't realize that her two words were spoken much louder than she had anticipated.

She cleared her throat as Vincent took a small scotch away. "I'm... I'm sorry, excuse me." Venezia then stood up and excused herself from the table.

After a few awkward minutes Vincent spoke up, "I should probably go check on her." Just as he was about to get up and find his wife, Bella stopped him.

"Wait," She stood up. "I'll go check on her, you finish up breakfast." She smiled impassively before leaving the table.

"Hey Ven, you okay?" Bella asked softly as she entered the balcony where Venezia was sitting, looking up at the sky.

Venezia sighed in response.

"Is it Angelo?" Bella asked nonchalantly as she has known about Venezia and her long lost feelings for Angelo since they were in high school. Like I said, attached at the hip.

"Is it obvious?" Venezia sighed, looking at Bella with a frown.

"No," Bella grinned fatuously as she took the seat on the balcony beside Venezia. "I just know you well enough to see the way you two have been subtly trying to catch glances of each other all through breakfast." She smirked as she spoke.

Venezia sighed once again before speaking. "It completely blew past my mind that I would have to see him during this trip."

"Well I guess you got a good reminder." Bella smiled sheepishly, joking in attempts to lighten the mood.

Venezia cracked a small and half-hearted smile. "I thought it was gone, you know? The feelings and emotions and... then I'm standing in front of him and all these all flashbacks are going through my mind like a slideshow."

"And you can't stay in the same room as him because you're scared that the feelings are still there." Bella continued, finishing Venezia's unspoken thoughts.

"So what happens if they're really there?" Venezia looked at Bella with worry and caution dancing in her eyes.

Bella frowned, "Then you either get past it or make a move."

"I'm married." Venezia muttered with her eyes widened, giving Bella a look of disbelief.

"Then you get past it." Bella muttered softly, a sheepish look on her face because she knew there wasn't much she could do to help.

Venezia scoffed, "Are you forgetting that I tried to "get past it" for years until I ended up moving to Central America?"

Bella chuckled lightly, shaking her head. "But this time you're married and you don't have a choice." She stated firmly with a smug look on her because she knew she was being reasonable.

"Does Vincent know? About Angelo, I mean?" Bella asked.

Venezia shook her head, "just that he's a childhood friend, G's best friend, nothing more."

"Right." Bella nodded slowly.

Venezia gave Bella a flat look before the conversation continued. "It could be nothing though, right?"

"Nothing as in...?" Bella gave her a confused look, not understanding what she meant. "Define nothing."

Venezia cleared her throat and looked away from Bella and back to the sky. She sighed, "I mean maybe there aren't feelings, maybe its just some sort of reaction from seeing him after all this time."

"Yeah... you're right." Bella said, speaking and nodding slowly. "You're married, you're obviously over your high school crush." Bella didn't know if she believed the words she was saying herself but she knew she had to do whatever it took to ensure Venezia was happy.

"Right." Venezia exhaled, hoping their hypothesis was right and these emotions she was feeling were really just "long-time-no-see jitters".