Fresh start

Chapter 16

Sophia pov

"Kevin, how do I look?" We prepare for dinner with Kevin's parents. Eventually, no matter how hard I tried to delay it, we had to go. His mother called me personally, and I couldn't say no. I wear a black dress with a small gold belt integrated: black high heels and a two-tone black nude bag. Tiny gold earrings and I will have my black coat on top. I have half of my hair caught in a French side braid.

"Baby, you are wonderful. You have already changed three times and what you wore is perfect. You are perfect. I told you it is not something formal. My parents and the two of us will be for dinner." he says and approaches me with a look full of promises. With dark blue pants and a blue shirt without a tie. He comes to me, puts his hands on my waist, and tells me

"You are magnificent, my mother will surely flatter you for your taste, and my father will congratulate me for my taste," he says and kisses me.

"If I judge by your mom, he has a taste too."

"I got it from him. Shall we go? We will be late." I take a deep breath

"Ok. Let's go," I say. I put on my coat, and he wears his jacket, and we leave. On the road, as always, we hold our hands. I look at him and think how lucky I am. My life didn't turn out the way I wanted. I grew up in a family that did everything to be happy, and in the end, it was not enough for them. I married a man who was a different person in the beginning and then became another person. Thanks to my beloved grandmother, I started a new journey that I thought would be studies and work. But life proved me wrong. In a short time, I met a man who proved that not all men are the same. I do not know where all this will bring us, but for the first time in my life, I can do what I want, and I will face whatever comes my way.

"Will you tell me what you are thinking? Or will you keep looking at me like that?" Kevin's voice woke me up from my thoughts.

"Like what?"

"As if you want to eat me alive."

"Yeah, right," I say and turn to look at the street.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing wrong. I think about how I got here and how lucky I am to meet you. You are a wonderful person. And I think that if we didn't fall in love, I would be happy to be friends." I say and look at him smiling. He kisses my hand and says

"Tell you the truth, whatever it was I would be happy to have you in my life. But I prefer what we have now. To kiss you, hug you, and make love to you every night. To eat you every morning."

"Stop, you can't talk to me like that now. Now that we are going to your parents. Just stop, "I say and take my hand from his

"Ok, ok, I agree. But I'm telling the truth. I'm glad we feel the same. I'm glad you want to be with me as long as I want to be with you." he stops in front of a gate. He enters a code, and the gate opens. Huge, massive mansion in front of me. s**t, where did I put myself? He stops the car and turns to look at me.

"When I saw you that night, something changed inside me, I felt something different from what a man usually feels when a man sees a beautiful woman. Yes, it would be nice to have you in my life, at least, and as a friend. But it would not be enough for me. I want you to be mine, only mine. And only in thought that a man hugs you and kisses you, I see red.” he cupped my face

"I want to be the one who will kiss you, hug you, sleep and wake up next to you. Only me. So no only friends would not be enough for me." he kisses me

"You were made for me. Everything you went through led you to me, and I have said it to you before, it will sound selfish, but I am glad that the wedding was not as you wanted. I am glad that you left everything and you came to America. I am glad you came to me, where you belong. " my eyes are starting to get wet

"God, Kevin stopped. You will make me cry, and I will not be a nice spectacle to your parents," he laughs. "Ok, come on. We'll talk later," he says, and we get out of the car. We go up a few steps, and he rings the bell.

Mrs. Amalia and Mr. Bailey opened the door. I saw a photo of Kevin's father before, so I immediately realized that he was him. But even without a picture, no recommendations would be needed. He is the same as Kevin in an older version. He is charming like Kevin.

"Welcome. Come on," said Mrs. Amelia with a smile. Kevin let me go inside first.

"Why did you open the door and not Thomas?" I guess the butler

"We wanted to welcome Sophia. Thomas helps with dinner. My dear, I'm Brad Bailey, Kevin's father" he takes my hand and kisses it. The gentleman likes his son.

"You already met my wife."

"I was pleased to meet her. Yes, of course. We met at the office a few days ago." he leaves my hand

"Now I see where you took an example from, and you became a gentleman," I say, smiling at Kevin. "Well, thank you, it was part of his good upbringing." I'm back to Amelia.

"Nice to see you again. Thank you for having us." she approaches me and kisses me on the cheeks. "Welcome, honey. It's nice to see you again. Come," she says, and before we go, I give her the box and the desserts I made.

"What did you bring? It was not necessary."

"She insisted on bringing something," Kevin says

"Well, I have learned when I go to visit never to go empty-handed. It is a walnut pie with chocolate and Cariocas. I hope you like it. It is a grandmother's recipe.”

"Kevin told us that you are an amazing cook and pastry chef, so there will be nothing left," says Amelia, and we laughed

"Kevin, go to the living room, don't sit at the front door." they show me the direction, and we move on. We passed the reception area and the staircase. And we went to the living room—Gray sofas with white and beige details.

"Will you drink something?"

" wine? Love?" Kevin asks me as we sit

"Yes. Wine sounds great" we sat down, we talked. His parents generally asked me about my life. Although they already knew a lot about Kevin. At the time we were talking, a gentleman in his sixties came.

"Dinner is served."

"Thank you, Thomas," says Amelia

"Thomas? This is Sophia. Sophia this is Thomas. He is in the family before I was born"

"Nice to meet you. Kevin has talked to me about you and Mrs. Hannah." I say and shake hands. "Nice to meet you too, dear. You are beautiful, as Kevin said," I smile. "Have you told everyone about me?"

"Everyone in the family. And Thomas is considered a family," he says, and we move on to the dining room. Here the colors are more earthy. Wooden diming table and appropriate decoration.

"Your outfit is wonderful, honey," Amelia tells me

"Thank you, Mrs. Amelia. Very kind of you, you know from fashion."

"I tell the truth," she tells me. We ate and went back to the living room for dessert.

"I asked for yours to be served. It was the only homemade, and I was in a hurry to try it," says Amelia laughing. That's it. I hope it goes well and they like it.

"You will be excited," says Kevin, looking at me with a smile. "Mmmm, perfect. Kevin, you are a lucky one. Sophia congratulations. It is fantastic," says Mr. Brad

"Indeed. It is delicious. Great sweets are made in Greece. Do you remember, my dear, that we went a few years ago? We sat for two weeks and got four pounds. The same goes for Brad," she says, and they laughed.

"Thanks. It's nice. Where did you go?"

"We went to Athens, in some cities in the Peloponnese, am I right?" I nod. "And then we went to Crete. Wherever we went, it was fantastic." I know. I miss Greece, the small city. I was not having a good time, but it made sense to miss her.

"Baby. Are you okay?" I ask Kevin

"Yes, I'm fine. I just remembered something."

"My boy, it makes sense that she misses her country," she says, and we smile. We talked a little more, and it was time to leave.

"I go to the bathroom for a while before we leave. Get ready, and I'll come," says Kevin and leaves. His parents and I went to the front door.

"Honey, it was nice to see you again. And please don't be shy you can come whenever you want. I told you in the office. We consider you a member of the family. And do not call me Mrs. Amelia. Only Amelia," says Amelia smiling.

"I will agree. Both Amelia and Kevin were right about you. You are a rare girl, and I'm glad you came to our family." says Brad, and I think I have turned red. Thank God Kevin saved me. He came, we said good night, and we left.

We got in the car and fled. Kevin remains silent and skeptical.

"Kevin, baby, are you okay? You are silent. Strange for you," I say jokingly

"What are you missing from Greece?" he asks sharply

"What do you mean?"

"What exactly are you missing? Your city? Your friends? What?" I see where this is going. He is jealous, oh my God. This Greek god is jealous of me

"If you mean, if I miss my ex, no, I do not miss him. I miss my city, my parents and my sisters. We may not be the ideal family, but they are still my family."

"I'm sorry, but when you said you remembered something, I thought he was. After all, he was your husband," he says, and I see the steering wheel tighten. I hold one of his hands

"Baby, I told you. We had a relationship before marriage. I loved him, or at least I thought I loved him. But what I felt for him has nothing to do with how I feel about you. I felt with you what love means." He kisses my hand.

"I love you," he tells me

"I love you too."

"I cant wait to make you my own."

"I'm yours. I dn't need a paper to tell me where I belong." I tell him

"I know, but I want it. If the divorce does not come out, how can I marry you" what?

"Baby, it's too early to talk about it. I've known you for almost three months, and we've been in a relationship for a month. How can you say about marriage? "

"I'm just saying that we will have this perspective" something hides me, but I will not continue the conversation now. Now what I want is to enjoy my relationship with Kevin. And whatever comes, I will accept it.