by Serena Light
Alessio's cheeks darkening at the words as he just wanted the earth to swallow him to save himself from the awkward confrontations in which he had to act like a stranger in front of the people he had known growing up.
"I'm Arcangelo," Mr. Regnante gave him a curt nod, his blue eyes regarding him coolly. "Serafina's father,"
"Pleasure,"
"This is her mother, Rosalie," Arcangelo gestured to his wife, about to continue the typical introductions which follow these encounters.
"Oh! You two look more like siblings than parents! So young," Alessio blurted, everyone looking at him in silence as he wanted to slap himself for saying that, not even understanding why he felt the need to add that. "I mean-"
"-Her eldest brother, Arsenio and his wife, Angelica," Arcangelo cut him off, clearly finding it just as unsettling as him and wanted to get this done and over with. Turning towards the people in question, Arsenio gave him a smile of greeting while Angelica hugged him tightly, not saying anything until her husband pulled her back. "Serafina's twin, Salvatore, and her younger brother, Marco,"
"Hello," He managed out with an awkward smile verging more on a grimace as both Salvatore and Marco greeted him with curt nods.
The silence descended once more as Alessio reached out for Serafina's hand, grasping her palm in his behind her back, needing to feel the comfort of her touch since he knew this was a doomed encounter already.
"So..." Rosalie trailed, clapping her hands together and looking around at the faces with an amused smile. "Dinner?"
Soon everyone was seated at the table, Alessio sitting between the twins with Angelica, Marco, Rosalie, and Arsenio opposite them and Arcangelo at the head of the table.
"Alessio," Arsenio spoke up after his bite of the lavish meal their mother had prepared. "What's your family like?"
He knew that they were just playing along with the whole societal question asking and getting to know the boy their girl brings home, but the questions were very unsettling for everyone, given that they all knew everything that needed to be known about the Romanos'.
"Well, my family isn't really big," Alessio began, swallowing the wine before him. "It's basically just my mom, my elder brother, and his wife with their 2-month-old baby boy, Achille and me."
"I see," The eldest brother nodded.
"And what is it that you do?" His boss, Salvatore asked with an amused glint in his cerulean blue eyes.
"Uh..." He couldn't help but stammer. "Well...I'm the CFO of Armamentarium..."
"UFO?" Marco questioned in confusion.
"No, no. CFO, you know, C like a candle,"
"Or U like under,"
"It's Chief Financial Officer," Serafina intervened. "A post much higher than where you are can ever dream to be, baby bro,"
"Please," The youngest scoff with a proud smile. "I'm Salvatore's heir,"
"That is if he doesn't have kids," Their parents spoke in sync.
"At the rate, he's going, he's not gonna be married at all," Arsenio muttered as the twin in question just rolled his eyes in exasperation. "So, CFO?"
"Yes,"
"What does a CFO do exactly?"
"Well, I mostly deal with money transfers and withdrawals, their transport and expenses made on behalf of the company. How much money is coming and how much is going, all that."
"What currencies do you deal in?"
"Well, every currency." Alessio thought about it. "Euros, Dollars, Rupees, Peso, Dinar, Pound, Yuan. But mostly the currency depends on whom we're dealing with."
"So, a lot of money gets exchanged hands, I take it," Arsenio asked in fascination.
"Yes,"
"Have you ever had an occurrence of, say, losing money?"
"Losing money?"
"Like hypothetically speaking... say $100,000 were meant to go for...I don't know, weapons manufactory, and you lost that money," The eldest brother clarified with an innocent smile. "Would you be held accountable for the loss?"
"Yes, sir, I would be held accountable,"
"I see,"
"And what would your boss do?" The question came from Angelica.
"Well...given the sort of man he is, he would probably shoot me and dispose of my body in such a way that I would never be found,"
"Damn, I would never like to meet such a man like him," She grinned at Salvatore, who simply looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Sounds so...unreasonably violent,"
A wave of chuckles passed over the table before they all fell quiet once more, trying to think about what to say next as Alessio reached for Serafina's hand under the table, assuring himself that she was still there beside him and she gave his hand a light squeeze, appeasing his anxiety.
"Okay, so I am done being cliché," Marco announced. "Now I don't care if you're my sister's boyfriend or not, we've known you for years, and like you, so tell me, Alessio, did you see yesterday's match?"
"I..." Alessio trailed, momentarily taken aback before looking around at the faces looking at him expectantly. "I did. Yeah, I watched it with mom and Carina,"
"Myriam is here?" Rosalie perked up. "When did she come?"
"Mamma came last week and has been busy helping with Achille since he's her first grandchild and colic, so she wants to be around him as much as possible," Alessio informed. "Niccolo is trying to convince her to stay in Italy, but she's making the excuse that Miss Rosie can't be left alone even though we're telling her to bring her,"
"Miss Rosie?" Angelica questioned in confusion.
"Her cat," Arcangelo, Rosalie, Serafina, and Alessio spoke together, momentarily surprising the others.
"Stay with you or with Niccolo?" Arcangelo questioned.
"With Niccolo," Alessio chuckled. "She hates my bachelor pad to the extent where she would rather burn it than spend a night there."
"Why?" Marco questioned in bewilderment. "It's gorgeous!"
"I know right!" Alessio exclaimed in indignation. "I love it because it's all mine and set the way I want it, but mom hates it so much and I don't know why,"
"Maybe your kitchen is lacking something?" Salvatore suggested beside him.
"No, it's fully functioning and stocked with everything. There is nothing wrong with the bachelor pad,"
They all began to talk about the bachelor pad and how they enjoyed the space. Their conversation drifting to various topics as the tension dispersed over them. All of them having finished dinner, they moved to the lounge as Alessio sat with an arm draped over Serafina's shoulders, his girlfriend smiling at him adoringly to see how well he was getting along with everyone, chuckling when she found out that her parents had insisted he call them "Ma and Pa" given that Mr. and Mrs. Regnante made them feel horribly old.
Alessio had Salvatore chuckling with Marco talking nonstop and Arsenio thoroughly enjoying the conversations and getting into a very passionate debate about cars with the man. He conversed with Arcangelo like a son would with their father; he even helped Rosalie with tea before learning something new about architecture from Angelica and drawing with the girls.
Looking at him interacting, Serafina could see that he fit right in.
"Although Alessio," Arcangelo spoke up as everyone settled down from a laughing fit. "What are your feelings towards our daughter?"
"In all honesty, sir," Alessio smiled at him, pulling Serafina into his side. "She's my Rosalie,"
Serafina watched her parent's eyes widen in surprise at the words, her siblings taken aback at how accurately he was able to describe his feelings for their sister.
"And my intentions are quite simple, sir," He looked down at her, giving her a bedazzling smile. "By the end of the year, she'll have my name, but only if I have your blessing, Mr. and Mrs. Regnante."
Serafina instantly flushed as her brothers couldn't help but smile, Alessio looking at her parents, a part of him excited with the other shriveling with anxiety.
"You have our blessings," Rosalie responded with a wide dimpled smile as she grasped her husband's hand in her own, both
of them having a silent conversation through their eyes.
"Then, may I?" He questioned, standing as everyone looked at him in confusion.
"Uh...sure?" Arcangelo spoke, not quite understanding what he was asking.
Grinning at them, he turned toward Serafina, grabbing hold of her hand and pulling her to her feet before placing a quick kiss on her cheek.
"What are you-?" She began to question in confusion, her words getting stuck in her throat as he lowered himself to one knee, everyone staring with gaping open mouths as silence descended over them. Angelica grabbing hold of Arsenio's arm as Arcangelo squeezed Rosalie's hand, Marco shaking Salvatore vigorously, too much excitement in him to contain it.
"Well, I thought about at least a 1000 ways I could propose to you," Alessio admitted. "But none of them felt right and I walked around with the ring in my pocket for almost a month before the perfect opportunity presented itself." He chuckled as Serafina stared at him with a wide smile.
"Well, here goes nothing," Alessio muttered under his breath before placing a kiss on the back of her hand. "Serafina, I know I am not the first person you loved. You are not the first person I looked at with a mouthful of forever." He began.
"We have both known loss like the sharp edges of a knife. We have both lived with lips that were more scar tissues than skin. Our love came unannounced in the middle of the night. Our love came when we'd given up on asking love to come. I think that has to be part of its miracles."
"This is how we heal. I will kiss you like forgiveness. You will hold me like I’m hope. Our arms will bandage and we will press promises between us like flowers in a book. I will write sonnets to the salt of sweat on your skin. I will write novels to the scars of your nose. I will write a dictionary of all the words I have used trying to describe the way it feels to have finally found you."
"And I will not be afraid of your scars."
"I know sometimes it's still hard to let me see you in all your cracked perfection, but please know; whether it's the day you burn more brilliant than the sun or the night you collapse into my lap your body broken into a thousand questions, you are the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. I will love you when you are still day. I will love you when you are a hurricane."
"So, Serafina," Alessio chuckled breathlessly, his heart pounding in his chest as he took out the box from his pocket, opening it to show the thin gold band littered with diamonds that shimmered in the light, tears streaming down Serafina's cheeks as she couldn't control the smile on her face.
"Marry me and we'll spend our weeknights eating cereal on the floor when there is a perfectly fine table behind us. We can go to the movies and sit in the back row just to make out like kids falling in love for the first time. Marry me and we'll paint the rooms in our house and get more paint on us than on the walls. We can hold hands and go to parties we end up ditching to drink wine out of the bottle in the bathtub. Marry me and slow dance with me in our bedroom with an unmade bed and candles on the nightstand. Let me love you forever. Let me marry you."
A choked laugh escaped Serafina as she could see how ecstatic he was, a wide grin on his face, and his chest heaving with his pounding heartbeat as his green eyes looked at her with only adoration and love.
"So what do you say?" Alessio murmured gently, kneeling with the ring between them. "Ready to embark on the adventures of being Mrs. Romano?"
"Yes," She choked out, tears streaming down her face as he laughed. "Yes!"
Serafina threw herself at him, nearly sending them both toppling over as Alessio steadied them. Pulling back just to pepper kisses across her face before sliding the ring on her finger, placing a firm kiss where her finger connected with her knuckle. Serafina laughing and crying as she clutched onto him tightly and he buried his face into her neck, letting out a relieved breath to know his proposal had been a success. Her family came to help them up before they congratulated the newly engaged couple, all of them laughing while some of them had tears in their eyes, Alessio wiping the tears from Serafina's cheeks before pressing his lips to hers.
Chapter XL: Baby Babble
The sound of the shower running infiltrated the washroom. The steam rising and dispersing throughout the space with the sound of music accompanying the pitter-patter of the water droplets. Serafina allowed the pressured water to wash over her, her tresses clinging to her as the glass of the shower cabin became even more opaque than it already was.
With the mixture of water and music, she never heard the door open, much less did she notice the presence of the person enter as she was too busy washing her hair, running her fingers through her tresses. The sound of the shower cabin door opening had her jump in surprise, turning around with an arm over her chest as she instantly recognized the tuft of dirty blonde hair, a giggle escaping her as she smiled at him, wrapping her arms around his neck before pulling him under the stream of warm water.
"Well, hello there, Mr. CFO," She murmured in a sultry voice as he wrapped his arms around her hips, smirking down at her.
"Hello, Mrs. CFO," He chuckled, leaning down to press his lips to hers in a quick kiss. "Long day, I take it?"
"Ugh, you have no idea," Serafina groaned with an eye roll, instantly going into a detailed account of how her day at the gallery was and the people she had to deal with and how her staff kept messing up one thing or the other, Alessio chuckling every once in a while as he busied himself with shampooing and conditioning her hair before running her loofa over her slim body, placing kiss across her skin every once in a while.
"What about you?" She asked once they had stepped out of the shower and gotten changed into sleeping clothes, sitting at the dining table and eating. "How was your day,"
"Quite productive, I must say," Alessio swallowed, his gold ring glinting in the light as Serafina's 2-carat diamond shone every time she ran her fingers through her hair. "There was a lot of meeting today, and those went well, wrapped up a project and finished the calculations I had been telling you about,"
"Oh! That's amazing!" Serafina grinned. "It had been giving you migraines since you started it,"
Alessio chuckled at her as they both put away their dishes, their house devoid of any sound besides the clatter of plates as they placed them in the dishwasher.
Serafina head off upstairs as Alessio told her he had to make a quick call. Closing his phone, he walked upstairs, entering to see his wife all ready for bed, lying on her stomach in a lacy black nightgown, her brown tresses falling over her shoulder.
He had to admit, he liked her black tresses more.
When they got married one and a half year ago, Serafina had dyed her hair brown, saying she had enough of her black hair. The two had been together for 2 years before he proposed to her and were now married.
She still ran her art gallery and traveled most of the time, and with Alessio being the CFO of Armamentarium was also a busy man, but neither one of them was too busy for each other.
Going into the washroom, he got ready for bed before joining her in a pair of boxer shorts, the weather very warm nowadays as sometimes even the air conditioning didn't feel like enough. Getting under the covers, he sat with his back to the headboard, Serafina turning her gaze towards him as she gave him a soft smile, before sitting up and straddled his waist, Alessio resting his hands on her hips as she bit her lip, running her hands down his chest.
"Today a guy brought his child to the office," Alessio informed as his wife hummed, placing a kiss on his neck. "A very adorable little baby boy with the name Leo,"
"That's nice," She muttered dismissively, her lips trailing to his jaw and the back of his ear.
"And Leo got me thinking about our kids,"
Registering his words, Serafina pulled away, looking at him with furrowed eyebrows.
"What?"
"Serafina," Alessio murmured, looking at her with soft eyes as he cupped her face into his hands. "I want to try for a baby,"
"You..." She trailed uncertainly. "You want to try for a baby?"<
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"Yes,"
"Why?" She got off his lap, coming to sit beside him and looking at him in confusion.
"Why not?" Alessio questioned in response. "I mean, we've been married for almost 2 years, and even then our house is so empty and vacant. I want to hear the pitter-patter of little feet and shrieks of laughter. I want to hear the squeal of "daddy" to greet me when I come home from work, I want a baby, Serafina, I really do."
"This...this is a human baby we're talking about, Alessio," Serafina stammered with a humorless chuckle, panic welling up inside her. "That's a lot of responsibility! Who's to say we can handle the pressure?"
"Don't you think we can?"
"I..." She trailed uncertainly, seeing the betrayed look in Alessio's eyes as she swallowed thickly. "I'm scared of screwing up and raising my child wrong, I don't want my baby to grow up with some emotional problems we caused, I'm scared of messing up,"
"Hey, your mom and dad raised 4 kids, and every single one of them is good and well,"
"Please, Arsenio has self-esteem issues, Salvatore doesn't trust a bloody soul, Marco has commitment issues, and I have issues of my own,"
"But are they caused by your parents?"
"Well...no..." She squirmed in unease, knowing he had a point there. "It was more the result of things that happened to us rather than how mom and dad raised us,"
"Exactly, it was caused by life,"
"But still Alessio. You're a CFO, you're busy. I own a gallery, I travel a lot, and do we even have the liberty for a child?"
"If we have a kid, Salvatore would insist that I go home at a decent time to help you. You know how protective he is about the kids of his family-"
"-Despite having no kids of his own," She scoffed under her breath
"And with a kid, your traveling would reduce exponentially," Alessio stated as Serafina rubbed a hand over her arm. "And I don't know if that's a good thing or not,"
"I..." She trailed. "Can I think about it?"
"Yeah," He nodded with a deep inhale after a moment of silence. "Okay, sure." Sucking on his bottom lip before exhaling and giving her a weak smile.
Placing a kiss on her forehead, he turned off his lamp before pulling the covers over him and closing his eyes to fall asleep. Serafina sat kneeling behind him, before finally getting under the covers and bracing herself for a restless night.