Happiness Is A Butterfly

💛Chapter 9: Beige Diners and Apple Eyes💛

The service went great and to mine and everyone else's surprise Gabriel joined us. Even the people at the church were as surprised as we were.

"I was thinking that maybe we could go out and have breakfast somewhere" Gabriel suggested with his eyes glued to his phone.

I looked at the others for their opinion. Maria and Joaquin stared at me expectantly but Diego just graced me with a look of indifference.

I guess that means yes.

"What about your wife and other kids?"

"They have Jessamine, she's an amazing cook, so they're fine"

Forty minutes later we arrived at a small diner. It's not a ritzy place like the restaurant Helena took us to last night, if you looked at it real closely you would see how old it is by the tiny cracks and chips here and there.

It's beige and snowy white. A large sign at the front read 'Demeter's Harvest'.

The heat started to get to me and I felt a tiny bead of sweat gather on my forehead. I gently wiped it off with one one swipe of my finger.

"Does the diner have air conditioning? This heat is killing me" Joaquin grumbled.

"It does. You'll love this place. I used to come here everyday after school as a little boy. I even took your mum out on our first date here" Gabriel responded with a wistful look in his eyes.

I raised my brow at him in confusion. I always thought that they immediately went to New York when mum got pregnant with me.

"I thought you guys moved to New York after you found out about me?"

"No. Despite her parents kicking her out Valentina was always a strong and independent woman. She didn't want to be in a relationship with me just because she was carrying my child, so she made me grind for her to even agree to stay with me.

I was ecstatic when she agreed to that first date. We fell in love and moved to New York when she was seven months pregnant with you. " he revealed and there was a tiny smile on his face.

It's not fair.

It's not fair that he's the one standing here, happy.

He doesn't get to be happy reminiscing about mum after what he did to her.

"You're right about how strong she was, but if you think you can stand here and lie about loving her, you thought wrong. You don't betray the people you love. You don't abandon the people you love. You don't hurt the people you love" I jabbed at him before sauntering inside the diner.

The incadescent lights made my eyes wince and adjust to their luminescent glow.

Why are the lights on when it's broad daylight!?

The interior of the diner is much more bubblier than the outside. The place is crowded with your usual standard and boring human beings, not those stuffy conceited snobs.

Most of them are all chatting animatedly while sipping their coffees and digging into their pancakes.

I made my way to an empty booth in the farthest corner of the diner I could find. Those people would probably be caught dead before being spotted here but I wasn't taking any chances.

The others spot me and join me in the booth. Diego and Joaquin sat on opposite sides of me while Maria had to sit next to Gabriel. She took a seat on the left side and sat as far as she could from him with her arms folded and a cute little pout on her lips.

A waitress with wavy auburn locks, dressed in the shortest uniform I'd ever seen sashayed over with a pen, a tiny notebook, a stack of menus and a wide plastic smile on her face.

"Hi there, these are your-oh my effing gawsh, Gabby is that you!?" She suddenly squealed.

Her apple green eyes were open wide in excitement. Diego and I shared an irritated glance and simultaneously rolled our eyes.

She had a high pitched nasal voice that grated on our ears.

The waitress looked like she was in her early thirties but by the way her eyebrows barely moved I'm betting it's the botox that makes her look that young. How a waitress can even afford botox is beyond me.

I took a discreet look at her tag name and saw that it was Coraline.

"Hey, Corri" Gabriel greeted her with a tentative smile.

"Long time no see! It's been like, what? Twenty four years since we last saw each other?" She giggled after asking.

"Yeah, twenty four years" he replied in a stiff voice.

"Come to think of it the last time I saw you was with that girlfriend of yours. What was her name? Valerie.....Veronica.....Viper?"

"Valentina" Diego answered, directing a piercing glare at her face.

"That's right," she answered, clicking her fingers in recollection before going off again.

"I'm not surprised you two didn't last, she was too lanky if you ask me, and had no sense of style whatsoever"

No one asked you puta.

"I heard you were only with her because you got her pregnant. Are you still married to that flashy actress? What's her name? Hazel.....Hillary.....Henry?"

How condescending can you get? Bimbo.

"It's Helena, and don't disrespect Valentina, in fact these are my children with her, Lorena, Diego, Joaquin and Maria"

Coraline made an 'O' shape with her mouth and her eyes flickered over each of us until they stopped at me amd she burst into giggles.

"Oh my gosh, you're the girl that ran out of that fancy restaurant. I saw the video online. You're the talk of the town" she revealed before giggling again.