CHASING ARIEON

47

"Daddy, I want to see mommy", Alessa said as she looked at her father. "Me too, daddy", Andrea and Antonio added. Enzo looked up from his iPad and sighed. Why did he decide to wait a little before going to work. "You'll see your mommy very soon if you eat your breakfast", he said to them. The three kids immediately picked up their spoons and continued to eat their cereal. "Uncle, uncle!", Alexi ran into the dining room where they were. Enzo looked up as Alexi ran into his arms. "What's wrong?", he asked as Alexi looked up at him in tears. "Mommy wants me to wear the itchy socks!", he cried out and clenched his shirt as Agatha called his name.

"Alexi, come back here!", Agatha yelled making him gulp in fear. "Uncle, don't let her make me wear it. I'll die!", he panicked. Enzo was amused at how he was reluctant to wear the socks Agatha picked out for him. Agatha walked in and rolled her eyes as she saw her son hugging Enzo. "Alexi, it's not itchy", Agatha said. "You don't know that!", he retorted. She rolled her eyes, *He inherited this attitude from his father*. "Sweetheart, it's not itchy. It's your school socks", Agatha said with a sigh. "No!", he whined in protest.

"Auntie, the school socks are actually itchy", Antonio told his aunt. Agatha raised a brow. "Wear thinner socks before wearing it", Enzo told Alexi. "We're going to see your dad, hurry up", Agatha told him. Alexi sighed and went to his mother.

Arieon had already freshened up and changed into a new set of clothes that Agatha had given her. Agatha had served her breakfast but she ate only little because she had no appetite. She was about to approach the door when Enzo walked in. "You can at least knock", she said angrily. "My house, my rules. Good morning to you", he said indifferently. "Good morning to you too. I'm leaving", she said as she made her way to the door. He grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"Stop manhandling me!", she glared at him. "Stop behaving like a child", he said with a sigh. "Thanks for the compliment", she said as she rolled her eyes. "I can't let you go without taking your medications", he said to her. She frowned yanked her arm away from his grip. "My medications are at the hotel, I'm going there so I can take them", she said. "You're dumber than I expected. Those medications were wrong. Do you want to damage your liver?!", he snapped angrily at her. The loudness and harshness of his voice made her flinch and take a step back.

She felt like a child getting scolded for stealing. "I don't know if you were thinking or not. You're not in a right state of mind, are you?!", he asked angrily. She couldn't even talk because of how harsh he was. Not knowing how to control himself anymore, he let out an angry sigh and threw the bottle of iron pills on the bed. "One in the morning and one at night", he said and walked out of the room. Arieon let out a shaky breath and went to pick up the bottle. "Iron pills", she mumbled and put the bottle in her bag.

She walked out of the room and closed the door. She was about to turn around when something bumped into her leg and fell down with a loud thud. "Ouch", she heard a small groan. With wide eyes, she looked down to see Andrea. "Mommy?", he asked as he looked at her. "Hey, sweetie", she smiled as she helped him up. "Mommy!", he squealed happily and hugged her. "I missed you so much. I wanted you to tell me bed time stories all the time but you were never around. Why?", he asked with tears in his eyes. Among the triplets, he was the most emotional while Antonio was the quiet abd reserved one. Alessa, on the other hand was a Daddy's girl.

"I'm sorry baby. I didn't mean it, mommy was very busy and she had to stay far away", she said as she crouched down to hug him. She noticed he was wearing a uniform. "You're going to school?", she asked and he nodded. "Daddy will be looking for me", Andrea said. "Let's go downstairs", Arieon said as she stood up and they began to walk towards the stairs.

"Mommy?", he asked. "Yes?", Arieon replied. "What's your favorite color?", Andrea asked. "Purple", Arieon answered. "That's Antonio's color!", Andrea gasped and she laughed. "What's your favorite color?", she asked as they reached the bottom of the stairs. "I like red and blue", he said. "That's wonderful", Arieon said and ruffled his hair. As they walked into the living room, they met Antonio tying Alessa's shoe laces. "I found mommy!", Andrea announced making his brother and sister look up.

"Mommy!", Alessa and Antonio yelled and went to hug her. Arieon chuckled and crouched down to hug them back. "Hey, sweets. You look beautiful in your uniforms", she said to them. "Really?!", Alessa beamed. Her soft curls were falling down her face from her pigtails. "Yes, I'm sure your daddy is waiting outside for you three", Arieon said as she stood up. "It's my turn to choose a car today!", Andrea said and ran out of the living room. "Andrea, your bag!", Antonio called after him but his brother had already ran out of the house.

Alessa rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, "He always chooses the fast cars". "All of Daddy's cars are fast", Antonio told his sister as they went to grab their bags from the couches. "Your daddy let's you choose cars?", Arieon asked with a frown as she picked up Antonio's bag. The two kids nodded. "Yes, he allows us to pick the car the we want for him to take us to school?", Antonio said. Arieon raised her brows in surprise.

They walked out of the house to see Andrea gushing about the new Lamborghini Enzo had recently purchased. "Mommy, come and see this new car!", Andrea squealed happily. "You'll be late for school, hop in", Enzo announced. Antonio tugged on his mother's dress. She looked down at him. "Can you give me a kiss?", he pouted. She giggled and pecked his forehead. "Be safe", she told him. He giggled happily and went to meet his father. "Me too!", Alessa pouted. "Me three!", Andrea added and ran to her.

Enzo watched as she pecked every one of the kids before they got into the car. God knew how much he wanted this to happen, and now it did. But this wasn't how he expected it. The both of them were stubborn and they both knew it. "Say bye to your mom", Enzo said as he went to the driver's seat. "Bye, mommy!", the triplets waved. Enzo got into the car and roared the engine to life. As they got on the road, Alessa called her dad. "Yes, princess?", he said. "Why didn't you and mommy kiss?", she asked. He almost chocked on his spit.

He cleared his throat. "Why do you say that?", he asked. "I always see my friend's parents kiss", she answered. Enzo narrowed his eyes, Are they supposed to that in front of kids?, "It's not proper to do that in front of kids", he said. "I've been telling her!", Andrea exclaimed with a disgusted expression.

_______________

"You have a lot of explaining to do, woman", Tiffany said as she abd Madison walked into Arieon's hotel room. Arieon was on the bed with her laptop on her lap typing a report on their research. She just arrived at the hotel thirty minutes ago but she still felt out of place.

"I've been worried sick!", Tiffany exclaimed as she went to sit beside her on the bed. "I'm sorry", Arieon apologized sheepishly. "All we need is an explanation", Madison said as she sat down on the bed. "I don't know where to start", Arieon said as she placed her laptop on the bed. "How about from the beginning?", Tiffany said. Arieon let out a sigh and began to explain everything to them excluding Enzo being a Mafia Don.

"Wow!", Tiffany exclaimed in awe. "That's too much", Madison said. "I never pegged you as the divorce type", Tiffany said. Arieon shrugged. "The marriage was arranged and I needed to get out of it or else I'd be very unhappy for the rest of my life", she said. "But he's like the perfect husband material", Madison said. "I can't believe I didn't notice him earlier. I knew he looked familiar but I assumed that it wasn't him", Tiffany said. Anyone that saw Vincenzo Armani would literally die of happiness to come across him.

"He was very caring when you went unconscious", Madison said. "People tend to do that. He's a very bipolar person", Arieon said. "Now I understand why you didn't want to date anyone when you came back", Tiffany said. "You love him, don't you?", Madison asked. Arieon let out a nervous laugh as her cheeks tinted. "It's a one sided love and I couldn't handle that", she admitted. "But for the sake of your kids", Tiffany said. "We're divorced already. There's no way I'll ever get custody of them. Even a dumb person would now better than to go against him", Arieon said.

"Your life is complicated, sis", Tiffany said as she shook her head. "Let's leave that aside. Call the guys and informed them that we're leaving by six. His laboratory technicians and scientists want to meet with us", Arieon said to them. "You're sick and you're thinking about is work", Madison said in disbelief. Arieon rolled her eyes, "I'm not crippled. We're here for business". "You don't care about yourself at all", Tiffany said as she shook her head. "What gave it away?", Arieon rolled her eyes and got off the bed. "You're a workaholic", Madison shook her head at her friend.

"You guys should get ready. If we finish early, we can go out for dinner", Arieon said to them. "Roger that", Tiffany saluted.