TEMPTRESS

XV.

ANGÈLE JOSÉPHINE MONET LAURENT CHASTIN - TOULOUSE, FRANCE 1968

She sat up and stretch her legs, letting out a yawn as she scratched her head. If she was going to keep coming here in the future, she really needed to replace those light curtains. The way the morning sun would burst through the curtains. She turned to Julien who was still fast asleep by her side. She softly smiled and hopped out of the bed, grabbing her robe that was hanging on the closet door. She slipped on her slippers, making her way downstairs. "Hey... Good morning." Ethan smiled, exiting his room at the same time as her.

"Morning." She smiled back not really knowing what else to say. She made her way downstairs, entering the kitchen where Adrien was drinking coffee and reading the newspaper. "You look like our father." She told him.

He sighed, folding the newspaper, setting it away on the table. "Please never say that again."

"Thank you for my 'surprise'." She grinned and sat on her brothers' lap, hugging him with a peck on his cheek.

"Anything to put a smile on your face, ma petite sœur chérie." He smiled. "Now that you're down here. You can prepare breakfast." He said, pushing her off him.

She rolled her eyes and opened the bread box, taking out the various types of bread placing it on the tray. "Ethan, you look tired, my friend." Adrien spoke to the guest. "Did you sleep well?" He asked.

"Yeah, yeah. Maybe it was the wind keeping me up." He said. In all honesty, he barely got any shut eye. He liked Angele a lot as a friend, and he admitted to his crush on her. He even felt worse about the fact that he had crossed a line he knew was there. He wasn't a bad person, at least, he didn't try to be so how could he do this. Plus, he hated how Julien was a nice person. Just by talking to him, he realized they had a lot in common, so he felt even shitter upon realizing this. He wouldn't be pissed if the family found out and sent him packing, which he hoped wasn't the case. He actually liked them, they felt more like family to him than his actual family did in his whole twenty-five years.

"Did you meet Julien?" Adrien asked, keeping his eye on his sister making sure she wouldn't drop or somehow burn anything.

Ethan nodded. "Yeah, he's a great guy." Ethan admitted.

"Il est où Alexandre?" Angele asked, changing the subject as she set the plates on the tray after filling it up with bread, jam, honey, Nutella, cheese, and a bunch of charcuteries.

"I don't know." Adrien shrugged, answering in English.

It was like right on cue, Alexandre barged through the front door carrying a covered woven basket. He took off his sunglasses, setting them on the top of his head with a smile on his face. "We were just talking about you!" Adrien turned to his brother.

Ethan stood up from the chair and walked towards Angele. "Let me help you with that. It looks heavy." He offered to carry the tray outside.

She slowly nodded, letting him carry the tray out into the backyard. "I went to get fruits from Marguerite's trees." Alexandre told his siblings.