All Of You

Chapter Twenty Three | Forever & Ever

MARIA

Exhausted from my work but glad that the weekend was here, I stepped inside the house.

Lucian and I have been dating for a week and honestly, it was the best one week of my life. Even though he still didn't say 'I love you' to me, in my heart I believed that he did.

When I talked about this to mom, she told me to give him some more time so I was still waiting for him. I wanted to tell him over and over again that how much I love him but I didn't want to make him uncomfortable so I kept my mouth shut.

Someone bumped into my legs and I glanced down to see Alora giggling in her walker. Chuckling, I picked her up in my arms and kissed her cheeks. "Is everyone here only?" I asked her even though she can't obviously speak.

She said something incoherent in response and I heard the sound of laughter coming from the dining room. That answered my question.

With her in my arms, I walked towards the dining room as Althea came out from there trying to look for Alora.

She sighed on seeing Alora in my arms and took her from my arms. "I am never putting them in their walkers again."

I chuckled. "Yeah, they are quite fast. I don't know what will happen when they start walking."

She shuddered. "I don't even want to think about it."

Laughing, we walked back together inside where everyone was seated around the table eating a chocolate cake which looked home baked while Austin played with Nevan.

Lucian was there too and my heart skipped a beat as our eyes collided and I gave him a smile.

I loved how relaxed he looked and dad got up from his seat and gestured me sit down next to Lucian with Calix sitting on his other side.

His fingers intertwined with mine under the table as he rested our hand on top of his thighs and gave it a squeeze.

Calix, surprisingly said nothing, he actually wasn't saying anything ever since dad had a talk with him.

Dad served me a piece of the cake too and an extra piece to Lucian whose eyes lit up on seeing it and he dig in immediately.

I took a few bites of my piece while Lucian finished his within seconds so cutting a piece of my cake, I held the fork to his mouth.

He paused for a second probably because he wasn't much into PDA but since it was a chocolate cake, he ate it without any questions making me smile and I couldn't help but kissing his cheek in return which caused a flush to settle on his cheeks and he lowered his head and kept eating his cake.

My eyes went over to Calix whose mouth was hanging open watching us, as if he couldn't believe Lucian was being so sweet and shy.

I gave him a sheepish grin and he kept staring untill Althea smacked him on his shoulder and glared at him saying that he should be minding his own business.

He rolled his eyes at her and kissed her forehead before engaging in a conversation with mom, dad and Austin.

"Who made the cake?" I asked focusing my attention to everyone.

"I did." Austin chriped in, with Nevan in his arms.

"No wonder it's so bad." I teased him, keeping my tone serious.

Calix burst out laughing while Austin's gaze turned murderous. "I am clearly a better baker than you."

"Oh really? You want to have a competition?"