Enraptured

Chapter 45

With much compromise, Sebastian eventually received his phone back in an undamaged state but at the price of being forced to sit on the far end of the table to be placed "as far away from Ms. Belle as possible," as per Theo's request.

Theo and I sat on either side of Belle on the other end of the table. But then my mother insisted on sitting close to her "grandbaby" and plopped down next to Theo before he could even protest, leading to the rest of my family sitting to the right of Theo while Rose's family made do with the leftover seats next to me.

To say the least, the assignments of seats caused much more hassle than it really needed to. But at least everything seemed to calm down once dinner started.

Between my mother and her friend, Odette, there was no issue with any awkward silences as they quickly filled up the room with their lively chatter, even pulling in  Sebastian's preppy personality once he stopped sulking and started asking Belle random questions here or there.

Not giving much care to their conversation, I mindlessly added spoonfuls of food onto Belle's and Theo's plates.

Some pasta for both of them since they liked cheesy dishes.

Then some vegetables for Theo otherwise, he wouldn't eat any.

And a few meatballs alongside a dollop of fruit jam to encourage Belle to get some more protein into her thin frame.

Cutting one of the meatballs into quarters, I raised a forkful up to Belle's lips out of habit, furrowing my eyebrows when she didn't accept it unlike usual.

Belle stopped mid-sentence with a light pink blush on her cheeks. "D-Demetri..."

"Do you not like it? I can get you something else if you want."

"N-No! I-It's not that..." Her eyes darted back and forth from the fork. She leaned closer to me bashfully and hushedly whispered, "It's just a bit embarrassing with your parents and... your friends around us..."

I glanced around and realized that everyone's chatter had died as they opted to stare at us instead. I was so used to personally feeding her little bites here and there at home whenever I cooked that I forgot that my parents and our family friends were also there.

Even so, I couldn't bring myself to feel all that embarrassed by it. If anything, I only found the situation all that more amusing by the adorable blush ordaining her supple cheeks.

With the corner of my lips lifting into a subtle smirk, I teased, "I don't see what's wrong with it. I'm only showing everyone how much I love doting on my adorable fiancée."

Furthering her embarrassment, Theo perked up at the sight of our mini-back-and-forth, and, mimicking me, he also lifted up a forkful of food toward Belle. He innocently chirped, "Do you also want to try my food, Ms. Belle? The spaghetti is also delicious."

Her eyes darted back and forth between our two forks. Unable to handle it anymore, she let out a low whine and chomped down on each of our forks, grumbling incoherently to herself as she chewed the food. Something along the lines of it being unfair.

Paying no mind to her qualms, Theo grinned in delight as he stabbed a couple more things onto his fork and held it up to her again.

My mother awed at the action, eliciting an even deeper blush from Belle.

"Theo Honey... I have more than enough food on my own plate already..." Belle gently pushed the fork back to Theo and continued, "And I know you're just trying to make me eat your carrots, so you don't have to."

Theo pouted as he reluctantly wrapped his lips around the orange fiend.

Then Belle turned her attention to me and lightly scolded, "And you... You should be feeding yourself too. You're much bigger than me and need to eat more than me."