And life goes on...

Chapter 13

18 YEARS LATER—

“Happy birthday Nadia!” I shouted along with Alex, Jane, Charlie, Hansel, Gretel and Ben.

“I told you guys I don’t want the surprise party you were planning. I’m a legal adult now.” My face fell and as soon as she saw that, she quickly added,

“But thank you guys. I love you all.” She tried to wrap her arms around all of us in a group hug. We settled down after a while around the old kitchen counter. She closed her eyes and blew the candles.

“What did you wish for?” Charlie asked. He was in Medical College these days.

“I’m not telling you.” Nadia pouted.

“Tell me! Tell me!” He poked her cheek.

“I wished that you end up with that gold digging beep you’re dating. Happy now?” She sounded irritated and quite frankly -- jealous. We all knew she loved Charlie and he loved her back as well but he wanted her to see and date other guys. He wanted to give her a choice. They had been best friends since she was born. He took so much care of her that it brought happy tears to my eyes. Ben used to leave Char at our home with Nadia whenever he went out with Jane on dates. She was now a doctor and thanks to the charms of Ben, she got married four years after. I had Nadia. Though for a while there, we thought Charlie would be distracted by his half twin siblings and wouldn’t care about Nadia that much but boy, were we wrong or what.

He sure was excited about the twins. Jane was kind enough to let him name them Hansel and Gretel on his favorite fairytale characters. Yet, he never for a second stopped loving Nadia. It was as if she was his favorite toy and he couldn’t get enough of her. Jane was a lovely woman. She never treated Charlie as a step-mom. In fact, she was the basic reason Charlie got spoiled. She provided everything Char asked for because she didn’t want him to think that she is some evil step-mother. Jane was devastated when Lucy, Ben’s ex-wife tried to take his custody when he turned ten. And that was basically because Ben was a billionaire by then and left Lucy with her company which had so many loses that Lucy was bankrupt. We actually celebrated the day when Ben got Charlie’s custody from court permanently.

“Aunt Eva? Did you put something in the oven?” Charlie’s voice made me come out of my flash backs.

“No. Why?” I asked. He sniffed the air.

“I don’t know… I think something is burning...” He kept sniffing around and finally when his nose came near Nadia, he stopped. I was hiding a smile with Alex.

“Oh, never mind Aunt Eva. It’s just Nadia getting jealous.” He smirked at her. Nadia threw a piece of cake on her face.

“Why would I get jealous of you? You—brat!” she shouted and we all laughed. We were just waiting for the time when these both stubborn heads finally pronounce their undying love for each other. Char placed his arm around her shoulders and kissed her cheek and making the cake on his cheek transfer to hers. Nadia blushed at his kiss.

“Don’t worry darling, if all the other girls in the college wouldn’t want me, I’d definitely go out with you.”

“Ew! You’re gross! Uncle Ben! I hate your son very much.” She spat while looking at Charlie.

“Hey! Why do you hate Hansel? He’s a good guy! He considers you like a sister.” Charlie exclaimed dramatically.

“I’m talking about you! You idiot. Not Hansel.” She said removing the cake from her cheek.

“Char! Behave yourself. She’s a sister to Hansel and Gretel and you should treat her like one as well.” Ben knew how to punch Char’s buttons.

“WHAT?! NO!! DAD! She. Is. Not. My. Sister!” He yelled chewing each and every word and we all laughed. He then got that his dad was messing with him. He glared at Ben and cleaned his face whose red tint was turning off slowly. The person who was even more embarrassed than Char was Nadia. She just pretended as if she didn’t hear everything but the colors on her face said just the opposite.

“Oh yeah? What is she then?” Ben asked still attempting to make Char mad.

“Err… you know… my best friend. Duh!” He spoke nervously and all of us suddenly felt silent when Nadia’s spoon clinked with her plate upon hearing this.

“Oh… I’m sorry… Excuse me, please.” She said with a cracked up voice and hurriedly went to the lawn.

“Thanks, dad. Now she’s mad at me.” He threw a look at Ben and got up from the table. I knew she was hurt because she thought of her as more than just a friend. What she didn’t know was that he thought of her as her life. She did know that but she didn’t believe it because he didn’t say so. She wasn’t the kind of girl who’d keep assuming it if it wasn’t said out in words. Jane went after them both. He sounded irritated when Jane asked him to go inside. After five minutes, she came back with my daughter.

 “I’m sorry, I needed some air. So, where are my presents?” she said with a fake smile on her face. Then she added;

“Oh, and mom, daddy! One more thing. There’s this guy, Alfonso Montego. I want you to meet him. He’s really nice and I really like him.”

“Alfansee what? the who? You can’t date him!” Char cried out.

“Lower down your voice. I asked mom and dad, not you, grandpa.” She spoke in a pain tone.

“I want the best for you and I don’t want you to see some Mafia guy.” He said seriously.

“He is not in the Mafia. His parents own half of the bakeries in Spain.” She wailed at him.

“Uncle Al! The Montez guy is from Spain. It’s totally not fit for her. His family must descend from that Montez family of those freaked out Romeo or something.” Char presented the most absurd logic. Me, Alex and Charlie’s parents were hiding our smiles and keeping our best to look serious.

“Montez? Geez! It’s Montego! Alfonso Montego and the family from Romeo and Juliet were Montague.” She argued back. It was just so darn cute.

“Montego, Monetz whatever. It’s all the same. I’d not allow it.” He said firmly and folded his hands on his chest.

“No one asked your opinion! What’s wrong with you? It’s not like you care or anything.” As soon as she said those words, Char’s head snapped towards her. He took her hand and took her outside saying,

“You wanted a present; I’d get you a present, alright.” We were a little concerned but we knew he wouldn’t do anything wrong to her. So we decided to spy from the window.

“Hansel! Gretel?” I aksed.

“Yes aunt. We caught everything on tape.” They said in unison and high fived showing us the phone they were holding on to. They were one mischief pair.

“So that's why you guys were quiet during the dinner?” I asked them. They sheepishly smiled.

“And do you catch our conversations on camera as well?” Jane asked but she already knew the answer. They laughed nervously.

“You guys are grounded for two weeks.” They protested Jane’s punishment but she didn’t seem like she was going to let it go.