"Sometimes, the wrong choices bring us to the right place."
That's what happens to Charlotte Swansea, a student from one of the best University in the world, a very great ballerina, and a poor decision maker.
Being pregnant on her second year of c...
Alex is as always, a troublemaker. Why does he have to ask Charlie to have dinner with us? It's clear, that she doesn't want it but she's just too polite to reject it. Scumbag.
While we wait for Monita to serve our dinner, Alex finally leaves us alone in the study room. He takes Melody with him. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience. My brother is an arse."
Charlie laughs. "No, it's okay. I wouldn't mind spending time with you guys."
"You really want to have dinner with us right? Not because you're too polite to reject it?" I think I'm talking too fast. I do this fast talk when I get nervous. I hope she won't notice because every time I'm with her, I do it a lot.
"No, Benjie. Bloody no," I say, shaking my head. "I will have dinner with you, no pressure."
"Good," Benjie exhales. "I'll go get ready then."
"Okay," Charlie is giving me that smile. The smile that I don't know what does it mean. I hate it when she does that. But, I also love it. "I'll go find Melody then."
Then I'm leaving the room and rush to my room to get ready for the dinner. Actually, it's not usual for me to get ready for dinner. Only if we have my father's guests for dinner, then we should have to get ready and behave admirably.
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The dinner is well-served like always. Monita is the best when it comes to cooking. She's been cooking and taking care of all kitchen kinds of stuff for our family since I was a little boy. Since Alex was a little boy. We usually joke to her that she has a lifetime contract with us. She's a hard woman with a soft inside. She never hesitates to scold us if we ever do something wrong. Monita is the part of this family.
"Charlie, I introduce you to my second mom, Monita," says Melody as she walks in with Charlie.
"Hello, I'm Charlotte. You can call me Charlie," Charlie sticks her hand out, reaching for Monita.
Monita replies her in Spanish. I'm quite sure Charlie doesn't know what she talks about. She only nods and says "Si," a couple of times. Monita couldn't speak English that well and since this family forces their children to be able to speak at least one foreign language, we then speak with her in her mother tongue.
"Only four plates ?" Charlie asks as she comes into the dining room with Melody.
"Yeah, my dad will be home after dinner or even later than that," I answer. It's true. Dad's barely home for dinner. He usually has dinner in his office or elsewhere. But he always ring us every time he won't make it to dinner.
I'm trying to do a civic-minded act on Charlie by pulling the chair for her. This is some sort of chivalry doing that I hope she won't think this is too much. Charlie is smiling as I pull the chair and let her sit. "Thank you."
Our dinner for tonight is cabbage soup, roast prime beef's rib with Yorkshire pudding, and lemon curd trifle for the dessert. Monita is really good for making my mouth all watery just by looking at what she's cooked and the smell of roasted beef fills the room immediately.
