Poisoned Love

05. Disastrous Dinner

Welcome to the fifth chapter of many!
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My breathing was rapid and shallow. I dug my nails inside my sweaty palms. I mentally slapped myself for being nervous. Ace walked in casually, wearing tight jeans and a black shirt. A nonchalant expression was written on his face. He approached us and didn't even glance in my direction. Meanwhile I was studying his flawless features. His hair was a luscious light brown and his cologne filled my nostrils, making me struggle not to intake its intoxicating scent in.

"Hey." My mother says with a beaming smile. I can see how hard Ace was forcing his own smile on. I wanted to laugh but I sucked it in. They all exchanged hellos and Ademar leaned closer and pointed at me with a wide smile.

"Ace, meet Lydia, your future stepsister." He said and I can feel my stomach doing backflips. He turned to face me and furrowed his eyebrows. His moist lips curled into a smirk and I couldn't help but stare at his irresistible dimples as they indented on his cheeks.

"Hi." I say, almost choking on the word. I bit on my lower lip nervously. There was a slight pause but he parted his lips to talk.

"You didn't tell me she was blonde." He tells his father and eyes me up and down, studying my figure. There was a very strong emotion hidden behind his eyes but I couldn't figure out what it was. "I would've totally came here much earlier." I can feel my cheeks as they heat.

"Did you bring Penelope with you?" Cara asks. I had the sudden urge to ask who she was but it was none of my business, not that I care anyway.

"No," He said. "why would I? Plus how do you even know her?" He asks and furrows his eyebrows in confusion.

"I told them that she's your girlfriend." Ademar confessed and I can see Ace's expressions slowly hardening.

"She's not." He clarifies, "and she won't come here...ever." He says sternly. Ademar clears his throat and nodded slowly, digesting Ace's words.

"Let's just go eat, alright?" I interfered. I was way too hungry and I couldn't help but let it out.

Cara and my mother nodded agreeably, heading to the dining room while Ademar earned a subtle scowl from Ace. I followed my mother and Cara into the dining room and seated myself next to Cara. Ademar sat next to my mother and Ace sat opposite of me. I started filling up my plate with plenty of food. I picked up some cooked vegetables first and then I placed a few pieces of fried chicken on my plate. I know for a fact that a man like Ademar would have a professional chef cook this food for him.

"So," Ademar says, swallowing down his food. "You're a senior in high school, Lydia, right?" He asks and I nodded wordlessly. Ace looked up and his eyes met mine. He didn't seem interested at all but it's not like I expected him to be.

"Are you planning on attending college?" He asks. I bit on my inner cheek to stop myself from screaming in his face or saying something I shouldn't have. "Lydia?" He calls me and I instantly look up.

"Sorry, uh- yeah I do." I reply with a basic answer and try as hard as I can to avoid this conversation from going on. Knowing my mother, she'd lecture me on manners if I don't say something, so I said the first thing that came on my mind. "Do you have chefs here that cook you your food?" I asked and instantly regretted it. I can see Ace from the corner of my eye muffling his laughs and Cara was fighting a huge smile.

"No, actually. I wish I did but my maid cooks us our food." He informs me and I nodded slowly, stepping on Cara's foot beneath the table to make her know I saw her giggling.

We spent the next few minutes in silence, eating. I took small sips of my water and swung my feet playfully. I didn't dare to look at my mother, Ademar or even Ace.

"Sweetheart?" Ademar calls me and I instantly lift my head to look at him. A sour expression was plastered on my face. I'm still not used to him calling me by that name. "Jenna and I have some news to share with you." He tells me and I placed my hand over my heart dramatically.

"Can't you just for once say the news without making me wait for you to say it?" I sighed exasperatedly and I can feel my mother glaring at me. "I'd like to hear it from you, mother." I say and she gave Ademar a sympathetic smile, rubbing his shoulder. She turned back to face me and her face lit up.

"After the wedding, I want you to come and live here with Cara, Ademar and I." She said.

I almost choked on my water. I turned my whole body around to face Cara. I raised a suspicious eyebrow at her as a 'did you know about this?'. Cara nodded slowly with a slightly worried expression plastered on her face. I turned to face my mother. My jaw was practically on the floor.

"No." I told her.

"The house has plenty of room, sweetheart." Ademar says and I can feel my thin sheet of patience slowly slip away.

"I wanna stay at our house." I say.

"Your mother and sister will stay here, Lydia. Why do you wanna live alone-"

"I'm speaking to my mother!" I snapped, pushing my chair back and purposefully making it screech loudly. Cara covered her ears with her forearms dramatically. My mother got up with me, trying to console me.

"Please don't do this, Lydia." She begs and gets hold of my wrist, forcing me to sit back down. I jerked her arm away and stood back up.

"Why haven't you told me about this?" I snarled. My mother's soft expressions faded and were replaced with fury. If it's anyone that should be angry, it's me. "Why am I just knowing about this now? Cara obviously knew." I looked over at Ace, wishing he'd say something or that he'll tell them that I'm right. But he didn't say a word. I don't even know why I thought he'd say something to defend me.

"I didn't think this would be your reaction." She claims.

"You know what?" I sighed, trying to steady my breathing. "Go ahead, live here but I'm staying at the house. You can suit yourself." I tell them. There's no way I'm moving in with Ademar. What did I expect, anyway? To have Ademar move in with us instead of us living with him? He won't let go of his precious possessions that easily.

"We've already sold the house, Lydia." Cara spoke up. Oh no.

"No!" I shook my head lightly, fighting my tears. "How could you?" My voice croaked.

Tears clouded my vision. If there was any moment that I was sure I hated my mother, it's nothing compared to this. She didn't even ask me if I'm okay with her selling our house. All my memories will be gone, all my memories with my father, they'll all go away. She took that from me. She stole it from me.

"Lydia, just let me explain." She begs, gripping my shoulders. I pushed her away and shook my head.

"Explain? What's there to explain? You already sold the house." I reminded her, hoping she'd start to regret what she's done. "I'm not staying here, when you're done eating, drive me home."

And with that, I stormed out of the dining room and shut the door behind me, ignoring my mother as she called for me. I headed to the closest room there was, the kitchen. I approached the sink and propped my elbow on the counter, palming my face. My eyes burned as warm tears trickled down my cheeks. I struggled to digest this in. I have no option but to live here, at least until I find a job or somewhere else to stay. I heard steps approaching me and I didn't even bother to turn around.

"Lydia?" A male voice says. I don't know why, but I'm already recognizing his voice. I turned around and forced my lips to curl into a smile. The corners of my lips trembled.

"Hey." I said, wiping my dried up tears away. I sniffled and scrunched the bridge of my nose.

"Why are you crying?" He says in a soft voice. I almost felt bad for replying harshly.

"You don't fucking know? They sold my house without even thinking twice." I lashed out. A few moments of silence later, I shamefully covered my face in my hands and sucked in a deep and shaky breath. "I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't have released my anger on you, I just..."

I can feel his warmth caressing my body. He gently removed my hands and I looked up and realized that his tall body was towering over me.