The Irish Fire (2019)

Chapter 8

Alice Hughes' POV

We went inside the manor and it was the best feeling that I ever had. It was an architecture that I had never seen but I felt like I have known this manor intimately. Plus, I felt like I was home. "Come, my mother and sister are waiting for you, Alice," Connor said as he dragged me by my hand toward what looked like a living room. I turned to look at him, arching my eyebrow. "Sister?" I asked him.

"Yeah, the person that served you at the restaurant, remember?" he said as he was smiling at me. I blinked my eyes before I smiled back, trying to think back on that night. Then, I remembered that waitress. I thought she was someone that worked there!

"Ah! There they are! The new couple! So, how's the drive here?" Connor's mother, Evangeline asked us. Connor gave the necessary details, including our engagement.

"She said yes, mum. I guess you have a new daughter now," he said as he looked at me. I was smiling at Connor as he was kissing my knuckle before someone came inside the room. We all looked at the new person before I recognized who he was. It was Ethan!

I blinked my eyes as I was shocked to see him here, at Connor's family gathering. Was he a part of his family? "Ethan? What are you doing here?" I asked him out loud. Everyone was looking at me and him. Connor was trying to hold back his snicker as I glared at him. Ethan smiled.

Connor's mother was the first to break the silence. "Do you know Ethan, my dear?" Eva asked me. I nodded as I turned to look at my future mother-in-law.

"Yes, we attend History class together. I bumped into him in the lecture hall the other week," I said as I looked at his Florentine gold eyes. It was shining with mischief before someone else came inside the living room.

"Finally! You brought her back," the voice that I never forgot after that night of disaster of our first date, even though I thought it was lovely. His sister, the waitress with violet eyes! I turned to look at the newcomer as she smiled at me. "Wow, she's even better looking when we're not under the restaurant lights," she said before she pulled me into a hug.

It was a very tight hug. Do these people love hugs so much that they might smother me to death? I thought before Connor's sister was talking again. "O. M. G! I have always wanted a sister," she said as she looked at my left hand. She smirked as I blushed. "And I guess my prayer has been answered," she said before she kissed my cheeks.

I was stunned for a moment at the affectionate gesture before Connor's sister introduced herself to me by telling me her name at long last. "My name is Ophelia, nice to meet you," she introduced herself.

"Pleasure to meet you too, my name is—"

Ophelia giggled before she slapped me playfully on my arm. "Alice, I know. Connor seems to cannot forget you the first time you guys met," she whispered to me before I looked at Connor. He was talking animatedly with Ethan. I blushed as he caught me staring at him. Then, he winked at me as a smirk was plastered to his lips.

"Well, now that we have known each other. Let me show you around the house before we go to your room," Ophelia said as she pulled me to go upstairs, pulling me by my hand. I was dragged by her. For a small woman, she was quite strong. "So, how come you don't go back to your family for this holiday?" she asked me before she opened a door. The room was cozy yet dark. I guess I would like it here very much since this was my aesthetic.

"Long story short, my parents are out of town, so, I might as well stay at the apartment," I said as I went to put my handbag on the bed. I looked around the room as Ophelia turned on the lights. The walls were infused with black wood and there was a desk across the room. Then, she opened another door inside the bedroom and it was an en suite bathroom, completed with a bathtub and shower.