Chapter 25
“Vanessa, Vanessa!!”, Didi called and tapped her. She seemed unconscious and did not hear Didi’s question. The shock got to Andre and Vivian as they both looked back to check her. Andre turned back while driving but then he hit an ice cream van that was parked by the road side. He quickly hit his brakes to avoid any more accidents. The incident attracted a crowd which had to check on both vehicles. The owner of the ice cream van was not inside the van. The lights at the back of the van were broken and the sides of the van had dents.
“Hope it was not much of an issue?”Vanessa asked Ariana who just came back into their car. Vanessa was not unconscious, she just acted that way to ignore Didi and her questions.
“It was just a little dent to the van and some of the lights got broken. It would cost him around two hundred and twenty five euros to fix it but Andre had decided to double the cost and he is getting some ice creams for us at the moment. He also apologized well”, Ariana answered.
“You scared us when you had not answered Didi while she was tapping you continuously”, Ariana added.
“I was just tired from the stress of today and I’m kind of feeling dizzy”, Vanessa lied. Andre entered the car and gave each of them a cone of ice cream.
*****
“Let’s go”, the young man said as he sat down fully.
“I am sorry for what I had caused”, Vanessa apologized in a mild tone.
“Baby, it’s fine. Anything can happen anytime”, Andre answered. Vanessa moved her head and was shocked with his response. He is really taking the fake relationship thing seriously. The restaurant they were headed to was just twenty five to thirty five minutes drive away from where they were currently.
*****
“Please, don’t tell me my woman is married to another man”, Miles asked as he pleaded with Lance and Trey to tell him where she (Vanessa) was at that moment. The father and son stared at each other. Lance, the father, then signalled to Trey, his son to tell Miles what was actually going on.
“Fine. I will tell you where she is”, Trey announced.
“Okay thank you”, Miles replied calmly, waiting curiously to get his answers.
“It was her idea to help save Dad”, Trey said.
“Wait, what!! Are you saying she’s dead?”, Miles asked.
As if it were planned, the father and son remained mute leaving Miles in a suspenseful situation.
“My daughter is not dead”, the father answered.
“I was kidnapped by the man who I had the money from, Andre”, Lance continued to talk.
“What!!! Andre!!!”, Miles cried out.
“Would you allow us to talk and quit interrupting?”, Trey asked. Miles went mute instantly.
“He made her sign a contract. To clear the debt and free her father, she had to become his prisoner by switching places with our dad. His prisoner forever!”, Trey said as he burst into tears.
“Oh my- , Where-, Where are they now?”, Miles stammered as he asked. He was more than hurt.
“We don’t really know. It is wrong to involve the police. Legal contracts were involved”, Lance announced.
*****
Andre, his family members and his fake relationship partner (Vanessa) had just arrived at the family’s favorite restaurant to get pasta and pizza. The restaurant name was “E∆T”.
“It is one of the best restaurants here in Italy”, Didi informed Vanessa.
“You are welcome to E∆T”, the security personnel at the door greeted the family as he opened the door for them. The chairs and tables were so fancy. It was obviously a restaurant for the rich. Andre had helped them to a table and they all placed their orders from the mesmerizing menu. They all chose pasta only Ariana asked for eggs and fish instead of turkey or chicken. She said she has had too many of them and she wanted to change the routine a little. Andre also placed another order a few minutes into their meal. He ordered two family sized pepperoni pizzas for them to take home. They all kept on eating in peace and silence. They all had good eating etiquettes.
*****
“So Vanessa, I asked you earlier in the car, how did you meet my brother?”Didi finally broke the silence on the table. Andre immediately interfered and said,
“Mom, did you not train your daughter well? Why is she being so unmannered?. She did not take lessons right?”, Andre asked.
“She has bad table manners”, he added.
His mother, Ariana, laughed hard; she had to gulp down some of her fruit juice.
“She’s just being curious to know about you both”, she answered.
“Well Didi, shut the hell up. You can ask later but not now”. Andre signalled a warning look to her and a sigh of relief ran out of Vanessa. She was not ready for any other questions. She doesn’t want her answer to be different from Andre’s so she had to be careful. With the way he has been acting, it seemed like Andre knew all that went on in her mind.
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A waiter was passing with some food. His name card on his shirt wore the name Robert. He was really handsome and had blue eyes. He wore a smile as he carried the food.
Suddenly, Robert tripped over after hitting Vanessa’s chair by mistake and then, the whole food he was carrying was all over Vanessa. Vanessa understood it was an accident, and interrupted Andre as he was about to raise his voice on the waiter.
“I am really sorry ma’am”, the young good looking man said as he was packing up the mess he had made. Vanessa joined him, but Andre wanted her to stop but she opted to continue to help Robert.
“It is totally fine. Accidents happen”, Vanessa whispered quietly.
“Please ma’am, let me help you with the directions to the rest room”, Robert offered.
“Okay let’s go”, Vanessa said as she stood up to follow him.
Andre gave a strange look like he was being protective making his eyes follow them as they walked towards the restroom. He was so focused on them that he could almost read their lips.
“Ma’am I’m really sorry again”, he said calmly.
“Stop it Robert ”, Vanessa said as he read off his name from his shirt. His identity card fell off from his pocket and she picked it up to give him. He collected it from her. They had gotten to the rest room passage entrance and the young man turned back to return to his job.
“Can I have your card?”Vanessa asked the young man who was already in love with her beauty.
“Yes sure you can”, he said as he handed her the plastic card. Andre saw all of these so he got off his seat and walked towards them hoping to court some trouble if he finds something unpleasant.