Chapter 19
739 Words
Julian, Thea, Sebastian and Ash were all at a family restaurant, waiting to be seated and compared to his fathers’ who were still both in suits, he felt very underdressed in his t-shirt and jeans; even Thea had been picked up had been wearing a fancy dress,
“Are you sure I can’t go home and change?” he whispered to Thea, who rolled her eyes as she scanned him from head to toe.
“You look fine, rat; don’t worry about it.”
When they were seated on the circular table, he sat with his sister, with Sebastian on his left, and he fiddled with the napkin that had already been placed on the red tablecloth. “Why couldn’t we go to a cafe or something?”
“I want a whole five-course meal, I am starving, and I wanted chicken,” Ash replied as he flicked through the menu. “I’m not fussed at what chicken it is, as long as it’s good chicken.”
“Right,” Julian replied as he picked up his menu, and if he was honest, he didn’t know what half the dishes on the menu were, and in the end, he just ended up getting whatever Ash got along with the exact wine. He would never say no to some alcohol.
“Julian, how has your day been?” Sebastian asked, smiling at him.
“Boring.”
“Find a job then,” Ash muttered, frowning.
“I’ve tried; no one wants the traumatised twenty-year-old with no work experience.”
“Oh, Aunt Erza was looking for a part-timer, why don’t you ask her?”
“And have to see Uncle Scar more than I need too? No thank you.”
“You don’t like Scar, why? Did he do something? Say something?”
“No, nothing like that,” he replied quickly. How did he explain that the man just terrified him in the same way the Romero’s terrified him? He was so much taller and had way more muscles than him, and if he needed to, Scar could kill Julian in under a minute. That whole aspect of the man terrified him.
“He just,” he hesitated. “Scares me?”
Thea snorted, and Ash whacked his daughter on the arm as he glared at her. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I’m sure he’s lovely.”
“He’s not, he’s a rat, but continue,” Ash muttered.
“But, he just reminds me of so many people I would rather not remember, and I’m sorry, I know he’s your brother-in-law.”
“Unnwillingly.”
“Oh, Romeo, you have to let this go, it’s been years.”
Julian was shifting in his seat. He knew the closest exit to him was right in front of him, through the double doors, and there should have been a second exit directly behind him, through the kitchen. He could escape if needed but didn’t want to leave his family behind.
But there were so many people here, and indeed, any single one could have been involved in his nightmarish past, so he was on guard, aware of where the exits were, and things would be fine.
When the food finally came, everyone dropped the topic of him being scared of Scar, and just as Ash was about to have his first bite, Sebastian’s phone beeped. The shorter man groaned as he began stuffing the food into his mouth, chewing and swallowing four whole bites just as Sebastian politely swallowed his and looked at his phone.
God, he often wondered how his parents were together; they were so different. Sebastian put his knife and fork down, and Ash drank his wine.
“We need to go, and-” Sebastian looked over at Ash, his empty wine glass, and the half-eaten chicken, and he frowned a little. “Did you eat all of that in the time it took me to swallow my food, check my messages, read respond?”
“Yes. I did. Because i’ve been your husband long enough to know how long you will take and that that is your we need to go face and I was starving.”
Thea grinned, staring at them both in awe. “Is he right? Do we need to go?”
Sebastian nodded, still staring at the man in confusion. “He’s right; we do need to go.”
~*~
- Writer
