Unthinkable Love

Chapter 15

Lola

I woke up to the smell of my mother’s delicious waffles and it made my mouth water instantly. My mother is an amazing cook and I love when she has the time to cook for us all. She is always so busy with her work so it is a very rare occasion for her to have a day off, let alone for her to have time to cook.

I was in such a good mood; I practically skipped my way to the fridge to pour myself a glass of juice. My family is gathered around the dining table impatiently waiting for my mother to bring the waffles over. I take a seat next to Levi at the table.

“What are you so happy about?” Levi grunts towards me. Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Again.

“Do you have to be so damn sour all the time?” I reply, rolling my eyes at him.

“Don’t be such a b***h Lola.”

“Shut up Levi! I don’t need you ruining my day, especially after the amazing one I had yesterday.” I brag as I smile to myself. My mother comes over with a huge tray piled with different flavoured waffles.

“Why, what happened yesterday darling? You seem a lot chirpier than you have been lately. I like it!” Charlotte asks. Levi immediately grabs the tongs to load up his plate.

“I ended up bumping into Theo on my run. We talked through a lot of things and he ended up asking me to be his girlfriend.” I announce proudly to my entire family.

“WHAT?!” Levi shouts angrily as he drops the tongs and they clatter on the table loudly.

My father is so shocked he spits his coffee onto his plate in front of him. Nova screams in fright at the sudden disturbance.

“Oh darling!! I’m so happy for you both.” My mother exclaims while clapping her hands. She runs around the table to pull me into a tight motherly hug.

My father clears his throat loudly. “I am glad you two sorted out your differences. He is an exceptional young man. I am sure he will treat you well.” My father says to me. Levi sighed at my father’s words. “Levi, maybe if you give Theo a chance you might actually get along with him. I’m sure you two have plenty in common. If Lola can forgive him then I think it’s time we all do the same.”

“I agree Ezra dear. Why don’t you invite Theo over for dinner tonight Lola so we can celebrate?” Charlotte asks.

“Thank you mother, I will do just that.”

I truly hope my family could forgive him. I wanted them to feel comfortable with him in our home.

*

*

*

The doorbell rings later that evening and I run to answer it before any of my family could get it. Ivy follows me from my bedroom and stands in the living room with the rest of my family waiting to greet Theo.

I open the door to see Theo standing there with a humongous grin on his face. I smile back at him shyly as I take in his handsome features. He is wearing a deep green collared shirt which match his beautiful eyes, black skinny jeans and pure white basketball sneakers. He is holding flowers in one hand and a bottle of wine in the other.

“Hello beautiful.” He says cheerfully as he kisses me on the cheek in front of everyone. I can feel my cheeks growing warmer from his delicate touch.

“Hi.” Is the only word I could squeak out. He hands me a beautiful single lilac rose. "It's beautiful, thank you!" It smells incredible.

I move aside and gesture for him to come inside the house. He brushes passed me and I feel tingles across my skin from his slight touch. I shiver and shake my head. Ivy looks at me curiously and I’m sure she will question me about my reaction later on.

Theo greets my mother and father first. He hands the stunning floral bunch to my mother and kisses her on the cheek as well. He then shakes my father’s hand and passes him the bottle of wine. He then moves onto Levi and Ivy hesitantly. Levi extends his hand and shakes Theo's hand vigorously as if he is trying to intimidate him. Theo doesn’t seem fazed by Levi's actions at all and moves on to kiss Ivy on the cheek too. Lastly, he bends down so that he is eye level with Nova. She stands there nervously looking at Theo. She’s never been great with strangers.

"Hi little one, do you remember me?" He asks her and Nova nods shyly. "I brought you a little present but you have to promise me that you won't eat it until after dinner. Deal?" Nova nods again and Theo pulls a pink lollipop out of his pocket and hands it to her. She shrieks in delight, snatches the lollipop and runs away. I laugh as I watch her disappear into her bedroom.

"Thank you for having me in your home Ezra and Charlotte. Can I give you a hand with anything?" Theo asks politely.

"Oh no don't be silly, you are our guest! Is everyone ready to eat? Go make yourselves comfortable at the table and I will bring it all over." Charlotte commands in her motherly way.

"I will help you mother." I follow her into the kitchen. She hands me a tray of lasagne from the oven to take over to the table and I walk back to get the second tray out of the oven.

"AHHH!" I yell in pain as I accidentally touch the inside of hot oven and burn the back of my hand.

Theo is by my side in an instant, looking at my burnt hand. "Are you okay beautiful?"

"I think so; I don’t think it’s that bad. It's just stinging from the burn." I reply with a hiss.

He places my hand between both of his and I can feel him using his magic to take the heat out of the burn. It slowly starts to stop hurting and I look up into his eyes. I can see a small flicker of fire in his dark pupils. I am not afraid of the fire this time; I know he is using his power to help me and it feels comforting.

"Thank you." I whisper to him and gave him a quick peck on his lips.

"I'm glad you're alright darling." My mother says from beside me. I jumped at the sound of her voice. I didn’t even realise she was standing there!

Theo takes the last tray of lasagne to the table while I carry over the leafy green salad. We all take our seats at the table together and my father hands a glass of wine to Theo. Theo gently holds my hand under the table and caresses my burn with his thumb. Surprisingly it doesn’t sting and I can feel that he is still using his magic to make me feel better.

"The food looks incredible; you didn't have to go to all this trouble for me." Theo says to my mother.

"It's not a drama Theo, we are glad to have you here with us." Charlotte answers with a warm smile. Levi snorts at my mother’s reply. My father and I shoot him a glare but Theo pretends he doesn’t hear anything.

We all eat in an awkward silence for the next ten minutes. I start to feel the tension building in the room.

"How was your day today mother?" I ask to break the silence.

"We don't need to talk politics at the table darl-" She starts to reply but is interrupted by Levi.

"Why are you even here?" Levi spits at Theo rudely.

"I was invited here..." He answers simply.

"No, I mean why are you in Colombo Village? Why did you leave Russo?" Levi interrogates him with narrow, suspecting eyes.

"Truthfully? I had a bad break up with my ex and saw a job available here in Colombo. My brother and I both decided to get jobs to support our sick mother." Theo explains to us all.

“Oh I’m sorry, you never told me your mother is sick.” I whispered to Theo and grab his hand for support. He glances at me with a sad look on his face. It is probably a hard thing to talk about so I don’t press him further.

“So what happened with your ex?” Levi asks. Man he just won’t leave Theo alone!

“I don’t think that’s any of your business.” I spit at him with venom in my tone.

“It’s fine Lola.” Theo insists. “If you must know, she found out about my ancestors and spread the story around the whole village. She betrayed my trust and left me. Now she has followed me to Colombo and I have no idea why she still won’t leave me alone.” He explains.

“Maybe she’s just jealous and doesn’t want to see you happy.” Ivy states, smiling at Theo and I.

“Enough with this ridiculous interrogation Levi. He doesn’t owe any of us an explanation. I apologise for my son, Theo.” Ezra says.

“That’s quite alright Ezra. I need to be honest with you all. I don’t want any more secrets or lies. I’d like for you all to trust me especially when I plan on spending a lot more time with Lola.” Theo announces. My cheeks immediately flush bright red and I look down in embarrassment. He serious isn’t afraid to say how he feels, even in front of my family.

“If Lola can forgive you then so can I.” Ivy announces as Levi shoots her a glare like she has just betrayed him. “What? She’s my best friend and I trust her judgement!” She whispers to Levi loud enough for us all to still hear.

“Well, I propose a toast! Cheers to the both of you. Take good care of my baby Theo.” Charlotte says raising her wine glass in Theo’s direction.

“I intend to do just that.” Theo replies and clinks his glass to my mothers. We all cheers around the table except for Levi. He leaves the table and storms towards his bedroom, slamming the door. Ivy rolls her eyes.

“Who’s ready for dessert?” Ezra asks, beaming at us all.

Theo

I was so glad when Lola informed me that she had already told her family about us being together but I was a bit surprised when they invited me over for dinner. Of course, I accepted their invitation. I was just worried about Levi, he has never been my biggest fan. Perhaps we could move passed out differences one day.

I didn’t expect to be interrogated at the dinner table but I thought if I was honest about everything, they all may accept me sooner and be happy for Lola and I to be together. Levi still wouldn’t budge, I should probably speak to him privately without anyone eavesdropping.

Dinner was divine, Charlotte had really spoilt me with multiple servings of lasagne and Ezra kept filling my glass with wine. I was stuffed and I thought I couldn’t possibly fit anything else in my stomach when Charlotte comes over to the table with a huge tray of different flavoured cannoli and proceeds to fill up my plate.

“Gosh, I won’t be eating for a week after all this delicious food Charlotte!” I say. She lets out a melodious laugh. “Will you excuse me for a moment?” Lola shoots me a worried look and I plant a kiss on her forehead to reassure her that everything is fine.

I walk down the hall tentatively towards the door next to Lola's bedroom and knock twice. I hear Levi shout "WHAT!"

I open the door and it swings open with a loud creak. I must admit, I am a little surprised to see a very bare room. Very little furniture, white walls and no decorations. No books or anything at all to tell me about Levi's personality. It was very clinical, almost like a hospital room. I wonder what Ivy sees in Levi. Levi is saying on his bed with his feet towards the pillows and he is throwing a ball at the wall with a loud thump.

"UGH! Why can't I ever get away from you?" He says in an annoyed tone as he turns to see me standing in his doorway.

"Levi can we have a civilized adult conversation please?" I ask.

"Why? I have nothing to say to you."

Thump

"It's about Lola. I imagine we are going to be seeing a lot more of each other now that we are together and I would like us to get passed our differences. I don't want you to feel like I'm invading your personal space when I come into your home." I say to him.

"But you are invading my personal space. Look at where you are right now." He answers sarcastically gesturing to his bedroom.

Thump

"You know what I mean! I just want you to know that I love your sister and I will never do anything to hurt her."

"You already have Theo! She was so f*****g devastated after everything happened between the two of you and she lost control of her damn magic! She shut herself in her room for a week and didn't want to speak to anyone. She hardly ate or spoke to anyone and all she wanted to do was cry and sleep the days away. All I've ever tried to do was protect her from herself so she doesn't have to feel like that, ever! It takes such a toll on her body and I'll be damned if she ever feels like that again because of you!" Levi yells at me.

"I'm so sorry Levi. She is so lucky to have a brother as caring as you are but I promise you it will never happen again. Can I ask how you found out about my secret in the first place?" I ask suspiciously.

"Lucy." He replies.

Thump

"What do you mean Lucy?"

"She's my friend. As soon as she found out you moved here, she warned me about you. That's why I told the three musketeers to stay away from you which clearly didn't sink into their stupid thick skulls!"

Thump

Of course it was Lucy, that sneaky little b***h. I knew she was trying to ruin my life but why? I don’t understand. Levi was really starting to get on my nerves throwing that damn ball. I can slowly feel the burning rage creeping through my body. I think its time to wrap this conversation up before I do something I regret.

"Whatever. Look I just wanted you to know that I plan on sticking around as long as Lola will have me in her life so I would like us to get along for her sake. Do you think you can do that or not?" I say through gritted teeth.

"I'll see what I can do." Levi answers rolling his eyes.

Thump

This conversation is clearly over so I close the door and make my way back out to the rest of the family. I walk up behind Lola's chair and she swivels in her seat to look up at me. She has icing sugar on the corner of her lip, which makes me smile. I reach out to brush it off and she closes her eyes at my touch.

"I had better head home; I don't like to leave my mother home alone for long late at night. Thank you so much for dinner Charlotte and Ezra, it was delicious. I hope you'll have me over again sometime."

"You are welcome anytime Theo." Charlotte answers by pulling me into a quick hug. "I packed up some leftovers for your family." She places some containers into my hands.

"Thank you again!" I repeat. Ezra shakes my hand and I ruffle Nova's hair as I see her eating the lollipop I gave her earlier. Lola walks me towards the front door and I turn to wave at them all. Ivy is still sitting at the table, she waves back but not without the standard wriggle of her eyebrows. We walk down to the front gate and Lola puts her arms around my waist, pulling me towards her.

"I hope you had a good time. Is everything alright with Levi?" She asks me with furrowed brows.

"It was a lovely night, thank you for inviting me over. I hope things with Levi and I can improve. I don't want any issues between us anymore, especially for your sake."

"I hope it all works out. Who knows, you two might even become friends." She smiles up at me.

"Don't push your luck." I tease.

"Good night Theo. I love you. Get home safe!" She says sternly.

"I love you more." I put a hand on her cheek and kiss her deeply. Gosh, I never want to stop kissing this woman. I reluctantly pull away and look into her diamond coloured eyes one last time before walking home.

As I open the front door to my home, I realise there are no lights on.

"Mother?" I call out to her but there is no answer. I quickly run into her room and she isn't there. Where the hell is she?! I start frantically searching the house, turning all the lights on and off as I go. I can't find her anywhere! She couldn't have gone far. The last place I need to search is the kitchen. I turn on the light and see glass shattered all over the floor.

"s**t! Mother?" I call out again. I move around behind the bench and I have finally found her. She is laying on the floor unconscious and barely breathing.