Novel Square
Chapter 24
Chapter 24
Vanessa
I don’t even know how long it’s been since I crouched down in this aisle but right now, time doesn’t matter to me.
Just by looking at what I’m holding in my hand, I’m so overwhelmed that my lips quiver as I smile.
I’m holding a pink plastic bear and it has these large soulful eyes looking at me with a childlike wonder. Holding it in one hand isn’t even enough as it has a plump cuddly body.
As I trail my fingertips along the black and white bow around its neck, my quivering lips widen even more as I chuckle.
I
The bear still has the same design I’ve always known, including the radiant yellow heart that’s clutched tightly in its stubby paws.
Hook away for a moment, telling myself to keep it together, but only a few seconds later, I look back at the bear and hold it with love.
The next thing I know, my vision blurs from the tears that stream down my face.
When I lost my mother a long time ago to cancer, she died in her hospital bed while holding this exact type of bear in one hand, while the other one was wrapped around me.
Ever since I lost her, I never wanted to see this type of bear again as it only brought me pain.
But seeing it now after so long, I don’t only feel pain, but also the heartwarming memories of my mother’s last days alive.
The more my vision blurs, the more my hand trembles and I don’t know what to do.
Suddenly, I feel a pair of hands on my arms and I’m picked off the floor. I don’t even know who it is but I don’t care. I’m too overwhelmed
with emotions.
In a split second, the pair of hands make me turn around and it’s only then that I realize I’m looking at Dominic.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” he whispers to me, placing his hands on the sides of my face.
His eyes widen with curiosity as he looks into mine, waiting for me to speak, but I can’t.
Squeezing the bear in my hand, I sniffle as I look away, but he instantly places his fingers under my chin to make me look back at him. The moment I da, he quickly wipes my tears, then places his soft lips on mine. Taken by surprise, I squeeze the bear tighter as I stop crying and focus on the sensation of his lips and warm breath.
Our tongues aren’t even involved but I can feel him and his other hand rests at the back of my head.
When he pulls away, I’m unable to hide how shocked I am as my eyes dart between his lips and gaze.
“You….you kissed me.” My heart’s pounding in my ears and I feel a slight tingle around my cheeks.
“Yes, now come here.” He wraps his arm around me and guides my head until it rests on his chest.
It takes me a moment it to come back to reality and when I do, I hear the shoppers giggle and whisper among themselves.
“Everyone’s watching us right now,” he whispers.
“When I let you go,
go, make sure you smile.”
I didn’t even realize there were people watching. Or maybe I was too carried away to keep that in mind.
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As soon as he holds onto the sides of my face and pulls away from me, I force myself to smile so I can put on a show, but it fades when he gives me a quick kiss on my lips. Then, he places his lips on my forehead and they linger for a few seconds.
Even with everyone watching, seemingly amazed by how Dominic’s handling my emotional state, their voices fade out as I hold onto him.
I know he’s doing this just to seem as a loving and supportive husband, but for me, being in his brace and feeling his warm lips on my forehead is the type of comfort I needed in this moment of thinking about my mother,
“Let’s just get what we came here for and head to the hospital.” Even though he whispers, he sounds a little harsh but right now, nothing he says can irritate me, not after his current display.
When I drop my hands and step away from him, I sigh with relief. I really needed that.
I know he’ll ask me about this later, but right now, we have to keep moving.
“Let’s go,” he says, holding out his hand.
As I place my hand in his, I feel glad that it’s no longer trembling
The moment we start heading out of that aisle, while I limp just slightly, security surrounds us and the onlookers disperse.
Tightening his grip on my hand, he says, “Keep your old friend with you.”
It takes me a moment to figure out what he’s talking about and when I do, I look at the bear I still have with me in my other hand. I can’t help but furrow my eyebrows at how he referred to it as an old friend of mine. Was I that obvious?
Whatever the case is, I don’t p
plan on leaving this bear behind.
It takes me just a few minutes to compose myself and when I do, I start getting ideas of what we could get for Penelope.
As Dominic and I check out certain sections together while acting like we’re deeply in love with each other, I glance around at the shoppers and most of them seem purely in awe.
Usually, I fake my smile whenever I have to act like I love him and he means the world to me, but this is the one time I’ve genuinely smiled at him, all because of that forehead kiss and hug.
Once we have what we need, it’s time to make the payments and he’s about to give the small shopping basket to one of our bodyguards so he can get in line, but I hold on to Dominic’s hand to stop him. I have something else in mind.
“I’ll do it.” I reach for the basket handle.
“What?”
“Yes, I’ll do it.” I smile at him.
“Why?”
aucellust want to do it.
“Because
He crosses his arms. “Have you seen the amount of people waiting in line? It’s better if this guy does it. He’ll just cut through anyway.
“No, I’ll do it.”
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When I keep insisting, he loosens his grip on the handles. “Find, but make it quick.”
“With all these people here, I don’t see that happening.”
“That’s why I wanted my security to do it.” He scoffs.
“It doesn’t matter.”
Firmly holding onto the basket handles, I get in line at the end and people Instantly start moving out of the way for me. It’s because they know the Richards family owns this business, but this is not necessary.
“Oh, no, you don’t have to do that,” I say to one of them with a chuckle, but it changes nothing. Everyone starts moving away. I try so hard to convince everyone that I don’t mind waiting in line, but they still give me space.
When I look over at Dominic, he gives me a nod to just go for it and just like that, I make my way to the front.
The woman at the counter trembles as she receives the basket, making me look down at her name tag.
Smiling at her, I say, “Take it easy, Liz.”
“Yes, Ma’am.” She keeps her head low as she responds.
e out my h
When I take
my black card for the payment, everyone whispers among themselves.
Though I’m able to use it however I want, I haven’t been able to do that just yet. After seeing Penelope, I plan to spoil myself
As soon as I get the receipt and step to the side, where Dominic’s been waiting for me, he reaches for the shopping bag and wraps his arm
around my waist.
He smiles at me and I instantly smile back for the whole crowd to see, but once again, my smile feels different this time because I do feel
different.
Before we leave, I head up to check on Aunt Patricia, which annoys him so much because earlier, it was almost like he wasn’t even there with
After seeing her, we return to the limousine and once we’re inside the ride to the hospital should take about fifteen minutes.
I’m glad I can rest for now because the truth is, I’ve added too much pressure to my call and feel more of the discomfort. However, I’m sure
can still do this.
Among the toys in the shopping bag, I can see the bear and I can’t help but smile as I look at it.
Just then, Dominic receives a call from Frank, who’s already at the hospital. The two of them have been communicating more since we returned to Aunt Patricia’s office.
When he picks up the call, everything seems fine, just like all the regular updates he’s received from Frank concerning the hospital, until he suddenly sits up more with wide eyes and raises his voice as he speaks.
“What did you just say?”
Just like that, my heart starts racing, I wonder what happened.
Chapter 25