Valentina took Luca to his room and wanted to change him when she saw his closet full of boring, dull-colored, adult-style clothing for children.

Remembering that she had bought him some clothes, she quickly retrieved the bags from her room. Quickly spreading the clothes out on the bed, she picked up a teddy bear sweater, “How about this one? I have one too so we can look like twins if you want?” Seeing the child happily nod, she pulled out matching pants and shoes and let him change himself.

She quickly ran to her room to change. Thankfully she had packed the teddy bear sweater, but she would soon have to go back to her apartment to get more clothes. Or figure out how to do laundry at the Grayson house. She had been handwashing some things since it was really too embarrassing for her to have the butler handle it.

She quickly put on the sweater along with a skirt, tights, and boots. After placing a fuzzy headband on her hair, she grabbed her jacket and opened the door only to see Luca patiently waiting for her outside.

Carefully leading him down the stairs, they entered the living room to see Roman kneeling on the floor. Embarrassed at the CEO of a big company kneeling, she turned away and saw Kaiser staring at her and Luca.

“We’re ready to go.”

“Okay.” Luca ran to the gift bag and grabbed three of them. He ran and gave Valentina one, then Kaiser, before turning reluctantly to Roman and handing him one as well.

“Uhm I’m sorry and thank you.” he softly said, his little chubby cheeks red in embarrassment as he stared at Valentina.

Seeing the cute blushing expression, Valentina squatted at his level and asked softly, “Did you make one for me?”

Luca nodded. She opened it and saw a card with the two of them drawn on it and crooked writing inside.

She was in her simple dress and was pushing a small figure on a swing – something she did with him every day. Additionally, there was a pack of her favorite chocolate bonbons as well. Feeling touched by his care, she couldn’t help but hug him tightly.

“Thank you. I’ll treasure it forever.”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

When she stood up, Kaiser came over and patted his head.

“Thank you, Luca.” Seeing the boy smile happily at his father, Valentina wished she had a camera to save the moment.

Click!

The moment was broken by the sound of a camera taking a picture.

Valentina slowly turned and saw Roman sneakily putting his phone away.

“Thank you for the gift, Luca.” Roman completely ignored Kaiser's glare and continued, “Let’s go drop off the cookies and eat!”

Kaiser simply sighed before leading them all to the car.

Since all four of them were going, they used the Bentley truck. Valentina and Luca were seated in the back while Kaiser and Roman sat in the front. The drive to the Grayson manor was noisy as Roman kept chattering. By the time they arrived, Valentina had deflected hundreds of questions from Roman and felt tired.

“I’ll take him in quickly. If Roman bothers you just throw him out of the car.” Kaiser said as he removed Luca from the back seat. After glaring at Roman once, he took Luca inside with the gifts.

It was quiet for a moment before Roman turned to look at her.

“So, you and my brother huh?” he told her with a half-smile.

“There's nothing going on between us.” Valentina quickly denied it.

“Only a blind person would believe that. You're both adults so you both can make your own decisions. I just hope you don’t do anything to hurt Luca. Because if you do, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.” Roman's voice suddenly got chilly and he coldly stared at her. The quick transformation from a happily smiling face to one of threat reminded Valentina that she was dealing with somebody who navigated things in the business world and was at the pinnacle of that world.

“I would never do that. But really there’s nothing serious going on with me and your brother. You can ask him yourself” Valentina insisted while holding her hand up. The tension was so thick and intense that it could be cut with a knife. And although she didn’t plan on it, it seemed Roman was against anything happening between Kaiser and her.

“You think I would call any girl my brother is with sister-in-law? He’s serious!” Roman insisted.

Seeing his stern face but remembering the fact that he had been kneeling comically a couple of minutes ago, Valentina could not take him seriously.

“Sure sure.”

“Sister-in-law, I'm serious.”

“Okay, I believe you.” Valentina deadpanned, “Look your brother is coming so let’s drop it.”

Roman immediately turned to face the front as if he hadn’t been staring at her.

Valentina deeply sighed.

******

When Kaiser brought Luca back into the car, he observed the awkward atmosphere between Roman and Valentina.

The drive to the barbeque restaurant was completely silent as the two looked out from opposite windows completely ignoring each other.

“Welcome to Meokja Meokja, table for 4?” a waiter in all black asked their group.

“Yep a table for 4 and you know to put us at the top right?” Roman asked in a cheerful voice.

“Of course, sir, follow me.” The waiter responded while bowing.

Kaiser nodded and the waiter led them to the private dining areas for wealthy people on the 3rd floor. They walked in a line with Roman leading, followed by Valentina holding Luca’s hand in the middle, and Kaiser bringing up the rear.

The restaurant was tastefully decorated in brick and wood paneling. The barbeque pits at each table had a large stainless-steel hood and the seats looked sturdy but comfortable. There were a few families spread out and as they were led to their seats, people turned to stare at them making Valentina uncomfortable.

She had assumed they would be eating in a private place and had not brought her face mask. If someone recorded her along with Roman and Kaiser, the slander she was getting now would be nothing to what would come in the future.

As if reading her mind, Roman turned to her with a smile. “There’s no need to be worried about your identity, this is considered a safe zone for people like us to feel normal. Nobody will take a picture of you or say anything so relax and let’s eat some meat!”