Chapter 25: A Millionaire, His Suit And Poor Me Chapter 25

“Henris, I insist that you and Noras stay with us. There is plenty of room and it is only for one night" His mother beggedhim, turning in the passenger seat to prove that she was serious.

“Mom, I have already booked a room at the hotel" He sighed.

“Don’t use that tone with me, Henris."

“l am 24 years old.” He retorted. His voice changed at the end of the sentence and I could see his determination falter as.argued with his mother, his eyes softening and his shoulders slowly relaxing.

“And I am still your mother. And I beg you to stay with us. We never get to see you, and now that you're here, don't youeven want to be under the same roof? I don't accept it. I absolutely do not accept it” He blew.

I had to restrain myself from laughing as I looked at Henris, whose right eye was twitching in frustration. It wasn't untilGemma started laughing that I let go and joined her, leaning on Henri’ shoulder to mask the sounds coming out of my.mouth. With all that he could have been, the last thing I imagined was a family man, let alone a mom's son.

But that was exactly who he was, and the fact that he didn’t want to be under the same roof as his mother only proved mpoint. He adored his mother, even if she pushed him to the limit. Behind his clenched teeth and cold expression, I saw afeeling of care and protection for the woman who raised him.

“Stop laughing.” He said sharply in my ear. I pressed my lips to each other, pathetically trying to stop the laughter. His rion my hand intensified and, seeing it as a warning, I managed to hold back the rest of my laughter.

“50, you're going to stay with us, huh?” Gemma asks, leaning over me to look him in the eye with a raised eyebrow. Hisbrother's head fell back on the leather headrest.

“Do I have to?”

A smirk strangely similar to Henris's appeared on his face. “Yes, yes, you must.”

“Very well. But only for one night"

Her mother emitted a high-pitched sound of happiness and clapped briefly. Gemma smiled happily and shifted herattention back to the window. Henris, on the other hand, was pinching the bridge of his nose and taking a nervous breatfmuttering something like “What the hell did I do?".

The rest of the trip was silent. Henris remained turned towards the window all this time, with his eyes closed and his teetclenched. I chatted with Gemma and Anne, who turned out to be some of the friendliest people I've ever met. They wereboth warm and welcoming and it was hard to believe that Henris was from their family.

A few minutes later we arrived at a beautiful brick house on the outskirts of the city. After having put our luggage in theroom where we were going to stay, which gave rise to a little argument because “F**k no, mom’. Noras will stay with me *,“Tongue, Henris! and a faint “Anything is possible for me” came out of my mouth, I found myself in the room where HenrSteve grew up.

The walls are blue and covered with various posters, including: girls, cars and football. Very non-Henris. A double bed inthe middle, an old blanket that seemed entirely sewn by hand.

I put my bag in a corner just in time to be pushed against the wall by Henris. Her hands were everywhere, her lips kissedconfusedly every part they could reach. He did not have time to adapt: his tongue immediately massaged mine, whichdesperately needed it.

With all the resistance I could show, I managed to slowly move away from Henris, which caused a soft grow in his mouthand his forehead landed on my shoulder.

“What's the matter?"He complained.

“We are in your mother's house.”

“507”

“It is... embarrassing”

He raised his head and turned around. “Noras, you can't talk about embarrassment. You are, without a doubt, the mostembarrassing person I know.”

“That's not true.'l blew. I thought about going ahead and protesting, but he started unbuttoning his shirt, revealing hisperfectly tattooed torso and there was no way to be angry with him at that moment. When he put on a shirt, I finallymanaged to divert my attention from his muscular back. “Uh, what are you doing?”

“Ym changing, of course. You are also changing. Put on something warm. We're going out.”

“Are we going out? We've just arrived.”

She sat on the edge of the bed and slipped into her tight black jeans. “Noras, I don't want to deal with this right now. We’going out. Get dressed.”

“You could at least tell me where we are goingI said with an irritated air, turning to my suitcase and taking out somerandom clothes. All my winter clothes were neatly folded in the suitcase.

“We will walk to a small restaurant where we will meet Robin, the man who will marry my mother. It's cold outside. Put orcoat”

I looked at my outfit. A woolen sweater, tight jeans and black ankle boots, complemented by a woolen hat on my untamehair. “It's going to be fine.’

He narrowed his eyes in my direction. “Put on. A. Coat. And don't make me tell you again. I don't want you to be sick,Noras."

When he turned around, with his back to me, I winced and stuck out my tongue, my personal way of getting revenge, thentook a dark green jacket out of the suitcase and put it on. Her face relaxed when she saw that he was covering my back, aif she hadn't expected it.

He opened the door of his old room and held out his hand to me. “Come.”

Happy, I took it and followed it. “So, I see that you had a crush on Hermione Granger?" teased him.

“Are you serious? It was a poster, Noras."He replied. “Remind me to take them off the wall when we get home.”Downstairs, her straight-haired sister and her bright-eyed mother were patiently waiting for us on the couch. Their eyeswent from our intertwined fingers to my face red from laughing at his boy crush, they both kept their mouths shut and weleft the house.

it was cold outside. I tried not to make a noise and pretend that 1 was fine and that I was even too hot in my jacket, butwhen my teeth started to chatter, he looked at me raising his eyebrows as if to say “I told you so”.

“Shut up. whispered, moving a little closer to him. As I hoped, he moved his arm, wrapping it around my waist, thusbringing us closer. The warmth that emanated from his body immediately touched me and I snuggled up to him.

“Are you going to argue with me again? Of course, I'm always right."He said in a low voice. Her family was walking in front,completely unconscious.

“Yes. Because you're not always right. Like when you were mean to the flight attendant.”

He moved away from me. “Noras, I already told you that she is a leprechaun. She must recognize her limits."

The words escaped my lips before I could stop them. “Limits”? Really, Henris? You fuck all your employees, you can't talkabout limits."l closed my mouth with my hand when I finished speaking. “Damn, I didn't mean to..”

“No."He grunted and let go of my hand. A curl fell on his forehead, singing like the cold look on his face and his eyesdarkened with anger. I opened my lips to speak, but was stopped by a shake of the head.

Anne turned around with a big smile. “We are almost there. It's a small italian restaurant that Robin loves.”

Henris stares at her. His hands dug into his coat pockets and his teeth clenched. I could see him struggling with himselfabout yelling at me the way he was biting his bottom lip, and if he wasn't so sexy, I would have been scared.

Making one of the best decisions of the evening, I decided to speed up the pace a little and catch up with his family. “Hayyou always lived in London?"

“No, we moved here when Henris was 19," Anne replied. “We are from Cheshire."

“Oh, pretty.’l nodded, as if I had the slightest idea where he was in relation to London. “I've always loved London. I wouldlike to work here, in the offices of Vogue, one day."

Gemma, surprised, turned to me, her cheeks pink with cold. “Do you work for Vogue? Shit, Haz, why didn't you tell meanything?”

That's when Henris came back close to me, keeping a safe distance. “Sorry, Gem,” he smiled. “But I could have brought yothat stupid bag you wanted. And a snowball. So maybe you can forgive me.’

In a second, his sister jumped on him, trying to squeeze him as tightly as possible, muttering her thanks. He smiled and pone of his arms around her, keeping her on his shoulders as we walked.

Seeing them interact seemed almost magical. Henris seemed completely carefree, teasing her from time to time and talkabout the growth of his collection of snowballs. Apparently, he brings her one back from every place he visits, because stcollects them. And here is Henris thinking again.

“You know, big sister,” he said cheerfully, touching the tip of her nose. “I was thinking of expanding to London."

“Really? I'She said, surprised, looking at me for a second. I probably got the same look of surprise as her, because I hadnever heard of her plans before. “It's so coolt”

He gave her a smirk that quickly faded when she saw that I was staring at him. Obviously, this was not the end of the “fucyour employees” situation yet. I then pretended to adjust my hat and was saved from running away by Anne's squeakyvoice.

“It's Robin!"She said cheerfully. I watched her take Henris's hand and pull him towards her boyfriend, barely able to contthe happiness of bringing the two men together. Gemma and I quickly followed them.

After the presentations, we were escorted to a round table for five people in a corner of the restaurant. Henris sat downnext to me with a frosty expression. He didn't say anything other than his name, which sounded gruff as an introduction.I put the towel on my lap and moved slightly in my chair, embarrassed, not knowing what to do. There was no chance thawould talk to Henris. I was saved by the other half of the offspring Steve, always welcoming, who gave me a slight nudgeand raised her hand so that Henris could not see her talking.

“What's wrong with him?”She whispered. I shrugged in response and she frowned in confusion.

“Are you dating?"He asked in a whisper.

I cursed silently and gave her an insecure nod that she probably would have interpreted as a yes or no, which made herlook even more confused. Surprisingly, Henris interrupted the conversation. Unsurprisingly, he did it with a stern order.“Stop whispering. That's rude’He said, annoyed. Both our mouths immediately closed and their mother turned to us wittlook of concern at her son's tone.

“Henris, did you know that Robin is also in business?”

“Oh, really? What is it you do?"asks Henris, suddenly interested in the conversation. The candle in the middle of the tablehelped to give a halo of light to his face, illuminating him and making him look innocent and like an angel, the oppositewho he is.

“I sell phones,” Robin said with a shrug. “Not a lot, but hey, its still a solid business. Anne tells me that you are some kinof entrepreneur?”

“Sort of'said Henris dryly, leaning back in his chair, all interest lost. He was playing with his fork while our drinks wereplaced in front of us. “I started my own business. We can say that we are doing very well"

“What are you doing?”

“What are we not doing?"He's come back. “And yes, it's much better than selling phones. Then, to his mother’s horror, heraised an eyebrow mockingly. Robin smiled slightly and shifted his attention to the glass of water in front of him.

Anne cleared her throat and glared at Henris before speaking. “So, the wedding is tomorrow, starting at five o'clock,followed by the reception. Henris, we would like you to be the groom's best man.”

“I've never met this man before, mom.”

Robin laughed slightly and all our eyes turned to him. He looked at us in surprise, and I could see that he didn't intend tlet everyone hear the sound. I decided at that moment that I liked Robin, partly because I thought he was on the samelevel as me in terms of embarrassment, but mainly because he was making fun of Henris, who was trying to hide his frow,“Anything to add, Robin?"asked Henris dryly.

“Well, I just thought you were as stubborn as your mother."Robin replied with a shrug.

“stubborn”? I prefer the term “determined”. Now, excuse me, I have an important call to make."

That said, he gets up from his chair and quickly leaves the table, leaving Robin and Anne with depressed expressions andGemma with an angry expression. I was confused, because I well knew that he was not supposed to make calls. Heexplicitly asked not to be contacted during his stay here.

Biting my ip, I fixed the table and waited in silence for Henris to return. After a few minutes, as he had not returned, Iignored my common sense and left the pleasant restaurant to look for him.

I found him leaning against the wall, his hands in his pockets and his gaze fixed on the streets. His dark eyebrowsfurrowed, making him Look very, very angry. I almost ran back into the restaurant, but my heart pushed me to the man.“Hey, I said softly as I approached. Her eyes looked at me for a second and softened. “It's cold, you should go inside.”“You forgot your jacket inside.’

I looked down and realized that's why I was cold. Damn him for being right about the jacket thing. And may he be damnefor being horribly attractive, horribly rude and horribly confusing. I chose not to express these opinions, because he wasalready angry enough.

“Yes, it's okay. I'm not that cold. I know you don't need to make a call.”

507"He said sharply. Without thinking about what I was doing, I gently took his wrist, causing him to remove his hand frohis pocket and intertwine our icy fingers. “Noras, I'm really very angry right now. You should go back inside."

“Why are you angry?”

“You. And Robin"

“Don’t you love her?”

He shook his head slowly, closing his eyes. “No, I like it. Its just a weird situation. I don’t want you trying to throw all thisshit at me about being the new stepfather.”

“You're scarier than he is,” I said. “I very much doubt that he is trying to be like a father to you. Now, let's go back inside.”“No, go ahead, you're shaking."

As soon as he uttered these words, my teeth began to chatter, as if to prove him right. He squinted in my direction andnodded towards the door. “Ym good here” whispered.

“Noras, come inside. Now."

“I'll go inside when you come too."l challenged him.

“I don't have time for this shit right now.”

I rolled my eyes and pulled him by the hand, leading him to the warm and welcoming atmosphere of the small italianrestaurant. “Let's go." I complained. “You don’t even have to talk to me, just to your family. I know you want to."

“Very well. But if you still say shit like you used to, then I'm done. You have to remember that my business is my businessand it will always come first. Put that in your head, Noras."I said angrily, his eyes searching mine. “Because this relationshwill never work out if you don't”

Without adding anything, he walked past me, dragging me with him and fortunately not seeing my expression. The onlything that stopped me from shedding tears was the faces of his family that lit up when they saw him return.

We returned to our seats and the conversation resumed around the table. Henris was all smiles and had dimples, as if thconversation outside had never happened. He completely let me into his world, telling me about his family, beforechanging his mood in the blink of an eye. Then, still ignoring me, Henris Steve did the least professional thing I've everseen him do, and started a food battle with Gemma.

“Oh"she said, surprised, pulling the dumplings out of her hair. “I can still beat you.”

“I recognize that you could. Except that my bodyguards will protect me.’

“Do you have bodyguards?”

“Gemma, I am the CEO of the lower masses. Of course, I have guards. West side!”

He laughed like a child and threw another piece of dumpling at his sister, hitting her on the side of the face and causingher mother to scold them both and wonder how it was possible to raise “two monkeys”.

They continued to throw pieces of food at each other when she wasn't looking, saying “west side” under her breath withsilly smiles. The meal was over, Henris was having his second glass of wine when he turned to me, without any trace oftension or anger on his face.

He tried to hold back his laughter as he leaned towards me, resting his warm lips against my ear, pushing my hair apart.shuddered when his breath came into contact with my skin and I prepared myself for any s***L innuendo he would makethat would make me want to slap him and then kiss him.

But instead of being rude, Henris Steve whispered to me a gentle “West side!” in the ear before collapsing in his chair, bein half laughing, as if it were the funniest thing in the world.

And that's how I fell madly and desperately in love with him, a few minutes after he broke my heart with his cruel words.probably wasn't one of the smartest situations I've put myself in. Falling in love with Henris Steve was at the top of the linext to breaking the coffee machine at work.