Chapter 46: A Millionaire, His Suit And Poor Me Chapter 46

The problem with Thanksgiving is that it was a totally crappy day, from start to finish, and it was also, in a way, one of thebest days of my life. I woke up because Louis burst into my room screaming about a kitten. At first I thought I was still indreamland, then suddenly little paws were on my face and a wet spot on my eyebrow, and Louis was screaming at the focof my bed.Opening a sleepy eye, I was greeted by the sight of a small ball of gray fur staring at me. “Holy shit. I mumbled, rubbing tcorners of my eyes, “Is that what I think?"“If you think this is the most adorable thing you've ever seen, then yes. Yes, it is."“Louis.”I smiled brightly. “This little guy was curled up in the crawl space and Jace had dropped his keys, so 1, Who am a wonderfboyfriend, crawled to get them, and I came out with a kitten."“And so, of course, you're taking her to my apartment instead of yours?”“Jace wanted it."Louis whined. Then suddenly her chin rested on the edge of my bed, her head resting next to the kitten. Igave me a black look and pouted “Can we keep it?”With another pout on his part, and a quiet little yawn from the kitten, my decision came less than ten seconds later. “Onif 1 choose the name.’The compromise sparked immediate protests. Louis and I argued until Jace came in brandishing a huge knife that hethreatened to use on us instead of the turkey. Reluctantly, Louis and I followed my roommate into the kitchen and sataround the table.He stares at them both from his place behind the counter. You're both ridiculous. So ridiculous, in fact, that I'm taking awfrom both of you the right to give a name. I'll name it instead. And I choose the name of Alfred.”“Absolutely not.l whistled.Louis made a disgusted face at his boyfriend. “Which is probably the worst name ever given to a cat.”We talked for another thirty minutes. Louis insisted on the name Optimus PrimeWhile 1 was fixating on Pharell. On the other hand, Jace really liked the first name CaesarWe ended up calling it 2 Chainz. After the fact, none of us remembered what we ended up calling the innocent gray kittennamed after a rapper who was arrested several times for possession of illegal firearms. But 2 Chainz meowed when wecalled him, and that was enough.The next catastrophe occurred around noon. I was sitting on the couch because they didn't want me to sit near the kitchebecause of my cooking skills when a chilling scream echoed outside the cooking area.I got up from my comfy chair and ran down the hall to find Jace sitting on the kitchen floor with 2 Chainz on his lap, starirat the turkey in horror. And by turkey, I mean the unrecognizable strip of meat that was on the big steel skillet on the sto“Jace,” I said softly, “What have you been up to?"He let out a silent groan, his lower Lip quivering with distress. “I don't... I haven't got a clue. One minute I was playing wittChainz and the next minute our turkey managed to implode on itself in the oven. E. He's dead, Noras. I killed our turkey.”“He was dead when you bought him.’“You know what I mean. Maybe I can try to make soup out of it? Or maybe with heaps of turkey meat, we can makesandwiches? We could just make turkey sandwiches with French bread. There are these scraps that I can use for taste. Itcan work”I tilted my head to the side. “I think you should let it go, Jace. I think it could be radioactive."“So, what are we going to eat! There are a hundred people coming here in five hours and we don’t have a turkey? 1”“I think there will be about ten of us?"He gave me a look and I quickly looked down. “Okay, okay. Keep cooking, I'm going20 to the store and try to find a turkey. And if they don't have one, then I'll take a different kind of bird."“Another type of bird? Are you serious?”I frowned. “All birds are disgusting and nasty creatures and I don't like any of them. I could literally eat any type of chickeand not tell the difference. In fact, all birds should probably be turned into food. They are disgusting. Birds are disgustingAnd, of course, that's when my bird-loving parents got into the kitchen. Disaster number three.After a long reprimand about the decline of the bird population and the consequences on the entire ecosystem, both myparents stepped forward and hugged me. They were affectionate and familiar, the slight smell of incense and coffee potstuck to their skin.“Oh Noras," my mother, Julia, whispered, “you are so big! And so beautifull”“Thank you, mom."“You've lost weight, it seems. Are you eating wellz I brought this delicious gluten-free cake that you will absolutely love,love. He will satisfy your"My father nodded. “Your mother is a great CEO!"“Yeah, well, it's a shame that he didn't pass any of this on to me."l whispered. “Instead, it looks like all the men I'm aroun;are f*+++g five-star CEOs, while I'm also burning pre-packaged ramen noodles.”“Pre-packaged ramen noodles?! Do you have any idea how much chemicals they contain that could harm your body? 1”I dropped my head into my hands with a slight sigh. Even though I loved my parents, I wasn't in the mood to put up withtheir hippie scolding. “Yeah, definitely bad. Mom, do you want to come to the store with me? Dad can stay here with Jaceand Louis to help cook!’she happily nodded to the proposal, as did my father, Jace and Louis, who were already reading a cookbook, deciding onthe best way to cook mashed potatoes. My mom took her denim jacket, I took mine in leather, and we walked through thedoor.it was almost funny to see how different I was from my parents. They raised me in a small town where we grew our ownfruits and vegetables. However, I ended up living in a big city where the only natural thing was the shampoo I used.My mother put her arm over my shoulder, tangling her hands in the soft hair on my head. “Oh, darlingshe whispered. Hefingers got stuck in a knot. “You really should comb your hair more often from time to time. And eat something other tharcoffee and McDonald's.”“It's a fast city. Fast food, fast everything”“All unhealthy."I smiled at her as we walked into the Whole Foods Market around the corner. I sometimes eat healthy. Henris usually eatspretty healthy. And Liam sometimes makes us swallow proteins.”“Liam? "She screamed. “Are you back with Liam? I'l had almost forgotten that my parents were obsessed with the brown-eyed boy I had been dating for over a year.No, he’s just a friend. He'll be at dinner tonight, I think. I'm dating Henris. Henris is my boyfriend.”“will he come? Is he treating you well? Your father will want to meet him."“It could."l mumbled, walking down the frozen food aisle. “He, like, runs a business. He's working on some kind of mergertoday, a case that I don't understand anything about. I am sure you will meet him at some point, he will definitely be thertomorrow.”Her eyes lit up at the thought, she reached out to me, stroking my knuckles with a smile. “It looks good, Noras. Even thouI object to the mass slaughter of turkeys for an unnecessary party, let's go find one. That thing on the fire that Jace didlooked inedible.”We could only find miniature chickens. So we took twelve of them in plastic bags and dragged them to my apartment asfast as possible, all the way down the street.As soon as we arrived, we were greeted by the smell of cinnamon and freshly baked bread, the sight of Liam and a prettybrunette playing with 2 Chainz on the floor, and the sound of pots and pans echoing in the kitchen.“Here we gol whispered, watching in horror as my mother made a joyful little sound and ran to kiss my ex-boyfriend, thethe girl next to him, who seemed terrified of affection.“Mrs. Wishe, it's been too long”"Said Liam warmly.“Oh, call me Julia, please. Now, who is this beautiful young woman?"He turned to the brunette next to him and slipped an arm around her waist with a proud smile.“This is my girlfriend, Sophia. Whom Noras has not yet met. Noras!"l bit my tongue before I came in. “Noras, this is SophizSophia, this is Noras."He reached out to me without any problem. “It's a pleasure to meet you, really. I've heard a lot about you."“50 am 1" chuckled. “Liam really likes to talk about you."Liam seemed about to burst into tears. “Noras."“That's right. Anyway, I see you've met 2 Chainz”Everyone turned around, staring at me with a confused look. I looked back, pointing to the little kitten who was tacklingmother's shoe laces. “Our kitten. 2 Chainz.”“Did you call the kitten 2 Chainz? What, the rapper 2 Chainzz”Louis came out of the kitchen and joined us, his arms crossed over his chest in defiance. “Yes, is that a problem? We likethe name and 2 Chainz doesn't mind either.”“The cat is a female."Liam explained slowly. “You named your female kitten after a rapper who's been arrested, like, eighttimes.”I blanched at the news. Next to me, Louis let out a groan and pushed his fingers into my flank. 2 Chainz leaned over happand the bag of chickens I was holding opened from the bottom, scattering all the contents on the floor. “This is the worstday of my life."Disaster number four.When the food was ready, Sophia the intern arrived with her boyfriend. Sophia the intern and Sophia the girlfriend let oua scream when they introduced themselves, immediately bonding over the fact that they had the same name.We ended up borrowing a folding table from our neighbors and placing it at the top of the room, rearranging all thefurniture in the living room to accommodate the number of people in this small space, which ended up increasing becau:Alice and Aaron joined us at some point.A large white tablecloth was spread out on the improvised table, we took out the glasses, plates and wine bottles and alltook a seat around the table. Jace, my father and Louis brought plate after plate of potatoes, small chickens, vegetablesand more.“OK, OK, listen!"shouted Jace, rattling a knife against his wine glass to attract everyone's attention. “Before eating, we willall take turns saying something for which we are grateful. Got it? Good. Louis, you're the first”The pixie-shaped boy next to him cleared his throat before starting. “I am grateful to have Jace, of course. And I am gratefto have been chosen for the role of Wicked for which I auditioned.”There was an immediate hubbub around the table, it was the first time I heard the news and apparently so was Jace, whowas looking at his fiancé with an expression so full of shock mixed with love and pride that for a moment I thought I wasgoing to burst into tears. “Louis,” she said softly, the corners of her mouth pulled up... “I am so happy for you."Louis had an even wider smile, his cheeks blushing with happiness as he kissed his boyfriend. “Thank you. Thanks guys.Now it's Liam's turn, go ahead.’“Ok,” Liam began, “'m grateful that I met Jace at the store that day, because now I'm part of this family story that we haveAnd it's nice. Sophia?” Two heads turned to him. “My Sophia,” he added.His girlfriend smiled at him tenderly. I am grateful for this incredible meal that is in front of us. And Liam, I'm grateful foryou. Well, that is... sorry, I don't know your name. I'm Sophia, nice to meet you. It's your turn."“Alice,” greets my colleague. “And I'm grateful that we don’t have work on Mondays."Jace and I raised our glasses in agreement. We continued around the table, each person listed the things they were gratefor, from 2 Chainz to having a roof over our heads, each person contributed.When my mother's turn came, she gave me a little smile. “I am grateful for my beautiful family. My husband Joshua and mdaughter Noras, who are everything to me. It's your turn, Noras.”I got up and hugged my mother, trying to wipe away a tear that had formed in the corner of my eyes, because I refused tccry for something so small. After detaching myself from my mother, I looked around the table again.“Ym just..”I pulled on my nose before laughing. “I am grateful for each and every one of you here. I love you so much.Honestly, it's a little ridiculous, because we're all ridiculous, but my god, I love you guys. And Henris. I am grateful to haveHenris!"Henris, ostensibly absent at dinner, leaving me the only one with no one to cling to with an affectionate smile. I wasgrateful that he took me ice skating and that he helped me every time I fell, laughing every time. I was grateful for myboyfriend.Everyone cheered when we finished the tradition. “Now let's eat, because I literally haven't touched food all day and I'malready drunk after half a glass of wine. So, that's it"By the third bottle of wine we had drunk, 2 Chainz was crossing the table to eat our leftovers and Louis was imitating a gthe had seen at the grocery store, I felt like my ribs were about to burst out laughing.In front of me, Liam had tears streaming down his amused face and Sophia's cheeks were bright red. It was a scene of pu:chaos, especially since at one point, Jace took Sophia the interns boyfriend aside to make her the “conversation”.“So listen to me," Jace whispers, one finger pointing at the terrified boy. “I will have to kill you if Sophia suffers.”Sophia seemed about to burst out laughing at any moment. Her boyfriend, on the other hand, seemed somewhat terrifieof my non-terrifying best friend. “Clearly, that's not going to happen, sir”“sir? 1 How old do you think I am?”Her face blanched. “No. That's not what I am... I don't want to. Fuck”“Oh my God."Sophia giggled, finally taking control of the situation. “she’s joking, Eric, she’s completely joking. It's not evescary!”“Ym scary." protested Jace, taking another sip of wine. “I'm so scary. I'm even scarier than Henris Steve, and we all know tfsays a lot”My mother frowned and turned to me. “Henris Steve”? Your boyfriend Henris, Noras?”“Oh, yes. Its just a little bit... intimidating! tried.“Protective,” Liam corrects.Louis let out a big laugh. “Yes, something like that.”I stuck out my tongue to my friends and went back to look at my plate, taking a few bites of my puree. As much as I likedtalking about Henris, I didn't want to talk about him like that, saying things that would only be noticeable at firstimpression. Things that would make him seem colder than he really is.The topic was dropped thanks to Aaron who told a story about Victoria, with a perfect imitation of the look she throws ateveryone when she tries to make us understand how much better she is than us.Maybe it was even funnier than the imitation that Louis did earlier. I was bent over laughing, my forehead pressed againsthe table and the glass clenched between my fingers, when suddenly big hands slipped around my waist and warm lipsrested on the back of my neck.Henris's face was cold from the outside, he felt my neck, giving me chills. “I hate that you kept your hair tied up all nightand that I missed it."“Henris," I sighed. I got up in an instant, turned around and wrapped my arms around his neck. I was drunk on good wine,full of good food, and I had spent the last hours of my life laughing. And now Henris was there. “You have come.”He squeezed my hips tightly in response. “Straight from work. Damn, I'm exhausted.”And, yes, when I took a step back to look at him, I could see the signs of stress imprinted all over his face, more easily thsreading a book. Without the mess of her hair, the wrinkle between her eyebrows or even the dark bags under her eyes, thwould not have been so visible, nor would the sagging gray sweater that revealed her collarbones.He was dressed incredibly differently than usual, but he managed to look tender and impeccable. I stroked heroutstretched cheekbone. “You didn't have to come. I know you're tired and stressed. You really shouldn't have."“I wanted to do it," he replied calmly.My lips curved into a small smile. “Come and meet my parents, Henris'Keeping my arm around my waist, I turned to myparents, who were looking at us with eyes full of suspicion. “Mom, dad, this is Henris. My boyfriend. Henris Steve.”“It is indeed a pleasure to meet you."He greeted them by offering them a hand covered with a ring. My mother blushed asshe kissed her knuckles in greeting. “I have always wanted to meet the people who raised this charming young woman.”I had to hold back a laugh, I had never seen Henris Steve be so nice to anyone, except his own family. My father shookHenris's hand forcefully. Nice to meet you. Noras seems to like you very much.’“I am also very attached to her. I apologize for the delay, by the way. I got stuck with papers at the office.”“Oh, don't apologize,” my mother said. “You're here now! We have leftovers, if 2 Chainz didn't eat them all”Henris looked at him with half-closed eyes “2 Chainz?”“My new kitten,” I explained, crossing our fingers. “Come with me, let's see what's left in the kitchen.”I dragged my boyfriend down the hall to the small kitchen, where the remaining plates were wrapped in aluminum foil orthe counter on our island. Henris didn't say anything, so I started filling my plate with every kind of food I could find, frorvegetable enchiladas to buttery mashed potatoes.All this time, he was wandering around, his eyes half-closed and his hands thrust into the pockets of those damn tightblack jeans that I wanted so badly to tear off from him. “Are you all right?" asked, putting chicken on his plate. “If you'renot hungry, you can go to sleep, or whatever. You look really, really tired.”He rubbed his hands over his face. “I'm fine, Noras. When did you get a cat?”“Louis found it this morning under the stairs."“Can you come here?”I turned around, confused, and found him frowning.“What?”“Come here, Noras."He didn't wait for my approval, took a step towards the counter that separated us and wrapped his arms around me, hisfingers resting on my back. I stood up on tiptoe and wrapped my arms around his neck before pressing my lips to his.Henris reciprocated with such force that my head tilted back, he kissed me with such a need that it was almostoverwhelming, but I also kissed him with such a desire.As soon as I heard the noise behind my back, I withdrew, leaving him a last kiss.“I intend to stay here tonight,” he said, placing a lock of hair behind my ear. “OK?”“Yeah, OKAY"One by one, our guests left, until only Jace and Louis, my mother and my father, Liam and Sophia and me and Henrisremained. We ended up hugging ourselves in the two small sofas, all pressed together while sipping wine. On the onehand, I was leaning on Henris’ knee and on the other, I was pressed against my mother, with 2 Chainz, climbing on the throf us as if we were earth under her paws. In fact, given that what Jace had prepared had been his food all evening, he hacevery right to think so.I quickly hugged him before sitting down on my boyfriend's lap. Henris's hand was warm and moved slowly on my knee, +pointed chin sank into my collarbones. “So, Mrs. Wishe,” he begins slowly, swirling the wine in his glass, “Do you have anyembarrassing stories about Noras?”.“Oh my god, mom, don't answer, please.”His deep laugh echoed around the room. “If I remember correctly, Noras, my sister told you a lot of embarrassing thingsabout me when we were in England. That's it”“There are no embarrassing stories about me either," I insisted, looking over my shoulder at my mother. “I was a quiet chiin fact.”The woman who raised me let out a little laugh. “She was absolutely hideous. Her hair was completely out of control, anshe was wearing these huge glasses because she insisted that they be fashionable. And she had this little bear that shecarried everywhere until she was nine years old."“Mr. Hugger," I said affectionately. “Thank you, anyway, really mom. Just great.”“I have pictures, somewhere. Obviously everything in a roll of film, I heard that the government can access personal photand they won't have them! I mean, they already refuse to label GMOs. I thought it couldn't be worse. But now they arespying on us!"She sniffed silently. “Ridiculous.”My father nods. “We never know what we are eating or worse who is looking at our photos in this country.”I felt Henris moving under me and he suddenly leaned forward with an insistent look, the one he has when he goes into“business mode”. It was, I think, maybe the fifth disaster to come.Instead, Henris nodded as he pulled me back against his chest. “Yes sir, 100% Joshua... Can I call you that? Great. In short,in England, they label them, and I have always been against the idea of GMOs. But here itis so different. I insist that allfoods that have something to do with my company use only natural foods."My father's face lit up. “It's great. I tried to insist on that too but, you know, as a teacher, I don’t have that kind of powerover my students."He let out a big laugh and sipped his wine. “Henris, I wasn't too sure at first, I mean, the coat is purevelvet, but I think it's now that I like you."“Thank you, sir."replied Henris, finally back in his seat after his little rant about genetically modified organisms. I didn'tknow that he was as interested in all this natural stuff as my parents. “Now I just need to have Noras on board.”My lower lip chewed as a sign of contemplation. “Are there GMOs in the Poptarts?”“Absolutely.”“Then I don't need to get on board your little group of hippies."Everyone in the room laughed, including the other fourpeople in the room who were taken by 2 Chainz while he was playing with a shoe string. “You guys suck”I went back to drink my wine, hug Henris and talk to my mother, who was giving me all the news about the family. It waswhen my mother was telling gossip about my cousins that I remembered Henris's presence.“stop moving” He growled, pulling me against his chest. “It's quite boring, Noras."“Sorry. whispered to him: “I forgot how much I hated him."Her lips creased into a smile against my skin. This is absolutely the worst. I hate this almost as much as I hate not beingable to take you to the bedroom right now. And you know what I hate too?”I swallowed deeply, turned my flickering eyes to my mother, before resting them on the green-eyed man, decidedly guilty“What?”“I hate the fact that you have absolutely no idea what you're doing”“Excuse me?”He bit the soft skin on my neck. “Don’t apologize for something you're not responsible for, Noras. Now if you could get upmy phone is vibrating in my back pocket and I'm waiting for a call”With an embarrassed smile, he lifted me from his lap and I snuggled up against my mother’s side like a little child. She raher fingers through my hair with an affectionate smile, and 1 only needed Mr. Hug to complete the little reunion.Next to me, Henris pulled out his phone, quite furiously. “Stevel... What?I saw with horror his face whiten and he leaned forward, using his free hand to pull his hair in exasperation. All theattention in the room fell on him, and his voice let out a deep, threatening growl.“Don’t send her” he ordered softly, “I'll be there shortly.. Malik will withdraw his offer, Claire... Yes... I won't do it... Don'tinterrupt met"l shook my mother as she continued to talk, holding her phone so hard that I was sure it was going to breal“Don't let Malik know, Claire. Got it?"With that, he hung up the phone and shoved it into his back pocket, stood up abruptly, pulling his dark velvet jacket overhis shoulders. Everyone present in the room seems frozen, not knowing what to do except watch the company CEO gathehis things.Henris looked down at me, hesitating before reaching out to place a quick kiss on my cheek and muttering an apology,after which he disappeared in a whirlwind of expensive jackets and fragrant hair, leaving as quickly as he had arrived.My mother's hand rested gently on mine as soon as the door closed. “You were right, it's a fast city, honey. I can barely keup’