Cold and distant (10)

I could feel a headache coming by the time the traffic was too stressful to cope with, making me wish we would get to that house as soon as possible.

I instantly knew we were close to her parents' house when all I could see around were extravagant modern houses, perfectly clean streets, swimming pools and the most luxurious cars I had ever seen. What surprised me the most was the house Lilla stopped by: a blue-gray and white two-story house with a dramatic touch given by the glass walls, which allowed you to see the warm, golden lighting inside at first glance; the slim and elegant front stairs led you to a wooden French door.

I got off the car, amazed by the beauty of that place. "Wow... Is this actually your house", I asked her.

She nodded, nervously giggling, "It is. It hasn't always been this pretty but the colors they chose to paint it just made it stand out much more. Although I feel like the electric fence and the amount of cameras, alarms and any other monitoring system my dad decided to invade our house with is just insane".

"That sounds like too much but it makes sense since his company is the one creating all of that", I said while checking my reflection on the car windows, I tucked my white formal shirt in my navy blue trousers and fixed my hair to make sure it would stay behind my ears and hopefully help my formal look. I took my girlfriend's hand and we looked at each other, taking a deep breath.

"Lilly, sweetie! You can't imagine how much I have missed you", I heard an old lady with a strong accent coming to open the tall, metal fence gate.

"Aurelia!", Lilla hugged her, I assumed she was their housemaid and I smiled when she gave me a hug too, complimenting my clothes.

She led us inside where her parents patiently waited for us, sitting in a white Camelback sofa. Mr. Hudson's cold and emotionless look gave me goosebumps and I wasn't brave enough to make eye contact with him for longer than two or three seconds; a look that he matched with a modern textured quiff hairstyle, short beard and a dark green velvet suit. He didn't stop holding Mrs. Hudson's hand. She had a loving but distant look in her eyes; her long hair gracefully falling on her right shoulder, making her silver mermaid scoop neck dress look even more beautiful.

"Hello, Lilla", his voice was deeper than I expected. "James", he said, raising his eyebrows. I wasn't sure whether that was some kind of approval or disappointment. "Nice to meet you".

I shook his hand, "nice to meet you, sir. Mrs. Hudson, nice to meet you too".

"You can call us Edward and Eloise if you wish. It's a pleasure to finally have you here", he said, Eloise remained quiet.

I smiled, "I'm happy to be here, thank you for the invitation".

"We're happy to see you, take a sit please", I got to hear Mrs. Hudson's voice.

(Lilla's POV)

We talked with my parents for about an hour, I let them and my boyfriend get to know each other a bit more and did everything I could for them not to make him feel too uncomfortable but I could tell he wasn't feeling well. "James, are you okay?", I asked quietly.

He nodded, "it's just my head, it hasn't stopped hurting yet".

My dad heard him and called our maid, "Aurelia, come here, please. Make this young man some peppermint tea and bring it to the guest room, he will be there soon to unpack his belongings".

"Oh, no, some painkillers would be enough, don't worry", James said.

My dad started laughing, probably more than he should've. I knew one of his rants was coming. "Oh, no, no, no. We don't have that sort of thing here. We stay healthy with natural alternatives", he rolled his eyes and sighed, "teenagers nowadays...".

"Dad, please. He's twenty one, don't be like this", I didn't receive an answer so I took my boyfriend to the guest room without saying a word. "I'm sorry about that, don't pay too much attention to anything he says", I told him once we were alone.

"Okay, thank you for taking me out of there", he laughed. "I'm also guessing we will be sleeping in separate rooms", he pouted as he sat on the big bed, facing the window.

I sighed, "I'm sorry, they're just... too stubborn for me to ask them to let us sleep in the same bed".

"I understand, I'll just miss you".

"I'll miss you too, daddy".

Aurelia knocked on the door, "your tea is ready, Jamie". We laughed as I went to open the door.

"Thank you, but uh-, his name is James", I gave him his tea.

"That is what I just said!", I was hoping he wouldn't be mad, she was in her fifty's and her memory wasn't the best.

She left and I saw him still smiling, now drinking his tea. "She's really sweet".

"I know, she's nice", I sat next to him.

He ribbed his eyes, "I am so tired, I wish we could sleep now".

"Me too, but it's not even 6.00pm yet, they'll make us have dinner with them", I rested my head on his shoulder.

"We'll survive... hopefully", we laughed. "I'll do my best for my beautiful girl", he kissed my cheek and we waited for dinner time, hoping that everything would go smoothly, without possible arguments, awkward questions and drama.