Dinner time (11)

(James' POV)

It was almost 8:00pm when we heard the housemaid knock on the door once again, "Mr. and Mrs. Hudson will be waiting for you to have dinner in five minutes".

"Okay, thank you!", Lilla replied. "Are we going to be okay? Maybe this wasn't a good idea...", she looked down.

I hugged her, "don't worry, I'm with you. I'll accept that your parents are very intimidating but I'm not leaving you alone, we'll get through this together". Even though I was terrified of them, I knew I had to be strong for my girl, I had to protect her.

I took her hand and let her guide me to the dining room, a huge cut-glass chandelier, decorated with crystal pendants drops, gave the eight seat dining table a beautiful look. I followed Lilla and sat next to her, her parents watching every movement without saying a word. I raised my eyebrows when I looked down at my plate: I had no idea what kind of strange looking food that was. "What is that supposed to be", I whispered.

Mr. Hudson coughed, "grilled lobster tails served with a lemon, garlic and parsley butter". It took me a few seconds to process that information.

"O-oh, I see", I failed at trying not to sound surprised and confused.

"Guessing by your looks, I assume you have never had anything close to this, have you?", he was doing it again, judging me and trying to make me lose my temper.

I took a deep breath and did my best to stay calm, "I haven't".

"I thought so. What is your annual income, James?".

I didn't know if I should've lied to him and said I had a job or tried to avoid the question, so I tried to use humor to get away from it, "well, that escalated quickly!", I laughed and started eating. "This is delicious", my mouth did not agree and my stomach was going to regret that sooner or later, I had just discovered seafood wasn't my thing.

"James, please tell us more about yourself, what do you do in your free time?", Eloise asked, finally breaking the silence.

"I... I like reading, cooking, watching movies. A bit boring, I guess", I nervously laughed.

"Lilla has a large book collection, she should show you tomorrow, we have an entire room dedicated to it", she said kindly, I was starting to wonder why she married someone like Edward.

"I do! I'll show you tomorrow", Lilla sounded excited.

I smiled at her, "that'd be amazing!".

Her dad cleared his throat, "now tell me, do your parents live in Rottlestown as well? We would love to meet them at some point".

I felt as if someone punched me in the chest, it didn't take more than five seconds for me to start shaking, I looked at my girlfriend, my eyes begging for help.

"You don't have to answer that question", she said, her left hand on my thigh, comforting me.

"I um...", I couldn't deal with them asking questions about my parents, I desperately made up a story: "they uh-, they died when I was a little kid", I couldn't look at them in the eyes, the silence was killing me. "A horrible car accident...".

"I'm sorry for your loss, we didn't know", her dad apologized.

"Don't worry". I looked up at Lilla and whispered: "I'm sorry".

She nodded and tried to change the subject, "Mom, Dad. I have-", she took my hand and raised it in the air, "we have a special announcement". I was a little confused.

Mrs. Hudson gasped, "Please tell me you are not pregnant, Lilla!".

We looked at each other and started laughing, probably more than we should've in front of them, "no, mom, just listen. After a year, James finally agreed on moving in with me!".

Edward's expression took away the smile from my face, he looked angry. "I hope you are paying her a fair amount of money for being there".

"Why do you have to make everything about money? He's my boyfriend, my caregiver, how could I make him pay me just to live with me?", Lilla lost her patience.

"Life is not easy in the world we live in, he should not stay there for free. He needs to work hard if he wants to be part of this family".

"I do everything I can, sir. To be honest it's just hard to find a job that pays well and can adjust to my university's schedule", I replied.

"What I do not understand is, if you go to the same university as Lilla, how are you paying to study there? It's expensive", I knew he was expecting me to say Lilla was paying for it, but that's not how it was.

"I work at their library. I don't have a job right now, in the summer, but during the school year I work there and have a special scholarship" I said, proudly.

"I see... What career did you choose?".

"Marketing manager", I replied, hoping for this never-ending time to be over soon.

"Perfect!", he got up and started walking around the room, "my company could use some help from someone like you, you can work from home and come back from time to time, that'll work, yes!".

"I don't think he-", Lilla was interrupted by her dad.

"James, come here!", he shook my hand and made me go to his office with him, not even asking what I thought about that.

"We're signing a contract right now, you ladies can go to bed, let us take our time".

We left and I couldn't say a word, I felt trapped. The first day in that house had been extremely stressful and I wasn't looking forward to figure out what would happen the rest of the week.