Chapter 19: 14.𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝

"Liam, my dear nephew!" My aunt grabs my cheeks and pinches them like I am a kid . I hold her arm trying to stop her "I am not a kid-"

"No you are still a kid to me" she says and continues to pull them

I can hear Mia giggling while sitting on the couch watching me. After a while she leaves me and asks "so how are you doing? It's been a while you have grown taller"

"I am good and I am still the same"

She steps back and examines me from head to toe and shakes her head "I don't think so, I see a difference, a change" she turns to Mia and asks her "don't you agree Mia?"

Mia squints her eyes and smirk agreeing to our aunt

Every now and then whenever aunt Lia is in the city we don't miss a chance to have a family dinner and today is the day. She is mom's younger sister, they share the same brown hair and green cat like eyes. They are 8 years apart but still resemble each other but mom has softer features then Aunt Lia who has sharp once

She just returned from a trip to Japan

"You know we saw something today" aunt says

Mia gets up from her seat and comes and wraps her arm around aunt Lia "While I was picking Mia up from her school, we saw you at a flower shop and buying flowers"

Oh no

"So who were the flowers for Liam?" Mia asks

I try to keep my expressions calm because aunt Lia can sense lie in a second "I wasn't-" she points her index finger at me preventing me from

speaking "don't you dare lie to me, I know you very well" she warns

Of Course she does. She practically raised me

"So tell me who she is?" Mia pulls the hem of my jacket

"Or who is he, you know I don't mind right? I can talk to your mother" aunt says

Oh my god what are they thinking

At the right time I see Lucas coming down , perfect timing. I call him "hey Lucas!" he raises his eyebrow at me and eyes mia and our aunt surrounding me, he catches up soon about the situation

"help me!" I mouth him but he passes me a smirk replying "NO"

"I think I am going to help mom" saying this he slips off

This brat!

Can't he help me for once

Aunt Lia and Mia are looking at me with their eyes filled with curiosity

" just a friend nothing else " I say

They both look at each other and smile like they are having some silent conversations in their minds "just a friend?" Mia grinds

"Or a girlfriend?" Aunt continues

They aren't gonna leave me anytime soon

"You guys are unbelievable" I sprint away to the dining table but they follow me "just confess it Liam. Who is this girl ?" Hearing aunt Lia , mom enters with dishes in her hand followed by Lucas "what girl?" Mom asks placing the dishes

Aunt Lia looks at me asking for approval, I Shake my head in denial "Nothing, I was just saying Liam that he should date someone now or else there will be gray hair appearing on his head soon" she covers up

Mom just laughs it off "Take your time son"

Lucas and Mia are enjoying all this . We all sit around the table ready for dinner "You know I also cooked today" aunt Lia says making all of us freeze and look at each other horrified

"Oh come on don't give me that expression!" She snaps. Our aunt is quite talented. She sings, paints, and travels around the world while managing her business. Both the sisters are self-made billionaires , but one thing aunt Lia is not good at is cooking.

Once when she was babysitting us , she almost burnt the house. Luckily I was old enough to put out the fire since then mom forbiddened her sister from entering the kitchen when we are around

Aunt Lia picks up a bowl "I learnt how to make Japanese style spinach salad. Have a taste" she first serves Mia then Lucas and me. It's okay to try this because it's a salad but I am scared about the seasoning

We all take a bite together, the tangy taste fills my mouth "it's so good" Mia comments

"Yeah totally" I take another bite

"See your aunt is multi talented" Aunt Lia pats her own shoulder appreciating herself

Mom serves us some chicken with boiled vegetables. "Amy learned a new recipe, chicken teriyaki. Try it" only mom can call her amy short for Amelia, whereas we call her Aunt lia

"It looks spicy" Lucas observes the red color coating the chicken. "No, it's sweet and salty, you can handle the spicy level try it" aunt Lia assures. Lucas obeys and takes some of it. Lucas cannot tolerate much spice but Mia and I are total opposite

Aunt Lia travels on a daily basis, she has gone to countless countries and learned all the signature recipes as she is not good at cooking. Mom cooks them for us

"I even learnt how to use chopsticks" aunt Lia picks up the two sticks and holds them between her fingers and eats with the help of them

"I wanna learn it too" Mia requests

"I will teach you before going" she assures Mia

"Are you going somewhere again?" Mom asks her sister and she nods "yeah I am going to India next , it's been a while since I visited there"

Suddenly Lucas chokes on his food. I pass him a glass of water "you okay?" Mom inquires and Lucas nods

Aunt Lia frowns "what made you choke Lucas? The food? Or something else?" A sly smile appears on her face as she sips some water

Lucas press his lips together and looks away avoiding the topic

"How is everything going with you kids? Did you find some inspiration Lucas?" Mom asks

And Lucas chokes again on his food

What is wrong with him

I fill his glass with water again and he gulps it down in one go "Are you sure you are okay?" I say passing him a tissue as he seems to be sweating "I am , I think the food is not suitable for me" he shutters

"I am still exploring but the exams are around so I won't be painting anymore" I notice Lucas's fist clenching and unclenching as he speaks

"You know when I was in Paris last month, I met an agent who is looking for new artists for their exhibition. I can recommend you Lucas" aunt lia says

But Lucas straight up Denys "sorry I am not interested" and continues his eating

Only we all know that Lucas paints, he is an amazing painter. In high school few Exhibition owners offered Lucas to exhibit his paintings but he refused. He is a secretive painter he doesn't want others to acknowledge his art. For the past few days he has been unable to paint anything and stressing about it

"Don't stress," mom says to him. She knows us well what to ask and what not to . Mom tries to protect us from our fears but aunt Lia pushes us towards them so that we can learn how to fight them , they are totally different but inseparable "What about you both?" She asks me and Mia

"Nothing much just busy for the new launch" I am talking about the new NYX collection we have been working on since last year. I recently came on board so I have many responsibilities . And the selection is coming too "thanks for giving it your best. I appreciate it" Mom appreciates

We all chat about different stuff and aunt Lia shares her experience about visiting Japan

"I have something to announce" Mia takes out attention. We stop other conversations to listen to her . She bites her lips and rubs her palms on her pants , she's nervous. She looks at me, hesitating whether to speak or not . I give her a nod

"I have decided to study medicine" she announces, making us all go numb. I look at Lucas , he doesn't react much . Aunt Lia is already looking at mom as her head is bend low . She places her hand on mom's giving her a gentle squeeze

Dad was a doctor , a cardiologist. He made his name saving many and was the head doctor of a famous hospital . His death broke all of us, it took us a good amount of time to heal from it. Mia mentioning that she wants to be a doctor like dad may have brought up the old memories.

Lucas went for business like aunt Liza and I went for fashion designing like mom. Among us Mia loved dad the most, she is the princess of this house, it was kinda expected for us to think she would become a doctor

Mom rises and smiles "I am here to support you"

Mia relaxes a bit after hearing it "what about you both? What do you think?" Mia refers to Lucas and me.

"You have made up your mind right?" Lucas questions "yes hundred percent" he smiles and ruffles her hair making her whine "Good luck little sister, it's gonna be a hard way"

A laughter breaks among us

After the dinner, Lucas and I washed the dishes even though there was a dishwasher in our house because our aunt asked us to . While the three ladies are having a movie night, Aunt Lia distributed the gifts to us she brought from her tour

I am standing in the balcony, looking at the night sky. Stella musy be asleep by now or she must be reading a book of hers

"What are you thinking, that's making you smile so much" aunt Lia brings me out of my thoughts. She stands beside me , and I drop my smile

"It's fine if you don't want to say anything but it's kinda written on your face and I can't ignore it"

I scratch the back of my neck . There's no use in hiding she is just too smart "Okay there's this girl" she smiles hearing me

"What about this girl?" She asks

"She is studying Fashion, I have met her few times but she's not leaving my mind like-

It makes me curious, I wanna know more about her but I-"

I hear her giggling but breaks down laughing loudly

Did I just say all that to my aunt?

"do you like her or..." she indicates the other thing without taking its name

"I do like her but the like I'm kinda confused, it's okay to be confused right? I don't want to give her a wrong idea"

"It's okay to be confused but if you go and blur out on her face that 'I like you , will you date me?' without getting to know her properly . I am gonna punch you" she warns "This is not just a physical attraction right?"

I shake my head. It's definitely not just physical .

She sighed "don't jump , take it slow and get to know her properly first sort out your feelings so that you won't waste your or her time. I have taught you how to treat a lady , don't embarrass me by any of your actions" she advises

"You know me" I claim

"Atleast tell me her name"

I try to speak but words get stuck up in my throat, should I?

"Stella. Stella Miller" her smile drops hearing Stella's surname "Trust me she's not like that, she doesn't know about -" She stops me holding my arm "Liam , you don't have to explain it to me. You are old enough to make your decision and I can only advise you, I have no right to stop you . And I know that you would never do anything wrong"

I can see her eyes a little moist but she smiles through it

Stella has no idea how many people her father has hurt

"Thank you" I whisper , she nods and walks out

She stops near the door and turns around "Next time I meet you I need progress"

── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──

Author's Note

I am dropping so many hints since the 2nd chapter about book 2 in this series, if you guys don't get it then- 😭

Did you all like this chapter? I was gonna post it tomorrow but you all were asking for an update so I Posted it

The chapter is unedited pls excuse my mistakes

I want a good response from this chapter to post the next one

So vote and comment for the next ch

-have a nice dayy