Chapter One Hundred and forty two

"I really think you should open the restaurant before we renew our vows."

"Why the rush?" I turned to him from the book shelf I was running my hands over, in the study.

"I just don't want the opening getting in the way of our honeymoon." He said, piquing my interest.

"Honeymoon?"

"It's supposed to be a surprise but-"

"Where are we going?" I cut his statement short, showing off my teeth in elation.

"I'm not going to tell you." He plainly stated.

"Oh come on! Tell me." I whined.

"Nope. Have you decided on who we're hiring?" He changed the topic.

"Yeah. I'll get Natalie to communicate the news to them." I said.

"Okay good. Have spoken to the suppliers?"

"Yeah but I'll have to let them know, we'll be needing their services earlier than planned." I said, already bringing my phone out so I could do the needful.

"You do that and I'll have someone help you set up the place for an opening." He said, being helpful as always.

"What do you have in mind?" I asked.

"Nothing too grand since you obviously love simplicity."

"When?"

"Is the weekend too soon for you?"

"Yeah, that'll be too much work for Natalie." It was too impromptu for her.

"She's being paid for a reason."

"Damien..." I sighed.

"Next weekend." I bargained.

"That's just a week before our ceremony." He said.

"What difference does it make? We're having a simple event unlike our flamboyant wedding." I rolled my eyes at the reminder of how much he spent for a one-day event.

"Fine then. You're the boss." He raised his hands in surrender.

"I like the sound of that." I mused with a cheeky grin.

***

"Some more extra sauce sir?" I bent over to ask a customer.

"Yes please."

I passed the order to the servers behind the counter before heading over to other tables to ensure the customers were enjoying themselves.

"Hey Ari!" Fiona hopped over to give me a hug.

"You're late guys." I deadpanned.

"We're so sorry, traffic is such a pain. Plus, Tracy delayed us, so we couldn't leave early." She explained, throwing a look at Tracy who poked her tongue at her sister before turning to give me an apologetic look.

"We're sorry honey." Mom said.

Could I stay mad? Of course I couldn't, especially when Sky was wrapped up in her grandmother's arms.

"It's fine. Let's get you some seats. Welcome to Del Juan." I ushered them to some tables. Juan was my father's name and I decided to name my restaurant after it.

"This place looks so nice and the food smells amazing." Amy visibly inhaled.

"Thanks Ames. The menus are right here, order whatever you want, it's on the house." I said.

"Ooh I love me some freebies." Jesse rubbed his palms toogether, licking his lips just before he could pick it up.

"We have limits young man." I chuckled.

"Where's Damien?" Aiden piped up.

"He's around here somewhere, probably in my office or..." My eyes went wide. "Oh no." I said to myself.

"Uhm you guys order, the waiters would attend to you. I need to go check something out." I said before rushing off to the kitchen.

Just as I thought, he was by the kitchen glaring at Nolan who was busy working his behind off.

"Babe." I said knowingly, standing by his side.

"You're sure you don't want me recommending someone else for this job?" He said, clenching his jaw.

"For the umpteenth time, babe there's nothing to worry about." I said with a frustrated sigh.

Seeing Nolan and Lucy again was really nice. They seemed happy together and I was happy for my former best friend. But the awkward air between Damien and him was choking. Damien did not fail to hide how possessive he really is. He didn't want me talking to Nolan for longer than two minutes, he always kept me at a distance from him. It was exhausting to have him in the same room as Nolan. While Nolan had a permanent scowl whenever Damien was in the room.

"Mom is asking for you." I changed the topic to distract him.

"They just arrived?" He stood up straight. I nodded in response.

"Let's go." I said, pulling his arm.

We joined the family at the table and had a great time.

"To the start of something amazing and very delicious too."

We raised our glasses to Aiden's toast in laughter.

I looked around the place and let out a content smile. This was a kickoff into a very promising business career for me.

"Este es para ti. Papá" I said softly just so no one could hear and felt a sort of warmth engulf me. (This one's for you dad.)

He was there with us. I felt it. I blinked back a tear not wanting to ruin the moment by getting overly sentimental.

"You okay baby?" I felt Damien squeeze my palm in his.

I nodded, shutting my eyes for a few seconds.

"Yeah I'm good. Just give me a hug."

He stared at me weirdly for a second before pulling me into his arms.

"You're sure everything's okay? We can go home if you want." He said into my ears.

"No I'm okay. I'm happy, just happy." I didn't want to worry him.

"You wanna dance?"

A popular hip hop song was blaring from the speakers.

"You can't dance to save your life babe." I snorted.

"That's because you haven't seen me bust some moves."

Truly I had never seen him dance.

"We didn't party at our wedding." I reasoned.

"That's why our vow renewal is going to be different." He smugly said.

I pulled back to give him a doubtful glance.

"I'll prove it to you right now."

"Are you sure you want to dance in front of these people? They've been staring particularly at you ever since." I glanced around the wide room filled with people.

"I don't care."

"What if they take videos and post it on social media?" I threw another excuse.

"More publicity for this place." He shrugged already pulling me towards the dance floor.

"Spoken like a true businessman." I grinned.

Best I Ever Had by Drake came on and, phew!Man, I thought I could dance but Damien proved that he was the real stepper. I had to stop for a second when he rapped the lyrics to me. The crowd roared over and over for those four minutes of fun.

The song ended with me carried up with my legs wrapped around Damien's waist and a deep love filled kiss.

What a day to create lifelong memories.