Chapter 36

Christian opened the door to his room and my jaw almost dropped. As expected the master bedroom seemed out of this world and almost blinded my eyes.

“Are you okay?” Christian asked and sat down on his bed. “Y-yes, I’m just thinking...maybe I should change into my pajamas.”

“That’s not necessary, you sleep with your clothes on.” Christian exposed me. “I saw you.”

My cheeks flushed and all I wanted to do was disappear. “So we’re stalking me now?” I asked him and he shook his head. “Well you snore like a pig each night, but yesterday you didn’t so I came to check if you and the baby were still alive.” He sat and laid down while he patted the spot next to him.

It had always surprised me how Christian had questionable remarks without considering anyone’s feelings. To me it was embarrassing, but he on the other hand seemed completely unfazed.

I awkwardly made my way over to him and sat down on his bed. “You can take off your shoes and perhaps your coat if you feel like it.” He chuckled and focused on his phone. I followed his instructions and awkwardly rested my hand on my knees.

When I was talking about getting to know each other a bit better this was not what I meant. He must’ve misunderstood me because watching a movie was definitely not what I had planned.

“And now you can lay down.” He chuckled and was still fixated on his phone. Once again I followed his instructions and laid down on his bed. “See, I’m trying not to be awkward but you’re not making it very easy.” He told me, and I felt guilt washing over me. He was right. For once he was the one trying and here I was, trying to sabotage his kindness.

“So what are we watching?” I asked him, but instead, he gave me the remote. “I’m watching whatever you want to watch.”

“Really?” I asked and did not give him the time to reply. I had immediately scrolled through the list of Disney movies and stopped at Ariel. It wasn’t as if I really wanted to watch it, but I took this opportunity as a small experiment. How long would it take before he would snap again or could I really trust him this time?

“You want to watch that?” He asked, trying to keep his calm. “Yes,” I said, expecting some smart-ass comment but instead he leaned back and shrugged his shoulders. “Fine.” He yawned.

Even for me, it took a minute to take in that the big Christian Lamberti agreed to watch Ariel with me and I could not wait to tell others about this. Christian was fully immersed in the movie and let his opinion known every now and then.

“You seem to know the movie out your head,” I commented, thinking he would deny it but he nodded his head instead. “Yes, I have two very demanding twin sisters.”

“Of course you do.” I smiled and tried to get into the movie. Unfortunately, my plan had backfired and I was the one getting bored. Even though the best would be to go back to my room to sleep, I did not want to embarrass myself and forced myself to keep watching.

I felt my eyes close and before I knew it my head leaned towards Christian’s shoulder but he quickly pushed me away. “From all the places you can lean against it just had to be my shoulder.” He spoke.

He tried to read the expression on my face and for what would’ve been the tenth time in a short while, I once again felt embarrassed. “This is how it always happens, from enemies to lovers but I told you, you can’t fall for me. If you want to sleep you can go to your room.”

“Trust me, you’re not that attractive,” I said, ignoring his comments, but he was right. It was always like that, but it wouldn’t be like that with me. I was just tired that’s all. “And I’m definitely not your enemy.”

Christian chuckled and leaned in closer until his mouth was at my ears. “If I’m not that attractive, then how did this baby end up in your stomach?” He whispered. I felt chills throughout my body and moved an away.

“I-I, w-well, that’s because w-we-” I stuttered, trying to find my words. But Christian let out a laugh and gave me a nudge against my shoulder. “I’m just kidding.”

“You can use my shoulder as pillow because I’m in a good mood today.”

“What you don’t want to? You won’t get another chance.” He said when he noticed I had moved away even further.

“If I sleep now I won’t be able to get back to my room later,” I told him as a way to get out of it. The truth was that I felt embarrassed and might have been a bit too pushy. He was not my pillow, my pillow was in my room.

“I’ll carry you.” He casually offered and shrugged his shoulders. “Okay?” I smiled and eventually leaned my head against his shoulder. It was either that or the wooden headboard.

“Your head’s as heavy as a wrecking ball, I hope the baby gets mine.” He sighed as I gulped at his random statement. “Hey!” I huffed and smacked his shoulders with my ‘heavy’ head.

“I’m sorry.” Christian laughed and wrapped his arms around me to prevent me from hitting him. Even though I probably shouldn’t have, I saw this as an invitation and leaned into him even more as I closed my eyes.

“You’re getting big.” He said and looked down at my stomach which was visible through the tight shirt I was wearing. “The baby.” He quickly clarified himself, in case there would be more misunderstandings.

“I am.” I agreed and followed his eyes. Rather than at the beginning of the pregnancy when my stomach looked a bit chubby, this time you could clearly see that I was pregnant. “Do you want to feel?”

“Can I?” Christian carefully asked and made eye contact with me. He was so close that I could see every detail on his face so I quickly turned my head. Get yourself together, Serena. “What you don’t want to? You won’t get another chance.”

Christian snickered and carefully lowered his hand before letting it hover above my stomach as if I was fragile. I grabbed his wrist and pulled it down so he could touch my belly. “It feels funny.” He said after a while, and it was not hard to hear the joy in his voice.

While he rubbed circles over my tummy it wasn’t that long until I felt a twitching feeling in my stomach. I flinched at the unfamiliar feeling I had never experienced before and looked at Christian in excitement. “Oh, the baby moved?”

“It did?” Christian smiled.

“Yes, I felt it.”

“You did?”

“Yes, the baby is also getting sick of you.” I rolled my eyes at him and saw how he quickly removed his hand with a worried look on his face. For someone who should probably not get manipulated by anyone, it sure was easy. I couldn’t help but laugh at the embarrassed look on his face.

“Serena, you’re not that bad.” He suddenly confessed. Well, at least he was being honest about thinking I was before— but it was okay because I felt the same. Vince was right, being alone with him and having a conversation with him was more comfortable than I had originally remembered. “Not that bad?”

“I have to confess something. This entire movie night...I did all of this because others told me to...but you are not that bad.” He spoke, thinking he was bringing me the latest news. His behavior change had got to me from the start and I knew that he had his reasons, but regardless of those reasons it felt great to get along.

“I don’t know whether that makes me happy or sad.” I played along with his game and noticed a guilty look on his face. “I’m sorry.” He apologized again.

“Don’t be, I’m happy you’re trying.” I shrugged him off so he could feel more at ease. “Any plans for tomorrow?”

I wondered if he was going to be honest with me and go into detail, since he seemed a bit more open but quickly found out that it wouldn’t work that way.“Just...work. You?”

As expected it was still a bit too early to get more information out of him and he was still as secretive as one could be.

“Hmm, no nothing.” I lied to him. The truth was that I would be keeping the promise I made to myself and be the bigger person. I would apologize to Francesca in the hopes of her accepting it and try my hardest to fix whatever issue I had caused for Christian.

I let out a guilty yawn and closed my eyes as I leaned into him even more. First, he told me to go to my room if I wanted to sleep, then he told me that he would carry me to my room— but to be honest I was comfortable as it was.

I looked up at Christian who had focused on the movie again and was actually following what was going on. I smiled at the thought of him doing the same with our child and before I knew it my eyes closed as I fell asleep in his arms with only one thought going through my mind.

Would he carry me to my room or would he spare me and let me sleep in his bed?