Chapter 74: Birthday Party

The outdoor part of the restaurant has been prepared for Antonio's birthday. Everyone is already here except for Antonio, Giorgio, and Mariano. The brothers have been keeping Antonio busy with all kinds of activities since the morning. Now that it's evening, all we need to do is wait for the three of them to come to the restaurant. Thank goodness I'm wearing a nice, long, black knit dress with a black sweater or else I would've turned into a popsicle in this cold weather.

"This is so exciting! It's not that different from his previous birthday party, but I hope he still likes the surprise. He's definitely going to be surprised when he sees you here after what you said yesterday," Valeria says.

"That's what I hope," I say.

I told Valeria that my father and I met Antonio and Giorgio at the restaurant yesterday. Fortunately for us, Antonio didn't seem to expect anything. Valeria was relieved to hear that, so we decided to go with our original plan. Now we can only wait for Antonio to come and surprise him.

From afar, I can see Antonio walk through the restaurant and right outside, where everyone is. Antonio grins at the sight, and his smile turns even wider when he sees me. Everyone sings him happy birthday as Mariano, Giorgio, and he walk towards us.

"Happy birthday to you!"

Valeria and I stand side by side, facing Antonio. The birthday cake in Valeria's hands has "Happy birthday, Antonio" written on top in cursive, with candles numbered 2 and 8, showing Antonio's age as of today. Antonio smiles gleefully at both of us, and we return his smile.

"Make your wish," I say.

Antonio closes his eyes, making his birthday wish in his heart. Once he makes his wish, he opens his eyes again and blows out the candles. Everyone erupts in joyful hoots and applause once the candles die out. In the cheerful moment, I pull Antonio into a hug and give him a peck on his lips. Before I can get away, Antonio pulls me in again and kisses me deeply. Oh no. Not in front of everyone, especially Dante.

Antonio finally ends the kiss and loosens his hold on me. Thank goodness it's finally over. I take a glance at Dante, and his face turns a bit dark. When he notices me looking at him, he immediately straightens his face. Shit. He's definitely jealous. I gotta make it up to him later.

"I knew it wasn't a coincidence," Antonio says.

"Well, surprise, surprise! The lie was necessary," I say.

"It's a good surprise, I admit," Antonio says. He then turns to Valeria, pulling her into a one-armed embrace. Valeria giggles as Antonio kisses his head and pulls her closer to him.

"Thank you for this, sis," Antonio says.

"You're welcome," Valeria says.

Antonio then goes around and thanks the rest of his family and my father. He then shakes hands with Carlo and Dante, thanking them for coming to his birthday as well. Once the festivities die down, Antonio begins cutting the cake. After he cuts a piece, he holds it out for me to eat.

"Thanks for being here. I'm so grateful to have you as a part of my life," Antonio says. His words make my cheeks turn warm. Although I know our relationship will end sooner or later, hearing him say those words still makes me happy.

"Me too," I say. I accept the cake from Antonio and let him feed it to me.

After everyone gets their part of the cake, we sit down at the table, ready for our dinner. From the appetiser to desert, we finish them all in one long sitting. Everyone at the table seems happy as they reminisce about the Ricci's siblings' childhood.

"Don't deny it. I saw it myself. You grabbed those water beads from the flower vase and devoured them like they were fucking candies. Thank goodness I was there to stop you," Mariano says with a grin.

"I only did it once! Once!" Antonio says. His face is red from embarrassment and anger. Mariano only laughs louder in response. Antonio glances at me but then quickly looks away when he realises I'm staring right at him.

Water beads do seem like candies or jellies. I get why younger Antonio ate them. The younger me thought about eating them as well because of their colourful look. I never dared to eat them because my mother told me they were poisonous, and since I've always been an obedient child, I didn't eat those colourful jelly balls.

"But you did eat them. Thank god you were fine after you poo-"

Antonio quickly covers Mariano's mouth, stopping him from saying the full sentence. A silent laughter leaves me as Antonio keeps his hand over Mariano's mouth, turning his words into gibberish mumbles.

Ah, siblings fight. What a sight to see. Seeing Antonio and Mariano like this reminds me of my brothers. They used to joke and banter with each other a lot to the point of wrestling. Gosh, I miss them so much. I wish I could do something to make them come back, but unfortunately, there's nothing.

"Don't you dare fucking say it," Antonio says. Mariano nods vigorously, agreeing with Antonio's terms. He then lets go of Mariano, still scowling at him. Mariano gets up from his chair, grinning from ear to ear.

"Glad you were fine after you pooped them out," Mariano says quickly. Antonio gives Mariano a deadly look, but Mariano only laughs at Antonio. He stands there by his chair, ready to flee from Antonio. Seeing Antonio get up from his chair, Mariano quickly runs to the other side of the table, standing behind Fabio.

"I'll make you pay after this," Antonio says, approaching Mariano slowly.

"Ooh. So scary," Mariano says mockingly, still standing behind Fabio.

"Enough, both of you. Don't fight," Fabio says, sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose at the current situation. Seems like this is a common thing between the brothers based on Fabio's reaction. I like it. They look just like a normal family despite their unlawful occupations.

"He started it," Antonio says, pointing at Mariano.

"Please, stop. Why don't you open your gifts now?" Fabio asks, pointing at the gifts on a different table. Antonio continues to glare at Mariano for a bit longer and then shrugs.

"Okay. Sure. Why not?" Antonio says. He ignores Mariano and lets him sit back down on his chair as he goes towards the gift table. He stares at his options and then picks one from the stacks: the gift from me. The sight makes me nervous. He turns around, holding up the present.

"Who's this from- Oh, it's from you. I'm definitely opening this one first," Antonio says, smiling at me. He tears the wrapping, revealing the gift under it little by little. He sets aside the torn wrapping and stares at the black scrapbook in his hands with a smile.

"You made this?" Antonio asks.

"Yeah. I'm not sure of what to give you, so I made it. Do you like it?" I ask.

Antonio looks through the scrapbook. In there, I put memories of us and carefully curated pictures from our dates, right from our first official date to our last. By the looks of it, Antonio seems to genuinely like it, which also means my plan is working; All thanks to Valeria's advice.

"Like? I love this. You captured the essence of our dates perfectly. Thank you for making this. Now I can see both of us together all the time," Antonio says.

"You're welcome. I'm glad you love it," I say, smiling sheepishly at his compliment.

"I'll put this in my bookshelf when I get home," Antonio says, patting the scrapbook gently and then puts it down.

Antonio continues to open all of his gifts. From Valeria, he gets a handmade sweater. Giorgio gets Antonio a new set of books, adding more books to his collection. Mariano gives Antonio a new, expensive watch that he immediately wears. Antonio receives a laptop from Fabio. And lastly, my father has a pair of hiking shoes and a matching backpack.

The night ends with some fireworks adorning the dark midnight sky. Antonio and I stand there next to one another. My arm wraps around his back while his is around my shoulder, pulling each other closer as we watch the fireworks.

"Are you ready for our vacation?" Antonio asks.

"Never been readier," I say.

Tomorrow will be the start of a possibly crazy weekend. I'm positive everything will go as planned, but I still need to be prepared for anything. Literally anything. However, I will never do anything sexual with Antonio, so hopefully, he'll keep his promise, or else, I'll make him pay in the most painful way. Because of that, I'm only left with one thing: make Antonio talk without giving him a particular favour. I have to. I'll prove to my father that I can handle my job and give actual results.