Chapter 20

Amara's POV:

“Hello? Oh, yes, hold on. I’ll open it for you.” By the way Zavier was talking, I could tell it was Mr. and Mrs. Fischer. He pressed the button to open the gates while we walked down the stairs.

I quickly went to the dining room, lit a few candles for the aesthetic, and walked quickly to the front door to greet our guests together. Zavier looked down at me and fixed my hair before giving me a nod and opening the door.

“Mr. and Mrs. Fischer, welcome to our house,” Zavier said, looking between the two with a friendly smile on his face.

“Thank you for having us over,” Mrs. Fischer replied with the warmest smile on her lips.

“Come in, please,” I said, stepping aside a little so that they could both come in.

“You must be the lovely Amara I spoke with on the phone,” Mr. Fischer said, extending his hand out to me.

“The one and only. It’s nice to meet you two.” I smiled, shaking his hand. His grip was so firm.

“The pleasure’s all ours. We just can’t believe how lucky Zavier over here has gotten,” Mrs. Fischer said, looking at the two of us.

“I think I’m the lucky one.” I smiled, looking up at Zavier, making him smile too, which put his dimples on display.

“No. Trust me, darling. I'm the lucky one.” Zavier kissed the top of my head, his hand on my lower back.

“You two have a lovely place,” the woman said, looking around, though she was mostly looking at the big family picture we had hanging on the wall.

“Thank you. Follow me to the dining room,” Zavier said as we led Fischer to the dining room.

“Where’s your son?” Mr. Fischer asked as he pulled the chair out for his wife.

“Sebastian’s with Amara's sister. Maybe you’ll get to see him when she brings him back home,” Zavier answered, doing the same for me. I thanked him quietly and watched as he took a seat too.

“Sebastian Fuentes? What a lovely name,” Mrs. Fischer commented, her red lips curling up in a smile again.

“All her idea.” Zavier looked at me, holding my hand. I knew we had to keep up our appearances, but this wasn’t exactly spoken about. Not that I hated it—I was just taken by surprise. “Actually, it’s Sebastian Silas Reid,” Zavier corrected them.

“Oh, right. You two aren’t married yet,” Mrs. Fischer mumbled, looking between the two of us and making Zavier chuckle awkwardly.

“No, we’re taking our time with things, Mrs. Fischer,” I said, squeezing Zavier’s hand.

“Oh, you can just call me Mei Zhen,” she responded.

"And you can call me Dan," Mr. Fisher added.

“I’ll go get the food,” I said, remembering that they came over for dinner.

“Need help, sweetheart?” Zavier looked at me as I got up.

“No, I’ve got it.” I smiled and tapped his shoulder before walking away.

“Oh, is there no staff tonight?” I could hear Mr. Fischer asking as I walked away.

“Since she and I started, I had to let go of my staff. We wanted privacy, given the situation,” Zavier replied, getting up and pouring wine into the glasses.

I got the appetizers and walked back, putting them in the middle for us all to enjoy. I sat back down next to Zavier.

“So, how did you meet?” Dan asked as he took one of the shrimp tartlets, put it on Mei Zheng’s plate, and took a few for himself.

“We met at a party and immediately hit it off,” Zavier started, looking at me with adoring eyes.

“Given we both love our privacy, we kept things a secret,” I added on, smiling. This lie would be sold so well to them.

“As much as I wanted to make it clear to the public I’m not an eligible bachelor, I couldn’t anymore because we then found out she was pregnant,” Zavier continued, finally looking away from me. “It happened too soon, and, of course, the media would paint her as a gold digger or cheater, and we didn’t want that.”

“Oh, it’s understandable. We chose for our lives to be in the spotlight, but, sometimes, it’s a little too much.” Dan sighed, taking a napkin and wiping the side of his mouth.

“What about Mei Zhen? How did you meet?” I asked curiously. These two seemed so in love. I loved hearing stories from couples about how they fell in love.

“Oh, I was on a business trip to Turkey, but it then got canceled. So, I was stuck in Turkey and had to stay there three days,” Dan started, a smile on his lips—one that his wife had too.

“I happened to be on vacation there, and when I came across him, he asked for directions—not that I knew how to give them. We started chatting and found out we were from the same state,” Mei Zheng added to the story.

“When I got to America, I asked her out officially. The rest is history. We got married five years later and now have two lovely kids.” Fischer smiled.

“That sounds lovely,” I replied, biting into the cheese-stuffed mushrooms. I had to hand it to myself—this tasted amazing.

“Yeah. So, Amara, what is that you do?” Mei asked curiously. Unlike Zavier, it wasn't like I was known for my work.

“Oh, I have a degree in culinary arts and spent some time working for a restaurant. After the place was closed down, I decided to just stay home,” I told her, thinking back to how I actually landed this job and how it led me here: a five-course dinner on which a special deal depended.

“Oh…” Mei Zheng mumbled, trailing off. I could tell there was slight confusion in her eyes.

“She does have dreams of opening her own restaurant one day. I’m rooting for her—her food is delicious. These dishes right here are proof,” Zavier was quick to add, surprising them. His words seemed more to their liking, so I assumed they liked ambitious people.

“You cooked this yourself?” Mei asked, still surprised.

“Of course. I love to do it anyway, so I figured why not.” I shrugged, smiling. I always loved the way people reacted to my food.

“Wow, that’s amazing,” she complimented.

“I’ll go get the second dish, dear.” Zavier winked at me and got up.

“Okay,” I mumbled, watching as he walked away.

“So, do you have any siblings besides your sister?” Dan asked, and man, I’d never been asked this many questions before in my life.

“No, it’s just us two. We have a small family. It’s really just her, my brother-in-law, and our friend, who we also consider a sister,” I answered, playing with my bracelet.

Zavier came back with the French onion soup. He sat back down and looked over at me. I gave him a slight nod.

“Oh, wow. What was it like coming into his big family? I remember meeting Mei’s family for the first time.” Dan chuckled, looking at his wife.

“I was beyond surprised, but even more with Bash being the first of the grandchildren,” I answered truthfully. “Well, shall we enjoy our meal, then?” I raised a brow at them, looking at the steaming soup. The room smelled so amazing, and the pie wasn’t even in yet.

We chatted a bit more as we ate the soup. Next came the salad, the main dish, and, of course, dessert. Dan was a huge fan of the dessert.

“Wow, I’ve never felt so full before.” Dan laughed, leaning back into his seat as his wife rested her head on his shoulder.

“You outdid yourself, sweetheart.” Zavier rested his hand over mine and squeezed it.

“Oh no, you’re making my head big.” I smiled, holding onto his hand for a moment.

“He is right—this was absolutely delicious. Especially the pie,” Mei replied, sitting up straight.

“Should I get some for you to take home to the kids?” I offered. There was still so much left.

“Only if you want,” they replied.

“Of course,” I replied. How could I not give them more food?

“Can we go talk in private?” Dan looked over at Zavier, and I could see his face lighting up.

“Of course, Mr. Fischer,” he replied. Zavier got up and led the way to the backyard with Dan to talk business, I assumed. I’d say things went truly well. They were good people.

“Come on, let’s go pack up that pie,” I told Mei after we watched our “lovers” walk away from the table.

I got up. Mei Zheng got up too and followed me to the kitchen but stopped in front of one of the walls of pictures we had, so I walked back to her and looked up at them too. We looked so normal.

“This is such a lovely photo.” She pointed to the one where I had on hair extensions.

“Oh, that one was taken shortly after we found out I was pregnant. We don’t have that many pictures together, sadly, but there are tons of Sebastian,” I replied, looking at the picture. It wasn’t even taken that long ago.

“Oh, could you show me?” she asked, making me laugh nervously.

“Only if you show the ones of your boys.” I winked and walked into the kitchen with her behind me.

“Of course.”

I took out two pie slices, put that to the side for Zavier, and then packed up the rest for the Fischers, handing it over to Mei Zhen. “Sadly, I can’t give you the ice cream, as it’ll melt.”

“Trust me; this is all my husband cares about.” Mei laughed, holding onto the pie.

“Understandable.” I laughed. It was safe to say they loved my food.

“Your dress is lovely, by the way, and the necklace is also stunning,” Mei Zheng said, her brown eyes going up and down my body.

“Oh, thank you. This is a very special Fuentes piece, and this was a gift from Zavier.” I twirled around and then touched the necklace I had forgotten about for the moment.

“I’ll let Dan know I need some more Fuentes dresses in my closet,” she joked, laughing softly.

“That sounds like a good idea.” I smiled, almost laughing at supporting my “boyfriend's” business.

“Oh, the pictures. Here.” She remembered and pulled out her phone, already heading into the gallery. “This is our oldest, Jian, and our youngest, Oskar.” She showed me a picture of the two sitting on a couch in matching suits.

“Oh, they’re handsome little ones. Oskar looks a lot like you,” I replied, looking at them. They looked a little older than Sebastian. Oskar sure had his mother’s lips, nose, and face shape.

“Yeah, but he sure has his father’s attitude and is most definitely a daddy’s boy. They both are.” She looked up at me, shaking her head and letting out a sigh.

“Little Sebastian clings more to me, but when it comes to playtime, Daddy’s the one he runs to,” I told her. Of course, he clung more to me than his father—he just got to know the man.

“Oh, this is Jian at his game. He loves playing tennis and is quite good at it. Oh, this is when we took them to an aquarium. Oskar loved that place a lot. He sure loves the water kingdom.” She started to go through more pictures and telling me about them.

“That’s adorable.” I sighed, wishing I could do these things with Sebastian. At first, I never had much free time, and now, it was for his privacy. “This is Sebastian at the park. We mostly take him to a specific private one. Now, with the news out, we might take him to some amusement parks, so I’ll keep that aquarium in mind,” I added.

“It’s a little sad he didn’t get to enjoy his privacy for long.” Mei put away her phone in her purse and then looked back up at me.

“Do you have any bad experiences with these things?” I asked. She’d be the perfect person to ask. Tiffany and I didn’t exactly have a bond, and things weren’t so digital during her time.

“Many occasions. We got judged for where we took them out to eat, the clothes we let them wear, and so on. The worst was getting called bad parents because our son was throwing a tantrum as normal kids do. Obviously, we can’t control their emotions, but the media seems to think they should be perfect,” Mei started to tell me. Each part of the story worried me more and more. By the tone she was speaking with, I could tell this bothered her.

“Wow, now I’m actually scared,” I mumbled, accidentally saying it out loud.

“It’s a bit stressful at first, but what’s important is that you and Zavier know where you stand in your relationship and are both doing what’s best for your child and what makes him comfortable,” she advised, rubbing my shoulder.

“Thank you for such great advice.” I smiled, getting lost in my thoughts.

“Of course, dear. Oh, look in this one—you can tell he has Zavier’s eyes,” she said about the picture I had of Sebastian as my lock screen.

“There’s no denying that.” I laughed.

~~~

Zavier’s POV

Mr. Fischer and I sat outside and discussed some things, mostly business-related, but he hadn't mentioned anything about us going into business so far. I knew for sure the dinner went well, and Fuentes business had never been involved in any scandals.

“Well, Zavier, it’s getting late, and we should get going,” Dan spoke up, turning to face me. I was sure we’d get an answer about a business deal, but maybe not yet? “I think working with you might be a wise idea, so I look forward to meeting again and coming up with a deal and plan,” he added.

“That’s amazing, and thank you. We’re just as excited to work with you and your wife,” I replied, smiling. We did it—we’d closed a deal.

“Maybe in the future, we could even get into the shoe line. But, for now, we’ll focus on the clothes,” Dan added, shrugging. That was exactly what I was hoping for.

“Of course, Mr. Fischer.” I nodded.

I led him back inside and saw Amara and Mei Zheng coming out of the kitchen, Mei holding her purse and pie in her hand as she linked her free arm with Dan’s and followed us to the front door. When those two weren’t looking, I took a peek at Amara and showed her two thumbs up, making her smile.

“It was lovely having you two over,” Amara said, her hand on my waist as she was glued to my side.

“You two were great hosts, and again, the food was delicious,” Mr. Fischer responded, holding Mei Zheng’s hand in his.

“Thank you so much,” I replied, looking down at Amara for a moment.

“Maybe next time, it will be at our place,” Mei said, stepping into the car after Dan opened the door for her.

“Looking forward to it. Drive safely,” Amara responded, waving at them with her free hand.

“Definitely. Take care,” I replied, waving too. I watched as they drove away. The moment they were out of sight, she removed her arm from around me while mine stayed till I saw a small red car coming in. It was Amelia. She parked the car, and Ivan stepped out and got Sebastian from the back.

“Good night,” Ivan said, holding onto Sebastian.

“Hello, Ivan,” I greeted him, trying to be kind, but the look he gave me made it clear he didn’t feel the same way towards me. I took Sebastian when he handed me my son and held onto him.

“How did it go?” Amelia asked, looking at Amara then me.

I looked over at Amara and then at her older sister. “It went great.”

“I’m happy to hear that,” she replied, smiling. “I’m so sorry. We’re both tired and want to go home, so have a good night,” Amelia then said with an apologetic look. Given everything she had done for us, it was understandable.

“Thank you for everything,” Amara replied, holding onto the dino bag.

“We really appreciate it,” I said as I watched them go to the car.