Chapter 9: Family Matters

'Sorry we can't make it to dinner. Donato's cousins are quite pushy…'

Bella sighed at the message. It was quite awkward for her to lead a group of people into a welcome dinner without the guests of honor. In the Great Dining Hall were both Donato and Ruth's family - both parents, their siblings, and a selection of cousins for the intimate gathering. It was a rowdy group of no more than thirty people, their friends included.

With a quick swig of liquor she grabbed a knife and tapped it into a wine glass. "Buona sera," she said, rising from her seat. "Unfortunately, the happy couple can't make it to dinner tonight."

A series of groans and whispers ensued in the entire room.

"They're held up with Donato's cousins at Vernazza. They would be joining us tomorrow for breakfast instead. So with that, let's all have a wonderful dinner!" she proclaimed, raising the glass of wine.

"Saluti!"

"Cheers!"

Glasses clinked and the night went on.

That wasn't too bad. Although, it was kind of bummer that since the happy couple couldn't be there, awkward small talk seemed to be the theme of the night. From gossips of whose cousin cheated on whose wife, politics, and even as mundane as the weather.

In the middle of these conversations, Elena, Donato's mother spoke, "So, Bella, will you be next?"

Donato's family still remembered her from the time they first met her. She was still back and forth between Italy and Tokyo at that time - young, foolish, and single.

An awkward pause, and she chuckled, "Oh, Auntie, please, not over dinner! Save it for the Aperitif." she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

Elena chuckled back. "Oh, darling, sounds good to me!"

Her friends, though, seemed to take the joke seriously as Hinako nearly choked on her beef and Mizuhara sputtered the wine from her lips. She didn't bother to look at Shinomiya at dinner. Desperately, she was trying to push back her desire to know what happened to him and Sylvette.

She toyed with the pieces of lamb on her plate and wondered how she felt about the situation. There was curiosity for sure, but other than that, she couldn't deny to overthink. If Shinomiya truly was single now...did that mean that they could get back together? More importantly, did she want them to get back together?

Dinner ended and everyone retreated to their room with the promise of an eventful week. The gang was practically exhausted from their 18-hour flight from Tokyo, so each said their goodnights.

But Bella couldn't sleep. All night long, Shinomiya's words echoed in her head. They broke up. Shinomiya and Sylvette broke up. When? She felt a little too presumptuous at the thought that she caused their break-up. There was also a wave of guilt that overtook her that night.

She tossed and turned, occasionally rising up and falling back down the bed. "I want to ask him," she told herself and drew the covers back. "No, I can't. It's weird." pulling the covers back in. But I want to know.

Twenty times, that's how much she went back and forth with her inner monologue. When she started getting a headache, that's when she made up her mind and grabbed her phone. She aggressively typed, 'Are you awake?' and pressed send. A move she instantly regretted, once she thought of glancing at the clock and saw that it was almost 1 o'clock in the morning.

She fell back and covered her face with the duvet.

Her phone started ringing.

Immediately, she sat up. Her heartbeat quickened, but then it quickly calmed down as she saw Ruth's name flash on screen.

'Pronto?'

'Bella? I need help…' her best friend's voice was distressed.

Turns out, the couple stayed longer than they intended to because Donato's cousins had played a little drinking game with him. Bella wondered why in the world her former boss would even want to challenge his cousins. He was embarrassingly lightweight. But soon as Ruth groaned and she heard Donato slur argumentatively to his cousins, she knew that it was part of her duty to get up and help.

She couldn't do it alone, though.

It was then that she noticed Shinomiya had replied to her message in the middle of her call with Ruth.

'I'm awake.'

Her heart pounded wilder as his footsteps echoed in the hallway. "Did you wait long?" he asked, drawing closer.

She shook her head and gave a small smile. "No, thanks for coming with me."

"It's nothing."

They headed to the garage and hopped on her uncle's Fiat. Bella drove as Kojirou rode shotgun. Half the drive was in complete silence, until she started to feel awkward and decided to turn on the radio. An old school Italian song played and it was enough to fill in the void.

It was quite nice. Oddly enough, it was probably the closest they've been after a week of drama. There was an unexplainable intimacy about driving together - an intimacy that none of them seemed to mind.

But still, she couldn't take it off her mind. "Shinomiya,"

"Mm?"

She bit her bottom lip and hesitated. With everything that's happened, what could go wrong? Eyes glued on the road, she exhaled softly and asked, "Is it true?"

She felt his eyes burn on her skin. "What do you mean?"

"What you said to me earlier…" she trailed off, now feeling the awkward build up.

"About Sylvette?" he answered, turning to the window. "Yes."

They reached a fork on the road, and Bella swerved a little too aggressively to the left. "Sorry!" she yelped right after as Shinomiya slid on his seat.

He sat up. "Geez, are you crazy?!"

"Sorry!"

Another silence ensued. She somehow felt a little bit on edge as he answered the questions that had been eating up her headspace all day. As she tried to refocus, Shinomiya cleared his throat. "Do you want me to drive?"

"No, I'm fine. We're almost there." she was smiling, but her voice remained a little bit on edge.

A minute went by, and Shinomiya decided to probe. "Why do you ask?"

Her jaw froze for a second, disabling her to speak. She hummed a little in thought, trying to stop her lips from quivering. "I guess...I was curious…"

Shinomiya paused, focusing his gaze on hers. "How do you feel about it?"

"What do you mean?" she gave him a quick glance. "Of course, I'm concerned. Whatever happened...I still have and always will have the highest respect for you. I just...don't want to be the reason for impeding your happiness now."

"We're almost there…" she added, slowing down.

"Bella,"

"Yeah?"

She pulled up to the driveway and cranked up the handbrake. "What is it?" she asked again, shutting off the motor. Her eyes slowly looked up at him expectantly.

His gaze was full of intent. Perhaps, this time he could do it right. Maybe, just maybe, this time there would be no more games between them. "I want you...that's why Sylvette and I broke up."

Author's note: Shortest chapter I've written so far. I am so sorry for the super late update! Things have been crazy at work. I'd like to thank my lovely readers and reviewers from the last chapter, KiriKaAndo and Missfliss. Though the update took a while, I really plan to finish this story. The end isn't too far off, actually, since the wedding will happen soon. :) Ciao, amici!