Chapter 17
My eyes slowly open and I forget for a moment that I'm at Xander's sleeping in his room with him.
I turn to see that Xander has his arms wrapped around my waist.
I stare at him smiling at his sleeping self thinking how handsome he looks just sleeping in front of me.
I study his face so I can admire the way it looks.
If I leave him I'm probably not going to remember what he looks like.
Stop Natalia. This isn't the last time I'm going to see Xander.
I still have time and instead of feeling guilty I decided to enjoy my time with Xander.
As if feeling my stare, Xander's eyes open and he smiles at me.
"Good morning." He says sleepily.
"Good morning," I say back with a smile.
"I see I was entertaining you while I slept." He teases and I blush.
"Only for a minute. What time are we going to your sister's?" I ask.
"We'll leave here around 2 because she wants me there at 3." He says. I look at the clock and see it's 9. That will give me enough time to get ready and enjoy this morning with Xander. "Do you want breakfast?" Xander asks.
As if on cue my stomach growls and we both laugh.
"I'll take that as a yes." He says. We both get up from the bed and make our way to the kitchen.
I decided to quickly put my hair up in a bun from a hair tie I had on my wrist.
I notice that Xander walks straight to the fridge and begins to pull out food.
"What are you doing?" I smile up at him.
"Making breakfast." He says with a laugh.
"Since when did you know how to cook?" I never thought he could since he has a staff that does the cooking and cleaning for him.
"I learned from our family's chef, he taught me because I knew I was going to move away for college. My parents wanted me to give me a normal college experience so that's how I learned to cook."
This is a first I'm hearing about this but I'm glad to see this normal side to Xander. It's refreshing to see.
Minutes later Xander has made pancakes, bacon, and scrambled eggs.
When he places the plate of food in front of me I begin to eat.
I bite into my food and knew he could cook.
After we are finished with our food, I decided to clean up while Xander got ready.
He insisted he cleaned but I argued back saying I could clean since he cooked.
Xander said it was a fair point and left to get ready.
When it's my turn to get ready It only takes me an hour.
Mostly I spent that time trying hard to look presentable.
I dressed in a red velvet asymmetrical dress that has flowy short sleeves and reaches just above my knees.
For shoes, I wore the same black heels I had in my closet.
For my hair, I styled it in loose waves because I tried to curl it but the curls came undone.
For my face, I did some mascara, a little bit of liner, and some light-colored lipstick.
I look in the reflection and all I can do is still staring at my stomach.
I know I won't be showing soon but this entire visit has me feeling guilty because I'm keeping this pregnancy a secret and even when I try not to think about it somehow I just find myself doing just that.
I hear a light tap on the bathroom door that wakes me from my thoughts.
"Are you ready?" Xander asks through the door.
"Yes." I walk up to the door to open it and when I do so I can see Xander dressed in a grey suit and black leather shoes. I can see him looking up and down my body.
"You look beautiful." He says. I walk further towards him as his hands wrap around my waist and my hands rest on his chest.
"And you look handsome as always," I say back. He smiles down at me and lets his lips touch my own lips. We continue to kiss like this until we are breathless.
He pulls away and says, "I think we should go," I nod in agreement and I can feel less anxious than before. When we make our way to the elevator, Xander decides to grab his car. he tells me his sister lives in Oakland for an odd reason.
Xander's sister's house is on a hilltop and it is a big tan colored house.
The exterior of the house has several windows, a front balcony, and a giant brown wood-paneled door.
The lawn is small but doesn't have much greenery other than a few shrubs and flowers.
Off to the left side of the house are a small fountain and a gate.
I find myself comparing the house to my own family's house.
His sister's house is much more welcoming than my family's house.
"Are you ready?" Xander asks when he has parked on the curb of her house.
"Not really, I'm kind of nervous." I really want this visit to go well but at the same time, I don't want her to think I come off as another woman she could dislike.
Xander smiles at me, "Trust me she isn't going to hate you." I can be sure she won't directly judge me at least. "Come on let's go inside." He says.
When he gets out to open my door he holds my hand when we walk to the big door of the house.
Xander rings the doorbell and a moment later a man dressed in black pants, and a red button-down shirt opens the door.
He is as tall as Xander and well built like Xander but he has darker hair and brown eyes.
"Hey, man come on in." His eye goes past Xander and they rest on mine for a moment.
"You must be Natalia." He reaches for my hand to shake."
it's nice to meet you. Why don't you guys come in."
His grip is strong but firm and I smile back at his welcome.
As we head inside Xander quietly tells me that he is his sister's husband and his name is Nick.
Inside the entrance to his sister's home is decorated in Christmas decorations.
The walls of the house are painted in a cool white color, the floors are dark brown wood, and off to the side is a giant Christmas tree decorated with lights and ornaments.
Next to the tree are stairs and below is another entryway that I could assume leads to the kitchen.
"Where's Alizah?" Xander asks.
"She's in the kitchen," Nick says as he closes the door. Xander walks with me to the entryway by the stairs.
"She's been cooking all day just to warn you," Nick says as he follows us to the kitchen.
As we walk into the kitchen I instantly see the piles of food left on the granite kitchen island. Off to the side of the kitchen is a long curtain that may lead to the backyard of the house.
"Xander is that you?" Xander's sister asks as she emerges from another room next to the kitchen.
As she steps in I can see how similar she looks like Xander.
She has wavy sandy brown hair, green eyes, and a slim body just like a model.
She is naturally pretty despite not wearing a lot of makeup.
She is dressed in a red sweater top, with a black plaid miniskirt, and black flats.
"Oh you must be Natalia, I've heard so much about you." She says as she reaches for my hand to shake.
"Thanks and you too," I say after shaking her hand. I can see a silver diamond ring on her right hand. She smiles and turns to look at her brother.
"I doubt it's anything good. And how are you?" She asks while she quickly hugs her brother.
"Doing well dear sister, How's it going in here?" He asks pulling away from his sister's hug to look at the kitchen.
"It's a mess but everything should be done in an hour or so." She says as she is looking at her watch on her wrist.
"Where's your staff?" He asks.
"I gave them the day off. Why don't you guys hang out in the living room? I'm going to be a while." She says. Nick and Xander head out of the kitchen but I linger on.
"I can help if you want?" I want to help her but I also want to know her more because Xander is close to her. She looks surprised over my question.
"Sure, do you think you can start on the mashed potatoes, I still need to season this chicken before it goes in the oven."
I do what I'm told and we talk as we work.
I've learned that she and Nick have been married for 5 years but they've been engaged for two of those years.
I eventually ask her how they met. Apparently, they met on a ski trip to Aspen and according to her, she was with a couple of friends while he was there with his family.
They met at one of the surrounding ski lodges when they accidentally took the other's drink.
She said she kept bumping into him throughout her trip and when she had to go back to San Francisco, he gave her his card before she had to leave.
They started to text back and forth until they decided to date.
I find her story very normal compared to how Xander and I started seeing each other.
"So what does Nick do?" I ask as I'm setting the table.
"He's a business lawyer and owns his own firm." Interesting that they both work in a similar field of business. When I finish setting the table Alizah has just put the chicken into the oven and asks for me to join her by the table to keep talking. "So I have to be honest you're nothing like Olivia."
"Thanks," I say.
"No, I mean it. You're not what I expected my brother would be with." She insists and I smile. Before my mind can process what I say to Alizah next is something that has been bugging me since the beginning of this visit.
"I have to be honest and ask. When did Xander tell you about us? I'm sorry for asking but I want to know." The whole reason I'm nervous about this visit is these doubts that have been on my mind.
She looks at me and says, "No don't worry about it. Xander told me about you and him a few days ago. I know his marriage is fake and I always suggested a divorce since the beginning but our parents always found a way to convince him to stay married. Last weekend he called me asking for Nick's help.
I asked why he is looking for him and he said he needed some legal help. I didn't know what it was but I eventually did. He wanted to go through the divorce because he was in love with you. That's when he told me about you. He kept going on about how pretty and smart you were.
Which annoyed me but I eventually asked if he could let me meet you."
I'm shocked at what she has told me and I'm even more shocked that Xander is filing for a divorce for me.
Now, I feel more guilty that he is doing this while I plan to leave him forever.
"Please don't tell him I told you about the divorce, I think he wants to keep that a secret."
"No worries, I promise I won't tell," I reassure her.
"Good I'm glad," Alizah says.
We continue talking until the chicken is out of the oven.
I help her gather all the food and let the guys know it's ready.
When we're all seated Nick and Xander are in a deep conversation as we eat while Alizah and I talk.
Towards the end of our dinner, Alizah gets up to clear our plates and I get up to help her.
The guys move back to the living room as we begin to cover the leftover food and set them inside the large fridge.
"I really appreciate your help with dinner," Alizah says as she is setting all of the leftovers in her fridge.
"No problem, I don't mind helping," I say as I'm loading the dishes into the dishwasher.
When we're done cleaning, we join everyone in the living room and continue talking. We eventually leave around 10 and Alizah asks to see me again soon which I agree to. Soon after our visit, Xander drives me back to my apartment.
"I think my sister likes you so I guess you don't have to worry." He says.
"You think so?" I ask.
"Trust me I know," Xander says as he drives.
When we reach my apartment, we say our goodbyes to each other after promising to see one another at the gala.
I feel like the weight on my shoulders has been somewhat lifted because the visit with Alizah and her husband went better than I expected.
I can see that she and I would be good friends but I remember that my deadline for leaving the company and Xander begins tomorrow.
I really wish I could tell him about the pregnancy but I know I can't because I can't jeopardize his plans.
I have to stick to my plan even if it means losing the one person I can't live without.