Chapter 28 #2
“He’s your brother too,” he said, and Nina paused, looking at him with those same green eyes his father had.
“I know this is all very odd and, to be quite honest, fucked up. I had only learned a couple of years ago of what happened, but I genuinely want to get to know you and to have you as my sister.”
Nina stared at him for a beat before she looked away and returned to eating her ice cream. Nikos wondered how persistent he would have to be because he wouldn’t let this be the end of it, but Nina finally spoke again.
“No,” Nina said, bluntly, and again, Nikos was reminded that although Ava and Nina looked alike, the young girl had a stark difference in personality from her mother.
Ava was inviting and warm, while Nina was closed off and cold.
“I don’t want to have anything to do with that family. Aris is the exception.”
From her words, Nikos was suddenly reminded that he wasn’t the only one who had been affected by his father’s actions and that just like himself, Nina also hadn’t taken very well to what had transpired between their father and her mother years ago.
It was no wonder she kept reminding him that she only had one brother, and now Nikos wondered what his brother had done to get the young girl to acknowledge him.
“But…” she started to say with a stubborn pout on her face. “I guess you can be an… acquaintance. But only because that’s what Aris would want me to do. You’re still not my brother, though.”
“An acquaintance? I think I can accept that for now,” Nikos said before smirking, feeling a surge of persistence come over him. She was a tough cookie, but Nikos had never been one to back down from a challenge. He would get her to acknowledge him as her brother one day.
“Good,” Nina said haughtily, and Nikos smiled before he talked to Nina more, asking her questions he had been curious about but avoiding the topic of their father.
He had a feeling that, just like himself, Nina wasn’t ready to speak about it, and quite frankly, Nikos wasn’t ready either.
It was the elephant in the room, and it would probably remain that way until it was time to confront it.
Nikos just hoped it wouldn’t be any time soon.
After speaking to Nina, she headed upstairs to find Tommie, and Nikos returned to the kitchen where Ava was by herself because Honey had gone to use the restroom and made a phone call to check up on Kai.
“Do you need help?” Nikos asked, watching as Ava washed the dishes.
“Oh no, it’s fine. You’re my guest,” Ava said, and though Nikos could return to the couch and wait for Honey, he rolled his sleeves up, standing next to her by the kitchen sink.
Ava smiled before she passed him a towel, and he helped dry off the dishes after she cleaned them.
They did it in peaceful silence until Nikos spoke again.
“I’m glad you invited me,” Nikos admitted.
When he had said yes before, it was because he didn’t know how to decline her.
He hadn’t just asked Honey to come here with him tonight because he liked spending time with her, which he always did.
For some reason, Honey just always entertained him, and he enjoyed watching her roll her eyes at him and pout whenever he said something that annoyed her.
But he had invited her because he hadn’t wanted to come alone in this situation, worried about how awkward it would be, but to his surprise, it hadn’t been awkward at all.
“I’m glad you came,” Ava said as she rubbed the sponge against the dish in her hand. “I know this must be awkward for you.”
It became silent again, and Nikos was almost going to let it go on that way until he realized he needed to get this question out of his mind.
He had been thinking about it since that dinner when his mother had revealed his father’s infidelity.
It had plagued his mind, and though his relationship with his father had never been the best, this revelation had soured it even more until the point that he didn’t even like to be in the same room with his father.
He wondered how Ava could even be this way now, smiling and happy, despite what his father had done.
“Can I ask you a question?” Nikos said, and Ava passed him the last dish before she dried off her hands.
“You want to know what happened, don’t you?” Ava said, and Nikos nodded. Ava sighed.
“It’s not much to say. I met your father when I was very young, and he was very handsome.
And we fell in love,” she admitted with a soft look in her eyes as if she were reliving every moment.
“Sometimes, I think your father hadn’t had intentions of falling in love with me, and he had, and before he knew it, we had both been swept down a road that we couldn’t return from. ”
It was vague, yet an image had already been created in his head.
Ava was still this beautiful in her old age.
Nikos could only imagine how beautiful she had been when she was younger.
His father must have fallen for that, and being the greedy indulgent man he was, he hadn’t told Ava the truth that he had a family back in Greece and instead created a family with her.
“Back then, your father had everything in the world, and if you’re someone born with everything, it’s hard not to indulge yourself,” Ava said.
“Did you know that he had a family?” Nikos asked, even though he already knew the answer the moment he met her because it was clear the kind of woman she was. To welcome him into his home with only kindness and without a hint of hatred, a woman like that wasn’t selfish at all, not a little bit.
“No,” she said, confirming what he had suspected, and now Nikos wondered how and why his father could fool a nice woman like her.
“How did you find out?” Nikos asked curiously, and Ava sighed.
“Did you know that I had met you right there in that living room when you were very young?” Ava said, and Nikos’s eyes widened.
“You had been very young then, so of course, you wouldn’t remember me.
Nina couldn’t remember you either, though you had played with her.
Your father had gone off to work, and your mother had appeared at my door with two boys at her side, telling me that her husband and the father of her children’s name was Giannis Drakos. ”
Nikos clenched his jaw, anger coursing through him at the thought of what his father had put these two women through.
He could only imagine the humiliation Ava had felt at the hands of his father’s greed, and the courage his mother had to possess to go confront a woman that his father clearly loved.
He was no idiot.
He already knew that his parents could barely tolerate each other and had heard the rumors that it had always been that way, especially considering how their marriage had been arranged.
It must have hurt them both to have to confront one another.
Ava saw his clenched fist and patted his shoulder gently.
“Your father isn’t a bad man. It took me some time, but I realized he had made a mistake, one that I know he dearly regrets, but it is not the sum of him,” she said, and hearing that made Nikos unclench his fist as it made him think about his own mistake he had made with Raelyn and Rheagan.
He had been judging his father so much when he had done a similar thing with two sisters, even if it had not been because of love but revenge.
“Don’t view your father poorly because of this,” she said, and Nikos chuckled as he leaned against the counter.
“My view of my father has never been great,” Nikos admitted.
“Because of what he does?” Ava asked, and Nikos nodded.
“And now he asked me to come down here and do this stuff for the family, so even if I weren’t angry about this, my father and I would never see eye to eye,” Nikos said. Before he continued, he noticed the surprise on Ava’s face, and for the first time, she wasn’t smiling.
“Wait. Your father told you to do this even though you don’t want to?” Ava asked, and Nikos slowly nodded, surprised by Ava’s reaction as her mouth tightened, and she dropped her hands on her waist.
“You shouldn’t be forced into doing anything,” she said. “I’ve never said anything about Aris because I know he wants to take care of his family and please his father, but he shouldn’t burden you with this task if you don’t want to do it.”
Nikos was surprised. It was the first time someone understood his point of view and didn’t chastise him for not wanting to follow his father’s whims, especially someone who knew his father’s real job.
Even his mother sided with his father on this, always telling him that eventually, it would have to be his duty as Giannis Drakos’s son.
“Thank you, Ava,” Nikos said, and he hugged her. Ava still seemed upset but patted his back, returning the hug.
By the time they left, it was close to midnight, and Nikos walked with Honey over to his Camaro.
“You’re probably wondering what my relationship is with them,” Nikos said.
“Just a little bit,” Honey admitted.
“I wasn’t expecting to meet a football player and a model. Also, I wasn’t expecting to meet Black people,” Honey said, and Nikos laughed as he opened the car door for her, closing it behind her after she got inside before getting in on his own side.
“Nina and I have the same father,” Nikos explained as he pulled off. “My father had another family without my mother knowing. Ava was his woman.”
Honey looked surprised.
“Then the brother she spoke about-”
“Aris is my adopted brother. Apparently, years ago, my father had asked him to come check up on Ava, and he grew close with them, so Nina only acknowledges Aris as her brother,” Nikos explained as they pulled up at a stop light. “Though, I’m working on that. I’ll get her to see me as her brother.”
Honey smiled.
“You’re lucky to have more family,” she said, and of course, Honey would see it that way, in a way he had never thought of before, changing his entire perspective of the situation. This entire time he had been angry, wanting to ignore it all, but Honey was right. He did have more family now.
Nikos grabbed her hand and kissed it. “Thank you, Honey.”
“Don’t you think you’re pushing your luck?”
“I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t,” Nikos said, and she smacked his shoulder as he laughed, pulling off.
He was lucky.