34. Levi
Our happily ever after doesn’t look like yours and that’s ok.
The last twenty-four hours were surreal with highs and lows I barely survived. I needed us to get our shit together for the rest of our lives, so I didn’t have to go through something like that ever again.
After we got to Ru’s mom’s house on the Amalfi Coast, we stayed in Ru’s home in the back. We got there late in the afternoon, completely exhausted. Ru and Vi fell asleep first, as Matteo and I worked a little. I was feeling vindictive and decided Minsoo needed to be handled immediately.
The PI was gracious enough to give us emails about his interaction with Ru’s agent, but I felt like we could do better than that.
So, I did a deep dive on Minsoo and I realized I should have done this much sooner.
Matteo finally dragged me to bed an hour later and we all slept soundly until the next day.
“Damn, Reina, you sure know your way around this kitchen.” I said, coming up behind her, kissing her shoulder.
“Oh, didn’t you hear? I’m Moon Ruwon’s girlfriend.” She turned around, throwing her arms around my neck. “Apparently, I’m all the gossip.”
“Yeah, you are, you sexy woman,” I said, kissing her deeply.
Vi moaned as our tongues tangled together. She was wearing one of Matteo’s shirts; it was so sexy and I couldn’t help but slip my hands underneath. Her skin was soft and supple as I slid my hands up her waist and—”
“Let the poor girl breathe.”
I was startled when I heard my dad’s voice.
“Papa,” I said, turning around, shielding Vi with my body.
He was facing away from us. “I called and knocked several times. You better come to the main house before Maya and Yoona come over.”
I laughed.
“I’ve been called no less than 4 times,” Matteo said, coming from the hallway and throwing me a pair of pants for Vi.
“Well, chop-chop boys. “It’s good to see you, Violeta,” he yelled, walking away.
“Oh my god,” she said, leaning her head against my back.
“Thank god we hadn’t gotten far. I was ready to have you for breakfast on the island,” I said, turning around and uncovering her face. “Come on, before they come over again.”
“That was embarrassing,” she murmured. “I didn’t even hear the door.”
“Our parents are stealthy,” Matteo sighed.
“I’m surprised they gave us till this morning,” I said, cupping her face and kissing her softly.
“I’m going to go change,” Violeta said, her cheeks still red.
“Yeah, let's go before one of our moms comes for us,” Matteo said, turning back down the hall.
We had all slept in Ru’s bed and while it was a tight squeeze, I don’t think any of us could be apart from each other. We walked into the room to see Ru still asleep. Violeta climbed into bed,
kissing him awake and he pulled her closer.
“Ru, we have to go see your parents,” she sighed, snuggling into him. “Levi’s dad already walked in on us making out and I’d like to avoid any future surprises.”
Ru laughed. “I’m sure that was fun. Welcome to the family, Violeta.”
“Unfortunately, our parents are very meddlesome when they want to be,” I said, slipping on some shorts and a shirt.
“Come on, before my mom comes in,” Ru said, getting up and pulling Vi with him.
We were all ready in fifteen minutes and the walk across the grounds was gorgeous. I could see us spending some time here to get away. The moment we walked into the kitchen from the patio, they bombarded us with hugs, kisses and plenty of questions.
“Are you ok?” Maya hugged Violeta.
“Yeah, I’m ok, more worried about the guys—”
“Oh, don’t worry about them, they will survive,” she said, guiding Violeta to the table filled with all kinds of food. “Are you ok?”
Violeta looked startled by her question.
“I’m ok…just processing everything,” she said shyly, sitting down.
“Well, here. You need this.” My dad put a drink in front of her. “It’s ok not to be ok.”
He touched her shoulder as Violeta gave a stiff smile.
“We will get those photos taken down,” Yoona said, patting her shoulder as she grabbed more food from the island. “I’m sure the boys have helped, but I know a few people in the media and I will call in a few favors.”
Vi blinked owlishly, looking between our parents.
“You’re safe, sweetheart,” Maya said to her, grabbing her hand.
Vi’s lip trembled. “I thought you would be a little mad at me.”
“What?” Ru said, sitting down across from Vi.
“I mean, I was the reason—”
“You listen here, Hermosa.” My dad sat next to her.
“You were a victim just like the boys, except it was your picture that wasn’t blurred out.
You were put out for the world to see without your permission and you have every right to be sad or mad.
The boys will survive because very few people recognize them.
It's nothing but speculation, but you, Darling, are taking the brunt of a man's choice, and that is not right.”
Tears fell down Violeta’s cheeks.
“We will fix it, ok?” Yonna said coming behind Violeta, squeezing her shoulders as Maya and my dad comforted her.
I clenched my jaw from the rising emotions I was feeling. Our parents were amazing and I was so grateful they had found each other when they needed it.
Violeta looked between our parents before she sobbed, letting her head hang down. Maya and Yoona immediately hugged her as my dad held her hand.
“I didn’t expect anything less,” Matteo said, throwing his arm over my shoulder as a tear escaped. “They’ll probably love her more than us.”
I laughed, wiping my face, leaning on Matteo as we watched them comfort our girl.
“I’m sorry; I don’t know where that came from.” Violeta took a napkin from Yoona. “I was fine with—”
“You shouldn’t be fine with this; get mad. We sure as hell are mad for you,” my dad said, and damn, I loved him so much for that.
“We will make it right,” Matteo said, and they all looked at us.
“Thank god you two figured it out,” my dad said, getting up and sitting in another chair.
“We thought you would never figure it out,” Maya said, sitting across from my dad.
“What?” I looked around the table as I walked to the seat next to Violeta.
“I thought we might have to get one of those airplanes to fly with a banner that said, it's ok to love your best friend,” Yoona said, sitting next to Ru.
Ru laughed. “It took them a minute, but they figured it out. Just took Violeta to bring them together.”
“Of course. Violeta is a bright girl,” my dad said, loading up a plate with food and handing it to me as I sat down.
I scoffed and Matteo chuckled. “I should have known you would know.”
“Excuse me?” I looked at Matteo. “Am I the only one who is shocked that everyone knew except us?”
“It’s ok, Sweetheart, it’s the hair,” Violeta chuckled, kissing my cheek.
“Blondes have more fun,” I huffed.
“Yeah, we do,” my dad said, siding with me.
I smirked as Vi kissed my shoulder, looking up with so much adoration I felt my stomach swoop. I was so damn lucky that she had chosen us.
“What are you going to do about Minsoo?” Yoona asked. “I think it’s been a long time coming that we do something about him.”
“You're right, mama,” I said, serving Vi a little of everything she’d like.
“I took it upon myself to send his boss an email this morning about what he did to Ru. It turns out he has a separate account that he’s been funneling money into.
I haven’t found where the money is coming from, but it is an offshore account.
It’s also made some large payments to some personal accounts that I’ve been tracking to several women.
I think Minsoo has been handing out some hush money. ”
“There was that scandal last year with his client,” Matteo said, taking a sip of his coffee. “Two girls came out saying Hoong had sexually assaulted them and then the accusations disappeared.”
“Minsoo said the girls just wanted money and when they were contacted by police, they backed out,” Ru said. “My makeup artist said she knew the girls. I’m going to reach out and see what they say.”
“Perfect, great start,” Yonna said leaning back against her chair. “Minsoo will royally regret what he did. I will also talk to my friend so see how we go about taking down the photos.”
“I’ll send out cease and desist letters to all the major sites,” Matteo said, cleaning his mouth.
“Once one site gets the letter, the rest should follow,” Ru said, looking at Vi. “And if they don’t, we can sue them. Matteo is a great lawyer and I have him on a retainer so we won’t have to pay him.”
Vi chuckled, covering her mouth.
“I can figure out ways you can pay me.” Matteo waggled his brows suggestively.
“Matteo!” Vi gasped, her cheeks getting red.
He kissed her nose and her forehead, then looked over at me, winking.
I shook my head as my dad suggested on what we should do for dinner.
The rest of the morning we stayed in the main house watching movies and eating everything our parents cooked up for us.
Vi fit in perfectly, our parents took care of her and I hoped in the years to come, she would consider them family too.
I wanted to give her everything she'd ever wanted and more.
“Why is she taking so long?” Matteo asked as we watched Vi walking outside between the big house and the back house.
“Her brother was freaking out that he hadn’t heard from her,” Ru said, drinking his beer on the sofa that was facing the window she was walking in front of. The sun was setting behind her.
“You don’t think he would convince her to leave?” Matteo leaned forward, worried.
“No, he loves her,” I said, rubbing his back. “He’s just making sure she’s ok.”
“What if—”
“Calm down,” Ru said, patting his leg.
“What if her parents—”
I pulled Matteo towards me to kiss him. He sighed, quickly pulling away, scowling.
“Don’t distract me,” he grumbled, kissing me back.
“She’s fine and I want to kiss my boyfriend,” I said, looking over his shoulder at Vi, making sure she was ok.
“Quit buttering me up,” Matteo mumbled.
“Get a room,” Ru said.
I laughed against Matteo’s mouth as the door to the patio opened. We all looked over to see Vi coming in with red eyes.
“What happened?” Matteo stood up pulling her against him. “Was he mean to you?”
“No,” she chuckled. “He was just worried and I got emotional again, telling him what had happened and that you had found out he was stealing from us.”
“Do you think they will prosecute?” Matteo asked.
“I honestly don't care. All I know is I never want to see Lorenzo, his father or my parents again,” she said, her lip trembling.
“Reina,” I said, getting up and hugging her too.
“Mario did say he wanted to come, but—”
“Invite him,” Ru said, getting up from the sofa. “We have more than enough space here or we can book a hotel for him.”
Ru put his arms around us.
“Just say the word and we will make it happen,” Matteo said, kissing her head.
“He’s been saying he’s needed a vacation,” Vi sighed. “I miss my niece and nephew.”
“Then let’s bring them over,” I said, hugging her tighter. “I think you need some family time.”
“Is it just four of them?” Ru asked, walking away, already on his phone.
“Yeah,” Matteo said, walking away from us on his phone too.
“They can buy their way over here,” Vi sighed, as she pulled me towards the couch.
“Nah, we need him to like us, Bella,” Matteo said, showing his phone to Ru who nodded.
“He will. He knows I love you,” she said, pushing me onto the sofa, sitting on my lap.
“You're telling people you love us?” Ru said, leaning over, tucking a strand behind her ear.
“Yes,” she whispered. “I think I’ve loved each of you since the boat.”
“Baby,” I said, putting my hands on her hips.
“I thought it might be too fast and I definitely wasn’t looking for love. That was the last thing on my mind,” she took a deep breath. “But like Yoona said, love never waits for you to be ready.”
“Sounds like my mom,” Ru smiled.
“All of your parents are amazing, makes me jealous because my parents are shit,” she said sadly.
“You can share ours, you’re probably their favorite already,” Matteo said, cupping her face.
Vi chuckled, becoming serious quickly. “I want you to be my family. I want to make something with you, build a life, and have some stability.”
I nodded, too choked up to say anything.
“We can do whatever you want, Bella,” Matteo said, scooting closer. “I want this more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life.”
“It’s us against the world,” Ruwon said. “Whatever happens now, we do it together.”
“Bounded by fate,” I said, my voice barely a whisper. “There’s no doubt that you are ours.”
“I’m exactly where I want to be,” Vi said, leaning forward, kissing me softly, pulling Matteo towards us.
I kissed Matteo as she kissed Ru. She sighed as we all leaned our foreheads together.
“Te quiero,” she said softly.
“Te amo,” Matteo said.
“Saranghae,” Ru said.
“I love you,” I said, looking at my best friends and Vi.
Fate had brought us from different parts of the world. It had a plan that connected us and I’m glad we didn’t let this pass us by. And it was all because I had built an app and Vi decided to rendezvous with us.