NFTMB)Chapter 76
Victoria
(I Like You Too)
It wasn’t there anymore.
It really wasn’t there anymore.
Roberta’s smiling portrait was nowhere to be found in the library anymore.
It was almost as if I was dreaming when I saw it.
It felt like it wasn’t even there to begin with.
Or maybe I was now seeing things that weren’t there and saying untrue things.
I swear I saw that picture here many months ago.
It was just sitting there.
It’s been more than an hour since I’ve been searching this entire humongous library for that damn picture so I could shove it in Alessandro’s face and show him that I knew exactly what I was saying.
Okay, let’s be serious now.
I won’t exactly shove it in his face but I would have showed him that what I saw was real and not just my imagination.
If I ever shove a portrait in his face I’m very sure he would be shoving his fist in my face.
I don’t want that.
That picture was there before but now it’s gone.
I can’t even look for it properly because my bloated tummy was getting in the way of me bending and taking a proper look.
Ugh. This is annoying.
I stood straight in annoyance as I huffed and stamped my feet in irritation.
“Where the hell is that damn portrait?!”
“As much as I would have loved to stand and stare at you the whole day huff and puff around looking for whatever it is you’re seeking, I must say I’m concerned for your baby with all that stamping.”
I turned around immediately and clutched my chest at the shock of seeing Valentino standing there with his arms folded as he watched me with a smile on his face.
I felt very flustered by his intense staring as I nervously tucked my hair behind my ears and rubbed my thighs nervously.
“Errr, how long have you been standing there?.” I blurted out the stupidest question my mouth could come up with.
Of course he has been there for a long time. What are you thinking, Victoria? Stupid girl, Victoria!
“Long enough to see the cutest scene I’ve ever laid my eyes upon, sweetie”. He said while making his way to me.
I stood there nervously as he reached my position and engulfed me in a hug.
I stood there frozen before I slowly wrapped my arms around him telling myself that it was okay to hug my brother in law.
We broke the hug as he looked at me with a smile on his face.
I craned my neck to look at him as I actually wondered if he was usually this tall or I was actually just realizing how short I am.
Or maybe it was the baby’s fault.
Yes, Victoria. Blame everything on the baby.
“You’re literally glowing, you know that?”. He said with a somewhat sad smile as he patted down my blond curls.
“Courtesy of the baby.” I said with a shrug.
“Mhmmm”. He agreed, looking at my face intensely.
I put a little distance between us as I folded my arms and shook off whatever was trying to raise dust.
Get behind me Satan. I thought within myself.
I’ve truly gone out of faith and that’s why I was tempted left right and center.
It’s becoming too much to handle.
“What brings you here, Valentino?”. I asked with a smile as his face held a smirk.
“Are you running from me, Victoria?”
He was now smiling from ear to ear.
“No, of course not! Why would I run from you? Pfft, that’s a very stupid thing to do. We’re friends, remember? Besides, it’s just us in here, Alessandro is up there, so…”. I left my rambling stop there with a shrug.
I just hope he understood the message I tried to pass across.
I don’t want to get beaten up.
He looked at me with that smile still in place before he moved further to where I was standing and slowly cupped my cheek.
“I heard you. I heard you both”. He slowly said with the smirk now completely vanished from his face.
He wasn’t laughing and I wasn’t too.
I was embarrassed. Very embarrassed.
“Hear? What did you hear?”. I asked him while pinching my sides and hoping it wasn’t what I was thinking.
God, no.
I won’t be able to survive this. He can’t know about that.
“You know what I am talking about”. He said
No. No way.
“No, I don’t know what you’re talking about”. I said as I faced the shelf and acted like I was looking for a book meanwhile everything in my head including the titles of the books I used to love reading had all but flown away from my head.
He caught my hand that was skimming through the books in the shelf causing it to cease in the air as I looked at him to see his face right next to mine.
“I’m talking about you and Alessandro. I heard you both fighting. You called me. You were screaming so it was impossible not to hear every word you said. I heard you loud and clear. And I heard him too”
He knows.
I stepped back in shock and slapped my hand over my mouth. Tears clouded my vision as I shook my head in shock.
“No!”
He attempted to come closer to me before I stopped him with a hand.
“Don’t come any closer! I’m too embarrassed to face you. Please!”
I turned away from him facing the shelf beside me as I held onto it for support.
I gripped so hard till my knuckles turned white as I looked at my shaking hands.
He knew.
He heard everything I said.
“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about, Victoria. It’s not your fault. You’re the victim here and if there’s anybody who should be embarrassed, it’s my brother. Alessandro should be embarrassed for doing all that to you.
I didn’t want to tell you on your wedding day because it was your day and I didn’t know how you would react to the news”
“Well, I’m not happy about it! I’m not happy that you heard me! It’s embarrassing! I shouldn’t be here! I’m leaving!”
I wiped my tears and bent my head as I planned to walk out of the library.
I don’t wish to be in the same space as Valentino now.
I’m embarrassed and mortified. I’m embarrassed by what I did in the heat of anger.
I felt Valentino’s strong grip before I could take another step as he pulled me flush against him caging me in his arms.
He wrapped his strong arms around me and embraced me as I cried into his shirt.
This just made me remember all the bad stuff I’ve gone through in the hands of Alessandro.
Valentino asking me this just brings back bad memories.
“It’s okay, Victoria. You shouldn’t feel embarrassed. Not in front of me. You defended yourself. If anything you got him tongue-tied”
His voice held amusement that I could help but to hit him on the chest.
“Ow”
“I didn’t defend myself. I humiliated myself”. I murmured, wiping my tears.
“You stood up to my scary brother, I wouldn’t call that embarrassing, that was brave. You were brave”
“But how? How were you there? I thought it was only Niccolo who was at the door”
“I was there before Niccolo arrived. I hid beside the railing so he didn’t notice me. I was coming from the gym when I heard you both screaming and that’s when I heard everything”
“Ohh. Everything?”. I asked hoping that there was a small chance that he hadn’t heard me asking Alessandro to fuck me.
I would literally die of embarrassment.
“Everything down to when he-”
“Please! That’s enough!”
I cut him off from saying any other thing that would make me feel more embarrassed than I am now.
“Sorry.”
I didn’t respond as I looked at any other place but at him.
“So you lied to me?”
“How?”
“You told me he only hit you once and that he never forced you but I heard a different tale that day”
“No, I didn’t lie to you. I told you the truth. He had only hit me once as at that time and he hadn’t touched me again since the night he got me pregnant”
Valentino ran his hands through his hair crazily.
“God! This is sick!”
“He won’t do it again”
“Really? Alessandro? Are you serious right now?”
“I made him promise not to. He’s different now. He’s changed”
“Well, fuck that! Do you realize how I felt hearing those hurtful things from you and not being able to do anything? It hurt, Victoria! Alessandro is never going to change! He’s my brother and I know him!”
I rushed to him before holding his hand and trying to convince him.
“No, it’s the truth! He has really changed!”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“He gave me his word. He won’t hit me anymore, Valentino”
I searched his eyes to see nothing but disbelief swimming in his eyes.
“How do you put up with this”. He said while holding my face in his hands.
“I have to. He’s the father of my baby and now my husband. I don’t have anything close to a family except him and my baby”
My eyes collided with the diamond ring on my finger that he instructed me never to take off.
“But I like you”. He said in the most heartbreaking voice I’ve ever heard as he placed his forehead on mine.
A sob almost escaped my lips at his words because deep down I also felt the same.
“I like you too”. I said to him before I felt his lips on mine.