Word count: 2442

Adrian's POV

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We finally gave a round of applause after hours of long boring talk from the vice Chancellor about the school, about how we all did well and our year was the best year in the school so far (they surely said that every year) and receiving our certificates and all the other bullshit. I wasn't really a fan of long boring talks though Kara could sit and listen.

A quick glance two seats from mine confirmed my suspicions as I spotted Kara smilingly conversing with a guy on dreads and I shook my head.

All these long boring talks just wasn't my thing.

Kara came out with first class upper. I did with second class upper and I think I deserve a round of applause. I never really liked school but the certificates could be important at some stage in my life. Thanks to Diego and Kara, two zealous people in my life, I actually got more serious about my academics.

"Babe, would you like to meet my parents?" I finally asked the moment I spotted him walking over towards me.

Diego raised a brow. "Should that even be a question? Of course I'd be delighted to. I'm glad you finally asked because I was dying of boredom while watching you chat with the purple head girl from up there. I knew you were bored too." He smirked while I rolled my eyes.

He held out his hand and I took it, feeling butterflies stomp wildly in my stomach at the thought that my boyfriend would finally get to meet my family. Lucas had only ever met my brother Daniel once, and it was through a video call. Not physical.

This was a huge step for me. What if they didn't like him? What if step-mom decided to embarrass me for something I did last year when I last went home? What if my brother decided to-

"Here she comes." My step-mom was saying to my dad as she caught us approaching, clearing her throat and signalling to him since he was leaning into her. The table we'd picked was a round table and my dad was backing us while mom and my brother were both facing us.

My dad immediately leaned back into his seat when he heard his wife and I scoffed.

He was eager to see me, I knew he was.

I was the apple of his eyes, his angel and he never failed to tell the world that. But he would not show it in front of my boyfriend because he obviously wanted to play 'the dad' but he was totally the 'daddy' kind of dad that would even go emotional whenever I was in a shitty mood.

"Dad!" I shouted and gave him a hug from behind, feeling his warmth from behind and smiling. Pecking his cheek, I hugged him for a longer period before going to hug my brother next.

"My baby girl. How have you been?" Hailey asked and I rolled my eyes at the endearment she was finding it hard to let go of. I was no longer a baby and everyone needed to accept that; well, everyone except to my dad.

I would forever be his baby.

"I'm fine, mom." I smiled at her and pulled away from Daniel, who pecked my forehead and congratulated me on today's success. I hugged her too and pulled away from her to face my dad.

I'd missed him the most.

"Congratulations on your graduation, angel. I can't believe you've grown up to be such a beautiful and promising young lady. Come here. Not that I would love you any less if you'd decided not to go to college. You've always been so focused on your future, I'm proud of you." Dad gestured with open arms, getting up from his seat to give us some more space and I went over to hug him once more.

"And who do we have here?" Daniel pointed at Diego who had his hands in his pocket, eyeing him with keen interest.

I pulled away from my dad's embrace and gave Diego an apologetic look. I'd been so into the family reunion that I forgot him for a few seconds there. I went over to hold his hand.

"Dad, Hailey, Daniel, meet Diego. My boyfriend."

"Diego..." Dad eyed him with a squint. "Diego... Smith?" He raised a brow and asked in a sarcastic tone. I squinted at my dad. That wasn't Diego's name.

Ugh.

"Diego Matthews sir, it's nice to finally meet you. Adrian has always told me about how she misses you and how you always call her your angel. It's great to finally meet you."

"She's still my Angel. No man can change that fact." Dad replied him with a tone that was laced with threat, eyeing him as if he was going to steal me away. I chuckled because Diego already stole me. He had me, and every fiber of me was glad about that fact.

Daniel snorted, observing the exchange between my dad and my boyfriend but didn't say a thing. I rubbed the back of Diego's hand soothingly and he pecked my forehead, which made my dad's glare at him intensify.

"Oh, cut the young man some slack, Adrien! Come have a seat here, Diego. I'm Adrian's step-mom, Hailey and I just have to say you look really dashing. It's hard to find gentlemen like your kind nowadays. They all want to go caveman." She beamed while rambling. Diego nodded gratefully and pulled out the seat beside her without sitting yet while I took the seat beside my dad.

"Hello ma'am. It's nice to meet you too..and thank you for the compliment. And of course, you look really lovely." He stretched out his hand but Hailey got up and pulled him into a hug. Then she patted his back and sat, telling him to do the same.

"And the boy has got a sweet mouth too." My dad scowled at Diego who didn't cower under his gaze.

My step-mom was immediately taken with him and she started a conversation with him, laughing, asking him some questions about his family, all of which Diego answered smoothly, disregarding of Hailey's occasional giggles like a highschool teenage girl.

"What do you do?" My dad suddenly asked him. I was busy looking around and just waving at some of my friends but I knew I had to give my family the sole concentration they deserved. They didn't come here all the way from New York just to have me greeting other people. So I diverted my attention back on the table and my sweet family.

"I'm a data analyst at the Alfonsi group of companies. Recently promoted to the head assistant." Diego replied. I spotted Kara with Natalia speaking with a woman who had her back to me.

Diego was playing with my fingers while speaking with dad.

My dad squinted at Diego's response then nodded impressively. "That's good, very good."

"When did you start seeing each other?" My step-mom asked.

"A while ago. Few months back." I replied, rubbing Diego's thighs and he immediately sat straighter. He eyed me, my eyes then my lips. I licked my lower lip and batted my eyelashes at him, smiling coyly.

"Don't be naughty. Your dad's looking for an opportunity to skin me already. Your hand shouldn't go higher than that spot on my thigh." He whispered near my ear in a low, deep tone and drew back a little to smile at me.

"Fine." I replied him gently and held his hand that was resting on his thighs. "But I want to keep the skin contact."

"Not here. Be a good girl." He whispered at me, his tone bidding no argument.

"Fine." I huffed.

"What does your brother do?" Diego asked me softly.

"He's a real estate manager and likes Kara. He has a massive crush on her." I told him excitedly. My brother was the perfect guy. Good looking, confident, the one with the perfect grades, the one that was offered a job immediately he got out of college and all but leave it to him to just spot Kara and he'd immediately become a mess, stuttering his words, acting all shy and stuff.

Maybe things would change now that he had a girlfriend he's serious about.

Speaking of Kara, I looked up to see her approaching us with Natalia now heading towards the restroom area.

"Kara."

Diego and I looked towards the source of the voice.

Daniel. He'd had a crush on Kara since the first time he met her, when we were both freshmen. Even though he was now in a relationship, Kara still obviously held a dear spot in his heart.

Daniel got up and immediately side hugged Kara, who squealed when she saw him.

"Daniel! It's been so long." She playfully slapped his shoulder, smiling up at him.

"Erm, yes. I've been busy with work." Daniel cleared his throat, his neck red. Was this guy even close to his thirties? Was this the confident and cocky brother I'd known all my life? He wasn't acting like one right now.

"What did I tell you?" I whispered to Diego who nodded and eyed them with twinkling eyes, obviously enjoying the show.

"Be careful baby, your dress." Of course that came right from Stephano, the king of jealousy who was right behind her. He immediately rested a hand on the small of Kara's back after she pulled back from Daniel.

"Hello Mr and Mrs Houston. It's been so long. How's your health?" Kara asked my dad. He was sick a while back but that was when I lost Lucas. I was honestly too traumatized to pay him a visit. When I learnt about his health, he was already recovering.

"Just fine Kara. You look really beautiful dear." My dad said while Kara hugged my step-mom who started gushing over Kara's outfit and her thick black hair that was curled in waves. Trust my mother on that one.

Kara took turns speaking with them and then introduced Stephano to them as her boyfriend.

My dad knew Stephano. The young Italian billionaire and heir of the Alfonsi corporation but he'd never met him in person until now. And to say he was impressed would be an understatement.

Daniel excused himself to use the gents after straightforwardly telling Kara he was three year late to ask her out as he'd developed a crush for her. This earned him a smirk from Stephano, though Kara didn't notice how her boyfriend was smirking evilly at her admirer.

I coughed and watched Daniel leave with a blinding smile while Kara just giggled. She must've thought he was joking.

Kara and Stephano took their seats with us and we all started talking.

Daniel returned a while after and cleared his throat. "Kara, do you have a sister?"

Kara shook her head and giggled like the question was the funniest thing she'd heard in a long time. "No I don't. Diego however, is my twin brother."

"Ah, really? It's nice to meet you then, Diego. Kara here is someone I hold dear to my heart." My dad smiled at Diego, his attitude towards him doing a three sixty. Wasn't he just glaring at him for pecking my forehead a while ago?

We all started talking then and giggling at funny things Daniel or Hailey would chip in once a while.

"Diego?" Someone suddenly called behind me.

Diego turned around, his hand now on my thigh where he was drawing random patterns.

"Cindy." Diego frowned, then smiled. He got up and side hugged the lady. I eyed her.

She was Kara's height, meaning she was like two inches shorter than me and had dangerously wide hips. She was a brunette with shoulder length hair and her dress barely reached her thighs. But she was beautiful, with a love shaped face and pouty, full lips.

"What are you doing here?" She eyed him and licked her lower lip.

What. The. Actual. Fuck. Was that for?

"My girlfriend graduated today." Diego told her and smiled at me, reaching over to pick my right hand and peck the back of it. I almost purred at his cuteness.

Cindy's face fell but she quickly covered it up with a fake beam. "Oh really? Wow! Congratulations. I also graduated today."

"How come?"

"Transfer. I transferred here last year after taking two years off. I decided to get a degree and see where life takes me from there." She shrugged.

Diego nodded. "Oh, let me introduce you to everyone. This is my girlfriend Adrian. These are her parents, Adrien and Hailey Houston, her brother Daniel, my twin sister Kara and Kara's boyfriend, Stephano." He introduced us.

"Oh. Hello everyone. I'm Diego's- uhm, friend." She laughed sheepishly. "It's nice to meet you all." She rushed out, swiftly moving her eyes around the table before resting them on him once again like she didn't even want her eyes off him in the first place. "Take a picture with me okay? I'm leaving for California in two hours so I should be leaving here soon." She told him without waiting for us to even say hi to her.

Rude much? I scoffed and went back to picking my dad's glass of wine and taking a drink. If she could ignore us, them I could also pretend she was merely a speck of dust.

"Oh sure." Diego replied. I could see her gesture to someone who came and took a picture of her and my man.

Then she promised to call him and pecked his cheek before hurrying off.

"Sorry for that, everyone. That was an old friend."

Kara exchanged glances with Stephano while I did with Daniel. Diego picked my hand and placed it on his thigh once more, playing with it and occasionally chipping in when my dad, Stephano and Daniel were talking.

The conversation flowed after that but my mind was now constantly drifting to that Cindy.

What did she mean by, "Hello everyone. I'm Diego's- uhm, friend."?

I shook my head and just conversed with my family, deciding to be the happiest I could be today with my loved ones all around me. They were more important than her. And there was no way I would allow the thoughts of her ruin the beautiful things between me and my boyfriend, especially on my graduation.

No way in hell.

*

Tada! How many of you hate Cindy already? Hahahaha. Please don't. She merely has the hots for Diego. There's no crime in that. 😉