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Rings

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Chapter 19: Rings (Evie's POV)

Banging my fist on the door for the fifth time, I groaned loudly. "Rowan!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. When I still got no response, I was two seconds away from leaving and never coming back. 

It was way past lunch and I told Rowan before leaving that I'd be back by now. Not only did he not give me a spare set of emergency keys, but he didn't even tell me the code to the digital lock on his door. Now, when I was standing here and ringing the bell and banging on the door, no one was answering. 

Is he not home? 

Suddenly, a slip of paper slipped through from under the door. Quickly, I moved back and bent down, picking it up and reading the numbers on it. If this was Rowan's handwriting, I would be concerned, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt and said it was Leo's before typing the numbers into the keypad. It beeped before the door unlocked with a click. 

I pushed the doors open and walked in, closing the door behind me, hearing barking from somewhere in the apartment. I headed towards the living room where I heard a lot of giggles and squeals coming from, but the moment I walked in, expecting to see an adorable sight of Leo running around or Leo playing with Niko, but what I saw was just... surreal, in a way. 

"Oh. My. God," I blurted out, watching the sight in front of me with disbelief. "What the hell are you doing?" I couldn't move or say anything else or even process this. 

Leo was lying on his stomach on the floor with a giant painting book in front of him and paint smeared everywhere. On the paper, on the floor, on his hands, clothes, face, even in his hair. And Rowan was sitting right there on the floor beside him, also covered from head to toe in paint. Niko, somehow, didn't have a lot of paint on him, actually. Just a bit on his collar and paws. 

I slowly walked over, sighing. 

"Evie!" Leo jumped up and ran to me. 

I forced a laugh and closed my eyes as he hugged my torso, getting paint all over my lower half. 

It's okay. They're just pants. The paint will come off. Oh God, it's not going to come off, is it? 

"Hey," I chuckled, ruffling his hair, "what have you been... up to?" 

He took my hand, getting green paint there as well. "Painting!" he exclaimed before sitting back down and grabbing the plastic cup, grabbing the fattest paintbrush and dipping it into the tray that had blobs of paint everywhere. 

I remained standing in front of him while Rowan finally looked up at me. He was still dressed in the same clothes but now had paint streaks and little handprints running down his arms and a few smudges on his cheek too. 

"You were supposed to watch him," I said, folding my arms across my chest. 

"I am watching him," he replied calmly, glancing at Leo. 

"Watch him," I repeated, "not watch him destroy everything with paint." 

He rolled his eyes. "He's having fun." 

I sighed in defeat. "Is this why Nate said he doesn't like leaving Leo alone with you?" 

"He said that?" Rowan lifted a brow at me sharply. 

I blinked once then shook my head quickly. "No." 

Leo turned to Rowan, painting a blue streak across his arm. "Look! A heart!" he exclaimed. 

Rowan stared at the blue paint on his arm, then at the messy and huge blue heart, Leo painted onto the page. "A heart indeed," he nodded. 

I couldn't help the small giggle that came out of me at the sight of Rowan sitting on the floor, covered in paint, entertaining a little boy. Rowan looked at me while Leo eagerly got back to painting. "Do you really act like this with him or is it just around me? I don't believe that you use words like 'indeed' around a two-year-old boy." 

"Maybe I do," he replied. 

I nodded, eyeing him doubtfully. "Sure. Indeed, you do." I took my beret off, leaving it on the black glass coffee table, and stepped forward, squatting down in front of Leo. 

He looked at me, set his paintbrush down, and then rested his elbows on his knees while keeping his legs crossed under him and then leaned forward, grinning at me. 

I laughed, booping his nose. "Are you done painting, honey?" 

He nodded, wiping his painted hands on his t-shirt and pants, smothering even more paint everywhere. 

I looked over at Rowan who was staring at me, watching the way I spoke to his nephew with such intensity that I thought I was about to get in trouble. "Then I'll clean you up, come on." I stood back up, holding out a hand. He grabbed it and pulled himself up, jumping over the book, laughing. Stopping at his bag that was sitting on the couch, I reached inside and took out a fresh change of his clothes. "I'm taking him into your bathroom," I informed Rowan. 

"Why?" he asked. 

"To give him a bath. You think I can just scrub this paint off?" 

"If you're giving him a bath, then do it in your bathroom. I've been waiting for you to get back just so I can shower," he scoffed and then stood up. 

"Well, nobody told you to let him make such a mess of himself. If I wasn't back by now, you would have to give him a bath anyway. So you do it. Give your nephew a bath." 

"Uncle Ro-Ro don't know how," Leo sang, shaking his head while still wiping paint onto his shirt, trying to draw a heart on it. 

I pulled my lips together so I wouldn't smile too wide or laugh in Rowan's face but I ended up snorting and covering it up with an incredibly poor fake cough. "You don't know how to give him a bath?" I chuckled. 

Rowan didn't reply and rolled his eyes at me. 

I laughed even harder, throwing my head back before shutting myself up and clearing my throat. Pausing, I watched as Rowan picked some paint out of Leo's hair carefully and gently. "I'll teach you," I declared. 

"I don't think I need to learn to bathe a child from you, Evie." 

"I think you do," I retorted, narrowing my eyes on him. "Come with me. If anything, just watch." 

"Come, come!" Leo said eagerly, waving Rowan over as I started taking him upstairs. 

Once we made it upstairs, Rowan led the way toward his room and opened the door, entering first. We followed behind and I stopped at the huge king-size bed in the middle and left Leo's clothes there. Taking a look around the room, I noted the little things and how 'Rowan' this room was. 

His whole apartment was extraordinary but screamed his name, once you saw it, you couldn't imagine anyone else living here. "Take your shoes off, Leo," Rowan said. Once he did that, I picked him up and had him stand on the bed in the very middle of the room. 

In the very center of the dark room sat Rowan's humongous bed, to the right of the bed, and behind the door was a walk-in closet that was more organized than anybody's closet I'd seen. Button-ups had their own section, blazers and suits hung everywhere too, and his shoes were even lined up in a specific manner. 

Right across from the bedroom door and on the right of the bed, the entire wall was made of a huge glass window that overlooked New York. There were curtains but they were drawn back and New York for once seemed just as pretty during the day as it does at night. At the foot of his bed was a small attached loveseat in charcoal gray and then his bathroom was right at the front too. 

"What did Priya say about the wedding?" he questioned, going into the bathroom and to the right before I heard the faucet turn on and the tub filling up. 

"Arms up," I told Leo. He lifted them up and I pulled his shirt off, ticking him a bit once I did. "Stay right there." Then I went into the bathroom, almost crashing into Rowan who was just walking out. "She gave me the invites. We can write them by hand, I didn't think our guest list would be that big. The church too, she's trying to book for next Friday." He brushed past me and I took a quick look around. 

There was a giant mirror right at the front above the sink, to the right was a fairly big bathtub, and to the left was a shower with a glass cabin that had complete black marble interiors and all the fancy showerheads. I adjusted the temperature for the bathtub and put a little bit of soap in for Leo's entertainment. 

"The guest list, we can make on our own and then send the invitations. And the last thing we talked about was the rings," I said, leaning against the counter while he brought Leo in, seating him on the other side of the sink and standing before him. 

"What rings?" 

"Wedding rings, Rowan," I deadpanned. "We have to buy those on our own. Preferably soon." 

"Fine. We'll go right after this." 

I stopped the water in the tub before it was too high for Leo and then pulled my sleeves up and tied my hair back in a low bun. "All right, come on in." Once Leo sat down, laughing, I knew that he was about to splash water all over us. "No, no, no, don't—" I turned my head the other way, gasping loudly as he sloshed water everywhere, soaking my clothes in an instant while giggling, his nose scrunching up. 

"Wow," he laughed. 

I sighed, facing him. "No, you don't do that to people, Leo." I fake cried before grabbing a towel and taking his hands, beginning to scrub the paint off gently. 

Leo looked at Rowan over my head and laughed harder, waving. 

Turning, I glared at Rowan over my shoulder who stood there against the sink, arms folded across his chest, watching us in amusement. "You suck, Rowan," I ground out. 

He walked over and squatted beside me, resting an elbow on the edge of the tub. "You were saying something about how I don't know how to bathe a child. Apparently, neither do you, Lyubov," he smirked at me. 

I shot Leo a pointed look and he yelled, "Wow!" again and soaked Rowan's clothes as well, making him huff in annoyance. 

"Apparently, neither do you, Lyubov," I mocked in a heavy voice and then scoffed.

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Chapter 19

Mr. Rowan Volkov has my dream apartment interiors so I couldn't resist making an aesthetic

dark interiors supremacy >>>

next chapter: wife

wedding? maybe!