Past

They didn't have many drinks, since Aika had training the next day. Before going back to the hotel, Aika asks Odir to stop at the market to buy wine, juice, and sparkling water to make a different lighter drink for them.

"Would you want to order something to eat? I'm thinking about only snacking, I'm still so full from eating so much sushi." She says, making him laugh.

"Yeah, me too. I ate a lot." He says.

She takes a few snacks and cheese, and he only carries the basket and hugs her from behind while they wait in line to pay. Enjoying doing simple things with her.

Back at the hotel, Aika prepares them a drink that looks more like a soft alcoholic soda.

They enjoy the drinks she made with the snacks on the hotel bed. Odir loves to have her laid between his legs and in his arms. And she's enjoying the weird feeling of being comfortable laid on his chest like that.

"Can I ask you something?" He asks.

"Sure."

"After Aidan was born, did you meet your father again?"

"Once I saw him boarding one of our flights with his bitch. He saw me and dared to ask how I was because I looked good in this job."

"And what did you answer…?" He softly asks.

"Not what I really wanted to answer, because I was at work and people would hear. But I told him that my life and Aidan's stopped being his business when he left us and didn't appear when our mother died. To end the conversation, I told him to have a nice flight. I never saw him again." She answers.

"I must admit that the last thing I want is to meet someone like him. How could he leave you and never come back, even after your mother died? That is sick."

"Aidan never met him, only saw his picture, and even not knowing many details of his personality, Aidan hates him. I'm thankful he didn't come back. He was never a present father, and it always looked like I was a problem for him. When I started to understand what a bad person is, I could see all that in him. One proof it was true was when he left when he found out Mom was pregnant. She told him, and he didn't believe her at first, taking her to a hospital to take an exam there. When it was confirmed, the same day, he left. I have until this day the exam papers that he signed, so he never pretends he didn't know she was pregnant… My mother got so sad… She apologized to me so much for not believing he was a bad man, for always turning a blind eye. We couldn't get more united after that, even more after Aidan was born. My mother worked a lot to sustain us. I stayed at home to take care of Aidan and at night I also always took care of him so she could rest. She had two jobs. I kept my studies online, to always stay home with him, but then she got sick… She was so sick of life, I guess… She didn't want to get treated, because she knew she wouldn't have money and if she died she would only leave us hospital bills to pay, and she knew that she couldn't stop working. I don't know if she blamed herself because of our father and pushed away her disease as she deserved it. I never asked… I just held her hand until she couldn't breathe anymore, promising we were going to be OK." She says more than she was asked.

She never talks much about that and kept blurting out everything to him.

"Sorry for talking too much about something like this… It's in the past." She says when she noticed she talked too much.

"Don't apologize. Ever. I don't want to know about your past to feel pity for you. I just get more and more inspired, and I admire you even more as well. I'm from a rich family and I have no idea of what it means to have a hard time paying bills, to not know what I'll eat the next day because I have no money… You overcame a lot alone, Aika. I'm proud. But don't forget that now I'm here for you. Not for being a financial support, I can feel you're not this kind of girl, but to be your support in other ways too." He says.

She smiles and turns to face him.

"Thank you… For respecting where I come from. Respecting is different from pity. When someone feels pity for me, I feel I wasn't strong enough."

"What do you mean?"

"An example: when I couldn't raise enough money to pay rent, the owner drenched us, but out of pity for Aidan, he let us sleep in the laundry room of the building for a couple of days. I felt horrible, feeling I wasn't strong enough to give Aidan a roof and nice food." She says.

His heart sank lower than he ever felt before. His mate was even homeless before.

He wanted to cry with the real pain in his heart, just to imagine all the difficulties she went through alone.

"You're strong. And you achieved much more than you think." He softly says, passing his thumb on her cheek.

"That past is what made me who I am now." She tells him, with a smile. He smiles too and kisses her lips.

"My girlfriend is the most badass woman in this world." He says proudly, and she giggles, letting the mood lighten and they keep kissing until they roll on the bed to make love sweetly.