You Were Meant for Me

Chapter Seventeen: Disaster Day

Image

After we shopped a bit, Mikaela and I decided to take a break and eat at one of her favorite places in town. The whole time we were together, she was nothing but nice and I couldn’t help but feel a little bad that Ville thought so awfully of her. She was definitely not a troll as he so eloquently put it.

“This little diner is the place my parents went on their first date. To this day they still come pretty regularly whenever dad isn’t traveling.” Mikaela smiled softly as she looked at the menu. “Get whatever you want, my treat.”

“Oh wow, that’s very kind of you! It’s also a neat place, I can see why they would come here after all these years.”

“Yeah, what about your parents? What are they like? She questioned, not looking up from the menu.

“Oh okay, mom and dad… Diann and Mikael. Well, they were college sweethearts and got married so my dad stayed in the US. It’s our first family trip to Finland, actually. I don’t know, mom has a clothing line and dad’s a hot shot COO business man.”

“Do they still love each other? Are they in love?”

“What?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “I mean, yeah? They’ve been together for 20 plus years so I imagine they’re happy as can be. Can we not talk about my parents anymore? I don’t know what else to say about them.”

“Oh, sorry.” She chuckled nervously. “Have you decided what you want?”

Throughout the meal, I kept noticing Mikaela staring at me more often than not and an uneasy feeling started to grow. I was starting to think Ville was on to something. There was something about her I just couldn’t put my finger on, something strange. I was beyond ready for this to be over with.

As she paid for our lunch, I mentally cursed myself for allowing her to pick me up instead of taking a cab. A part of me was tempted to ditch her and call mummo to pick me up, but a part of me knew it would be faster just to get in the car with Mikaela. She gave me a bright smile as I followed to the car, forcing a fake smile back at her.

When we finally made it to the house, I noticed mummo’s car was gone and I hoped Mikaela didn’t notice. I thanked her for dropping me off and tried to hurry inside but before I could even get the seat belt off, she asked to come in and use the restroom. She noticed my smile disappeared and cleared her throat before looking out of the window, and I instantly felt like an asshole.

“Yeah, yeah, of course. Come on in.”

As Mikaela disappeared into the hall bathroom, the front door opened and my missing family strolled in holding shopping bags from the market. I helped mummo carry her things to the kitchen, knowing all too well she was too proud to ask for any sort of help. Mom and dad were busy putting the few clean dishes up while pappa poured himself a glass of juice.

Just as my mom opened her mouth to speak, Mikaela popped around the corner with a devilish grin on her face. The only thing I heard was the breaking of a glass dish as my dad turned to see her standing there. His face paled as they made eye contact, causing me to raise an eyebrow. Did she know my dad?

“Mom, dad, this is Mikaela. She’s dating one of my new friends, Jussi. We went shopping today… Dad, are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Do you two know each other or something?”

“Uh…” My dad stuttered, at a complete loss for words.

“Go on then, Mikael, or should I tell them instead?” Mikaela teased as she got closer to my dad.

“Jesus, Mikaela. How dare you do this in front of my family?” He seethed, running a hand through his hand as mummo asked what was going on. “How dare you… You had no right to do this.”

“In front of your family? You know what… Fuck you, dad.” She spat in his direction as everyone in the room fell silent due to her words. “Yeah, that’s right. He’s my father. Ask him all about the ‘business’ trips he takes to Helsinki, ask him about the house he bought my mom, ask him about all the money he’s paid us to stay quiet.”

“Mikael…” My mom’s voice barely a whisper. “Please tell me this girl is delusional and everything she’s saying is a lie…”

“Diann,” I watched as he turned to look at my mom, regret written all over his face. “I-I can’t…”

Without skipping a beat, my mom slapped him hard across the face before running out of the kitchen, tears streaming down her face. Seeing Mikaela’s face contort into a smug grin sent me over the edge. Before I knew it, I was in front of her and my fist was flying straight into that crooked smile. My dad yelled out my name, obviously ready to scold me for hitting her, but I was seething, already seeing red.

“How fucking dare you, Mikael, try to punish me for a problem that you single handedly created and kept from every single one of us? You really have the audacity to try to tell me I’m the one in the wrong? Oh, please. If you knew what was good for you, you’d take your little bastard secret over there and get the hell out of here, and I mean that with every fiber in my being.”

He looked at both mummo and pappa, obviously trying to get one of them to support him and tell him to stay, but neither one of them met his gaze. He let out a heavy sigh before walking towards the door. He stopped in front of me and attempted to grab my hand, but I swatted him away as I held back tears.

“Just know, I never wanted you or your mother to find out this way.”

As soon as the front door closed, the tears spilled over and I crumpled to the floor in a heap, trying to process what had just happened. I felt hands on my shoulders and looked up to see both of my grandparents, tears streaming down their faces as well. Pappa helped me up from the floor as mummo hugged us tightly.

“Now, Wynter, your mom is going to need you more than ever.” She spoke softly as she petted my hair. “You’ve got to be strong for her, can you do that? Why don’t you go check on her?”

I sucked my tears up and wiped my face as I slowly made my way to the room she was staying in. Even though the door was shut I could hear her sobbing and I bit my lip, trying to keep it together. A soft knock echoed as I stood waiting, not expecting her to open the door. I cautiously opened the door and saw my mom frantically shoving her clothes in her suitcase. Her head snapped up as I entered the room and she pulled me into her body for a long hug.

“I’m sorry, baby.” She whispered through a cry. “I am so so sorry.”

Both of us had finally stopped crying and mom had taken a break from packing, so we were sprawled out on the bed, staring at the ceiling, not saying anything. Not that there really was anything to say anyway. We were both hurt and betrayed, he had lied to everyone for so long. How could he spend time with his secret family then come home to us like it was nothing? I was pulled from my thoughts when there was a knock on the door. I opened it to reveal mummo with a small smile on her red and puffy face.

“I apologize, but you have a guest, Wynter. He’s waiting in the dining room.”

“Oh fuck… Ville.” I gasped as my mom sat up, interested in what I was saying. “Oh my god, I completely forgot I invited him for dinner to meet everyone. I’m so sorry, with everything going on… I’ll tell him it’s not a good time.”

“Nonsense.” My mom sniffled as she got up and made her way to the mirror, fixing her appearance. “I, for one, would love to meet the man before I go. Can you give me a few minutes to freshen up and I don’t know, not look like I’ve spent the past few hours crying?”

I followed mummo out of the room and made my way to the dining room where Ville waited. His back was to me as he studied a couple of pictures hanging on the wall, but once he heard footsteps, he turned and revealed a bouquet of flowers. Without hesitation, I flung myself into his arms and held onto him tight as he hugged me back. He had a smile on his face when I finally pulled myself away from him, but it quickly dropped as he saw my bloodshot eyes and tear stained face.

“Kulta, what’s wrong?” He asked, setting the flowers down to grab my hand. “Whatever it is, you can tell me.”

I looked down the hallway to make sure no one was coming as I started to tell Ville everything that had happened today. I tried to keep my emotions in check, but once I got to the part about Mikael defending Mikaela, I felt the tears falling on my cheek. He didn’t say anything at first, he just wrapped his arms around me and held me tight, and honestly it was just what I needed. I felt safe in his arms.

Even though the day had been an absolute disaster, dinner went surprisingly well. Mummo took an immediate liking to Ville while my mom and pappa were a little harder to win over, but he just had this certain charm to him and by the end of dinner, they were all laughing and chatting like they were the best of friends. It really warmed my heart to see everyone getting along so well, but at the same time it felt a little off because my father should have been there getting to know the man I had taken such a liking to, but now it was never going to happen.

After dinner, Ville waited for me as I quickly packed an overnight bag, making sure I had something nice to wear tomorrow as well. I really didn't want to leave my mom alone, but I knew we would be going home soon and I wanted to spend as much time with the brown haired man as I could, so when he asked if I wanted to stay with him, I all but jumped at the opportunity. I had decided that tonight was the night I was going to try again with Ville. I hadn’t had a single drop of alcohol so there was really no reason he could deny me this time… unless he just really didn’t want me in that way...
♠ ♠ ♠
I'm sorry it took so long to get an update out. I kind of lost motivation to post for a bit, but it's back and I'm back! I've got more to post tonight for you lovies so I hope you enjoy.

Please comment and let me know what you think!

Wynter's clothes

Mikaela