[Heath's POV]
Last night was a true dream come true; not only did I get to be with the woman of my dreams, but I also got to wake up with her in my arms.
Though it was rather presumptuous of us to sleep on the floor of the restaurant, I held her cold, trembling body gently. "Fiona, I think it is time to wake up," I whispered in her ear.
"Let me sleep a little longer," she grumbles in her sleep.
I guess her sleep is worth more than the warmth of her bed. I chuckle as she snuggles closer to my chest, "You will get more sleep when we get back to your room, Fiona."
She ignores my plea and continues to rest, though I wouldn't mind her sleeping a little longer; the cleaning staff had already started entering, and they were getting ready to clean.
"Fiona, this is someone's workplace. We cannot stay here any longer, as they need to work," I whisper gently.
"Ugh…... Fine," she says, rubbing her cute eyes. I could watch her act bratty all day long while feeding into her ways like a fool.
We started packing the pillows and blankets we had sneaked into the restaurant; well, I started packing because Fiona just stood there pouting at me.
"Oh my God," I hear one of the ladies from the cleaning staff exclaims. She is a very elderly woman, maybe in her late 70s, but I could be wrong because I am sure that is way past the retirement age.
Her brunette hair has no grey in it, making me think maybe I am not wrong with my assumptions that she is a little younger than 70 years old.
But then again, her face is full of wrinkles if she has spent a lot of years watching the sunrise and sunset. She could also age because of the work and stress, as her face could tell; she was exhausted.
"Fiona Lennon? Is that you?" she chimes happily. I look at Fiona, who looks very unhappy. She hadn't looked the lady's way yet, but I assume she already knows who it is by the hurt on her face.
"I am done with packing, let's go," I chime quickly, trying my best to whisk her away before the lady reaches where we are.
But with a blink of an eye, she already has her hands around Fiona's body, embracing her in a hug that is not being reciprocated.
"My beautiful niece, it really is you," the lady chimes, refusing to let go of Fiona.
Fiona never really talked about her family; well, she talks a lot about her parents and their love for her, and how greatly they raised her. But she has never spoken of her extended family.
"Um…... It must be great to meet you, ma'am, but right now, Fiona and I need to be somewhere. I am sure you will catch up later on," I say, trying my best not to sound angry, because by the look on my Fiona's face, this woman is not one she wants to see.
"Oh, nonsense, why wouldn't Fiona want to talk to her aunt?" the lady says, looking at Fiona with a pleading face.
"Uh…. Aunt, it has been a while," Fiona says bitterly, "how have you been?"
"Oh... Fiona, we have been awful, wait, here," she says, looking at the door before she starts shouting, "Claude, Henry, come here, look who I just found."
"Listen, ma'am, I am really happy for this family reunion of yours, but now is not the time," I say firmly, "you will get to see Fiona another time, call her if you miss her so much."
This time, my anger could not be masked; I could see Fiona holding back tears already, and I had decided these were not the people fit to see her cry; they didn't deserve her tears.
"Oh…... but wouldn't it be better if she meets her uncle and cousin first?" the woman says sadly, but I don't care how sad or hurt she is; she clearly hurt Fiona before because I would die before I would let her anywhere near Fiona.
"But aunt...." Fiona tries to speak, but she is cut short when two equally aged men join in.
"Fiona Lennon? Is that you, my beautiful niece, one of the aged men with hair similar to Fiona says.
Ugh… I hate how crowded this is becoming, "Uncle Henry, Claude," Fiona says bitterly.
"Did Annalise tell you how bad our lives have been?" the uncle says, crowding Fiona's personal space.
I violently grab him by the collar and yank him away from her personal space, "Sorry, sir, stop suffocating her, she can hear you."
"Hey, stop being rude to my husband, how dare...."
"Mr. Duncan, is that you?" Claude chimes, stopping his mother from making a grave mistake. Annalise stands there flabbergasted, closing her mouth in awe.
"Oh… the owner of the yacht, Mr. Duncan?" the lady says slyly. "It seems you have caught yourself a big fish here, Fiona."
"This is so good, my dear niece, now you can help with our financial problems," the uncle says.
"Huh…. How greedy," Fiona says angrily, "after taking all my parents ' hard-earned money for yourselves, you still dare to ask for more money from me?"
"Oh…. My dear niece, I have no words, I don't know where we should start while apologizing," the aunt says so shamelessly.
"Keep it, Aunt, you pretended to take me in from the goodness of your heart when mom and dad died, only to discard me after the insurance had paid up, telling people, oh, those workaholics didn't save for their daughter's future, while buying houses and cars with my parents' money."
"Fiona child…..."
"What happened? What happened to my mom and dad's hard work? What did you do with the money my mother and father worked so hard for? They didn't take sick days, even when their bodies were rotting, they still worked hard for that money," Fiona says, her teary eyes.
"Oh… my niece, so much has happened," her aunt says.
"How could you have wasted 5 million of the money my mom and dad died working so hard to save," she says her voice cracking and floods of tears falling streaming down her face, "you should be having the times of your lives enjoying the money you didn't contribute to making while their child suffers in the street you left her at to fend for yourselves."
"We are sorry, we didn't mean to abandon…..."
"Shut up, I don't care about you abandoning me, I care about you wasting the money my parents' slaves away for, and there is not a single trace of you doing anything productive with it. How dare you? How dare you waste my parents' lives just to end up worthless?"
"Fiona! They are still your elders, watch what you say to them," Claude says so boldly, how I wish to strangle him until his last breath. The clear condescending tone shows how he doesn't respect my Fiona.
"Shut up Claude, you are no different, you were a child then, but you have no excuse to end up as a sorry excuse for a human, I held back suing you for my inheritance money because I had thought you did something productive with the money, guess what, I am suing all of you for my inheritance, how dare you waste my parents' blood sweat and tears?"
"Cousin, you can't be serious. Ugh, guess you are still the spoilt brat you used to be, just because your parents have money and mine don't, guess what, you're useless orphan, your parents are dead...…"
I hear him yelp as he collides with the glass counter, breaking it in the process, "You seem to have a lot to say, saying those words so shamelessly." I growled. This is not the first time I heard someone mock Fiona's lack of parents, and I am tired of it already.
"Let's go, Heath, they are not worth our time," Fiona chimes angrily, "make sure they keep their jobs, I want them to slave away as they repay every penny they wasted."
I follow her cautiously. I know a little of what is happening right now, but I will support her wholeheartedly even if she never tells me about the specifications of what transpired between her and her so-called 'family.'