Chapter 4 - A bundle of nerves.

Her heart began pounding in her chest as her eyes connected with Nicholas's eyes and they both stared at each other for the next few seconds before breaking their gaze.

"Looks like my brother is here. Let's go say hi."

Alex said but Cara pulled her hand away from him quickly as she looked away.

"I need to go to the bathroom. You say hello for me."

She replied as she hurriedly left the room. She tried to calm her raggedy breath as she walked towards the restroom but it was hard to do it. It had been two weeks.

One long week and five days and it had not been easy to forget that night. She had been relieved earlier thinking that she was not going to see Nicholas but he had proven her wrong and a few seconds of staring at him had made her think that she could not handle seeing him after so long.

Finally in the confines of the restroom, she walked towards the mirrors and contemplated splashing water on her face, no, it would ruin her makeup.  The makeup had taken a while to perfect.

She started washing her hands under the running tap as she took deep breaths. There was no avoiding the inevitable outside, she was still going to see Nicholas and there was nothing she could do about it, unless she wanted to cause a scene and raise suspicion, she had to remain as unbothered as possible.

The bathroom door open suddenly and Cara jumped.

"Are you okay?"

The voice asked and Cara turned around with a smile. It was Stephanie, Nicholas and Alexander's younger sister.

She was their eighteen year old teenage sister and she acted every bit like a petulant rich teenager.

She was in a grey short tulle gown and her golden blonde hair was in beach waves down her back. She always had a sort of smirk on her face and she always reminded Cara of Alex. Their facial expressions and their mannerisms were extremely similar.

"Yes, I'm just a little tired from work."

"Oh, sorry about that. I'm tired of this party though. So fucking lame."

She commented as she rolled her eyes and started digging through her purse.

"How are you doing?"

Cara asked honestly as she rechecked her makeup, she didn't want to really chat with Stephanie but she was looking for an opportunity to stay in the bathroom longer, at least long enough for Alex to have stopped talking to Nicholas.

"Well, I'm bored. Wish I could leave this place and go somewhere else for a while but hell no, Mum and Dad decide that since it's a family dinner and I'm part of the family, I should be spending the better part of my evening listening to an old dead pianist's classical."

Cara chuckled.

"That's definitely something... "

There was a short pause as Cara pretended to be rummaging through her purse in search for something.

"And what's up with you? It looks like you're trying to avoid someone."

"Avoid someone?!!!"

Cara laughed loudly to cover her surprise, she didn't want anyone to have an inkling of whatever was happening.

"Oh no, I just really needed a breather. I think I'll be going back out in a few seconds."

Stephanie shrugged as she finished reapplying another coat of blazing red lipstick.

"Okay then. Whatever."

Cara walked out of the bathroom, she was feeling much more better, at least she was feeling much more in control of her emotions and that was what she wanted.

As she walked into the living room, majority of the people at the dinner had moved to the dining table and she could see that Alex had reserved a seat for her next to him. She quickly scanned the room and found Nicholas engrossed with his date. The girl had shoulder length black hair and a blush pink dress that looked like a mini ball gown, Nicholas was holding on to her waist while he stared at her lustfully. The girl seemed to be laughing at something he said and she kept throwing her head back in laughter. She was pretty, extremely pretty, with soft features and a full kissable kips that looked plump.

Cara sighed, it looked like Nicholas wasn't as bothered as she had expected him to be, perhaps she had worried too much. That was the exact problem, she had worried about it too much. While he seemed not to even give two fucks about it.

She slipped into her seat next to Alex who was watching her intently and she gave him a tight smile.

"You spent quite a while there..."

Cara ignored him as she picked up her phone, she didn't know what to tell him and she didn't want him to pick up any weird signals from her.

"Can you believe Nick?"

Alex spat out in annoyance as he watched his brother at the other end of the dining room kissing his date's neck while she screamed in delight.

Cara's attention was piqued as soon as she heard Nicholas's name.

"What? What happened with him?"

She said as casually as she could as the food arrived.

Alex shrugged.

"First, he comes late, then he brings that and makes a scene with her. He's embarrassing the family with that girl."

Alex said spitefully and Cara rolled her eyes. Before she used to believe that Nicholas was really the mean, uncouth and reckless brother that Alex used to paint him out to be. But over the few days that she had heard Alex complaining about his brother, she decided it was most likely out of jealousy rather than something else. Alex was always finding the faults in whatever Nicholas did.

One of the things he resented about Nicholas was the fact that he had gone off to start his own company, Cara  always felt like Alex was angry that he didn't take that route because from what she could see, Nicholas was damn successful at what he did.

"Hnmmm...."

Cara said as she prepared to dig into her food.

Alex turned to her with a glare.

"Is that all you're going to say?"

He asked and she shrugged.

"Yes. Besides she's probably his girlfriend or something so I don't know."

Cara murmured and Alex chuckled as he leaned closer to her to whisper into her ear.

"My brother doesn't keep girlfriends. He hasn't been in a stable relationship in years."

"Trust me when I say he probably picked up that girl from the streets and paid her to be his date."

Alex added and Cara gave him a reprimanding look.

"Oh come on! Don't say things like that. It's not like you know if it's true."

"Well, I'm telling you what I know and it's true."

He insisted and Cara ignored him. She was still fixated on her phone when Mr Thomas Greene called for a toast.

Everyone looked towards his direction with their glasses of wine in their hands. From the corner of her eye, Cara saw Nicholas and his girlfriend slip in the seats directly in front of hers and she cautioned herself not to look at them.

Mr Thomas Greene was smiling sheepishly as he raised his glass, his wife Angela was also next to him. In the next few months, Cara knew that she was going to be their daughter-in-law, they had been nice to her and she appreciated all the kind gestures and what they had done for her family.

"I'm so grateful and honoured that you have all come here to celebrate with me."

"As you all know, I am a man of very few words. But I just want to say thank you to all of you who are here and thank you for all your well wishes. Cheers!!"

"Cheers!!" The whole table said in unison and soon after the clinking of glasses could be heard. The appetiser was a colourful plate of Carpacio of diver scallop, refreshing appetizer that combines scallops and rock shrimp tempura.

Then they moved to the main dish, which was a lovely dinner with tender lamb chops and a frozen chocolate wonder for dessert. It was simply magical.

"Uhummmm!! Ladies and Gentlemen, I'd like to have your attention."

Alexander suddenly said as he held up his glass and stood up. Cara furrowed her eyebrows as she wondered what the hell he was up to, he never told her he was going to say a speech, nor did he tell her that he was going to give a toast.

Everyone at the table turned to look at him, briefly, Cara's face meets Nicholas and she turns away from him after noting the intensity of his gaze.

"My father, is the greatest man I've ever met..."

Here we go again, Cara thought as she resisted the urge to roll her eyes, she didn't know what it was about Alex but he had one particular speech and a silly story he liked to say whenever he was referring to his father. She quickly tuned him out as she slowly looked up, Nicholas was fully focused on his brother with a smirk on his face as they all watched Alexander deliver my father is a hero speech he had done countless time.

"...Thank you all for celebrating with my family. I assure you, there's more to celebrate since I will be getting married to the love of my life in a couple of months."

"Cheers!!!"

Alexander said and everyone on the table carried their glasses to toast, except Cara and Nicholas.