▐ : ─ (bad) ⇡ c o m p a n y [private]

[Keely Que Linda]

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoIT'S THE PERFECT D E N I A L ...
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoo━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
xxxxx●xxx●xxx●xxxIt's a ❛ ♛ b e a u t i f u l ⋮- lie. )

░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░



Maybe Iliana didn't want to talk to him then? She didn't seem to keen on having much of a casual conversation. She'd much rather take his order than talk. He supposed he couldn't blame her for that. Nonetheless Carlos wasn't really the type to give up easily. If on attempt didn't work, he was sure he could nag her enough to get her to give in. When she left to take their offer, it felt like forever until she came back. Johnny didn't seem too worried or annoyed. He spent his time playing with some napkins on the table

When she returned Iliana didn't seem to pleased. Her smile was no doubt gone. His presence must of upset her some how. Johnathan hadn't really noticed he managed to smile and tell her 'thank you' as he sipped orange juice of the the make·shift cup she put together. "Umm...yeah thanks," He rubs his neck feeling the tension in the air. He look a casual sip of his coffee, a bit surprised at how perfect it tasted. She might not have been too fond of him right now. But she still reembered how he liked his coffee.

"I'm not sure I'll have a break anytime soon ..." She had cleaned her throat and began speaking. Long story short she didn't want to speak with him at all. It wasn't too hard for him to pick up on that. "So tomorrow then?" He raised an eyebrow she said "Maybe tomorrow." He could pick and choose what he wanted to pay attention to after all. "I only need a few minutes Iliana"

“Hey, we're letting you break first since you've been here the longest.” Carlos didn't notice Iliana's co-worker until she 'whispered' and he couldn't help but grin. There was no doubt that was intentional. And was just what he needed to get some alone time with her. “If you let my friend watch the kid, we can talk on my break. It's in about 45 minutes. That's all you're getting.” He frowned slightly at her "the kid" bit. Maybe he was being a bit sensitive but it was almost like she held some sort of grudge against his son or was at least annoyed that he was there to begin with."Forty-five minutes it is then"
.


| --- 45 mins later --- |


"I've been wanting to call you since I got back in town a few days ago" Seated in a slightly more secluded part of the diner, Carlos sipped on what was probably his third cup of coffee in the past two hours. He leaned back momentarily, still making sure Johnathan was entertained, in good hands, and still in his line of sight. Dying to talk to Iliana or not, his son was no doubt his number one priority. "I guess..." He leaned back on the table and looked straight at Iliana. "I you have ample reason not to want anything to do with me. I can't blame you for that. I ******** up"

He couldn't sit here and lie. He knew it was his fault. He messed up what they would've had. But he couldn't turn back time now. "But ... Iliana. What are you doing here? At the diner? I dunno, I just expected you to be this illustrious artist," He shrugged. "Married to a guy probably ten times better than I ever was"



OOC: that is that ending. Hope this is okay..

[justbluefairy]

tab tab tab ι ғєєℓ ℓιкє ʀυɴɴιɴɢ αωαч tab tab tab tab tab tab (чσυ sαч тнαт ι'ℓℓ ɴєvєʀ cнαɴɢє)
tab tab tab tab tab tab (ι'м sтιℓℓ sσ ғαʀ ғʀσм нσмє) tab tab tab tab tab tab вυт ωнαт тнє ғυcк ∂σ чσυ кɴσω?

Iliana still couldn't believe her "friend" forced her to talk to Carlos. It wasn't hurting her any to treat him as if he meant nothing to her. The only reason Iliana managed to make it without a mental breakdown in the first place was that she did her best not to think of him. The only other reason to talk to Carlos would be to make him feel better, and he didn't deserve that. With all that happened, there was no such thing as closure, but if anyone deserved it, it sure as hell wasn't a cheater.

She let Cecilia know of her disapproval every moment possible until it was time for the break. When she was free, Iliana took a moment to grab a plate to eat.. The diner was usually busy, so chances were she'd have only one break, especially given their lack of staff. As per usual, the cook had a bowl of kale, tomato, and white bean soup prepared and kept warm. Lia put the bowl of soup on a tray along with a long glass of water. She paused and took a deep breath before taking off her apron to signify that she was off duty. Iliana wasn't prepared to go sit with Carlos, but if she didn't Cecilia would never let her hear the end of it.

Walking towards Carlos and sitting down at the location he chose for them to meet, she said nothing. She was going to let him talk first--that was her strategy. He'd talk, she'd reply with whatever information she felt comfortable with and appropriate. She would be civil.

Civility was not as easy as she thought it would be. His opening words were about wanting to call her, and she couldn't help but let out a curt “You wouldn't have been able to anyway, I had to change my number years ago.” Iliana didn't need to mention it wasn't her decision to change her number. After she stopped interacting with her parents and they disowned her, she had to get a new phone and couldn't transfer her number. At one point she knew Carlos' number by heart, but that had been long ago. Nonetheless, he didn't need to know that.

Iliana started to eat and nodded at his affirmation of ******** up. “I'm glad you see that, and of course I don't want anything to do with you.” The last bit was almost forced. Iliana was hurt by Carlos and sometimes she truly hated him, but she couldn't deny that she never wished it was different. If Carlos could tell she didn't mean it, he didn't show it and Iliana was glad for that. As he asked what she was doing working at a diner, though, Iliana didn't have to force anything.

“You really want to know what I'm doing here?” Iliana started slowly. She put her spoon back into the bowl in front of her and pushed the bowl away, suddenly having lost her appetite. “Look, I get that you want to talk. I don't know if you think you can make things right, but you can't just parade into town years after you did what you did and expect to talk about life as if nothing happened.” She glared and took a sip of her water before taking a deep breath. It wasn't fair of her to snap at him that way. It felt as if he was rubbing it in her face that he was successful and she wasn't, but she knew deep down that there was no malice intended.

“Sorry, I just don't know how to talk to you anymore. I don't know if I want to or not, but I'm glad that you seem to be doing well. For the record, I am an artist. My art is doing alright, but not well enough to live off of. I still have rent, student loans, various other bills, and savings to worry about. The tips are good here, so...” Iliana went from looking at Carlos to looking down at the bowl of soup, which was getting colder every second. “You know, I was in line to marry someone ten times better than you. I really wanted it to happen, but then he cheated on me, had a kid with someone else, and took off. I don't know what happened to him.”

It took her a moment to realize she hadn't just thought about Carlos before what happened being the man she thought she would marry, she said it out loud. Quickly, she rushed into another sentence. “Why did you really want to talk to me? I don't believe you just wanted to see what I was up to. And if that's what you wanted, I can't help but to ask...what changed?” Iliana couldn't help but feel sad about how much she had changed over the years. Actions between friends were the same, but when it came to men she was a completely different person: hardened, guarded, and unwilling to put up with anything less than she deserved. She missed the carefree way she used to approach life. Now it was all business with no play and a side of art.



ι'ℓℓ вυʀɴ ιт αℓℓ тσ тнє ɢʀσυɴ∂ вєғσʀє Ι ℓєт чσυ ιɴ
Ρℓєαsє ғσʀɢιvє мє, ι cαɴ'т ғσʀɢιvє чσυ ɴσω.
ι ʀємємвєʀ єvєʀчтнιɴɢ.

[justbluefairy]

ι cαɴ'т sαч тнє devil мα∂є мє ∂σ ιт.
ι cнσsє тσ вє тнє σɴє ι αм, the way I am today.
ι ωιsн тнєʀє ωαs вυт тнєʀє's ɴσ ωαч αʀσυɴ∂ ιт.
ιɴ тнє єɴ∂ I made the choice αɴ∂ ωιℓℓ ɴσт ∂ιє αsнαмє∂.

Julian just didn't understand how anybody could settle for a job they weren't happy with. Sure, he wasn't 100% happy with his job, but the money more than made up with the fact that he had to put up with pointless office drivel in addition to the enjoyable networking and public speaking. If his salary wasn't so beautiful, he would demand interviews with top-of-the-notch companies and get what he wanted. It seemed to Julian that Briella wasn't in her "zone" at his company. It wasn't paying her much and that was a shame. It was even more of a shame because Julian was notorious for treating his assistants either a) like s**t or b) like arm candy. B was not an option here, so Julian had to decide if he was going with option A or create a new option C.

"Simple? I guess. This job just doesn't seem like the kind you'd be interested in. I know I'm a wonderful boss and all, but you could do better."

Julian settled on a mix between A and B for now. Julian ignored her remark about how he didn't seem interested in working there and took the proposal she slid towards him. In looking at the chosen program, he furrowed his brow. It wasn't that he didn't like children or anything--he did. Well, children were alright, he just didn't think there was a place for them in his business. He couldn't be the person he was and also mildly care about children. It just wasn't good for his image. Not to mention, it wasn't his or anybody's job to feet children but those children's parents. There was government assistance for that.

"I'll think about it, I guess. I can't imagine the guidelines for this thing would be any different than current guidelines for the free and reduced lunch programs already implemented at most schools." Julian slid the proposal to the area of his desk that was for generally important items, since he would have to actually read the thing at some point. "Since I can't beat this level of Candy Crush, I'll do a little background work on this proposal to see if it would kick off." Was he really interested in the cause? Not really. His company didn't tend to invest a lot in non-profit. His mother was the charity type, not him or his father. They tended to keep their money to themselves or blow it on cars and booze. If he was going to consider something like this, he wasn't going to waste his good deed on a program doomed to fail.

Julian opened a database search on his computer to see if there was a local need for this mumbo jumbo. "Okay, did your degree teach you anything about current children's food programs and their pros or cons?" he asked as he stared at his computer screen.


ιт's нαʀ∂ ғσʀ мє тσ υɴ∂єʀsтαɴ∂ мчsєℓғ.
Sσ ιт нαs тσ вє нαʀ∂ αs нєℓℓ ғσʀ чσυ.

[Keely Que Linda]

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoI KNOW THINGS GET H A R D, BUT GIRL YOU GOT IT
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoo━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
xxxxx●xxx●xxx●xxxgirl you ❛ ♛ g o t ⋮- it, there you go. )

░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░

Briella wanted to roll her eyes. He spoke as if he actually knew her. He had no clue about what she was interested in, no clue about what she liked, who she really even was. They had one night, one mistake of a night; the only good that came of it was her daughter. And nothing else. "Don't give yourself too much credit Mr. Reynolds," If she had to guess he was making his observations - if you could even call it that - biased solely on something as superficial as her appearance.

She took yet another sip of coffee and supposed he had a point. He did seem quite similar to the reduced lunch programs in school. Though those never helped her out much when she was a child. Even when her parents were struggling living; paycheck to paycheck, her parents still "made too much money" to get her free or reduced lunch. But there wasn't much of a reason to bring that up.

"Okay, did your degree teach you anything about current children's food programs and their pros or cons?" Briella sighed, turning her self completely towards his desk. Today was going to be a long day.


- - Time Skip [2 weeks] - -


"I'm sorry Ms. Maki. I was just getting around to calling you. The daycare is going to be closed for the next few days," Raising an eyebrow, Briella didn't quite understand what was going on. The glass doors to the daycare were shut, the room that was usually packed with screaming children vacant, Rebecca Harris whom Briella had come quite familiar with over the last two weeks looked at her apologetically.

"What's going on?,"

"A few parents have reported their children having lice over the past few hours. We've decided to close the daycare until we can be certain the room is no longer contaminated,"

Taking a deep breath Briella smoothed some hair out of her daughters face. What was she going to do exactly? Her parents were at work, they wouldn't be able to take care of Elise and watch her. She wouldn't dare ask Iliana to babysit, she was well aware of how busy the diner could get and there was no doubt Elise wouldn't be too happy sitting in a busy diner all day.

"Because of the circumstances," Briella snapped back in to reality as Rebecca spoke. She already knew what she was going to say and she was dreading.it "You'd be able to take Elise up stairs with you until the daycare reopens. It's already been okayed by the higher ups,"

"Take her up stairs with me?" Rebecca nodded, a smile on her face. "Oh god" was all Briella could think. There was no way she could avoid Julian seeing Elise now.


- - Time Skip [10 minutes later] - -


Briella had made her way upstairs with Elise as slow as possible. She'd called her both her parents at least a half a dozen times. But no answer. There was no option, she had to go upstairs and she had to take Elle with her. As the door to the elevator rang, Elise stayed close to her side, her favorite stuffed animal in one hand and her mother's hand in the other.

Bree had stopped for a moment of chit chat with Savannah, the receptionist at the front desk, before heading to her own corner of the office. Savannah too had her daughter with her, the same age as Elise. Throughout the day Elise would at least have a companion to play with.

"Alright baby girl. You stay right here. Mommy's gonna be right back," A small pout made it's way on Elise's face. "Mommy..." She whined. "One second okay Elle, I promise. I'll be right here if you need me," She nodded, looking to the ground as she swung her feet back and forth. Standing Briella reached for a stack of papers she had been organizing the night before. Items that needed to be looked over and signed by Julian himself.

"Mr. Reynolds," Leaving the door slightly ajar, Briella walked in and placed the papers on his desk. "I have a few papers that need your approval and your - ," "Mommy..." Briella looked back to see her daughter standing at the doors entrance, her stuffed animal clutched to her chest. She looked over at Julian momentarily before looking back at her mother. "Sweetie, I told you I'd be right back," "I don't wanna be by myself..."

Briella took a deep breath. She was s concerned with shielding Elise from Julian she hadn't taken a moment to think about what her child was feeling. "Come here, Elle,". She didn't hesitate to get to her mother's side. Only to hide behind her once she took another glance in Julian's direction. "I'm sorry," She ran her fingers through the girls hair as she looked down at her. "The daycare is closed for a few days. Rebecca said parents got the okay to bring their kids up with them," Briella didn't look directly at Julian, she couldn't. "She's really quite and won't cause any trouble,"

Maybe things would go off without a hitch. He'd ignored all her calls years ago when it came to her pregnancy and Elise being born. Maybe he wouldn't remember a thing about it. She at least hoped so because she had no intentions of bringing it up.



OOC: That ending just no

[Keely Que Linda]

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoIT'S THE PERFECT D E N I A L ...
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoo━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
xxxxx●xxx●xxx●xxxIt's a ❛ ♛ b e a u t i f u l ⋮- lie. )

░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░





He'd be lying if he said he wasn't a bit nervous about talking to Iliana right now. In fact for the past few days Carlos had spent time practicing what he might say in the mirror, going over the various ways a one-on-one conversation between them could go. And as much as he wanted to fool himself in to thinking that they'd share small talk and instantly patch holes in their relationship, he knew better than that. What he'd done, he'd be more than surprised if she'd ever forgive him for it. He'd be surprised if he'd ever be able to gain her trust again. It wasn't a simple thing to get over; being cheated on. It wasn't an easy task to turn the other cheek, forgive and forget. Carlos couldn't blame her if she held it against him. He still didn't forgive himself for it.

Carlos wondered if it he had been the reason why she changed her phone number. Cut off as many ties with him as humanly possible. It would've made sense after all, he had made a few attempts after their falling out to contact her, but to no avail. Her following statement however, felt like a knife through his chest. Sure he brought it on himself but that didn't make it hurt any less.

"Yeah, I haven't seen you...been around. I can't be curious about you anymore" He got it, he was gone. But he was under the assumption that she didn't want to see him again. She needed time to cool off, what was he going to do? Hover? Not give her space? His statement didn't go over well with her and if she was getting frustrated so was he. "I - " He couldn't come up with an excuse for that. Because he did want to pretend it didn't happen. Sure he knew better, sure he couldn't forget it but he wished he could. He took a breath raking his fingers through his curls.

Iliana was never really one to hold back what was on her mind.

And that left him quite speechless. He bit his tongue. If only she knew how much he did for her before he sent their relationship down the pipe. Everything he did was to; keep her living comfortably, get her everything she wanted, to make sure she was happy. He wanted her parents to see that he wasn't just some "rock star" with pipe dreams who couldn't go anywhere or make anything of himself. He wanted them to know that he could take care of her, make her happy. But in the end he not only proved them right but he'd lost her in the process.

"What's changed? What do you even mean by that?" He raised an eyebrow at her. "I didn't want to leave Iliana," But he had to, he had responsibilities to take careful, a child on the way. There was nothing he could've done. "I missed you," Carlos looked up through his curly hair as he said so. "I guess that may be a surprise to you Iliana but I did and I still do. That hasn't changed," The sound of Carlos Jr.'s laughter caused him to turn back momentarily, it was good to see that least someone was enjoying themselves.

"Look," Another deep breathe before he leaned forward in his seat, elbows against the table. "I get it, your mad at me, hell you probably hate my guts and ... " He sighed shaking his head. "I'm not asking you to forgive me, I'm pretty sure I don't deserve that. I just...I want ... I'd like it if we got back to a good place," Carlos never liked speaking about his feelings or expressing them, he was never good at it. "I won't sit here and lie and say that I don't think about you, cause I do," A lot more than she might have thought, Iliana had always his inspiration, his muse not just in music but in life, and he missed that, he missed her. "I wanna start over,"



OOC: I hope you like it, I think I was kinda rambling on and all over the place. XD

[justbluefairy]

tab tab tab ι ғєєℓ ℓιкє ʀυɴɴιɴɢ αωαч tab tab tab tab (чσυ sαч тнαт ι'ℓℓ ɴєvєʀ cнαɴɢє)
tab tab tab tab tab tab (ι'м sтιℓℓ sσ ғαʀ ғʀσм нσмє) tab tab tab tab вυт ωнαт тнє ғυcк ∂σ чσυ кɴσω?

To say that Iliana hated her ex-boyfriend's guts would have been an understatement. Would have been if it were true, that is. Unfortunately--or fortunately?--Iliana didn't hate Carlos. Despite everything (the cheating, the pregnancy, and the abandonment) she still loved him.

That wasn't to say that should would just drop everything and take Carlos back, though. Iliana was still plenty angry with him for what went down. She originally wanted to work out their differences so they could stay together. They had been together for a really long time and she wanted nothing more than to have a fairytale happy ending. Yet and still, things change. Carlos' disappearing act and the fact that he was left to take care of the kid made it difficult for Iliana to find her merciful side.

The truth of the matter was that being without Carlos was good for Iliana. Without him cheating on her she would have been happy, but she would have never learned to function as an adult. Carlos took care of her when they lived together, and before that she had servants, parents, and maids to take care of her. After they broke up and she cut herself off from her parents, Iliana grew comfortable doing things on her own rather than handing the difficult tasks to the people that cared about her. That time alone forced her to grow up.

Being a "grown up" in this situation wasn't easy with or without that time to learn. All she wanted to do was put her fingers in her ears so she didn't have to hear what Carlos had to say. She wanted to yell at him and tell him how stupid he was, not sit there and let him be nice to her. Being angry felt better than the alternative, so that was what Carlos would have to deal with until she had the chance to collect herself in the comfort of her own bedroom.

“Didn't want to leave? Oh? If you didn't want to leave you shouldn't have. Plain and simple.” Iliana understood that the whole situation was complicated and chances were things would not have worked out, but she just couldn't help but be bitter. It wasn't all his fault that they hadn't kept in contact, but it didn't appear that Carlos tried to make any effort to see or talk to her. Iliana was fairly active in the community now that she wasn't weighed down by her snooty parents--one day of talking to strangers in the city and she was sure Carlos would have found out where she lived.

Iliana sat there for a moment, seething. If she wasn't already mad with him, the fact that he thought he didn't deserve her forgiveness made her even angrier. What kind of thinking was that? The talk of a cheater that knew what he did was wrong, sure, but that thinking would do nothing to make it better.

“Let me set the record straight, Carlos. I forgave you for cheating on me a long time ago. A really long time ago.” Iliana looked down at her watch and figured she better get ready to go back to work. She continued her mini rant as she gathered her belongings. “We can't start over. The re-do button disappeared when you did. If you want us to get to a good place--if you want us to be friends--you need to talk to me this time instead of running.”

Her friend Cecilia, noticing that she was getting up from the table, came over with the kid. She grabbed the tray of Iliana's hardly touched food and gave Lia a look that said "be nice" as she went back to the kitchen with the dishes. Meanwhile, Iliana turned back to Carlos, ignoring the kid.

“Just give me some time to process you being here and maybe we can get together on one of my rare off-days. What we need to talk about will take longer than a quick lunch break and I need to get back to work.”

Iliana didn't wait for Carlos to ask her when they could get together or how they'd plan the so-called get together, she just put her apron back on and returned to work. She was more than sure that Cecilia would be nosy and give him Iliana's number.


ι'ℓℓ вυʀɴ ιт αℓℓ тσ тнє ɢʀσυɴ∂ вєғσʀє Ι ℓєт чσυ ιɴ
Ρℓєαsє ғσʀɢιvє мє, ι cαɴ'т ғσʀɢιvє чσυ ɴσω.
ι ʀємємвєʀ єvєʀчтнιɴɢ.

[justbluefairy]

ι cαɴ'т sαч тнє devil мα∂є мє ∂σ ιт.
ι cнσsє тσ вє тнє σɴє ι αм, the way I am today.
ι ωιsн тнєʀє ωαs вυт тнєʀє's ɴσ ωαч αʀσυɴ∂ ιт.
ιɴ тнє єɴ∂ I made the choice αɴ∂ ωιℓℓ ɴσт ∂ιє αsнαмє∂.

Julian was having a pretty great morning. He woke up to a beautiful lady leaving his bed, had breakfast with some fancy executives, and best of all hadn't seen his assistant yet. Even he had to admit that she was good at her job, but Briella was too good. So good that he had to start coming up with tasks that didn't involve sitting in the same room with her.

To start with, Julian's parents liked the work she was doing. The liked the fact that she had gotten him to fund a charity for children that was likely to be a huge success. Even worse, Julian found that he liked working with the group towards making the charity actually happen. He was going soft and didn't want his friends (albeit douchebag friends) to find out that he was doing things like interviewing families and talking to kids during his leisure time. Big ick.

To top it off, Julian finally remembered who she was. It took him a week and a half to realize that she was one of the many women he banged and never saw again after high school graduation. Back then he was your basic male slut, never sleeping with the same woman twice. These days Julian still had tons of sex, but he usually stuck with the same person in a no strings attached fashion.

He hadn't changed much, but he secretly felt bad that he ignored each call and deleted every voicemail about a kid. There was nothing he could do to apologize for that, though, so he would continue to ignore it and go about his usual facade. As far as he was concerned, he wasn't the little girl's father any more than he was his biological father's son.

Nonetheless, there was talk around the office that the daycare was closed due to a breakout of lice. This meant that there was a chance he'd actually have to see the kid he was doing his best to ignore. He could be cool, calm, and collected. Maybe. Walking around the office and gathering what he needed for his most recent batch of proposal edits and reviews, he hoped that Bree had been able to find someone to watch the kid while she was at work.

It appeared that he was in luck... for a hot second. Julian was sitting at his desk and leafing through a tall stack of papers to put them in order (yes, every once in a while he actually WORKED at work) when Briella came through the door with a stack of papers.

"Thanks." Julian took hold of the papers without looking up, paper clipped them, and added them to the stack he was working on. The sound of a child sure made him look up, though. "Damn." Julian thought the world would do him a solid and send Bree a babysitter. How was he supposed to ignore her now?! She was a cutie and an innocent kid that hadn't given him any reason to hate her. He wracked his brain and tried to come up with an excuse as to why the kid couldn't stay in the office. He even thought about firing Bree, but there was no way HR would approve a firing on the grounds that the employee at question was breaking through his usual persona.

"Uhhhhh, yeah. Sure. As long as I can get my work done, whatever. There's probably a chair or something for her to sit on in the utility closet." Julian looked back down at his papers. This would be easy. She was just a little kid! Nothing she could say or do would make him feel like an a*****e for refusing to raise her. He took a quick glance at her again and he was suckered into making sure she was entertained. "Does she like games? I've got handhelds and board games in the filing cabinet." Yep. Kids were proving to be Julian's undoing.


ιт's нαʀ∂ ғσʀ мє тσ υɴ∂єʀsтαɴ∂ мчsєℓғ.
Sσ ιт нαs тσ вє нαʀ∂ αs нєℓℓ ғσʀ чσυ.

[Keely Que Linda]

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoI KNOW THINGS GET H A R D, BUT GIRL YOU GOT IT
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoo━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
xxxxx●xxx●xxx●xxxgirl you ❛ ♛ g o t ⋮- it, there you go. )

░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░

Briella felt as if she was going to be sick. This had become uncomfortable rather quickly. She always thought she'd be more than capable of keeping Julian and Elise as far away from each other as humanly possible. When she had given up trying to let Julian be involved in Elise's life, she made a promise that she'd never let him appear in to Elise's life and turn it upside down. The last thing her daughter needed was to have her "father" - and that term was used lightly - introduced in to her life, only to abandon her for a second time. It was one thing for Julian to not involve himself at all, and another for Elise to know he exists and form an attachment to him, only to have him leave because he; "doesn't want to do this anymore" or "doesn't want or kid"

Elise was at the age where questions like "Mommy, where's my dad" or "What's my dad like?" were a regular occurrence. For the most part, Briella manged to change the subject and drive Elise's attention towards something else, but it never lasted long. Elise didn't need Julian, as much as she might have needed - or as much as Briella would've preferred - she have a constant father figure in her life, Elise has her grandfather to take that roll and if it were deemed necessary, Briella's older brother had no issues with spending some time with his niece. She had done fine these past four years without Julian and she found no need for him now. He pretended to be oblivious these past few years, he might as well continue being obvious for the rest of his life.

"Thanks, But she'll be fine. She has her books a -"
"Mom, please can I?" Elise bounced on the tip of her toes. Making Briella sigh. She shook her head. He wasn't even apart of her life and he was already messing up how she parented. "I don't wanna read books all day" The little girl, whined and pouted, which occasionally got her her way.

Briella really didn't want Elise rotting her brains out with some hand held games all day. Not to say she didn't allow her daughter to play video games, but it was usually in moderation and for the most part it they were educational. If it weren't for the fact that she were at work and arguing with a four year old wasn't was taking up crucial time, Elise wouldn't have gotten her way.

"Alright, but you're not playing those all day," Briella looked at Julian for the first time since her daughter entered the room. "Thanks," She actually meant that, there was no way she'd be able keep the little one entertained on books alone all day. Annoying or not, he did something right.

"I'll uh...go get the chair," She looked down at Elise and ran her fingers through her hair. "Don't give him any trouble. I'll be back," There was no point taking Elise with her. At this point what could possibly happen. Leaving Elise with Julian for two minutes wasn't going to alter anyone's life. That didn't mean she didn't intend to speed walk to the utility closet. He really needed to invest in a couch for his office.

"So," Rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet, Elise peeked over Julian's desk, her purple rabbit still in her hand. "Whats your name?" She smiled up at him with her brown eyes. "My name's Elise! I'm four!" She lifted her rabbit in to the air and waved it around slightly. "Her names Bun-Bun"



OOC: Looool, leaving Julian with Elle cause I'm meannn

[Keely Que Linda]

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoIT'S THE PERFECT D E N I A L ...
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoo━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
xxxxx●xxx●xxx●xxxIt's a ❛ ♛ b e a u t i f u l ⋮- lie. )

░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░




If Carlos didn't think that Iliana needed to vent and the fact that his son wasn't a few tables away he probably wouldn't have held his tongue. Pissed at him or not, he didn't think that was far. He had responsibilities. He may have went to take care of the mother of his child, but last time he remembered, Iliana was the one who packed her things and left the apartment. It wasn't as if he up and left without a word, she did. His phone calls and messages went on deaf ears. If she missed him so much, if she really forgave him that long ago, the least she could've done was pick up the phone.

It seemed rather selfish of her really, everything was 'me and my feelings" it was as if she couldn't put herself in his shoes. Yes he knew he was wrong, yes for the most part he wished he could go back and changed what happened. Other than having Carlos Jr. in his life, nothing good came out of that one night stand. Junie's mother wasn't if his life, and if she had had her way, Junie wouldn't have been born in the first place. The first few months of her pregnancy Carlos had spent convincing her to keep the baby, that if she didn't want it, he'd take sole custody.

He had done just that, up until he realized that single parent life with a new born wasn't easy when touring the country and trying to get your music career off the ground. Thankfully his parents had no issues taking shared custody of Junie, while Carlos perused his dreams.Granted he could have made attempts to contact Iliana then, but he'd made the assumption that she had moved on. Her parents never approved of him, no matter what he did to make sure she was comfortable and had everything she needed. He figured his mistakes made her see things through her parents eyes and if that was the case, there wasn't a point in trying anymore.

Nonetheless this wasn't the time or the place for them to air their dirty laundry and she seemed to be on a hurry to get back to work. She hadn't even touched the food in front of her before she was checking her watch and getting up to leave. Her friend had brought Junie back; in one piece and content as he sipped on his orange juice. Carlos ruffled the boys hair before he looked up at Iliana making a speedy get away with her last statement.

"So, I'm supposed to acquire your number via osmosis or what?" He called after her as she walked away, which had drawn quite a bit of unwanted attention in his direction. Great, now he looked despite. He sighed and took another sip of his coffee.

"You ready to go kiddo?"
"Yeah!"

Smiling Carlos stood and placed a couple bills on the table. He was more than ready to head to the door with Junie, before Iliana's friend caught his eye. Iliana wanted Carlos to; "talk to her instead of running", so he'd do just that.


- - Time Skip [2 weeks] - -


Two weeks, it had been two weeks since Carlos had bumped in to Iliana at the diner. Two week since Cecilia had given him Iliana's new number, and two full weeks of unanswered calls. Was he surprised she didn't return any of his calls or messages? No. But it had come to the point where he thought she was being ridiculous. She went on a rant about how he 'left' her and 'ran away', about how he didn't make enough of an effort. And now that he did, she didn't lift a finger to reply to a text or pick up her phone.

This didn't bode well for him for two reasons. The first being he did actually want to patch things up with her. He wasn't entirely sure if a serious relationship was a possibility anymore, because even though he still loved her, there was too much resentment and anger simmering between them. And then there were her parents, and the unfortunate run in he had with them no more than three days ago. He didn't know it, but she had cut all ties with them, and her parents didn't hesitate to make sure he knew that that was his fault

Regardless, calling her everyday was getting him nowhere. And thanks to Cecilia he not only knew her address, but he knew when she'd be off from work. He'd circled the building at least four times before he convinced himself to finally go in and knock on the apartment door. She wanted more effort, she couldn't complain once she got it.

"So what was it you said about me not 'running away'?" Carlos leaned against the door frame once her face appeared on the other side of the door, his arms crossed and a smug smirk on his face. "Are you gonna let me in? Or are you gonna keep avoiding me like you have been for the past two weeks? You wanted me to come looking for you, so I did,"



OOC: This sorta feels alll over the place but then it doesn't and....I dunno but here yah go. Hope the ending isn't God-Moddy

[justbluefairy]

tab tab tab ι ғєєℓ ℓιкє ʀυɴɴιɴɢ αωαч tab tab tab tab (чσυ sαч тнαт ι'ℓℓ ɴєvєʀ cнαɴɢє)
tab tab tab tab tab tab (ι'м sтιℓℓ sσ ғαʀ ғʀσм нσмє) tab tab tab tab вυт ωнαт тнє ғυcк ∂σ чσυ кɴσω?

The first day Carlos started calling her, Iliana told herself she was going to let it go to voicemail only once. She hadn't felt that angry in her life and didn't want to say anything she would regret. As he started calling more and more, Iliana realized that she was angrier at herself than she was at Carlos. He messed up and there were so many things he could have done differently, but she wasn't a saint either. However much she wanted to believe her actions were justified, Iliana knew that she was at least partially in the wrong.

When she found out Carlos cheated on her, her first instinct was to run as well. She moved out without a word the same way Carlos left town. They talked a few times after she left their apartment, but by the time Iliana was ready to sit and talk things out it was too late and he was already gone. To lay the blame on Carlos for those years they spent apart was both unfair and childish. It took a week of missed phone calls from Carlos for Cecilia to knock that little nugget of information into Iliana's brain.

The second week was just chaotic. She worked more hours than usual at the diner and had a heavy load of artwork for a commission order. The time she actually had to herself was only enough to doubt herself and partake in some good old fashioned self-loathing. Her old phone and phone number was lost to her after she and her parents went their separate ways, but she had remembered Carlos' number. Why hadn't she just swallowed her pride and found out if his number was the same?! Even if they weren't together because he had responsibilities as a father, they could have talked every once in a while. It could have made figuring out adulthood a lot easier what with the way he always seemed to make things so much easier. All in all, the way she reacted to Carlos showing up made her feel like she was just the spoiled rich kid her parents wanted her to be.

With her commission work finally completed and a legitimate day off, Iliana felt like she could finally breathe again. Then, of course, she took a look at the state of her bedroom and herself in the mirror and realized she had work to do. A messy room didn't just mean a messy room for Iliana, it meant that something was off in her head and she needed to make it right. Iliana had a routine she followed. A huge part of that routine was cleaning... as long as she could remember she kept her surroundings spotless. It wasn't OCD or anything, she just felt like she could focus on her job or school work more when she didn't have piles of trash all around her. Thus, she spent the morning cleaning nonstop until the apartment was restored to its former glory.

With the apartment clean, no job to go to, and nothing else to keep her distracted Iliana had to do what she'd been putting off for a ridiculously long amount of time. She had to call Carlos and apologize. That was the only way she'd stop being such a mess. Working up to that was difficult to say the least. She circled around the table her phone was sitting on, paced back and forth, and went to her bedroom to change from her cleaning clothes into a tank top and shorts uncovered by dust stains and chemicals.

“C'mon, Lia. You can do this. It's just a little phone call. Sure you were an asshat and ignored about 500 calls and texts, but you can totally do this.” One deep breath and a nod of encouragement later ... someone knocked on the door to save her from her nightmare! Iliana opened the door and immediately wondered why she never bothered to use the peep hole to see if the person on the other side was a person she wanted to see. Whether Iliana wanted to admit it or not, Carlos being there in person was the best thing that could happen to her.

“Hey,” she stated a bit awestruck that he just so happened to show up when she was thinking about finally calling him back. Awe quickly changed into panic. With all the issues she and Carlos had with communication now and before they broke up, she hadn't expected him to actually come after her like this. “Cecilia ratted me out didn't she? I swear that woman--I guess I don't have much of a choice now, do I?” Iliana shook her head and opened the door wider and stepped aside so Carlos could go inside

“I was actually working up the nerve to call you,” she admitted hesitantly as he walked inside and she closed the door behind him. “I can't give you a good reason why I've been avoiding you, but I can tell you I'm sorry for not being more understanding. There's more to it than that, I could apologize for a long list of things. I promise not to throw you another crazy b***h rant from hell if that helps any.”

Iliana cleared her throat after a second or so and walked them to the living room. Suddenly thankful that she'd cleaned the place, Iliana nervously rocked back and forth on her heels. “So...this is my place. It's not as nice as my parent's house but, well ... I don't miss living with them. We'd never be able to talk with them around and we definitely wouldn't be able to try and fix everything. If you still want to, I mean! We don't know each other anymore, I need to stop making assumptions.”

[ooc;; major ick]


ι'ℓℓ вυʀɴ ιт αℓℓ тσ тнє ɢʀσυɴ∂ вєғσʀє Ι ℓєт чσυ ιɴ
Ρℓєαsє ғσʀɢιvє мє, ι cαɴ'т ғσʀɢιvє чσυ ɴσω.
ι ʀємємвєʀ єvєʀчтнιɴɢ.

[justbluefairy]

ι cαɴ'т sαч тнє devil мα∂є мє ∂σ ιт.
ι cнσsє тσ вє тнє σɴє ι αм, the way I am today.
ι ωιsн тнєʀє ωαs вυт тнєʀє's ɴσ ωαч αʀσυɴ∂ ιт.
ιɴ тнє єɴ∂ I made the choice αɴ∂ ωιℓℓ ɴσт ∂ιє αsнαмє∂.

Damn, two seconds and Julian was already steamrolling Briella's parenting style. In the present context however, Julian was unapologetic. Sorry not sorry, but he felt that kids didn't need to be limited in how they entertained themselves. Kids were supposed to be able to explore the world and video games were a part of that world. Besides, the kid would eventually grow up and have her ambitions stomped into the ground--why not let her live a little. Nothing but books for a whole day? No handheld games? Preposterous.

Julian's reason for wanting the little girl to play a game was wholly selfish, he didn't know Bree or the girl enough to have any real interest in how they kept occupied throughout the day. Rather, games had sound cues. If the girl was sitting and content, there would be various sounds that meant everything was A-OK. If the sounds suddenly disappeared? MAYDAY, MAYDAY, LITTLE KID ON THE LOOSE. If she was reading and Julian or her mother were busy working, chances were she could very easily sneak away if she wanted to. Julian could get quite distracted and he wouldn't put it past himself to not notice if she up and walked out of the office.

Nonetheless, he decided to do Bree a solid and help her out. After all, it had occurred to him that this was HIS kid too. He may not have wanted any part in raising the little girl when he first learned about her (if it really was true, Julian honestly couldn't be certain without asking and he didn't think it mattered. If it was just one horrible nightmare he could deal), but Briella was a good enough employee that he could sacrifice er, procrastinate on work by making sure the little girl had everything she needed for the day.

At Briella's thanks, Julian nodded in her direction before he stood up and retrieved a game for Elise. Of course when he returned to his office chair he realized that his assistant left him with her kid. He was all for providing child entertainment if their parent was actually in the room, but this? THIS was dangerous!

He held out the game so she could take it, but surprisingly the girl wasn't interested in the game just yet. All she did was stand there looking sickeningly adorable. Then she introduced herself. Julian had forgotten how proud little kids were of their age. His vague recollection of Bree calling him about having a baby was definitely not a nightmare. Nonetheless, Julian couldn't feel bad about not picking up that phone. He was a different person when it happened. Not much of a different person, but at the time he had no interest in being in a long-term relationship or supporting a kid. At that time his philosophy was if you ignore the problem enough, it will go away.

'What do I do? This kid is staring at me ...'

"Uh, okay. My name's Julian and I'm twenty five?" His statement came off as a question due to the fact that he didn't have any clue how to talk to children. He put the handheld game on the corner of his desk and turned in his chair so he was giving Elise his full attention. "Nice to meet you, Elise. Hi Bun-Bun." Julian awkwardly shook Bun-Bun's stuffed hand/nub as if it were a person. "So. Your mom buy Bun-Bun for you? Don't tell this to anybody because it's a huge secret, but I used to have a stuffed rabbit when I was your age. I think I called him Patches. "



ιт's нαʀ∂ ғσʀ мє тσ υɴ∂єʀsтαɴ∂ мчsєℓғ.
Sσ ιт нαs тσ вє нαʀ∂ αs нєℓℓ ғσʀ чσυ.

[Keely Que Linda]

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoI KNOW THINGS GET H A R D, BUT GIRL YOU GOT IT
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoo━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
xxxxx●xxx●xxx●xxxgirl you ❛ ♛ g o t ⋮- it, there you go. )

░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░

Though Briella didn't really like her working situation she had to admit that she was damn good at her job. She had managed to get quite a bit of praise from Julian's parents, however she wondered how things were to change if they ever found out about Julian and Briella's history, and the fact that she was technically hiding a grandchild from them. Regardless she was still considered a great addition to the company in the short time that she had been employed here. Briella wondered how much that got under Julian's skin, hell she wondered if he'd gotten a wake up call and figured out who she was. Almost three weeks had passed and if he hadn't pieced it together by now, he was even more hopeless than she thought. Regardless, if he remembered her or not, she wouldn't confront him and she was more than sure he would do the same. Briella highly doubted that Julian would want to man up and take responsibility for the life he helped create, unintentionally or not and as much as Briella hated to admit it, Julian was still Elise's father. He was still half of her DNA.

"This is going to be a long day" Briella mumbled under her breath as she reached the utility closet. Julian was indeed right, there was a swivel chair in here. She'd most likely opt to sit on it herself, instead of having Elise sit on it. Last thing she needed was a restless four year old falling flat on her face and hurting herself.

Back in the office Elise was grinning from ear to ear as she spoke to Julian. The idea that a grown up had a rabbit just like she did was exciting to her. Even more exciting that he wanted her to keep it a secret. "I'll keep it a secret!" She exclaimed as she 'zipped' her lips. "Pinky promise!" Elise reached towards Julian and extended her pinkie finger towards him. She bounced up and down yet again and hugged Bun-Bun close to her chest with her other hand. She waited enthusiastically for him to link his pinkie finger with hers.

"Do you still have him?" The little girl, asked.

At that moment Briella had walked back in the room and that sick feeling from earlier had returned. She seemed to almost zone out as she stood at the office door, looking at Elise and Julian as they interacted. It was then that she could really pick out bits of similarities between the two of them. They had the same shade of medium brown hair. In fact she had even noticed, though there was no doubt in her mind prior to seeing them together, that they had the exact same shade of green eyes. She was thankful at least, that Elle didn't inherit Julian's thick brows.

"Mommy? Are you okay?" Elise looked at her mother with a concerned expression.
"Huh? Um...I'm okay sweety" She gave her a reassuring smile before pushing the chair further in to the room. She then made sure to avoid eye contact with Julian for the second time today. "Alright hon, take a seat over there. Did Julian give you game to play?"

"Not yet, we were talking!" Elise grinned as she sat her self down on the chair in front of Julian's desk. Briella rolled the swivel chair towards the two of them before sitting down.
"Oh about?" She glanced over at Julian with her brow raised. Since when was he a fan of kids.
"It's a secret mommy. I pinkie promised Julian. So I can't tell," Elise grinned over at Julian before leaning back in her seat.

Briella sighed as she ran her fingers through her hair. She took notice of the Playstation Vita on Julian's desk and reached for it. "Do you have any...rated E games on this?" She switched it on, wishing she could've at least placed her on PSN account on this. She at least had a few games that were Rated E that Elise could play. "Ohh! Little Big Planet!" Elise peered over Briella's shoulder, thus answering the question for Julian instead. She selected the game and let it start up before handing it over to Elise. The four year old played the game enough, she knew what she was doing. Elise sat back in her seat, squishing Bun-Bun behind her, and getting comfortable while her face was glued to the screen.

"So um..." Briella crossed her legs. "Where were we?" She didn't have a clue what she was talking about before Elise entered the room.


OOC: I went and googled to see if I could find his eye color. Cause I was like "they're a light color but what one?"
Also wanted to change the graphic so you could see her face more lol. Hope the colors are still legible.
Gotta fix her little role title thing though. lol

[Keely Que Linda]

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoIT'S THE PERFECT D E N I A L ...
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoo━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
xxxxx●xxx●xxx●xxxIt's a ❛ ♛ b e a u t i f u l ⋮- lie. )

░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░




Carlos was surprised she actually answered the door. Iliana had ignored phone calls, texts, and voice mails, he wouldn't put it past her to ignore him standing at her door. A part of him had wondered if there was really a point coming here. If their conversation at the diner was any indication of how she felt about him, he'd say he was better off staying home. Hell that talk didn't go very well for him, in fact he didn't get much of a word in. But at this point, she had already, surprisingly, opened the door so there was no turning back now.

"It didn't take me much effort to get information out of her," He shrugged as he walked inside the apartment. Carlos combed his fingers through his thick curls before sticking his hands inside his pockets. It was true, Cecilia practically insisted that she tell Carlos everything and anything he wanted to know about Iliana. Even up to the fact that she was avoiding contacting him.

"Really?" He chuckled as he took a glance around the apartment. "That's a surprise. Wasn't too sure if you were even going to open the door. Let alone let me in," This wasn't the diner and now that Carlos thought about it, he had know qualms with taking a deep breath and saying what was on his mind. He had a few things to get off of his chest as well. Granted he knew he played the biggest part in their relationship ending but he wasn't the only one to blame.

He followed her further into the apartment and let her speak. He nodded behind her, she was right, she chewed his ear off that afternoon. "Maybe I'll get a word in this time?" He asked with a raised brow but there was no joking in his ton of voice.

"Speaking of your parents?" Carlos' dropped down on the couch behind him and made himself comfortable. Sure her apartment wasn't as fancy and polished has her parents' home, but he didn't come from much himself. Though he had to admit, he had done a lot better for himself and his family of the past few years. Touring and album sales and allowed him to move his parents in to a much nicer home than he had grown up in. "I saw them a few days ago?"

He leaned his head back momentarily before looking over to her. "It didn't take long for them to remind me how much they hated my guts. And also how it's my fault that you are no longer on speaking terms with them?" He placed one leg on the coffee table before immediately taking it down. This wasn't his apartment, he shouldn't have been getting so comfortable. "So what's the deal with that anyway? I mean was it my fault? I mean everything up to this point has been. Though I honestly couldn't mind" After all Iliana's parents weren't the nicest people, she could do a lot better without them.

He ran his fingers through his hair again, a constant habit of his.

"I was as much of a fan of your parents as they were of me. I'm sure what happened made them more than happy. Probably had a ton of suitors inline after what happened,"


OOC: changed his graphics too. lol
OMG this ending sucked bootycheeks

[justbluefairy]

tab tab tab ι ғєєℓ ℓιкє ʀυɴɴιɴɢ αωαч tab tab tab tab (чσυ sαч тнαт ι'ℓℓ ɴєvєʀ cнαɴɢє)
tab tab tab tab tab tab (ι'м sтιℓℓ sσ ғαʀ ғʀσм нσмє) tab tab tab tab вυт ωнαт тнє ғυcк ∂σ чσυ кɴσω?

Of course Cecilia cracked like an egg when Carlos spoke to her. After everything they talked about during their friendship and adventures as roommates--the good, the bad, the ugly--Cecilia still rooted for Iliana and Carlos to get back together. Iliana had no idea why, she just knew her friend wanted them to get together so bad it almost physically hurt her to see them avoiding each other. Erm, well to see Lia avoiding Carlos. Carlos was actually being the adult in this scenario.

When they got to the living room and she finally had the courage to really look at Carlos after her apology, she got really, really nervous. "Oh? Yes." Iliana nodded in regards to her actually letting Carlos talk this time. "I may even let you get in a whole sentence. If you're lucky," She wanted to facepalm for joking with him when this was clearly a very serious conversation they were about to have, but that's what Iliana did when she was nervous. Nervous for what reason? It could have been that she hadn't been alone with Carlos, really alone, for a long time. It also could have been that she was unsure of how their meeting was going to end. Would they end up hating each other even more than they already appeared to?

Seeing Carlos sit on her couch and get comfortable, Iliana took a seat in the loveseat next to the couch. The couch was her favorite because it had more cushion to it, but that would have been too close for comfort. Nope, love seat was good. It was a nice, safe distance away. Plenty of room to pretend all was good. And plenty of room to pretend that she didn't get a little flustered every time he ran his fingers through his hair. He'd been doing that since before they first started dating and she'd always been attracted to the habit. So that's what he was going to use to get her in his good graces? That brilliant b*****d.

"My parents?" She asked, brought back to reality. Iliana was incredulous, and it showed clearly on her face if it hadn't been by the scoff she made as soon as she heard that her parents blamed Carlos. She believed they'd do something like what Carlos said; what she couldn't believe was that they hadn't learned a thing from their time apart and continued to act like megadicks towards anyone that wasn't a carbon copy of themselves. Whether they truly believed Carlos was no good for Iliana or not, she had made it painfully clear to her parents that she didn't want them talking to her ex in a demeaning manner. Ever. Not even if he cheated on her a million times.

Iliana reigned in her disgust at the actions of her parents when Carlos asked what that was all about. She forgot he didn't know about that fiasco. Under normal circumstances, she would have talked to him about family drama immediately. Then again, when they were dating the extent of her "family drama" was her parents wanting them to go to family events when all Iliana and Carlos wanted to do was spend time with each other. "It's a long story." While Iliana didn't want to tell the whole story, she figured she owed Carlos an explanation. She couldn't expect him to explain himself about everything when she wasn't giving him diddly about her own life. Iliana moved so she was sitting sideways in the loveseat, her back against one arm of the chair and her legs across the other, so that she'd be as comfortable as possible during this potentially uncomfortable conversation.

"You can put your feet up, by the way, I don't mind. Anyway, uhm. Where to start? I ... I guess if you want to get technical, yes. It was sort of your fault, but not really. What I mean by that is. Wow, okay, I feel really stupid about this, but I never noticed how much my parents hated your guts until after we broke up. When we were together, they never said anything bad about you or did anything to make me think that they didn't like you." Iliana paused for a moment and sighed. She really couldn't believe how stupid she was to believe the various lies her parents told her over the years. "After we broke up they just ... yeah, they were really happy about it. They didn't care at all that I was hurt, all they cared about was getting me together with some guy in law school that I didn't care one bit about. Then I found out about what they said to you at that family party when I left to go get drinks and I was furious with them." Honestly, hearing the things they said to Carlos brought out a side to Iliana that her parents had never seen. She actually yelled at them for the first time in her life and called them all sorts of names.

"There were other reasons, too, though. They're just so ... fake. Uncaring. They wanted me to go to law school or medical school and I wanted to go to art school. I'm just a trophy daughter to them, you know? They told me they weren't going to support me if I didn't go to the exact school they wanted me to for the program they thought I should be doing. I said that I wouldn't be happy doing what they wanted me to do, they said I would just have to get over it because they weren't happy with all the time I spent with you. It was a very interesting day, really, I think I used more curse words than I have my entire life. But when it was all over, I left to live with a friend and haven't spoken to them since. They did come and find me once to take back my phone and car since they paid for it, but that wasn't long after I stopped talking to them." With all of that off her chest, Iliana fell silent, waiting to hear what Carlos thought about it all.


ι'ℓℓ вυʀɴ ιт αℓℓ тσ тнє ɢʀσυɴ∂ вєғσʀє Ι ℓєт чσυ ιɴ
Ρℓєαsє ғσʀɢιvє мє, ι cαɴ'т ғσʀɢιvє чσυ ɴσω.
ι ʀємємвєʀ єvєʀчтнιɴɢ.

[justbluefairy]

ι cαɴ'т sαч тнє devil мα∂є мє ∂σ ιт.
ι cнσsє тσ вє тнє σɴє ι αм, the way I am today.
ι ωιsн тнєʀє ωαs вυт тнєʀє's ɴσ ωαч αʀσυɴ∂ ιт.
ιɴ тнє єɴ∂ I made the choice αɴ∂ ωιℓℓ ɴσт ∂ιє αsнαмє∂.

Whether the child was his or not, Julian had to admit that she was one damn cute kid. He didn't really go out of his way to interact with children; as a rule, he tried to keep up an appearance of someone who didn't really care for much. Caring about children hit the jackpot with certain women, but the kind he usually went after wanted nothing to do with kids. They were, after all, the ultimate form of birth control--a form so good that it stopped baby-making activities entirely. He'd have to pass.

Yet and still, Elise was possibly the most endearing kid he'd ever seen. He seemed to have made her day by telling her he used to have a stuffed animal and couldn't help but to smile at the way she bounced up and down in excitement. He leaned closer to her and locked pinkies with her. He just hoped the kid wouldn't go around spreading the word that hotshot CEO Julian had a stuffed animal. He couldn't exactly sue on the grounds of pinkie swear violation. If it entertained the kid, though ... the thought actually crossed his mind that he wouldn't care if people made fun of him for something Elise did.

"Uh, no. I mean ... yes! He's somewhere at my mom's hou-" At that point Briella entered the room again and Julian cut himself off. He couldn't let her hear him lying to the kid about the whereabouts of his stuffed animal in order to avoid crushing the kid's spirits. Ultimately Julian was glad that Bree arrived when she had. He couldn't believe it--a four year old was poisoning his brain with cute fluffy thoughts and, of all things, compassion. It was karma. He hadn't wanted anything to do with her when Briella was pregnant with her and now she was back with a vengeance! A cute, frilly vengeance with a bouncy personality and a bunny.

Julian threw a nod in Elise's direction when she told her mom she couldn't tell what they were talking about. "Good girl." He chuckled, then situated himself back at his desk. He actually felt the need to clarify what they talked about so Briella wouldn't think he was poisoning her kid's mind. He shouldn't have cared, but he added onto that without hesitation. "We were just talking about a stuffed bunny I used to have. That doesn't leave this office, though, clear?" He was going to kick himself later for providing silly blackmail material. Oh well.

He shrugged when she asked if he had E rated games. He couldn't remember what was on there, but he hoped for the little girl's sake that there was something she'd enjoy. It was much better than sitting around the office watching a bunch of grown-ups work. Or coloring. What kind of kid could honestly sit there and color for 8 hours without losing their minds?! While Briella figured out something for Elise, Julian looked back to the papers he had on his desk. He'd been making a few revisions and notes in margins. The charity needed a lot of work if it was going to be successful. Whether he wanted people to know he'd actually taken an interest in it or not, he couldn't purposefully pass on something bad and let their legs be knocked out from under them so soon. That would have made for a horrible business investment.

"Well, I was here on time doing my job when you showed up a little late with ou-your kid." Caught himself slipping, oops. Julian kept a cool demeanor and went on. "But that's okay. I'm in a strangely good mood. You won't have too much to do today. Filing new documents away, running a few errands, and a meeting after lunch--pretty low-key." Compared to the living hell Julian usually made Briella's life, it was true. "I have a lot to catch up on so I'll be out of commission. Er, unless you need my help watching Elise?"


ιт's нαʀ∂ ғσʀ мє тσ υɴ∂єʀsтαɴ∂ мчsєℓғ.
Sσ ιт нαs тσ вє нαʀ∂ αs нєℓℓ ғσʀ чσυ.