Page 100 of Stumped

I’ll see you in an hour.

Superstar

Love you

When he toldme they were coming in for the finals, I didn’t think much of it. Now that the day has arrived, I’m nervous as fuck. I haven’t been in a relationship in a long time, so meeting the parents of a partner is startling. I never met Ajay or Rakesh’s parents. I barely even met their friends. With Elias, I’ve known everyone almost as long as I’ve known him. Maybe that’s a sign we’re on the right track.

Since it’s a full day of work, Kuriakose picks me up at the office so I don’t have to drive myself up and down. I use the thirty minute journey to answer emails and go through presentations for the coming week. With the finals tomorrow—much to Elias’s chagrin, the Chennai Renegades are facing off the Mumbai Legends again—there’s a lot of work happening for marketing and promotional material. The added stress of having it on home ground means my team is going above and beyond to make as much noise as possible. Their work is fantastic, but nothing can leave the office without my approval and there’sa lotto sign off.

“We’re here, Miss Vera,” Kuriakose says and I look out the window at Elias’s house. Sensing my nerves, he adds, “Don’t worry, they’re wonderful people and will love you.”

I laugh sheepishly and leave my laptop on the seat so I can smooth down my clothes. “Thank you, Kuriakose.”

When I get out of the car, the front door opens and Elias steps outside. He grins and I instantly feel lighter. He walks over and wraps me up in his arms. I inhale the minty fresh scent that always clings to him and snuggle deeper into his chest.

“Hi, peaches.”

“Missed you this morning.”

“Me too, baby.” He kisses the top of my head and steps back, making me pout as I try to pull him back. “Come on, I can’t wait to introduce you to my folks.”

Nervousness runs up my spine and I steel myself. This is an important meeting because I need them to like me and I want them to believe I’m a good match for their son. We haven’t talked about the future in big terms, but when we get there, their support and blessing would go a long way. Hands linked, we walk up the driveway and his siblings appear. They’re grinning wide, mischievous and beautiful.

“Why does it feel like I’m walking into a trap?”

“You might be,” Patrick says, chuckling as he strokes his jaw like an evil mastermind.

Elias shoves his brother. “Ignore him.”

I do, until Patrick hugs me and Nina does the same. I still can’t tell what the situation is like inside, but I follow Elias into the house and am hit with the scents of Malayali food. An involuntary groan slips out of me and I blush. Elias chuckles and leads me further inside until two older people turn to us with matching smiles.Oh, holy shit. Now I know where the Joseph siblings get their good looks from, because their parents arebeautiful.

“Vera, it is so nice to finally meet you,” his mother says, coming around the counter to hug me. “The pictures he showed me don’t do you justice. You’regorgeous.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Joseph.”

“None of that. Rachel is what most people call me.”

I smile, still blushing, but there’s no way in hell I’m calling her by her first name. Even if my father did the exact same thing to Elias. Speaking of fathers, I’m pulled into another hug and given a typical fatherly kiss on the top of my head. Patrick and Elias look exactly like their old man, while Nina takes after her mother.

“After everything these three said about you, I was sad I hadn’t met you yet,”Rachelsays and I shake my head.

“I don’t even want to know what they’ve told you.”

“All good things, peaches,” Elias insists, wrapping an arm around my waist.

“Obviously only good things. We’re also terribly sorry about the drivel they published about you,” his father adds.

“Nobody has anything to apologise for except the person who wrote it and he’ll never take back his words. I think it might be his best article to date.” They stare at me a moment and crack up laughing. I know writing shit about me and Elias boosted hisnumbers and stroked his ego, but I don’t care about the tiny man. He’s not worth any of our time anyway.

“Can I help with anything?” I ask to break the tension and Rachel shakes her head, but she puts her entire family to work. Elias hands me a glass of wine and follows instructions, stopping by every few minutes to kiss me. They move fluidly around each other, like they’d done this many times before, and I am so fascinated by it. Rachel’s talking about the trip they got back from, but makes sure to include me as often as possible. By the time lunch is served, I have an entire itinerary for my parents whenever they decide to go on their holiday.

“So, Vera,” Matthew—notMr. Joseph, Elias’s father insisted—says as he sits back and smiles at me, “what kind of work does your firm do exactly?”

“It’s a combination of marketing and PR. We mostly do marketing for our clients, so selling their brand and products. On a much smaller scale, we offer public relations as a service. But it’s something we often provide as an add-on to the marketing.”

“So like an advertising agency.”

I shrug and smile. “Sort of. I think they go hand in hand.”

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