I woke up and stretched my arms whilst yawning a little. Today was definitely a beautiful day to be out and about. Layla was not in bed and this was weird, I usually got up before her. I reached for my phone and the time read 06:42

I got up for a quick shower and headed downstairs soon afterwards. Mom and Layla were drinking tea, talking and laughing in the lounge, I walked up to them with a wide smile on my face.

“Good Morning to you too, Damon”, my mother pointed out sarcastically as she sipped on her tea

“I'm sorry”, I laughed. “How are my two favorite ladies doing this beautiful morning?”, I kissed them both on their cheeks, and they exchanged looks.

“We're okay”, they said in union as they both fixed their eyes on me

“Why are you in such a good mood today?”, Layla scratched the back of her neck as she looked at me suspiciously

“It's a beautiful day today, don't you think?”, I said enthusiastically, and they exchanged looks again. “You do know what day it is today, right?”, I questioned and they both shrugged as they exchanged looks again in hopes they could maybe remind each other what was going on.

“No”, they said again in union and my shoulders slumped in disappointment

“Oh”, They forgot

“Layla, I think we should go help Deniz in the kitchen, breakfast should be served soon”, mother patted Layla on her leg and she nodded before they both stood up and walked to the kitchen

Quinton jogged down the stairs widely smiling at me. “Good morning bro”, he walked past me and I blinked at him.

“Quinton?” I called out to him and he turned around.

“Yeah?”, he rose his brow at me. “Wassup?”

“Isn't there something you're forgetting to say to me?”, I motioned with my hands, and he stared blankly at me before snapping his fingers in remembrance, and he fished for something in his pockets. He took my hand and placed my car keys in it.

“I borrowed your car last night, I had a couple of errands to run, I was out of petrol”, he smiled and my jaw dropped, he didn't just forget my birthday, he also took my car without asking me

“I'll make it up to you”, he winked as turned on his feet and walked to the kitchen. No amount of words could explain what I was going through right now, I sat down on the couch arm in astonishment. I also bumped into my father in the hallway, he didn't even say anything, he just smiled and walked past me. They all forgot, especially my parents.

I mean yes, I didn't like making a fuss of my birthday, like a party or going all wild. I liked spending my birthday like any other day, as quiet as possible, but the least they could do would to wish me a happy birthday.

Mom and I shared a laugh at the look on Damon's face when he figured we probably forgot his birthday. Quinton walked into a kitchen, suppressing a laugh as we put candles on the cake.

“And?”, mother asked him, and he laughed.

“He's really broken”, he motioned for us to come closer, and we peeked on him, sitting on the couch arm, deep in thought. We watched as Dad and Dylan walked down the stairs to stand in front of him, and he nearly spotted us as he suddenly turned his head. We quickly hid from him and went back to adding the final touches to the cake.

“What's the matter with you?”, my father asked when he stood in front of me as I played with the car keys in my hands. Dylan grabbed my hand and took the keys from me as he circled them around his tiny finger.

“You all forgot”, I rose my eyes to look at him, and he shrugged with his brows rose

“Forgot what?”, he questioned, and I remained quiet for all our sake, but no man, they have to know I'm very disappointed in them

“My birth-”, I stated by was interrupted by singing coming from the kitchen

“Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday dear Damon, happy birthday to you”, they all singed for me as Layla walked towards me with the cake with the huge 28th candle on top with it and other little candle on it.

“I thought you forgot”, I laughed a little, embarrassed that I thought they forgot

“And have you grumpy the whole day?”, mom said, and I gave her the side eye

“This is one day in the year you wake up happy, from since you were little”, my father added, and they all laughed

“Make a wish Dadda”, Dylan chipped in as soon as they finished laughing. I closed my eyes for a second, making a wish then blew out the candles, and they cheered, clapping their hands.

“What did you wish for?”, Quinton asked and mother nudged him with her elbow

“That's private”, she warned

“Well if you must know, I just want a quiet dinner with my wife”, I pulled her close to me, and she smiled

“Okay”, Dad said as he took the cake from Layla.” Let's have some cake”, he grinned, but Mom took it from him.

“Breakfast first”, she said and the boys complained before making their way to the table

“Thank you”, I said as I engulfed Layla in a hug.” For the beautiful cake”, I said, and she wrapped her arms around me.

“Don't thank me yet”, she pecked me on the lips

“You're not planning anything, like a party or anything hectic, are you?”, I rose a brow, and she shook her head

“You want a quiet dinner, right?”, she asked, and I nodded my head

“That's the only thing I'll be planning”, she said, and before I could say something. “Breakfast is getting cold”, she said as she pulled me to the table.

“So everything is set right? Catering, the drinks and entertainment”, I asked Quinton, and he nodded his head as he ticked of items off his to-do list

“We're all set”, he reassured, and I nodded as I stood on my feet

“Good, I'll check on the decor”, I stood to my feet. We were planning Damon a surprise birthday party, and I was using the dinner date as a plot to get him out of the house for a couple of hours while Quinton set up the party in the garden. Mom managed to drag Damon to church to be thankful of yet another year, whilst buying us time to plan his party without him noticing anything.

There was a knock on the door and Quinton stood up to open. The was a loud cheer and laughter as masculine voices made their way to where I was sitting. Matt wrapped his arm around Quinton's neck and pulled him onto his neck and messed up his hair.

“It has been a while you little rascal”, Quinton peeled himself from him and pushed his hair back.

“I'm not freaking 10 years old for you to do this hair messing trick. I'm a man now”, he folded his arms.

“I'm a man now”, Matt and Taylor mimicked him childishly, and they laughed. Quinton walked to sit next to me, and they stopped in their tracks as they saw me.

“Layla!”, they said in union excitedly. I gave a little wave while smiling.

“Hey guys”, and Matt jumped over the couch to pick me up in a hug. “It's been a while”, he said, and I nodded as we broke contact.

“You look good”, I held him at arms length, and he scoffed. “Are you kidding me? I'm getting old and wrinkled”, he joked as Taylor pulled me for a hug.

“It's so nice to see you”, Taylor said as he placed me down from the pickup hug

“Where are your wives?”, I asked as we sat down

“We left them at the hotel, they were planning to go shopping for clothes they were going to wear tonight”, Matt rolled his eyes, and we laughed

“I look forward to seeing them, it's been a while”, I said, and they nodded

“I'm sure they are too”, Matt smiled at me

“Are you sure Damon is going to be okay with this surprise birthday party?”, Taylor fixed his eyes on me. “The guy doesn't even want presents for his birthday, let alone a party”

“Well, he'll have to suck it up and enjoy the freaking party, after all our hard work to pull this off”, I said sternly, and they exchanged looks and then shrugged

“So, what do you want us to do?”, they asked simultaneously as Matt rubbed his hands excitedly

“Why is it so quiet around here? Where is everyone?”, Damon asked when we walked from the driveway into the house. We just came back from our dinner date, and Quinton texted me that everything was going according to plan, we could come home.

“Probably went to bed early”, I shrugged as we walked inside the house

“Well that's great”, he pulled me to him. “I can't wait to rip this dress off you”, he kissed my neck and I pulled myself from him.

“What?”, he asked when I pulled him behind me.”Where are we going?”

“To take a walk in the garden, I think it's the significant way to end this beautiful day, don't you think?”, I pecked him on his lips and he smiled against mine

“Afterwards, I get to get you out of this?”, he held me by my waist, tugging on my dress

“Which ever way you like”, I said, and he grinned

“Then what are we waiting for?”, he said as he allowed me to pull him behind me into the garden

“Has it been always this dark every time we took walks here?”, he asked curiously before the light's came on and everyone shouted.

He jumped in shock, with his hand over his heart as he laughed to himself and turned to look at me.

“This has you written all over it”, he whispered to my ear as the crowd cheered and clapped hands

“Guilty as charged”, I shrugged, and he kissed my cheek before we climbed down the stairs to mingle with the crowd

The night went on as planned. Everyone talking, laughing and having fun. Most were Damon's business associates and a few of his friends from collage. Quinton was in charge of the guest list, I didn't even know half of the people there.

Someone patted me on the shoulder as I stood away from the crowd, with a glass of white in my hand. It was Michelle and Ashley. They were ecstatic when they saw me, they both gave me tight, bone crashing hugs to last me a lifetime. Ashley was expecting and her baby bump was already showing. Michelle and Matt had a one year-old daughter and Michelle showed me her pictures. She was beautiful she inherited gorgeous genes from her mother. I congratulated both of them, and I was really happy for them. Children have a way of changing a person. We spent the night talking and socializing with other people.

Damon stood at the stage and clicked his champagne glass with a spoon to get everyone's attention. As they settled down, he asked me to join me on stage, I shook my head no, and he asked the crowd to cheer my name continuously until I eventually joined him on stage, and I did. He handed me a glass of champagne and held me by the waist.

“I would like to thank everyone who was able to make it, but most importantly, I would like to thank this beautiful lady besides me for putting this thing together”, he turned to look at me. “You're the best thing that's ever happened to me. Thank you for everything”, he turned to the crowd. “To Layla everyone”, he rose his glass for a toast.

“To Layla”, the crowd cheered back, and I flushed red. “And thank you to everyone who made this happen. I really appreciate it”, he said and the crowd clapped their hands.

“You didn't have to do that”, I whispered to him, and he chuckles as we clicked our glasses together. The DJ started playing some music.

“Let's go dance”, he took one sip of his champagne, then dragged me to the dance floor with him

We danced like there was no tomorrow, but you know Damon can't dance, not to even save his life, but he was trying

Jesse Ware song, Champagne kisses started playing, and I nearly screamed in excitement, there was something about the beats of that song that just spoke to my soul

“That's my jam”, I squeaked excitedly, and he laughed as I wrapped my arms around his neck, with his around my waist. It was now time for slow dancing. I looked around, and it was now couple to couple, people paired themselves for this song.

I looked over to Damon who was already looking at me, and he rested his forehead on mine as he closed our eyes and danced to the rhythm of the song

Who's fault is it🎶

That's I'm crazy about you🎶

You're in every single dream🎶

And I'm thinking about you🎶

If you wanna do,do,do me right 🎶

Do,do,do,do,do🎶

If you wanna leave it all tonight 🎶

Do,do,do,do,do🎶

When there's nothing left🎶

Except you and this🎶

Champagne kisses🎶

Champagne kisses🎶

The night quickly went by and past midnight, Damon and I thanked the guests for coming as the catering crew started cleaning up. Matt and Taylor volunteered to stay and help to clean up, but Damon refused, telling them they've done so much already, and they rather chill for one last night cap. After they had their fun, they decided to go back to the hotel and promised they'll meet up tomorrow just before they leave for home.

Quinton and I were sitting on the balcony, watching the night sky and the shining stars. He was telling me about horoscopes and the alignment of the stars. I felt Damon wrapping his arms around my waist, hugging me from behind, covering me with his warm body.

“That's my cue”, Quinton said as he looked at the both of us. “Goodnight you two”, he gave a mini salute as he turned on his feet.

“Goodnight Q”, Damon and I said in union

“That was a great party, don't you think?”, I said, and I felt him sigh heavily

“That was one of the best parties anyone has ever thrown for me”, I felt his lips brush on my temple. “Thank you babe”

“It's a pleasure”, I smiled as I crossed my arms over my chest, clinging onto him. “I'm glad you enjoyed it”

“I did actually”, he said as he turned me around. “But for now, I just want to be with you”, he leaned to peck me on the lips before taking me by the hand and he pulled me behind him.

Immediately after we entered our bedroom, he closed the door and pinned me against it, kissing me passionately I eventually ran out of breath. He didn't want to waste a minute longer, within a split second, my dress fell to the floor, and he took it upon himself to help me out of my heels before picking me up and wrapping my legs around him and walked us to the bed.

He then laid me gently on the bed before he shrugged his suit jacket off and tossed it somewhere in the room as his eyes never left mine. He didn't even want to waste time by unbuttoning his shirt, he just ripped it in half, causing the buttons to fall in different places on the room. He then took off his pants in one go before crawling on top of me to pick up where we left the kiss.

He was like a hungry predator, that's about to devour its prey. He pushed down the strands of my bra, revealing my bare shoulders and kissing them. He never grew tired of exploring my body in the form of foreplay.

When he positioned himself between my legs, he stretched out his hand to pull the drawer open and I had an idea of what he was getting, so I grabbed his forearm to stop him.

“I'm no longer on the pill”, I said, and he remained motionless for a second before it dawned on him what I meant, and he cracked a side smile before pushing the drawer to close it and claimed his lips with mine and pulled the covers over our heads