I was woken up by a ticklish feeling that felt small kisses being trailed on my cheekbones, lips, then on my neck. Wanting to sleep in peace, I snuggled closer into the sheets, cowering away.

I expected it to stop but the feeling continued and this time it was even more so I decided to finally open my eyes. To my surprise, I saw a shirtless Rico laying down next to me, a grin plastered onto his face.

"Happy Birthday, Xia." He whispered, pecking my lips.

I smiled at him and lifted my hand to hold the side of his face so that I could bring him closer to me. Kissing his cheek, I was going to turn the other way but he held me down.

"It's your birthday and you're going to sleep?" He asked.

What kind of a question that? Of course I'm going to sleep even more on my birthday.

Normally, I would wake up a little earlier, bake a cake for myself and then Adrian and I would go out together and spoil ourselves with shopping.

Last night, almost every hour, my phone rang because everyone had been calling to wish me. First my parents called, then Damon, Aunt Claudia, then Uncle Joey and basically every other family member whom I've known my entire life.

At around 6:00 AM, Adrian had called too and apologized for not picking up my calls and replying to my texts because there was a huge fight between him and his sister, Layla. I don't remember too much about it due to the fact that I was sleepy.

He had been acting very...weird the whole time but maybe it's just myself thinking too much.

"So many people called to wish me last night, Rico." I mumbled, closing my eyes. "I didn't even get to sleep much."

"Alright, then. We'll sleep for a while." He stated.

My eyes shot open at his words. "We? Why are you even on my bed?"

"We." He repeated. "And you always let Nico sleep on your bed."

"Well, Nico is adorable and a handsome little boy." I teased.

"So am I. Except I'm sexy AND handsome." He emphasized on the word 'and'.

"And who the heck told you that lie?" I asked.

His eyes narrowed into slits, "It's a fact, babe."

Being too tired to reply to the nickname, I lifted my quilt and let him in and boy, was that a mistake. He wrapped his arm around the curve of my waist and pulled my closer to him. Since I was shorter than him, my face got buried into his chest, making the signature scent of his masculine cologne and aftershave invade my nostrils.

I tuned upwards to look at him and realized that his eyes were now closed; his jaw wasn't stubbly as it usually was but instead, cleanly shaven. His dark locks looked damp and disheveled making my hands itch to touch his soft dark hair.

"It doesn't seem like you're sleeping." He noticed my gaze.

Embarrassed that I had been caught looking at him, I rested back down and wrapped my arm around his neck, touching our foreheads. We hadn't showed much feelings to each other during the day because Nico was always around.

But right now, I felt like being held in his arms, craving for the warmth from his embrace. He didn't try moving away from my touch, which led me to believe that he felt the same way.

Soon enough, I fell asleep into a deep slumber.

"No, he didn't." I said unbelievably, as I saw my parents stand on the other side of the door.

My mother looked just as she did when I last saw her, her short but wavy dark brown hair was tied up into a ponytail, her pale blue eyes suited her medium-pale complexion; my father on the other hand, looked a little different. His jet black hair was now peppered, but it was mild.

"Mom and Dad!" I didn't waste another second before hugging them in an embrace. Both of them hugged me back and I could literally feel the happiness brought in in me.

"Happy birthday, Peanut!"

"Happy birthday, Pumpkin!"

They wished me at the same exact time.

"Thank you! Come in." I moved aside so they could enter the house.

Closing the door behind me, I let them sit on the couches in the living room while made their favorite beverages.

"So, you have a boyfriend now? Hm?" My mother asked. Oops. What did Rico tell them?

"Um, I kinda..." I was about to answer but Nico's voice stopped me from doing so.

"Happy Birthday, Momma!"

As soon as he said those words, my parent's eyes became as wide as saucers.

"Momma?" Dad asked. "Honey, is there something you've forgotten to tell us?"

At this point I wasn't sure who I should have answered first but I went with my gut and responded to Nico. "Thank you so much, my little jellybean. Could you please go and tell Dadda to come down here? Tell him that I want to talk."

"Okay!" He replied, running back to the direction he had come from.

"Listen, it's not what you think it is. I've been spending time with both of them and I'm not going to lie, I love being with them." I explained, sitting on the couch opposite them. "I love Nico as my own child and I...uh...I really like Ricardo."

I wasn't sure about 'love' when it came to Rico but what I was sure of was that I did have feelings towards him. I knew that much.

"Don't worry, Pumpkin." My father smiled. "You're a grown woman, and your own person so we have nothing to tell you."

"He's right, we know that you can make your own decisions. And I think that you're an amazing mother already." Mom said, tearing up.

"Don't cry, Mom." I told her, walking to give her a hug. "You're getting me all emotional now."

She nodded and all of a sudden, her eyes settled to something, or rather, someone behind me. I stood straight and turned to where she was looking and saw Rico standing with his hands in the pockets of his crisp black Armani suit, his dark hair styled almost perfectly. He looked way too handsome.

He walked towards us and reached his hand out in front of my mother. She placed her hand in his looking a little confused but that feeling went out of the window when he kissed the top of her hand.

"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Knight." He greeted. "I'm Ricardo, Xia's...boyfriend."

Wow...even I didn't know he was my boyfriend until now. I'll need to have a talk with this butt-head.

She smiled, "You can call me Jenna, dear."

He nodded and walked to my Dad, greeting him with a firm handshake to which my Dad reciprocated. "Mr. Knight."

"Alaric." He corrected.

"Well, if you'll excuse us, I need to have a talk with my boyfriend here." I stated, glaring at him when I said the word 'boyfriend'.

"Oh, damn. She wants to talk." My Dad said, raising his eyebrows. "That's another word for an ass whooping."

Rico gave him a pained smile while I dragged him to my room.

"Firstly, thank you so much for bringing them here, Rico." I said in an overly sweet voice. "Secondly, what the heck were you thinking when you said that you were my boyfriend? I didn't even kno-"

I was stopped mid-sentence by Rico's lips that came crashing down on mine.

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