Almost as soon as he arrived at his parents', he could smell Selena's perfume. He was tempted to turn right back around and make up an excuse as to why he couldn't attend to dinner this time, but he didn't want to disappoint Ella.

"Damien." His dad, Romano, saw him first. "Glad you could make it, son. Your mom really wanted you to come."

"I could tell." Damien grumbled, walking with his dad from the bar to the kitchen where his mom was pulling something out of the oven and Selena was stationed at the breakfast bar.

"Damien!" His mom's expression brightened up, and Damien, momentarily felt bad for having neglected returning his mom's calls or messages. "I knew that emailing you through your work would get your attention."

Damien nodded. "What is it you need me so badly for?"

"Can parents not see their children? I guess we should consider you as much of a chore as you consider us." Damien's mom genuinely felt hurt. She missed her son, her real son. The one that was kind and open; the one that wasn't so closed off.

"That's not what I meant, Mom." Damien huffed, running a hand down his face.

"Have dinner with us, then." His mom almost pleaded, and Damien nodded, defeated. He did love his parents, it was just somewhat difficult to relate to them these years.

"What's been going on with you? You've been ignoring even my messages these days." Selena approached Damien, nudging him with her shoulder as they both walked to the dining table.

"Nothing. I've just been a bit busy." Damien sat down after pulling a chair for Selena respectfully.

"You look good, though." Selena noted. He did seem better than the last time she had seen him. His skin was a bit tanner and he seemed as though he had bulked a bit more in muscle. "Have you been going to the gym more?"

That was how the mindless conversations began, and Damien was beginning to enjoy himself when his mother brought up the topic of dating.

"Didn't you guys make a promise to marry each other at the age of thirty-five if you were both single?" Celeste, Damien's mom, brought up, eager to hear Damien's response.

Damien tensed. He simply shrugged and took a sip of water. Selena had more a response, though.

"We did. We might as well start planning the wedding." Selena joked, and Celeste was quick to agree.

"Just think of all of the dresses you can try on! Oh, the venue!" Celeste gushed, and Romano sighed, jabbing his wife gently, a habit of theirs these days when Celeste got too excited about planning a future that wasn't hers.

"Just let them decide, honey." Romano eased the idea onto his wife, noticing Damien's mood dropping back to a neutral state rather than the pleasant expression he had been wearing for a while.

"They did." Celeste agreed.

"Years ago, Mother. Things change."

"Feelings don't have to." Selena bravely added, hoping that Damien would agree.

"I... I'm seeing someone." Damien declared, sending his mother a definitive stare first before looking at Selena with an apology in his eyes. She was still someone who used to be his best friend. He didn't want to hurt her.

"You are?" Selena uttered in disbelief, searching his eyes with frantic jitteriness.

Damien nodded. "So please... refrain from having those ideas." Damien left the girls in shock, especially his own mother because while she had seen how Damien had behaved around Ella, she didn't think it would really develop into an actual relationship.

"Come on, kid. I wanna show you something I got." Romano stood up, picking up his empty plate and ushering Damien to do the same before leading him to the bar.

"How much did you pay for-"

"We don't talk about that." Romano snatched the expensive bottle of wine from his son's hands. "Let me guess, though. You're going out with that Ella ragazza, right?" (Girl)

Damien smiled a bit. "Yes, it's her."

"I'm glad." Romano surprised Damien by his statement. "She seems really educated and nice judging by the last time I saw her."

"She is. She's the one who encouraged me to come here." Damien informed him, watching as his dad put away the wine bottle and pulled out a whiskey one with two glasses.

"That speaks good of her character." Romano praised, serving two glass at the same time before pushing one closer to Damien.

Damien pushed it back, and Romano smirked. He could no longer fool his son into staying at the house for longer.

"She is quite exceptional." Damien agreed. Even though he had only known her for a limited time, he knew that she was a special person in a good way.

"You like her that much?" Romano was smiling. He was ecstatic to see his son be dating and having feelings like those again.

Ever since Vincent, one of Damien's best friends since they were in diapers, had gotten engaged, Damien had also thought about asking Selena to marry him. Damien loved her, but at that young age, Damien didn't really know the difference between a friendly and platonic love and a passionate and romantic type of love, so for him, the love he had for Selena was it. Celeste had always been happy with Selena being close to Damien, and Romano was now thanking God that she never knew of Damien's past plans on being engaged with Selena.

Before Damien could even purchase the ring, though, Vincent killed himself.

It was wildly known that Vincent always loved his ex more than she loved him. However, no one had ever expected that she would deny having a life next to a man who would endlessly and unconditionally cherish, adore, respect, and fearlessly protect her. She had cheated on him, and that had just destroyed Vincent.

Vincent, obviously head over heels for her, forgave her immediately. She, though, no longer wanted to be with him. She, at least, had the decency to let him go because she knew that he deserved better. Vincent did not see that, though.

Vincent believed that it was his fault, and with his underlying disorder of severe depression, it was worse. He believed he was at fault with his whole heart, and in the end, it got the best of him, and he killed himself. Damien believed that it was his ex's fault. If she had just loved him more, explained the situation to him more, or if maybe Vincent hadn't fallen as hard, it would've been okay. Maybe then, Vincent would still be alive.

As a result of that incident, Damien retracted his steps on asking Selena to marry him. Not only was he in the wrong state of mind to even ask, but he just felt like it was useless to try to marry now. The initial reason he was going to marry was because his best friend was doing it, and Vincent would always insist that Damien find the "right gal and tie her down". In that moment, there was really was no reason to marry in Damien's mind. It wasn't like he felt an undying and overwhelming love for Selena that he felt the need to put a ring on her finger and call her his.

Then, to top his wariness of marriage and women, Mr. Kim's wife left him. That let a whole different circus loose.

Not only was Damien working to manage the after-effects and stress and depression that his brother was going through but then he was having to help Kim pick himself back up, which took months. Months of sleepless nights due to Damien, not only worrying about the health of his boss and friend, but also worrying about the future of the company because while it wasn't many people who worked under Kim back then, it was still enough to the point where Damien would work like a dog to get most of the work done while Kim in-prisoned himself at a nearby bar.

Those tragic events lead Damien to believe that women just were not worth the effort. It wasn't like they valued men either, so Damien just naturally lost interest in dating and marriage. Not that it was difficult since Damien was so busy trying to keep up with his mental health after Vincent and his physical and mental health after Kim. Since then, Damien had never really been the same.

"I like her enough to ask her out and date her for now." Damien answered his Dad's question after having pondered it for a little bit.

Romano nodded, hiding his ecstatic smile behind his glass of whiskey. If his son was anything like him, which Romano could already see so many similarities, his boy was going to love that girl with all that he had.

After making other useless small-talk, Damien knew that it was time to leave. It had gotten later than he thought, and he was quite eager to call Ella. He desired to know about her evening and hear her talk. There was something about her energy and way of talking and being that really enticed him. He blamed it on the crush he had developed towards her because he didn't recall having such a magnetic pull towards her when they first met.

"You should really stop leaving your car everywhere else." Damien reprimanded Selena once his mom had pressured him into taking Selena back home, not that it took much effort; Damien still did care about Selena.

Selena nodded, still quiet. She hadn't really spoken much since Damien declared that he was dating someone. That statement had really screwed her in the heart and in mind. For so long, so, so long, she had thought that she would be his and vice versa. She had given up on dating because she was passionately positive that they would end up together.

Pulling her out of her revere, Damien's car had come to slow stop in front of her house already. She quickly unbuckled herself and gathered her things.

"Thanks." She almost ran inside her home, her hot tears stinging her eyes. She felt fury and anger towards herself and towards that girlfriend. Ella had been her name.

Damien just sighed, not really knowing how to interpret Selena's behavior. It was clear that she was upset, and the only thing that Damien could think that had upset her was the fact that he was dating. Damien couldn't help the fact that he had fallen for someone else though.

Beginning his drive home, Damien's mind didn't dwell on the Selena situation for too long. The second he stepped inside his house, his phone began to ring. Thinking it was Ella, he was quick to pull the device out of his pocket only to realize it was his mother.

Sighing, he answered at a much slower pace. "Mom-"

"Selena told me you just dropped her off. You didn't stay for coffee?"

Damien closed his eyes, seeking for a sliver of patience and tranquility. He still couldn't get used to his mother's hyper and pushy energy after a good three decades.

"I honestly have no idea what it is that you even look for in a girl. Selena is a mature, young, educated, and established, beautiful, young woman who would be more than happy to become somet-"

"I know you don't like her for unreasonable reasons, but please respect Ella as my girlfriend." Damien interrupted. He was usually more patient and respectful towards her, but having someone speak bad about Ella, when she is anything but a bad person, put him in a bad mood. "I've told you this once, and this is the second and last time I will repeat it. If you feel like you cannot, then refrain from mentioning her completely."

Damien didn't know if his relationship with the Spanish psychologist was going to get far, but if it was, then his mother better get used to seeing and respecting Ella. He wasn't one to put anyone else before his family, but this case was special considering how ridiculous his mother was acting.

"Bring her to dinner next week-"

"No." Damien grunted, running a hand through his hair that was beginning to lay in his unruly, black, and thick strands from how much he had already ran his fingers through it during dinner. "Goodnight, Madre." He didn't let her respond before he hung up. Clenching his jaw, he shook his head.

Did he do the right thing? Was this a sign that he shouldn't be dating? Perhaps...

"What now?" His phone was ringing again, and he was in no mood to answer, but he had to make an exception for his beloved mother.

"Oh." It was Ella.

Damien snapped his eyes open, realizing how rudely he had just answered.

"Sorry, I'll call later," Ella quickly apologized, blushing furiously at how intrusive her call may have seemed.

"No! Ella?" Damien quickly called out, pulling the phone to see if she was still on the line. She was.

"It's fine. I was just calling to know... I'll see you tomorrow, alright?"

"I thought you were someone else on the phone, Elle." He softened his tone a bit, waiting for her to respond.

"I like that nickname from you." Ella responded, almost bashful. Damien smiled, also bashfully.

"How were the drinks?" Damien settled by the bed, sitting as he listened to Ella speak about his co-workers' dumb and drunk tendencies.

"How was dinner?" Ella was slow on approaching that topic since it was quite clear that that had been the reason for his irritability when he answered the phone.

"I told them we were dating." Damien explained, and Ella nodded, pensively.

She could only imagine the sharp disapproval that his parents had expressed. It was clear from their last dinner together that they didn't like Ella. She knew why they disliked her, but she didn't understand why they would use rumors as their main source for their reasoning.

"Perhaps it was better to wait. You know, until this whole mess gets cleared up." Ella suggested softly, her hands running through Rufus's soft fur as the Golden Retriever nuzzled his head closer to her stomach. The pup could sense his owner's slight distress, and he wanted to make her feel better by cuddling.

"My mother is being irrational right now. Don't let them make you feel bad, though." Damien stressed, and Ella chuckled.

"I'm as cool as a cucumber right now." Ella assured, actually feeling better. "Are you going to be busy this weekend?" Ella dared to ask, silently praying he wouldn't be.

"What do you have in mind?" Damien shot a look towards his brief case before looking away. Nothing seemed more enticing than a day off with Ella.

"A date." Ella suggested happy. "Would you be interested?"

Damien chuckled, imaging the bright smile that would be adorning her face right about now. "Name the time and place."