"Babe, You said you were going to take me back to the kitchen!" She whined as Calhoun pulled her towards the tree house. It was beautiful but the idea of having to go up the old wodden ladder scared her. What if one of the steps broke off while they were on it?
"Calhoun!" She shrieked as she felt her legs leave the ground. "What are you doing?"
Calhoun had lifted her into his arms so they could go faster. "Making you stop whining like a little baby," he said tickling her sides in the process. Ariana broke into a laugh as she playfully hit him on the back.
"Calhoun you are too old for this!" She said amidst laughter.
"I can never get old as long as I have you."
They had gotten to the ladder and Calhoun went up with Ariana clutching unto his shoulders like her life depended on it. She still didn't trust the old little thing. It looked like it could fall apart in any minute.
Fortunately such a thing didn't happen as Calhoun successfully took them to the final landing. He placed Ariana on her feet again and she stood frozen at the beautiful interior thay greeted her. The tree house looked beautiful from the outside —aside the ladder she still didn't trust. But nothing prepared her for the interior that awaited inside. The house was padded with a blue velvet material and had porch furniture to compliment it. It looked more like a room in a five-star resort than a tree house. She placed her fingers against it, enjoying the feeling of the softness on the beds of her fingers.
"How have you been maintaining this?" The moment it left her lips, she knew she had asked a silly question. She turned to steal a glance at Calhoun and she saw the grin on his face. Of course, he would have caught on to her. The Lawsons had thousands of servants and maids, obviously one of them would be cleaning the treehouse for their payment.
She pushed him playfully and he chuckled pulling her under his arm. "You like it, right?"
"Hmmm," she trailed off as she caught the reflection of a picture album in a corner of the room. "Ooohh, let's see what you looked like back then," she grinned evily as she moved to the corner to snatch the album from the ground.
She took the album and moved to seat at the little balcony at the back of the treehouse. Since her legs were long and the house wasn't entirely designed for adults, she sat on the floor with her legs dangling down through the spaces of the railings.
"This is so you! Oh my God!" Ariana exclaimed breaking down in laughter. It was a picture of Calhoun when he was six years old with missing teeth and huge glasses. Ariana couldn't stop herself from laughing.
"I have always been cute," Calhoun replied with a smile dancing on his face as he sat beside her.
She flipped the pages through and saw another shot of him when he was about ten years old, smiling to the camera while pulling two other boys by the ears. "Tell me about this..."
The sounds of her laughter could be heard from the front gates as Calhoun told her about his childhood experiences in the tree house.
"One time, my cousin Matt, brought a girl up here and they were playing dirty when grandpa caught them," he said releasing a small chuckle that sounded like music to Aria's ears.
"No way!" She exclaimed raising her eyebrows till they touched her hairline. "How old was he at the time?"
"Barely twelve but he had already changed girlfriends five times," Calhoun said with the ghost of a smile still lining his face. They were memories that should have normally being painful for his grandfather had found used condoms in his tree house. Calhoun was condemned and accused but deep down he knew it wasn't his. That day his grandfather caught Matt was the day his name got cleared up. Then, he couldn't laugh but looking back at the moment with Ariana, he could smile again. She had truly brought light into his life.
"Where is your cousin Matt now? I will love to meet him," she said swinging her legs below her as she held on to his upper arms.
Calhoun turned to watch the way the setting sun was shinning its rays on her beautiful face. Ariana didn't deserve pain. She was a queen that only deserved good things —good people.
"You have met already and I pray you don't meet again," Calhoun stated and from his tone Ariana sensed he and his cousin Matt were not in good terms.
But she had come to their house to try and know all of them. She had to blend somehow. "Babe, I will have to meet everyone of them at a point, won't I?" Ariana asked with a small voice.
"If I could help it, you won't be meeting any of them!" Calhoun hissed fisting his hands. The idea of having Ariana spend an entire week with his family didn't sit well with him. If it were in his power to handle, he would have canceled the whole thing long ago. But seeing the determination in Ariana's eyes, it made his mind to stay strong for her.
"Well, now that you can't help it. I will be meeting them, so tell me about them. You know, just to prepare my mind. So, it won't be like the last visit."
"You are right, I guess it won't hurt if I give you a quick recap," he said smiling down at her. She had a way of always calming him without even trying so hard.
"Before then, tell me who do you remember from our last visit?" He asked picking up her fingers to play with.
Ariana's face morphed into a tight line as she tried to recollect all the names she could remember from the first dinner she had with them.
"I remember... aunt Bianca and little Rosa," she started with concentration. "And then there is Elsie and of course, grandmother."
"You only remember them because they were sweet to you," Calhoun said as he lifted a finger to caress her cheek. "And you should stick with those people... the rest are either indifferent or outright evil. Like my aunt Lily and her sons Matt and Noah," Calhiun warned.
Ariana knew from the very beginning that Lily didn't like her. In fact deep down, she felt like she was the mastermind behind Mr Lawson senior's attitude. Lily hated her from the very second she stepped foot into their mansion in the city. She would really have to stay off their path as Calhoun warned.