Chapter 4 Strawberry creme Frappuccino

"Princess, can I have a last hug before you go away and grow up for once and all?" Aiden asked, his voice gentle and so soft like he was talking to a toddler, a guilty smile plastering on his face.

Venessa froze in her place, her heart crumbling into little pieces as she heard the pleading tone of her father, her body moving towards him on autopilot.

A genuine smile formed on his face as he wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly, his eyes shut, hiding the tears she was never supposed to see.

"I know we're overprotective sometimes, it's not because we don't trust you, it's because we don't trust the world around you. I know it can feel overbearing sometimes, but sweetheart, your mom doesn't want you to get hurt, she still treats you like a newborn, well so do I, because we love you too much" Aiden paused, kissing the top of her head, feeling like he was holding his whole world in his arms.

"But I am sorry for hurting you" He added, hoping to soothe her wounds.

"Can I join the hug?" Alyssa asked, coming out of the kitchen with a box in her hand that's filled with Venessa's favourite homemade chocolate barks.

"Of course mom, you don't have to ask," Venessa chuckled, a sob escaping her lips as she saw the box in her mother's hand.

No matter how much anyone hurts each other in this house, at the end of the day, they are filled with love to carry you in their arms until you're not tired anymore.

Alyssa smiled, joining the hug without wasting any second, her eyes turning teary as she realised how much her daughter has matured over the past two years.

"I love you so much, little one, and we are always going to have your back, no matter what you decide to do" Alyssa swore, kissing Venessa's temple, wiping her own tears.

"Stop crying you guys, I swear and start doing the formalities that are needed to shift our business to NewYork, we already have a branch there, so just make it our main branch."

Venessa chuckled, snuggling in between her parents, soaking in their warmth for the last time until she returned again.

She is still angry at them and even they are aware that she will try her best to avoid them until she forgives them.

They know she isn't a person who forgives easily and the matter they hid wasn't little either.

Two years of anger, hurt, pain, regret, love and everything else they put her through hiding a biggest part of her life.

"We will do it by the end of your semester, don't worry" Aiden sounded unsure but now that Ashton and Venessa are going to be together, he knows he can shift things easily.

"Are you sure you want to go?" Alyssa asked, feeling like a horrible mother.

Both the parents had no sleep from the time Venessa cried in their arms and they know this is going to happen.

"Mom, for the twenty-fifth time, you can't change my mind anymore. Give me some space and time please." Venessa insisted.

"Here" Aiden kept all her certificates, admission letter, few ATM cards and address of the school and her apartment address and everything else she needed in a file and handed it to her.

"Thank you, I appreciate it" Venessa checked all her papers.

"Your car will be there by day after tomorrow, use cabs until then and if you want, we can arrange you a driver" Aiden felt his stomach drop, not having a good feeling about it.

"Dad, chill. I can drive by myself and I will manage everything else. And I know you won't let me stay alone so of course I'm accepting the guards and cook and maid" Venessa sighed in disbelief.

Her father is pestering her too much about it and she accepted it for their relief.

"Thank you" he cupped her cheeks and kissed her head, imprinting her features and how she felt in his hands at that moment.

"We are just worried about you" Alyssa looked sorry for repeating things, seeing Venessa on edge but she couldn't help herself. She's one and only daughter after all.

"We've seen where your worry takes me yesterday. Please. I remember everything. I'll text you once I reach there and I don't want to hurt you guys but I need some space. Please respect it."

Venessa kissed her parents' cheek and hugged them for the one last time as the two guards loaded her luggage in the car to drop her at the airport.

"Call us if you have any issue, we'd be right there in a few hours" Aiden said, patting her head lovingly.

Venessa waved at them before she sat in the car's backseat, ready to go to the U.S., where she knows no one and doesn't know what to expect there.

Her parents looked at her leave with their hands gripping their hearts, hoping Ashton wouldn't crush her heart deliberately.

"Do you think we are doing it right? I think we should inform him" Aiden murmured, feeling lonely as his daughter left all of a sudden.

"You know about her. She wouldn't want it. She'd heal him herself the way she knows. She already warned us not to tell him about her past or she'd leave everyone and go to some other state" Alyssa held her head in between her hands.

Her daughter is the mother of stubbornness in the house and no one could calm her when it came to Ashton. Including Ashton himself sometimes.

He's the kind of best friend that every human being on this earth wishes and Venessa had protected it until two years ago.

"What if he is changed?" Aiden asked with his father's instinct.

"His parents are no more so of course he has changed, but so did our daughter. They'll grieve together, he might get angry and throw tantrums, but you know how deep their friendship is" Alyssa added.

"Ah, I don't care, I'm starting the formalities right away, if my daughter is not here, I'm going to go to her, let's change Massachusetts as our new main branch."

The protective father in him never stops, Alyssa thought in disbelief. But she knows what made him turn this way. The same night that snatched their ever so cheerful daughter from them.

-

"Ma'am what should we say to your friend if she comes?" Leo, her driver asked.

He has been driving Venessa and Ashton when he was here and he drove Venessa and Annalisa too and he knows how stalker-ish Annalisa can be.

Annalisa Rayford, the third one of the trio of Ashton, Venessa and Annalisa, best friends who grew up together until Ashton and his family had to move away.

"If Anna asks you anything, tell her that you dropped me at the airport and you had no idea. If she presses too much, tell her that I'm in Greece to have some peace of mind" Venessa replied, checking her mobile.

"And call me Nessa, uncle. You know me since I was born" she huffed like a kid.

Leo chuckled, taking a turn.

"Of Course Nessa. So you are going to Ashton? And you know how destructive his anger is?" Leo asked casually. He was a man in his forties who loved kids.

He is almost like a family to Venessa's.

"Yes for both questions. And you know me too. If he is destructive, we'd destroy things together" Venessa shrugged.

"So you are not changing your mind?" Leo sighed.

"You got me," she replied with a smile.

She got out of the car as soon as Leo stopped the car at gate number 6 which she was asked to.

He bid her bye as two guards helped with her luggage which were simply two suitcases along with her shoulder bag which had her certificates file and tickets. Everything else will come in her car to her.

As she checked in, Annalisa called her mobile.

And this time, she kept it on vibration instead of answering it and shoved it inside her pocket like how she was doing since yesterday.

"Ah come on, I shouldn't have even got this luggage with me" Venessa groaned, dragging her luggage into the Starbucks that was inside the airport, ready to have a coffee.

As she took her strawberry creme Frappuccino in a to-go cup and turned behind to go to her seat, only to clash into a guy and spill the drink on both of them as she saw the scene happen in slow motion with her eyes widened.

"Shit" she muttered, freezing in her place as her eyes fell on the man in front of her who was glaring at her like he was trying to turn her into ashes by his eyes.