Marry My Billionaire Second Husband - Chapter 104

Chapter 104: Carnival
Matteo gritted his teeth. “I am that narrow-minded actually. Don’t the both of you have somewhere else to be?”

Aiden cracked up as if Matteo had told a good joke. “See, Mom, he’s perfectly fine with it! Don’t worry, we won’t intrude on their date, right Emmeline? We just want to spend some time getting to know the newest member of our family. One lunch date definitely wasn’t enough time to spend with Amelia.”

Matteo scowled. In his opinion, one lunch date was simply one lunch date too many. Meanwhile, Amelia did not believe Aiden’s intentions were innocent, and she stepped even closer to Matteo for protection.

“Exactly,” Emmeline added sweetly. “Besides, there’s safety in numbers! It’s not safe for me to sightsee alone, and Aiden might want to slip away and visit a club or two. I might as well hang out with the both of you in the meantime.”

With that pronouncement, their fate was sealed. Amelia’s eyebrow twitched, but she could not in good conscience leave Emmeline alone to wander in a foreign land, annoying as she was, even though she knew Emmeline would not extend her the same grace.

But if a catastrophe were to befall Emmeline, she and Matteo would never hear the end of it.

“Fine, let’s go,” Matteo growled out, irritated that he would have two hang-ons for his date with Amelia.

The four of them made their way out and followed the main road to the nearby town. Matteo kept his hand wrapped around Amelia’s as he quickened his pace, trying to shake them off.

Unfortunately, they kept up with his hurried footsteps. But then Matteo caught sight of the multiple shining lights, twinkling brightly under the slowly darkening sky, and smiled. It would be easier to lose them in the crowd of the carnival.

“Sweet, there’s a carnival happening now!” Aiden exclaimed excitedly. “Amelia, do you want me to win you something? Or get you something to drink? You have to try out their special wines!”

“No, thank you,” Amelia said instinctively.

Her eyes were drawn to the variety of different stalls, each boasting a different carnival game. There were also stalls selling food and drink, and Amelia’s mouth began to water the longer she observed them.

“Are you hungry?” Matteo asked, noticing Amelia’s distraction. “I could get something for you. You didn’t eat much on the plane.”

“You can go eat at a restaurant then! It’s not safe to eat food from carnival stalls. What if you catch a nasty stomach bug?” Emmeline cut in quickly. She needed to hang onto Matteo at all costs. “Besides, you can’t possibly expect Matteo to queue for you, right?”

Emmeline’s voice was loud, and her disdainful comments drew more than a few unhappy glances in their direction. While Lesterat was a prime tourist destination, the town they were in was run by locals who took great pride in the festivals and food and didn’t like uppity tourists giving snide comments.

“I would like a kebab and a waffle,” Amelia said instead. Her stomach gave a loud gurgle, ready to be fed. “I can queue by myself. Don’t wait around on my account.”

“I’ll accompany you,” Matteo said, almost jumping to attention. He immediately dragged Amelia to the nearest stall, despite the overwhelmingly long queue, in the hopes that Emmeline and Aiden would find something else to occupy their time.

Thankfully, he didn’t have to wait long for Aiden to take the bait. Matteo knew that his younger brother, with his natural impatience, despised slow queues and long wait times. After shuffling his feet for a minute, Aiden realized the queue wasn’t moving as fast as he hoped.

“Hey, I’m going to go buy a pint first. Can you help me buy a portion? I want a kebab with sriracha sauce! Do you guys want anything?” Aiden asked, hoping they would say no. He didn’t want to lug purchases back.

“No, thank you,” Amelia said, and Matteo shook his head.

Meanwhile, Emmeline shot him a venomous look from under her lashes― Aiden was so unreliable, he couldn’t even accompany her in a queue?

Fine, she could handle them on her own.

“See you!” Aiden gave a cheery wave and then vanished into the crowd.

It was too much to hope that Emmeline would follow his example. Now that they were stuck in the queue, there was no way to avoid her relentless chatter.

“Matteo, do you remember how everything looked like before?” Emmeline gushed out, her eyes shining like stars under the twinkling lights, the blonde of her hair a halo around her angelic face. More than one passer-by gave her an interested glance, captivated by her looks.

Unfortunately, Matteo was unmoved. He merely let out a noncommittal grunt, trying not to encourage any conversation. But Emmeline continued to talk.

“Back then, we were only this tall, and we ran around the place trying to pelt snowballs at each other,” Emmeline said, her tone turning wistful. “I remember you trying so hard to win me a stuffed toy at one of the game stalls. I still have the stuffed rabbit you won for me back then. Do you think you can get me another, so I can give her a companion?”

Matteo simply replied, “No.”

Emmeline’s face fell, crestfallen. “But… surely cousin Amelia isn’t so petty that she would take offense if you were to help me win another bunny! Right, Amelia?”

Matteo frowned. “Whether Amelia is willing to let me do so is not the issue. I am unwilling to help you win a stuffed toy.” Then, as if to add salt to the wound, he turned to Amelia and asked tenderly, “My dear, do you want a stuffed toy? I’ll do my best at the games to net you something.”

Amelia’s lips rose, and she decided to just be a little petty, for her own sake.

“Of course! I’ve only been on one carnival date,” Amelia sighed as if she was aggrieved. “Caleb did his best, but he couldn’t win me anything. Even the kids who were playing for fun did better than him.”

She then addressed Emmeline, “I hope Kelsie doesn’t mind his lack of skill. He was awfully poor at aiming at the right target… I suppose his lapse in judgment extends to all parts of his life, including carnival games.”