Husband With Benefits
Chapter 177: The Past

Chapter 177: The Past

The cozy cafe exuded a warm ambiance, with soft jazz melodies playing in the background, and the aroma of freshly brewed coffee wafting through the air. Dimly lit, the place seemed like a sanctuary for contemplation. Nora sat alone at a corner table, her fingers nervously tracing the rim of her cup of hot chocolate. The muted buzz of conversations and the clinking of cutlery formed a comforting backdrop to what she was about to try and pull off.

Her eyes were fixed on the entrance. She needed answers and the only way she could get anyone to reveal anything would be to catch all the Frost brothers separately. If she questioned them together or directly, she would never know.

But first, the person she needed to see the most was Erasmi. As she waited for him, she could not help but wonder if what she was about to do was right or not. Demetri had of course already told her that there was no need for her to dig into the past, but she was curious.

She had no one who could tell her much about her father. But there was someone who could tell her about her sister. Even if she did not remember her, she wanted to know about this family that she’d had. According to grandpa William, her sister had planned to marry Erasmi Frost and then legally adopt her after fighting for her custody.

She grinned at that. If things had indeed turned out that way, Demetri would have ended up as her uncle. Ewww... A se*y uncle but an uncle nonetheless.

She also sensed Demetri’s reluctance in answering her questions. It was clear that he did not like Nellie much. And that was the source of her apprehension. First, she did not want to hurt Erasmi’s feelings and hurt him by talking about her and secondly, Demetri’s extreme dislike for Nellie.

Demetri was an asture person. If he hated Nellie, then there must be some problem with her...

As Erasmi entered the cafe, Nora could not help but stare at him. He did look exactly like Demetri but there were subtle differences in their gazes. Demetri looked like he owned the place when he entered a room but Erasmi looked as if he hated everyone. But she didn’t think it was always like that. Then was this because of what had happened all those years ago?

Soon Erasmi spotted her, and a warm, genuine smile spread across his face. He approached her table with a confident stride, his presence commanding the attention of the other cafe patrons. He pulled out the chair opposite her and sat down, his eyes never leaving Nora’s. "I did not expect to be summoned so quickly."

"Also, before you accuse me of anything, I did not forward that picture of yours and Isabella to Demon, alright? That was Seb and Ian. They were envious of you because they wanted to dance with Isabella.

Nora offered a faint smile in return, though her mind was racing with questions and uncertainty even as she shook her head, "More like they wanted her... as if I wouldn’t warn her off against them and their ways."

Erasmi grinned and soon started a conversation about their plans to explore this city before the rest of the brothers left to go back. As a lull in the conversation appeared, Nora took this opportunity to question Erasmi, " I would like to know about my sister. Can you tell me? If it is not too painful to you..."

Erasmi’s smile waned slightly as Nora mentioned her. His demeanour shifted, revealing a hint of sadness in his eyes. He gazed into his coffee for a moment, lost in thought, and then took a deep breath.

"Nellie... she was something else, Nora," he began, his voice tinged with a mixture of nostalgia and regret. "She was the happiest and most easy going person you could come across one minute and the next she could be like the Yama himself, cutting down a person with her wit and sarcasm."

Erasmi continued, "We met in college as you know, and it was like a whirlwind romance. Nellie was full of life, always looking for the next adventure. We were inseparable, and I could not help but fall for her. And then there were the similarities..."

"Both of us had grown up without parents under the tutelage of strict grandparents. We yearned to explore the world and spread our wings. For the first two years of our college, we were always together, every moment of every day. Finally, I gathered the courage and proposed to her in our final year fully expecting her to accept me. She refused."

"I just could not understand why she would do that. I told her that she wanted to explore the world so she could do it with me. We could be companions. But she said she only dreamt of roaming the world. However, after completion of her studies, she needed to settle down and marry someone so that she could take care of her younger sister."

"That was totally unexpected for me. I am ashamed to say that I almost lost my head then. I felt betrayed. For the two years we were always discussing how we wanted to rove all those places. We’d even decided on a special place where we would not go without one another. It was a pact we made that we could roam anywhere in the world, but we would not go there without each other."

Nora listened intently, her heart aching with curiosity and emotion. She wanted to know more about Nellie, to fill the void in her memory with her stories and experiences that she had missed.

Her heart ached for her sister, for the love and dreams that had once been shared with Erasmi. And it pained her even more that her sister had been willing to give all that up for her while she had no memory of Nellie.

When Erasmi stopped, without saying more, Nora nodded in gratitude and spoke with glittering eyes, "Thank you for sharing that."

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