Episode 18
Jill Malik P.O.V
The preparations for Milan’s birthday started before sunrise.
At four in the morning Aunt Lydia was already in the kitchen making all kinds of sweets and I was helping her with it.
Larissa would bring the cake. She would arrive in Barcelona a little bit after ten. She had to fly from Germany where she had a photoshoot.
When Milan woke up we all sang happy birthday for him and I couldn’t help but shed a tear at how long it has already been.
Six years since the accident.
Six years since I’ve known Milan.
Six years since my life had changed.
I became a mommy the very first time I could hold him in my arms, and god didn’t it felt good. It felt so complete and I vowed to his parents, who are watching us from heaven, that I would give him everything his heart desires. Even though we weren’t related by blood, my love for him was the only thing that matter. From my own past I have learned that you don’t need to be related by blood to become family. And Milan was family. The love I have for him is indescribable.
I didn’t know his parents, but I know what it feels like to not have a family.
I know what it’s like to be abandoned by your own blood.
The world can be so cruel.
“Mommy, are you alright?” Milan asked as he smoothed the wrinkles out of my face.
“Yes, amor.” I smiled. “Go brush your teeth and come downstairs okay, I will make breakfast.”
He nodded and hurried to the bathroom. I sat on the edge of his bed and sighed. Last night he asked me again to tell him the story about his parents.
Since the day Milan could talk, I told him the truth about his parents. I made up a sweet story about them, because I didn’t know anything about them except their first names.
Marco and Rosa. They were Italians.
I wanted Milan to know the truth. It was easier for me to tell him from now on, instead of waiting when he’s a teenager.
I walked downstairs and saw Aunt Lydia making breakfast. Guess, I didn’t have to do it anymore.
“Good morning Jill.” She chirped and shove me a plate with pancakes, whipped cream, and strawberries.
“Mmh, this looks good. No churros today?”
She pointed at the container in front of me. “Churros for you and Milan.”
“I’m hungryyy!” Milan yelled as he ran into the kitchen, jumping on the kitchen chair. He grabbed the container with churros and was about to grab one when I snatched it from him.
“Nah-ah-ah.” I said sternly. “First milk.”
“Mommy!” he whined, pouting his lips. Adorable, but it will not help this time.
“First milk birthday boy.” I repeated.
He huffed and then looked at Aunt Lydia who gave him a glass of milk.
“Gross.” he gagged as he squeezed his nose with his fingers. “I don’t want to drink cow pee.”
I almost burst out laughing. God, this boy.
“It’s not cow pee, it’s milk.” I chuckled.
He quickly drank it and shoved the glass far away from him. “It’s still gross. Is milk a fancy word for pee?”
“What? No, it’s milk. Not pee. I would never let you drink pee.”
“Why do I need to drink Milk?” he asked curiously.
“Because it makes you strong and you will get muscles.”
“Like your friend boy?”
I choked on my pancake. I coughed loudly and stared at Milan with wide eyes.
Aunt Lydia looked amused at Milan when he said friend boy.
“Do you mean Flynn? Yes, like him and he’s a friend okay not friend boy.” I answered after the coughing stopped.
“Okay, I want to be strong like him. Can I have a churro now?”
I handed him a churro and he devoured it like he hadn’t ate in days.
After breakfast I let Milan play in the playroom as me and Aunt Lydia continued the preparations for the birthday party. I helped her make punch and tarta de queso.
We were busy in the kitchen when we heard a knock on the door. I wiped my hands on a cloth and walked to the door to opened it.
A beautiful woman in a blue flowery dress stood there with in her hand a delicious looking spiderman birthday cake. It took me a while to realize it was Larissa.
“Lari.” I whispered as tears formed in my eyes. God, I have missed her so much.
She pulled off her sunglasses and looked at me in complete shock.
“Jill.” she breathed out after a while. I wanted to squeeze the living daylight out of her, but she was holding Milan’s birthday cake.
“Come in.” I let her in and closed the door.
She hurriedly put the birthday cake on the closest table and then turned around and hugged me…More like tackled me down. I fell on my butt as she tightly hugged me.
“I’ve missed you so much.” she cried out.
“God, I’ve missed you too !”
I can’t believe that the last time I saw her was six years ago. Every time I came to Barcelona, she was in Milan or some other country due to her work. On top of that, she still wasn’t ready to visit Barcelona because it brought back memories of her father and she still had a hard time dealing with it. The first time she came back to Barcelona was last Christmas, but that was when I couldn’t make it due to so much work.
We stayed like that for a while until someone cleared their throat.
We looked up and Aunt Lydia looked grinning at us. “Girls, girls. You need to catch up later. We have a birthday party to organize.”
Larissa stood up followed by me. She gave her mom a quick kiss and walked to the kitchen with the cake. She placed the cake in the refrigerator and then turned around.
“Where’s Milan?” she asked, holding a blue bag in her hand.
“Playroom.” I replied.
She nodded and walked to the playroom.
I walked towards the living room and pulled out the decorations. It was time to decorate the backyard. I grabbed the balloons, garlands, and pom poms and headed outside. I started decorating the back side of the house, the tables, and the balcony.
When it was time to hang the last balloon I had to stand on a chair to reach the top of the pole. It was wobbly, and to make things worse I had to stand on my tippy toes to reach it.
When I finally tied the ribbon on the nail I carefully tried to get off the chair.
It was just my luck, that I had to lose my balance. I squealed as I felt the chair under me disappearing.
Shit, this will give me a broken ankle.
I closed my eyes to hear the bone breaking sound of my ankle when I felt strong arms wrapped around my body.
“God, Pudding!” I heard a familiar voice. I slowly opened my eyes to see Flynn looking worried over me. “You almost gave me a heart attack, don’t do that.”
“What?” I breathed out shakily, “Climbing on a chair?”
He nodded. “Yes, it’s dangerous. You could have sprained your ankle.”
“But I didn’t.”
“Because I saved you.”
He does have a point. If he wasn’t here I probably wouldn’t be able to walk for two weeks.
“Thanks, but I think it’s safe to let me go now.”
He slowly let me go and now I turned around to get a better look at him. He was still in his suit, I guess he came straight to the party after the meeting.
“You came early.”
“Yeah, the meeting ended early so I decided to show up early to see if you need help.”
“That’s uhm… really considerate of you.” I noticed.
He nodded. “Yup good thing too, because otherwise you wouldn’t be able to walk for two weeks.”
“Mommy!” I heard behind Flynn. I look over his shoulder and saw Milan in a spiderman costume.
“Who bought that for you?” I asked, because I know that he didn’t had a spiderman costume.
“Flynn did.” he grinned as he ran around the backyard.
I looked at Flynn in surprise. “How did you know he liked spiderman?” I asked wonderingly.
“I just happen to saw spiderman toys on the floor when I dropped you off.”
Wow, he was really observant. “That’s really nice from you. He loves it.” I smiled as I looked at my little crazy boy.
I walked back inside to help aunt Lydia bring drinks and foods outside. Flynn played with Milan and Larissa was greeting the guests. There was not a lot, but soon more people came. Most of them were Milan’s friends from school. They all had a fun time and Milan was so ecstatic to have so many people at his party.
Flynn and Larissa met each other and I had to convince Larissa a hundred times that he wasn’t my boyfriend or f**k buddy. After the hundredth time she just stopped asking me about it and started talking to one of the moms about modeling.
When it was time to cut the cake I called everyone to gather around the table. Together we sang happy birthday for Milan. Flynn was so nice to record it while I cut the cake for Milan.
It was a very successful birthday party and Milan had enjoyed every second of it. At the end of the party every kid left with a fully stuffed candy bag.
After the party Milan couldn’t stopped talking about how all his friends like his costume and how they were so envious of him.
He even wanted to sleep with the costume, but Flynn convinced him that it wasn’t a good idea. I don’t know what he exactly said to Milan, but the point is that he didn’t fight back when Flynn pulled the zipper down of his costume.
I showered Milan, dressed him up in his pajama and tucked him in. I softly sang a song for him, so he could drift to sleep.
He yawned and looked at me with sleepy eyes.
“I really like your friend boy mommy.” he whispered before he closed his eyes and fell in a deep sleep.