Chapter 3 Bonnie Dimou

• Bonnie Dimou
• Without hesitation, I leave his office, consumed by a wave of anger.
• Nikolai Pappas is an elderly man, and I can't understand how he can treat his employees so poorly. I’ve seen him mistreat everyone, from his secretary to the cleaning staff who care for the museum.
• Unlike me, who was raised with a completely different mindset by my father. He always told me that in a company, you must value everyone, from the one who sweeps the floor to the one who runs everything. After all, you never know what tomorrow might bring.
• I hope that one day the National Ministry of Culture will recognize my value and entrust me with the administration of this place. I smile as I pass by Carla, Pappas's assistant, who makes a face at me. I waved goodbye to her.
• I leave the office, frustrated as always, head to my room, and get to work on everything I need to do. I have to organize the artifacts he asked me for.
• I spend the entire day doing just that, and by the end of the afternoon, feeling a bit calmer and satisfied for having completed most of my tasks, I call it a day. I started gathering my things to go to my parents’ house and join the dinner Mrs. Dimou prepared for me.
• I say goodbye to my colleagues and head to the parking lot. I get into my car, a custom model my father gave me when I returned to Greece years ago. I place my belongings on the passenger seat, already thinking that it's time to trade it in for a newer model.
• It doesn't take long to reach my parents’ house. The traffic, although slightly heavier due to the number of tourists, isn’t too exhausting. I drive through the property gates and greet the security guards, some of whom saw me grow up running across that lawn.
• As I enter the house, my mother immediately walks toward me with a disapproving look.
• "You’re way too skinny..." she says as she grabs my wrists and lifts my arms. "Look at you, I can see your ribs! If I hug you too tightly, I’m sure I’ll break you."
• I smile and roll my eyes, feeling her warm, comforting embrace. I return the affection with a kiss on her cheek.
• "Mom, don’t exaggerate..." We walked toward the kitchen. "I came so you can stuff me with food, so quit the drama."
• I smile again, and she smacks my butt playfully, making us both laugh.
• "You’re my only daughter, who else am I supposed to be dramatic with? Especially since you don’t even want to get married, or at least give me some grandkids." I gently squeeze her hand and make her look at me.
• I saw her eyes fill with hope. I know my parents have expectations for me, and even though marriage is becoming more and more important to them, I just haven’t met a man who makes my heart race, someone who makes me feel secure enough to give myself to him.
• "Mom, please, don’t start with that again, or I’ll end up leaving."
• I speak seriously. I know it’s the only way to get her to drop the subject. It’s because of this pressure that I’ve been coming home less often. They either don’t accept or don’t want to tell me the real reasons behind trying to force me into marrying someone I barely know.
• "Alright..." she says, raising her hands in surrender. "Let’s go to the kitchen. I prepared a snack for us to have with tea, and I want to talk about something important..." I take a deep breath and pinch the space between my eyes. "I swear it’s not about marriage."
• When my parents aren’t pushing me to talk about marriage, they are the coolest people in the world. My mom, like any woman her age, loves a good gossip and starts updating me on the major events happening in Greek society.
• As soon as I step into the kitchen, I see Nona, the housekeeper who’s in charge of the meals. She’s worked for my parents for so many years that all my childhood memories include her always being around.
• "My girl..." she says, with that familiar scrutinizing look. "You’re too skinny. Move back into this house so I can feed you properly."
• "I’ve already told her, Nona. But this girl is stubborn and thinks all we ever do is try to set her up for marriage."
• I give them both a scowl, but they just exchange glances and smile. I walk over to one of the stools and sit down, watching them argue.
• "It’s true, we do want you to get married," my mom admits, sitting beside me. "But we understand that you want to fall in love."
• "Tell me, Mom, what is it that you wanted to talk about?" I change the subject, or I’ll soon have a piece of paper in front of me with a guest list being drafted.
• I watch my mother light up with excitement. I smile, seeing her almost bounce beside me. I love how animated she gets like that.
• "So, we were chosen to organize and promote the auction that will take place in a few months at your museum," she bursts out with excitement in front of me.
• "That's great. I found out about the auction today, Mr. Pappas selected me to choose a piece from the museum to be auctioned." I wasn’t too happy about losing a piece, but... "I'm excited about it, Mom. I think this is a chance for them to see how good I am at what I do and finally reward me."
• Everyone at home knows how hard I’ve been working to improve and earn a promotion at the museum. My greatest personal satisfaction would be to run the institution I studied so hard for and gave my best to.
• "We’ll wait for your father to get home so we can celebrate your small victory. I know you’ve been waiting for this opportunity for a long time." I rest my head on her shoulder, sighing and silently asking every god to hear my mother’s words.
• "Do I hear my princess’s voice?" my father says as he enters the kitchen.
• His smile is charming, and I see my mother sigh at the sight of him coming home.
• I get up and walk over to hug him warmly. We hadn’t seen each other in a few weeks, and even with their constant nagging, I love them and miss having them around.
• "Hi, Dad. How are you?" He approaches my mother and gives her a gentle kiss before sitting next to her.
• "I miss having you around the house more often. Try to come visit your old parents more."
• My father’s loving gaze disarms me, I can never say no to him.
• "Alright, Dad. I’ll try to come more often... as long as no one pressures me about marriage."
• "We won’t," he chuckled. "Now, tell me, what are we celebrating?"
• "I was chosen by the administration to select the piece that will be auctioned, and Mom just told me that our company will be handling the marketing and publicity for the event."
• "Yes, I’m also really happy we secured the government’s marketing contract for a few more years. That’s been great for our business, even more now that I’m expanding my contracts with the Spanos family." I smile proudly at my father. "But I still have some time to think carefully about the idea."
• I’m surprised to hear they’re strengthening the relationship between Marius and my father even further. I know their friendship goes way back, even before I was born. Maybe that’s why I always hear those conversations about how nice it would be for me to meet their son.
• Our family’s marketing company is a merger of the firm my father owned before marrying my mother and my maternal grandfather’s company, which was handed over to my father after their wedding. My parents worked hard to bring the company to its current international level.
• I know my father always hoped I would take the CEO position, but when I graduated in Archaeology, I’m sure his plans didn’t quite go as expected. Still, I’m able to manage our company. During my teenage years, I used to go to the office and learned everything I needed to keep it running.
• Even so, my heart was never in it, my love belongs to antiquities and history.
• We had a pleasant evening and enjoyed ourselves a lot. My parents tried to convince me to spend the night there, but I gently declined, knowing that one night would be the opening my mother needed to try to get me back home.
• I said my goodbyes and returned to my apartment, and to my solitude.