Chapter 11

"He is here for an explanation, which you definitely owe him. Especially since you left to come here without telling him." She looked up at him sternly, waiting for an answer.

Ivan refused to look up from the floor. "It's really okay, Mrs. Braginski. I don't blame him for being like this while in our situation."

Sofiya looked closely at Matthew to make sure that he truthfully was okay with what happened. "You are lucky Matthew is so forgiving, but I am not. We taught you better than that. So, you will take your fiancé on a tour of the grounds. He expressed his fondness for sunflowers, you can start there." Ivan looked up at his mother nervously. He had told her indirectly about how guilty he had felt over leaving Matthew like that.

"Sounds like fun?" Matthew's voice lifted at the end, showing his nerves and forming a question. Sofiya smiled and motioned for them to leave.

"Now, Ivan. I will be in my library." She slowly stood and walked out of the room, smiling at Matthew before she joined one of her maids on the stairwell. Ivan stood awkwardly with his fiancé before clearing his throat.

"So…sunflowers?" Matthew nodded and smiled up at him. Ivan led him outside and to the large plot of sunflowers, where Vlad was digging around. The dog looked up at Ivan and started barking at Matthew, making him flinch and try to hide behind the other man (awkward wording is awkward). "There is no reason to be afraid, Matthew. Vlad wouldn't hurt a fly." He kneeled and held out his hand. Vlad ignored it and instead jumped so his front paws were on Ivan's shoulders and started licking his face.

"He does seem harmless," Matthew chuckled and kneeled down next to his fiancé.

"He is an excellent judge of character," Ivan scratched behind his ears and smiled. "Let him smell you first. It takes a few minutes for him to notice anyone else." Matthew held his hand out and let Vlad smell him, beaming when he licked his hand and laid his head on his lap.

The Canadian giggled and scratched behind Vlad's ears. "He likes me." He smiled up at his fiancé, while Ivan looked away guiltily. "What's wrong?"

"I had received a call from my father, that my mother was feeling worse than usual, and that he wanted me to come visit her," he explained, messing with the ends of his large scarf.

"You don't have to explain yourself to me, Ivan. It's okay."

"You deserve an explanation. I should have told you, rather than expecting your father to relay the message," Ivan stood and helped Matthew up. "What I did was unnecessarily rude and I will try my hardest to make sure that this doesn't happen again."

Matthew grinned and brushed off his pants. "You better not. We now know what happens when you leave with no explanation." Ivan chuckled and started walking with Matthew at his side. "So you can smile. I would have never guessed," he joked, nudging his shoulder.

"Excuse you, I smile all of the time. I have just been 'less than happy' in this situation. You can't honestly tell me that you have been perfectly content with me."

"I would try to be happy with anyone I was engaged to. I'm not noticed very often, so it was either you or waiting for somebody that probably wouldn't come along." Matthew shrugged and blushed, thinking of how pathetic he must seem.

"I am sorry, Matthew. I have said things to you that nobody deserves to hear. I can't take back the fact that what I said to you was the truth, but I can try harder to be…civil around you and treat you with respect."

"Thank you, Ivan. I would really like that. In return, I will try not to irritate you in the future," he joked, blushing faintly when their hands brushed as they walked.

"I don't find you that annoying. My mother and Vlad love you, so there is no way I could object to this engagement and it actually ending. My mother would never let you go," Ivan joked, putting his hands in his pockets and leading Matthew around the grounds in a comfortable silence.

"So. Tell me about yourself, Matthew," Alexander Braginski stared down at him from the head of the smaller dining room table. He made a very intimidating figure, with gray-streaked black hair and cold eyes (what the hell is wrong with me), causing Matthew to ball his hands in his lap to keep him from seeing them shake. "I must admit, I didn't even know the Bonnefoy line had another son until we received the letter." He took a sip of his wine and chuckled, knowing how much the idea of being forgotten cut the young man.

Matthew blushed and looked at the table, the shaking spreading through his arms and legs. "I'm not as outgoing as Alfred, so I tend to be overlooked in the various get-togethers."

"Overlooked is an understatement. A more fitting word would be nonexistent. I have never met another human being with less of a presence than you. Really, the only reason this engagement is even worth continuing is that Ivan has refused everyone else," Alexander continued, ignoring Sofiya and Ivan's looks of shock and indignation. As he kept talking, Matthew grew more and more upset.

"Stop! I may not be the most outgoing and loud person in the world but at least my family didn't let the donor line die out!" His face was flushed red as he stood in front of his chair and shouted at the head of the Braginski line. "Everyone knows that the one thing you should completely ensure is the continuation of the families! You didn't take the time to take care of them!" He remembered everything that he was taught about the Surrogate Companion Families, the reason all of the heirs were able to continue no matter the conditions of the marriage.

The companion family was the first to be asked about surrogacy, even with the complete ability to say no to the process, it was unlikely that both families would refuse. In the marriage between Matthew and Ivan, most of the chance for producing heirs relied on the Bonnefoy companion family.

"Get off of my property! Now!" Alexander pointed towards the main corridor to the foyer.

"With pleasure!" Matthew's shoulders slumped as soon as he was out of sight and he put his head in his hands. "I ruined everything," he thought, calling a cab to pick him up and take him to his hotel.

Back in the dining room, Alexander was seething and Sofiya and Ivan were looking between each other and their plates, worried. Sofiya jerked her head towards the door, hinting at Ivan to go check on Matthew before he left.

Ivan nodded and stood, walking out and grabbing his coat. Hanging right next to his tan overcoat was Matthew's tan and dark brown coat, forgotten from when he stormed off. He grabbed the other coat and made his way down the incredibly long road leading off of Braginski land, knowing that he couldn't have gotten far without it. He found Matthew sitting on a stone bench a fourth of the way down the road. Ivan went up from behind and wrapped the coat around Matthew's shoulders, sitting down next to him.

"Thank you. I didn't want to spoil my 'big exit' by going back because I forgot my coat," he grinned at Ivan and put his arms through the sleeves. "At least now I know where you get your skills with people."

I formally apologize for taking too long to update, I wrote this chapter in 3 days, took my beta (johnwiththewind . tumblr) a few days to email me the file in a way that I could access it and yeah.

Song of the chapter: "Afraid" by The Neighbourhood

Is anyone listening to the songs? I don't blame you if you don't, but a lot of them are pretty awesome. They're always either something that relates to what is happening, or it is the song I was listening to while editing.

I don't know when the next update will be up, you all know how I am at this point.

You can follow me on tumblr at halfwater - mostlyboob . tumblr . com (without spaces) or on twitter NoWheatOrPens I don't tweet very often but if you want to follow, there you go.