Thank you very much for the reviews! :)

I'm updating early because I haven't been able to update as frequently anymore. I'm sorry for that, by the way. I just have a lot going on. Hope you can understand :)

There's still some confusion about Rose and Dimitri having safe sex. Rose is on birth control, I think I mentioned it a few chapters ago. So yeah, they're being safe ;)

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy.

CHAPTER 32

RPOV

I blinked a couple of times, to make sure I wasn't dreaming. But no, she was real. My mother was here; this was real.

"Mom," I stammered, "what are you doing here?"

She strode toward us. "I came to see you, of course. Today was your last test, right? How did it go?"

"Um, good, I think," I said. "But-"

"It better be good," she cut me off, her voice still stern as ever.

Her eyes pierced mine and I gulped, unable to say something. It didn't happen often, me being rendered speechless, but my mom was definitely capable of doing just that. At last, she looked away and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Who's your friend?" she asked, staring Dimitri down even though he was way taller than her. She glanced down at our intertwined fingers and scowled. "Isn't he a little bit too old to be in college?"

"He isn't in college and his name is Dimitri," I said, recovering from my shock to see my mom.

"It's nice to meet you, Ms. Hathaway," Dimitri suddenly spoke up, sticking out his hand.

My mom stared at his hand, but, finally, almost reluctantly, she shook it. "You too," she said, although she didn't sound like it was nice to meet him at all. "So if you aren't in college, then you must be working, am I right?"

"Yes, ma'am," Dimitri said. "I'm a computer technician at-"

"Sounds boring," she interrupted.

"Mom!" I hissed. "Don't be so rude."

She just rolled her eyes.

"Why are you here?" I asked again. "I don't believe you came up here just to see me. What do you need? Or did you break up with your boyfriend and-"

"Everything's just fine," she said flatly. "Like I said, I came to see you and I want to know how your finals went."

"They went just fine," I said, my voice just as flat. "If that was all you wanted to know, can Dimitri and I please leave now? We have plans."

"Actually, I'd like to talk to you," Mom said. "Like, right now."

She glared at Dimitri, silently telling him to leave. I started to protest, but Dimitri said, "It's fine, Roza. I'll see you later, okay? I'll go check on the kids and when you're done, I'll come back."

Letting out a sigh, I gave in. "Fine."

Dimitri gave me a kiss on the cheek, nodded politely at my mom and left. I crossed my arms and looked up at my dear mother.

"Did I hear that right?" she said, raising an eyebrow. "He has kids?!"

"Yup. Three of them," I said, giving her a defiant look.

"You're seeing a married man?" Mom said, clearly outraged.

"His wife died," I said.

"How old is he?"

"Twenty-eight."

Her eyes almost bugged out. "What?"

"Dad was also older than you!" I said frowning. "By six years."

"Yes, but he didn't already have three kids," she snapped. "Are you crazy? Do you want to throw away your whole future?"

"I'm not throwing away anything!"

"Yes, you are!"

"No, I'm not!"

Clenching her jaw, she glanced around. "Can we do this inside?"

"No. Here is fine," I said.

I could see I was annoying her, but because we were outside and people could hear us, she kept it together.

"You shouldn't waste your youth on an older man and his kids," she said, trying to stay calm. "How did you meet him anyway?"

"He needed a babysitter," I answered.

"And then you thought, 'let's hook up with the father'!" she said sarcastically. "What a wonderful idea."

"It's not like that," I bit out. "We're in love."

She snorted. "Oh yeah. Sure," she said laughing. "I'm sure he loves you."

I scowled. "It's true."

"I think he's just in love with your looks and that's all."

"Gee, thanks. If you think that's all what men want from me, then-"

"It is what men want from you. Seriously, Rose, do you really think he sees a future with you? He's only in it for the sex."

"As a matter of fact, he asked me to move in with him," I said smugly. I kind of left out the temporary part, but what the hell… It wasn't any of her business anyway.

That stunned her. "He asked you to move in with him? That's ridiculous!"

"I don't find it ridiculous at all," I bit back. "People who love each other tend to do that, you know."

"Rose," she said sighing. "I know you like to be stubborn, but, really… You must know that this will not end well. You should focus on your studies instead of him. It's only going to bring you heartache. You're better off without him."

"You don't even know Dimitri," I said, outraged. "You don't know what he's like! And why do you even care?"

"Rose-"

"No!" I said firmly, shaking my head. "I'm done talking to you. I'm going to my boyfriend now and you can't stop me."

She called after me a couple of times, but I ignored her and kept walking. I was pissed. How dare she come here and tell me Dimitri was no good for me. She didn't even know him! She never cared enough to ask me what was going on in my life, but now she came here, all of a sudden, and tells me what I should and shouldn't do, who I should and shouldn't see.

When I arrived at Dimitri's house, I was still furious. Dimitri noticed immediately and looked at me with concern.

"I know this is probably a stupid question, but…are you okay?" he asked. "You look mad."

"I am mad," I said, clenching my jaw.

"Because your mother is here?"

"No, because of what she said," I answered.

Dimitri tugged at my hand. "Come on, let's go somewhere. Hayley is here, watching the kids, so we still have some time."

I nodded and followed him to the car. As he drove, I told him what happened. I was yelling and almost crying out of frustration.

"I'm sorry," I said quietly when I'd finally finished ranting and quieted down.

"It's okay," he said, just as quiet, as he squeeze my hand gently. "So where is your mom now? Do you think she left?"

"I don't know. And honestly, I don't care." I leaned back against my seat and closed my eyes. "Where are we going anyway?"

"I don't really know. I'm just driving around," he said shrugging. "Tell me, where do you want to go?"

"I don't care," I mumbled. "As long as it is a place far away from my mom."

Dimitri chuckled. "You really don't like her, don't you?"

"You shouldn't laugh," I said scowling. "She's saying bad things about you and she doesn't even know you. You should be mad at her, too."

"I'm not mad," Dimitri said. "I understand where she's coming from. She's your mother and she's worried about you."

I snorted. "She visits me once a year to ask how my finals went and that's it. I don't think she's all that worried. Only about my scores, really."

"I'm sure that's not all she cares about," he said.

I didn't answer. I didn't want to argue with him. I just wanted to go someplace quiet and enjoy being with him after missing him for so long. Too bad my mother had spoiled my mood.

In the end, we went for a walk in the forest. It was just a few miles away. The only time I'd been here was when I'd just moved here. I'd come with Christian for a run, but he'd given up after two miles and after that, he never wanted to run with me again because I was too competitive.

It was quiet in the forest; the only sound came from the birds whistling. We didn't speak as we walked, but I knew Dimitri was watching me. He was probably waiting for me to freak out again.

At last, I couldn't bear the silence and the staring anymore and said, "I'm fine. Don't look at me like that."

"Like what?" Dimitri asked calmly.

"Like I'm a bomb that's about to explode."

He chuckled. "Oh? I thought you'd already exploded in the car."

I glared at him and he pulled me to him, slinging his arm around my shoulders. "You should stop thinking about it. You just finished your finals. Enjoy your freedom."

I sighed. "I guess you're right."

We didn't do much that afternoon. After our walk in the forest, we returned to campus and went to my dorm room. I'd already packed up some of my stuff. We took it to Dimitri's place and he put it away in his room. I would bring the rest of my stuff tomorrow.

When I went home later that night, I hadn't expected to see my mom again. But there she was, standing in the hallway, waiting for me at my door, her arms crossed like always.

"What are you still doing here?" I said rudely.

"We still need to talk about your boyfriend," she said, ignoring my angry stare.

"No, we don't," I said as I opened the door.

She was about to walk inside, but I stepped in front of her.

"Yes, we do," she insisted.

"No," I said firmly. "Don't you get it? I don't want to talk. I wanted to talk for many years, but you just shut me out. And now…now I don't feel like talking anymore. I guess I'm the one shutting you out this time."

And with that, I slammed the door shut behind me.

DPOV

It was already late when the doorbell rang. I'd just put my kids to bed. I hadn't expected any visitors at this hour. I figured it'd be Ivan, but when I opened the door, I was surprised to see Rose's mother.

"Good evening," she said, looking all businesslike. "May I come in?"

"Uh, sure," I said, stepping aside, wondering how the hell she found out where I lived.

Before I could ask, though, she said, "I'm sorry if this is an inconvenient hour for you – your kids are probably in bed – but I asked Christian where you live and, personally, I think this can't wait until morning."

I was pretty sure this wasn't going to be a friendly visit, but I gestured for her to walk through to the living room anyway. I offered her a drink, but she declined.

"So, what do you want to talk about?" I asked. Like I didn't know already.

"Rose, of course," she said.

I nodded and waited for her to continue. It was quiet for a while and then she abruptly said, "It needs to stop. You need to put an end to this so-called relationship."

"There isn't anything 'so-called' about it," was what I'd like to say, but instead, I said, "I understand why you don't like that we're together, but I love your daughter with all my heart."

She snorted. "Sorry, but I don't believe that."

"Well, all I can say is that I'm telling the truth," I said. "I know my situation isn't ideal and that Rose can do better than this, than me, but-"

"I'm glad you know that," she cut me off. "That makes it easier for me to convince you to break up with her."

I was stunned. "What?"

"You heard me," she said, staring me down like she had this afternoon. She was pretty fierce for such a small woman. "Rose won't listen to me when I tell her she's better off without you. But I'm sure she'll listen to you."

"I'm not going to break up with her," I said, my voice firm.

"Yes, you are."

"I can't. Despite what you think, I really do love her."

She let out a frustrated sigh. "I'm not doing this to torture you or Rose. I'm doing this because this is the best for her. Don't you want what's best for her?"

"Of course I do, but-"

"You're only going to hold her back. She's way too young to be stuck with a man who's got three kids. She needs to live her life and as long as she stays with you, she won't be able to do that."

I frowned. I remember thinking about these things in the beginning of our relationship. I'd thought the same things, but Rose had cleared away any doubts I'd had. But now that Janine was here, telling me this, it all came rushing back.

"Do you want her to resent you? Is that what you want?" she said, still perfectly calm. "Because that's what's going to happen, you know, if you stay with her. She's going to resent you for taking away her freedom. Because she won't have that anymore. She will have to take care of three kids that aren't even her own. She's too young for that. She's too young for all those responsibilities. She might not realize this right now, but she will. And when she does, she'll leave you."

I flinched. I did not want to think about that.

"It'll be better for the both of you if you just end it now," she continued. "It'll be less painful and your kids won't get too attached to her."

They already are, I thought. But I didn't say it out loud. She didn't need to know that.

"She's going to feel like she's stuck with you and that she can't get out. And she'll blame you. Love won't be enough to keep her with you. If she still loves you, then. If she isn't filled already with so much resentment that-"

"Alright, I think I got the message!" I snapped.

She wasn't fazed by my little outburst. She just smiled, seeming satisfied. "Fine. Then I think my job is done here. Good night."

With a curt nod, she turned abruptly and strode away. She left me standing there, utterly perplexed.

It sure seems that Janine doesn't approve of Rose and Dimitri's relationship at all. What do you think Dimitri's going to do now? And how will Rose react when she finds out that her mother went to talk to Dimitri?

Please leave a review and let me know what you think. Have a nice day/evening! :)