She couldn’t understand why today she was almost getting caught, but then she realized it was all because she took out Viktor’s jacket after feeling missing him so much.
’Viktor…this is all your fault…’ Taya inwardly grumbled, though on the outside, she tried to keep her calm to not make Tiana suspicious and asked, “Tiana, stop with all the nonsense. Why would you even ask something like that? That jacket is something I bought for Dorian but realized the size was too big. So I was going to give it back.”
”Oh…” Tiana realized that she blurted out things without probably thinking too much and gave a cheesy smile as she hugged her mother, “I am sorry, mom. It’s just that I saw this same jacket in my teacher’s office. Gosh, he can be really annoying.”
Sayana, who had decided to stay in the same spot for a few more seconds, had her eyes narrowed upon hearing this. She then left to her room with certain thoughts in her head while from behind, Eva looked at her departing back with a fixed gaze.
Back in Taya’s room,
”Your teacher’s office? Why would you go there for no reason? Did you cause some trouble?” Taya asked as she raised Tiana’s chin to make her look into her eyes since she knew Tiana had a tell.
Tiana gulped as she quickly refuted while evading her gaze, “Of course not, mom! I have been really good in college, like you said. I was just complaining about that guy because he doesn’t give us a break during P.E classes. That’s all.”
Tiana was continuously looking at Taya’s eyes meekly, then looking away, and then repeating the same thing over and over as if trying to see what her mother was thinking. She really didn’t want her to know about what kind of troubles she caused in the college.
Even if Tiana used to rebel against Taya or show defiance till recently, it was all because she wanted to get her attention. But in truth, she respected and looked up to her mother the most, and that was why whenever she was before Taya like this, she would find it hard to lie to her.
Taya was someone who raised Tiana since she was a baby, and even if she never got to spend all of her time with her, she still knew many things about her, and catching her lies was one of the things.
’Viktor…just you come back…You will have a lot of explaining to do…’ Taya could see that something was going on between Tiana and Viktor, though she didn’t know the details. But at the same time, it didn’t seem like anything serious happened, so she decided to let Tiana off for now.
Tiana made her sit down on the bed, “Ha, let’s forget about these silly things and talk about something I had been asking you since the day those strangers began to stay in her house. Can you please make that Ayana girl go away? She is too annoying,” Tiana said with pursed lips as she hugged her mother tightly and looked at her with puppy eyes.
Taya softly chuckled as she pulled Tiana’s cheek, “Silly girl, do you really want to kick out Dorian’s relative? What would he think if he knew you did something like that?”
Tiana’s expression suddenly became complicated, and she realized that she had never thought of such an angle. Would he get angry if she tried to kick Ayana out? Or will he get upset and ignore her? Wait…why am I worried about his reaction?
Tiana couldn’t even understand why she was feeling like this, but then she suddenly remembered something and said, “But that girl herself told me that she is not really his blood relative. She is simply trying to leech off using her step-aunt Nyissa and us. I think she might even have some ulterior motives,” Tiana said skeptically.
If Ayana heard this, she would try to bite Tiana’s ears for lying through her teeth.
Taya was finding it hard to keep herself from laughing upon hearing Tiana’s words and said as she pulled both of her cheeks, “You silly. Do you know sometimes you overthink too much about things? Even if Ayana is not blood-related, she is still officially Dorian’s cousin like you, even if it is a bit distant relationship. So you two girls play nice till Dorian returns, okay? Ayana is not as bad as you think.”
Tiana blew through her mouth in a frustrated way before suddenly asking as her eyebrows drew together, “About that…why is Dorian still remaining so secretive? It has been four days, and he didn’t even leave behind a single text to where he went or anything.”
Taya again felt a bit suspicious, feeling the worry in Tiana’s tone. Tiana was someone who disliked Dorian entering this family and was also against taking care of him in college.
But now…why does it seem like…she was missing him? Viktor…what the hell were you doing with my and Umi’s daughters in college?
Taya herself knew this flimsy excuse of Dorian taking care of some personal business would only continue to become even more flimsy as days passed, and this was also one of the reasons she wished Viktor would just return as fast as possible.
”Look. Give Dorian some space. He is someone who has gone through a lot that you can’t imagine and might not understand right now. He might know that you will ask him about the details of where he went, and maybe he doesn’t want to say them to you right now till he is comfortable with it. But don’t worry. My bodyguards will give me a call if he is in trouble.”
Tiana felt a bit relieved hearing that, and at the same time, she didn’t expect that she would feel this worried for her cousin, who she had only known for the past few months. But because of this and also hearing her mother mention how Dorian had a hard life in the past, she was curious to know more and understand him.
For some reason, she felt that there was more to him than just his goofiness.
Still, she sighed and said, “Fine…We will just wait for him to return then. But mom…are you seeing someone for real?”