CHAPTER 3

Kian

“Meet him. He is my son, Cassian,” Lady Lila said.

The moment she said that, Cassian stretched his hand out toward me as if he wanted to shake hands.

“Welcome. I am Cassian, your stepbrother. I am older than you, so you can ask me anything you want.”

What he said was indeed sweet.

But the way he was looking at me made it difficult for me to understand what he was thinking. I tried to pull my hand back from his, but he wasn't letting go at all. Instead, he just kept smiling.

And that smile sent shivers down my spine. I tried harder to pull my hand away and then glanced at Lady Lila. But she was busy talking with my father, so neither of them was paying attention to us.

“Cassian, please.” When I said that, my father's attention turned toward us, and Cassian finally let go of my hand. He stood there as if he hadn't done anything at all.

I looked at my wrist. It had already turned red. My skin was pale, so I bruised easily. Cassian's fingerprints were clearly visible on my wrist, and it was hurting.

I rubbed my wrist with my other hand while looking down.

“Kian and Cassian, there is something we need to tell you,” Lady Lila said.

I glanced up at her. She was looking at my father after saying that, and my father smiled.

“Actually, we are already legally married, so Lila has made all the preparations for our honeymoon. That's why we are going on our honeymoon soon.”

Wow. I couldn't believe my father hadn't told me about this before. And now he was telling me this when we had already come here.

Man, this was so frustrating. But then I saw how happy my father looked with Lady Lila, and I couldn't bring myself to say anything at all. I just stood there silently.

“Cassian, since you are older than Kian, you will have to take good care of him, okay?” Lady Lila asked her son.

Cassian was already twenty-seven, if I wasn't wrong, while I was twenty-two. Of course, he was older than me. But I didn't need him to take care of me, not after seeing how he had hurt my hand earlier. I looked at my father, and our eyes met. He nodded at me.

“No need to worry about Kian,” my father said in the middle of the conversation.

That made everyone go silent. Lady Lila and her son exchanged confused glances.

“Honey, what are you saying? Why don’t we need to worry about Kian? He is going to live with us. Of course, we will be worried about him.” Lady Lila looked at me with a pitiful expression.

My father smiled as he scrach his head. “No it's doesn’t mean anything bad. It’s just that Kian wants to be an actor, which is why he has been giving auditions. So, from next week, he is going to stay with his friends, who are also in the same industry.”

My father explained everything to them. And honestly, I was happy that Father had agreed because, before coming here since the last week, he had kept saying no whenever I talked about staying with my friends and giving auditions. So i had forgotten about that completely. But it seemed he had already made up his mind. He just hadn’t told me.

“Thank you so much, Dad!”

I ran to my father and hugged him right away. He smiled and hugged me back.

While I was hugging him, I saw Cassian standing there, glaring at my father as if he had done something wrong. I quickly broke the hug. Lady Lila even ruffled my hair affectionately.

“Your hair is exactly like your father's, and your eyes are too. How cute,” she said.

A smile spread across my face because that was true. My hair was blonde, just like my father's, and my eyes were grey, the same as his. My skin was also milk-white, just like my father's. But my body was smaller compared to other guys my age.

“Lady Lila, you are also very beautiful.”

She seemed very pleased with my compliment and pulled me closer, putting her arm around my shoulder.

Later that night, I had already brought all my luggage into the room that had been given to me. But I didn't unpack everything because I was leaving next week anyway, so why bother? I only took out my pajamas and towel before going into the bathroom to take a bath.

The bathroom was so clean and huge. It was the kind of bathroom we only ever saw on TV. There was a bathtub, a shower, and everything else I could possibly need.

After my bath, I stepped out wearing my pajama shorts and top. I wiped my hair and dried it with a hair dryer. Then, while sitting in front of the mirror, I applied moisturizer to my face, neck, and hands.

That was when someone suddenly knocked on my bedroom door, making me flinch. I stood up from the chair and walked toward the door before opening it.

When I opened the door, I saw Cassian standing right in front of me. He wasn't wearing his black suit anymore. He was only wearing a white shirt and black pants. But his shirt was a little tight, making his body visible through the fabric.

There was also a cigar between his middle and index fingers, the end burning and releasing thin wisps of smoke.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.