She's My Sleeping Pill

805 KEEPING SECRETS

“Dad. You’re here.” Stefan expressed in a slightly raised tone which made his father frown but not enough to make him comment on it. “I am just about to send Ayen to the university.”

“Good morning, dad.” Cayenne greeted him and tried her best not to show the anxiousness on her face. “Have you eaten?”

“Oh, yes. I did. I forgot that she has a class today. My bad,” he responded but still went inside anyway. “I’m a little bit thirsty. Let me get a glass of water.”

“No.” Stefan refused which both stunned Cayenne and his father. “I mean, you must be tired from traveling so early in the morning. I’ll get a glass of water for you. You can just sit here.”

“Hm? O-okay. I don’t mind.”

Stefan walked briskly to the kitchen and told Dr. Albert not to make any loud noises that would attract unwanted attention. He also told his mother the truth that Magnus has arrived without any notice. “I’ll try my best to keep his attention. Do not worry. I can probably make him come along with me.”

“Thank you, Stefan.” Dr. Albert said and just continued to eat his meal. Since they decided to stay, Stefan allowed them to use one of the guests’ rooms. He told the helpers that since Dr. Albert lost his medical license and has no decent job because of him, he was hiring him to become their family doctor and agreed that he could bring his wife. It was the best introduction that wouldn’t make anyone suspect anything. And the reason why he was calling him mom? He brushed it away with an excuse that he never had a mother and wanted to treat the woman like his own mom. Perfect. No one was doubting him.

He kissed his mother’s forehead and bid farewell to send Cayenne to the university and promised to bring Magnus along with him on his way out.

“Dad, you must have something important to tell me since you came so early.” Stefan expressed while picking up Cayenne’s handbag and signaled Martin to carry her books to the car. “How about we talk on the way to Xena University?” he added and held his hand out for Cayenne to take.

.....

“Nah. There’s no need. I was just really worried that something has happened to you. I heard from Dad that you visited the villa and went inside Alexander’s room. I tried calling you last night but I couldn’t get through.”

“Oh.” Stefan rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled. “It wasn’t really a big deal. I just dreamed of him and thought of checking his room again. I took some of his things thinking it might bring me peace at home.”

“I thought so. You were very close to him back then. I’m glad that you’re fine.”

“Yeah. Don’t worry about me. In fact, you should spend more time with grandpa. He seemed lonely when I got there. How about we have lunch together in the villa this Saturday?”

Stefan successfully shifted the topic to something else and even though his father was kind of surprised by his behavior, the man didn’t say anything. At least, Stefan was showing them some concern.

Their conversation didn’t even last ten minutes when Magnus left to go back home. Not taking too much time, Stefan also sent Cayenne to school before she would be marked late for her first subject.

“You should talk to your mom and Dr. Albert about the cabin that we planned to build for them. You don’t have to do it in my presence anymore because I tend to forget it when I’m facing another thing and we can’t afford to make them wait. Your mom is getting older. She needs a place where she could properly rest and enjoy her time with us.”

“I’ll tell her later. I might actually work from home this morning.”

“Just make it the whole day.”

“I have scheduled hotel inspections in the afternoon so, I couldn’t do that. I’ll just talk to them when I get back home in the afternoon.”

“Oopsie. I forgot the inspections.”

Since the first semester was coming to an end, Cayenne was getting busier with exams, projects, activities, and small trips to the suburbs as well. The foundation was managed by Kyle and Jackson most of the time, and since Cayenne couldn’t do vlogs, for the time being, they decided to just make a documentation report of what her foundation staff has been doing.

On the last week of October, Kyle and Jackson visited the slum area where a massive fire destroyed a lot of lives and properties. They offered help as much as they could by donating food, water, a first aid kit, flashlights to help them at night, blankets, and a little amount of cash that could get them by.

To help his brother and sister, Luiz took part in this activity and some of his fans volunteered as well.

“Why don’t you just make this a documentation vlog since Yen isn’t around?” Luiz told Jackson on their way home from giving out the relief goods. “It is actually fine as long as you can upload something to her YT account. Besides, isn’t it great that despite my sister’s absence, her staff and brothers still continued to help other people?”

“That sounds good but I didn’t take long videos when we get there. I already said this before joining that I am not a good videographer.”

“That’s not a problem.” Luiz retorted instantly. “Although you are my sister’s secretary and assistant, you can always ask for help from brother Tristan. He’s very good at getting videos.”

“O-okay. I’ll talk to him later. I think Ms. Yen will be making less and less exposure in the future as her tummy grows.”

“That is likely the possibility. Brother-in-law would surely limit her time in doing these things.” Kyle added while looking outside the window. “By the way, it will be a little late in the evening when we get back to the city, especially at this time of the day. Why don’t we go somewhere with the staff and volunteers to have a meal together?”

“Sure! My treat!” Luiz expressed since he was able to save a lot of money from his work. “It’s kind of my way of thanking my fans who came to help.”

“Right. You don’t spend a lot using your money from work since you are a scholar and Yen still gives you allowance.”

“Hn. She told me to save for my future because marrying to Clarisse’s family wouldn’t be easy.”

[Thankfully, Kath’s family isn’t pressuring me.] Kyle thought while looking at his brother who was grinning stupidly in front of him. [Your hard work will surely pay off.]