Elara's POV,
A week later
"That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!" I exclaim to him, but he just ignores me, still writing whatever shit he was writing on his desk. "Tell Asher you can't go."
"And why should I? I can go." He says, without still looking at me. Frustrated, I slam my hands on his desk, forcing him to.
"I've always been the only one going to the parent-teacher conference…"
"Because you hadn't found me yet."
"...and I was perfectly fine, alone." I grit out, and he exhales, as if I'm the annoying one. "Tell him you wouldn't be available or something."
He looks back at his document, as if I hadn't just said something.
"Lucien!"
"Hold on, Cara, you came at the wrong time." He drawls out, and my breath hitches.
Cara?
"Make time out for me, then." I bite out, and he looks up abruptly. To my surprise, he stands up, makes a round of the desk, and stands in front of me.
"You have my attention, Solis." He rests his whole body on the desk, crossing his arms, and I mimic his action.
"I can go to the parent-teacher conference alone," I say firmly, and he gives me a lazy smile.
"But I promised Asher…"
"Exactly!" I yell, moving around. "You need to stop promising him stuff you can't take back!"
"And I want to go."
"What?!"
"And I want to…"
"I heard you, but I don't want you to!" I throw my hands about, and he rolls his eyes. I falter. Did he just roll his eyes?
"Listen, whether you like it or not." He leans off the desk and walks towards me with his hands in his pockets. "We're co-parents. Actually, I'm about to get married. One would think…"
"Okay, fine." I raise my hands in surrender. "You can come, but we're not going to act like a loving couple."
"Oh, I know that's going to terrify you." He chuckles, darkly. I roll my eyes and make my way to his door, ready to leave.
"Elara…"
I pause, then turn around with an irritated expression on my face, but it falters when I see him coming towards me. I immediately guard myself.
"Are you naturally blonde?"
"What?"
To say I am confused is an understatement.
"Were you born blonde?"
"Of course," I scoff. "What type of a question is that?"
He reaches out his hand, and while I shrink back, he touches a handful of my hair softly.
"Interesting."
I look to see what he was talking about, and to my horror, I see him holding red hair strands. Oh no! My color dye is coming off! I immediately scramble backwards, patting my hair down and frantically searching mentally for an excuse.
"It…it's…it's an… experiment." I stutter, then flip my hair backwards. "I wanted to find out if a red dye would suit me."
His eyes darken. "Don't."
"What did you say?" I ask, raising my brow, and he gives me a wicked smile. Then he grabs my arm and leads me to the door.
"You'd look more terrible as a redhead." With that, he pushes me out and locks the door.
"You fucking asshole!"
~ ~
"This is all your fault." I grit out, and I feel him chuckling beside me. My eyes burn red as I stare at Asher playing with his friends while we stand by the corner looking like the "perfect couple."
I groan for the umpteenth time after a couple of female teachers look at us and then giggle.
"Asher wants to have fun." I heard him say, "Why don't you let him?"
I whip my head to glare at him. "Oh, I do. Just never in school."
"And why's that?" He looks down at me with the laziest eye, and my breath hitches.
'Why's that?!'
Because I have people looking for me, you dimwit! I can't stay in one place for too long.
But of course, Asher just had to give Lucien the puppy eyes after the conference, and the simp, Lucien, gave him a go-ahead. So annoying.
"You're spoiling him," I mutter instead, folding my hands, and he bends down to whisper in my ear.
"Should I spoil you instead?" He says, and my ears turn red. I blame the sudden heat and scoot away from him. A few feet away, some girls whisper among themselves and coo. I groan again.
"I said we're not going to act like a loving couple." I hiss, "But you're doing the total opposite."
I walk away from him towards the playground, and he follows.
"Well, Solis," He says, and I'd already rolled my eyes five times. "I'll have you know, I love a good show. You give me one every time."
"And I'll shove it up your ass in about a second." Then, I put on a bright smile. "Asher! Time to go! Daddy's taking us for a treat!"
"Who's spoiling him now?"
"I'd love you 0.001% more if you didn't speak to me again," I mutter, then bend as Asher comes to hug me. To my utter surprise, Lucien doesn't say another word to me but bends to pick up Asher and throw him over his shoulder.
"Ahhh!" Asher squeals but laughs as Lucien spins once, then heads to the car. I look at them from a distance and suddenly can't help but wonder if this is the right Lucien Kórvac. The cold, dominating Mafia Don of the Kórvac dynasty. The so-called young wolf.
How confused his enemies would be if they see him.
He seems like such a perfect father, I dare say. A perfect man, even.
I take a step towards them, but I'm blocked in my path by the two girls giggling and whispering earlier.
"Hi. We saw you from a distance with your brother." The blonde one comments, and I raise a brow. Brother?! The fuck?
"You look so young, so we believe that's his child, not yours." The brunette says. 'So courageous,' I think. "Is he married?"
I pinch the bridge of my nose. "Yes, he is."
"Oh, that's sad." They exchange looks, then the blonde brings out a piece of paper and gives it to me. "Still, it wouldn't hurt if you gave him this, would it?"
I take the number from her and grimace.
"What makes you think we're siblings?" I ask, and they giggle…again! What the fuck were they? Chipmunks?
"It's obvious!" The brunette grins, "No ring. And you kept a look of disgust when he talked to you. So, friends or siblings."
"Or an old married couple." I squeeze the piece of paper and throw it behind me. "I'm his wife. No ring because he's so old-fashioned."
I roll my eyes, and their eyes widen.
"Oh my God, we're so sorry."
"We didn't know. God, so embarrassing."
They leave, shuffling among themselves, and I sigh.
Seriously? Siblings? I mean, didn't they see the clear resemblance between Asher and me?!
I scoff and turn but stop in my tracks when I see Lucien standing there, holding a melting popsicle and smirking.
"I'm so old-fashioned?"