After a long day of walking around the suburbs, Maevie returned home just around the time to have dinner. Mr. Cacia, who had been away for a few days for business trip had just returned so the whole family, except for Sienne, who was busy with her debut preparation was in the mansion.
The family was having a hearty conversation during the dinner, catching up with what they had missed out on over the week. And Mrs. Cacia had to remind her husband and her two sons, Tyler and Llyod to keep the work-related discussions away from the dinning table a few times.
And while chatting with Maevie, she noticed that her youngest son had been looking at the girl besides her quite a long time. There was definitely something going on his mind.
"Abel. Do you have something you want to say to Maevie?"
"Me?" Maevie was so into her food and the conversation she was having with her aunt that she did not notice Abel's stare.
She looked at the man who was sitting opposite to her and saw the undivided attention she was getting from him.
"Third brother?" She called out.
"Who was your date?" Abel asked.
"Oh. That…" Maevie took a sip a water to clear her throat. "His name is Zennot. A college student. Does live stream."
"You know him from before?" Abel was not done with his inquiry.
"No."
"You!"
The answer almost made Abel slam on the table. But keeping in mind that his older brother and mother would chew of his bone if he did, he held himself back at the last second.
"Then why were all cozy with him then?"
"Cozy?" Maevie was visibly confused.
"Holding his hand and all…"
"You saw that? You_" Then it clicked in Maevie's mind. "You followed me!"
She had always known that Abel was the overprotective type of brother. But she never knew that his umbrella of protection would one day give her shade.
"What follow you? Do you think I'm that idle? I just saw you while I was driving."
'Could have believed that if you weren't so defensive.' The rest of the Cacia family thought.
Maevie too did not expose his lie and explained.
"That was for the show."
"What for show? I read the contract and it never said anything about you having to hold hands with the guy."
"Zennot is a bit oblivious when it comes it women. So, I just showed him what a woman expects from her date."
"You_"
"That enough!" Mr. Cacia stopped Abel as he knew that it would turn into a bickering if he did not stop him there. And he was too tired from his trip to handle all the mess.
"So, the show was today." Llyod as the president of the Sirus Entertainment and as her brother knew that Maevie had accepted a one day date show.
"You did not do anything foolish did you." He was still not yet hundred percent sure about the change of Maevie.
"Not that I know of. Everything should be fine." Maevie answered back.
'That the problem.' Llyod thought. 'You wouldn't know if you did something foolish.'
But he did not say it out loud.
"I'll call you agent and the production team." Llyod said to make sure that not a problem would come up.
Tyler did not object with his younger brother's caution. Although Maevie had change these days, he could not to sure if she had done something outside that would cause problem later. It was safe to make sure that they take a precaution even if she happened to do so.
"What are you plans later?" He asked Maevie.
"I have an audition the day after tomorrow."
"Audition? Red Flames?" Llyod had been paying attention to Maevie's schedule. "Are you sure you want to?"
He was clearly skeptical about her acting skills. And Maevie was aware of that.
"I've been going to classes these days. Wander even said I might be selected if the competition is not tough."
"Hmm…"
"Enough!" Mrs. Cacia suddenly snapped. "For the last time. No talks of work on the dining table."
Seeing that his wife is really annoyed this time, Mr. Cacia kept his fork on the plate and focused on his spouse.
"Yes. What your mother said. Enough with the work discussion."
He said that as thought he had not had ten minutes of long talks about business deals with Tyler just a minute ago.
"Instead. Let's talk about your birthday party, My dear."
"What party? I don't want any of those. Having a warm dinner with you and the kids is enough for me." Mrs. Cacia smiled.
"That won't do. We can have dinner any day. Your birthday is something special. It can't be done with just a dinner."
"What so special growing older? Adding one more wrinkle."
"It's special because it means one more year of me being blessed by the lord who created you." Mr. Cacia held her hand as he lovingly looked into her eyes.
"This_ What are you saying in front of the kids?" The lady blushed like a little girl in front of her crush.
The 'kids' looked at the two. Two with indifference, one with mischief and the other with adoration. They did not break the romantic bubble around the two until someone decided to.
"Shouldn't you be thanking Nana and Dada for that, Dad? They're the ones who made Mom."
"…"
As a reply, all Abel got was a glare from both his mother and father.
Llyod wanted nothing more than to smack his twin who was the total opposite of him. Tyler shook his head while Maevie was trying not to laugh out loud.
"Speaking of the kids. How's Sienne doing these days?" Mr. Cacia asked about his youngest child.
"Yes… It seems like I've not seen her for quite a long time." Mrs. Cacia was also missing her baby girl.
"She's doing fine. I met her just the day before yesterday. She's busy with her debut preparation. But she should be here for your birthday, Mom." Llyod replied.
"Will she be given vacation? I …"
The rest of the family, except for Maevie was soon busy talking about the most loved member of the family. She had not seen Sienne ever since she woke up that day in the hospital.
She had spent countless years in different worlds. She believed she had changed. But she did not know how she would behave when she finally meets Sienne, the one who had been the greatest victim of her abuse.
Would she be able to forget all her hate and jealousy for her and ask for forgiveness? Or would her emotions that had been carved into her heart still influence her into doing things when she finally stood in front of her?