Chapter 380
Sephie
I hooked my arm through Viktor’s as I followed him to his desk while Adrik had his meeting. “What’s his
schedule like today, Papa Bear?” I asked.
“Three more meetings after this one, then he’s done. Unless I hear back from Henry’s office saying he
can meet tonight,” he answered me in Russian, since there were plenty of ears around the office.
“What about Vitaliy? What’s he doing today?”
“He begrudgingly left this morning and said he won’t be back until tonight. I don’t think he’s going to
stay much longer. He’s annoyed at having to see so many people,” he said, trying not tough.
“I find it both ironic and hrious that he’s as popr as he is when he returns to the city,” I said. I
thought for a few moments, then asked, “when will you know if he has an extra meeting tonight? I’m
trying to make a n for feeding you all since I’ve been cking on my dutiestely.”
He chuckled. “You’ve been exhausted, sestrichka. You haven’t been cking. I’ve already ordered
dinner for tonight anyway, so you don’t need to worry.” I squinted my eyes at him, but didn’t argue. I
decided I would spend the afternoon making him a treat instead.
I looked around to see who else was in the office. Stephen was the only one, other than Viktor. I
couldn’t steal Viktor since he was on master of schedule duties. “Yoden, are you busy this afternoon?”
He looked up from hisputer. “Nope. I’m just staring at the screen pretending to be busy right now.
It was starting to get boring, so I should thank you. What do you need?” he asked as he closed his
laptop.
I reached down and grabbed his arm, pulling him up. “You’reing with me,” I said.
“Where are we going? Do you have a n? Do we need supplies? How long will we be gone? Am I
properly dressed? Do I need a coat? Never mind, 1 don’t get cold. It’s physically impossible,” he said.
He let a sly smile slip out when I looked up at him. Very uncharacteristic of him, but I loved him a little
more for it. He quietly slid his arm around my shoulders as we walked to the elevator, creating a visual
barrier between me and curious eyes.
Once we were on the elevator alone, I said, “have I mentioned how f**king funny the d jokes in front
of Vitaliy are? Like I love you even more each time it happens. The look on his and Alyosha’s faces is
just perfection. They’re so lost. It’s so great.” We were bothughing when the elevator doors opened.
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It took Stephen such a long time to warm up to me, but now that he had, I adored him. He was so
smart and so fre aking funny. He was so quietly hrious that he kept us all entertained. And he could
say anything with a straight face, so those who didn’t know him thought he waspletely serious
while saying some of the du mbest shi t you’ve ever heard in your life. It was a true gift.
Because he ended up as backup for Viktor in his master of schedule duties, it meant I didn’t get to
spend as much time with Viktor and Stephen as 1 did the other three. I was starting to suspect that
wasn’t helping those two realize how they were special, so I’d decided to try and change that as much
as I could. It was easier to get time with Stephen on my own. I was going to need Adrik’s help to get
time with Viktor.
We walked into the kitchen and I started to pull a few things out of the cabs. Stephen said, “you
know Viktor already ordered dinner for tonight, right? You don’t have to cook, Seph. You should still rest
today.”
I smiled at him. “I know, Yoden. I’m making him cookies. You’re helping”
He groaned. “My stomach is having a love affair with you. I hope you know that. It’s a little weird. It’s
very unorthodox, but he’s very much in love with you. It’s to the point that he almost revolts if I eat food
made by anyone else. He’s not happy about it and he’s very loud about that fact.”
Iughed at him talking about his stomach like it was a whole other person inside him. “My stomach
feels the same about Vinny. So much so that t think Adrik got a little jealous in the beginning.”
It was his turn tough. “Is he capable of getting jealous? I’ve never once seen him jealous with you.”
“Not when ites to you guys, ro. Not usually. Although he did struggle with feeling jealous thisst
time I got hurt. I spent so much time with all of you guys since I did nothing but sleep and apparently
I’m incapable of sleeping on my own anymore that he started to feel jealous. It’s why you guys only just
found out about my eyes. That’s been happening for quite a while now. He wanted to keep it just
between us for a while,” I said. “But he’s very possessive in front of other people that aren’t you five.”
“Huh. I never noticed.”
“Because you’re too busy analyzing what’s been said or what you have noticed. Your brain is very
busy. You should cut it some ck for not noticing insignificant things,” I said.
“Guilty. It’s a gift and a curse,” he said. He followed me to the pantry so I could hand him everything I
needed for this project.
“I think it’s more of a gift than a curse. You just struggle with believing in yourself so you’re
overanalyzing. Your first instinct is always right. Stop second-guessing yourself. Whoever told you that
you were du mb when you were younger waspletely wrong.”
“You’re not supposed to be fishing in my head, remember?” he said, as I piled ingredients in his arms.
“I wasn’t. It’s so obvious that I didn’t need to fish. Much like Ivan doesn’t want people to know how wise
he is because he values his peace too much, you don’t want people to know how wise you are either.
But it’s because you’re insecure with your wisdom. For the record, I find it endearing, but also hrious.
You’re seriously one of the smartest people I know. Especially when ites to how best to mindf**k
someone. I’m guessing you felt very misunderstood as a kid?” I asked.
He squinted his eyes at me, like he was unsure he wanted to answer. He sighed, but agreed. “I was. I
was very quiet as a kid. My sisters are loud as f**k. So are my parents. I stuck out. While they are loud
and obnoxious to distract from what they don’t want people to see, I took the opposite approach. I was
always quiet, never talked much. My middle sister used to tease me relentlessly for it. She would tell
her friends that I was re tarded and they would all pick on me. My youngest sister always went along
with everything the middle one did, so when she got old enough, she would tease me as well. My
oldest sister would join in sometimes, but not always. She never stopped it though.”
“Do you want me to kick your sister’s a ss? Because I’ll do it,” I asked.
He chuckled. “No, I think she’s already getting her own Karma. I don’t talk to iny sisters often, but my
mother keeps me updated on them. My middle sister is on her fourth husband. She struggles to keep a
job for very long. It’s because she’s a miserable human being, but of course she mes everyone
else.”
“What about your youngest sister?”
“She’s not much better, although she hasn’t gotten married yet. That’s mostly because she has a very
loud reputation for being very easy. She’s slept her way through the entire town we grew up in. She
moved to arger city, trying to increase her chances of finding a husband. I think she only increased
the number of STD’s she has.”
I couldn’t keep fromughing. “I’m sorry. That’s not funny. I shouldn’tugh at that.”