Chapter 423
423
Adrik
Ivan and Viktor stayed at the house for the rest of the week and through the weekend. Viktor’s
youngest brother, Ilya, was supposed to arrive Monday evening, so they came backte Monday
morning. Sephie and 1 had talked to an periodically over the weekend, but it seemed like Viktor still
wasn’tpletely ready to fully ept everything happening.
Sephie was wary about being around Viktor now, too. She was worried she was going to make
something worse for him. Ivan had said Viktor had talked some over the weekend, but he was mostly
staying quiet. When Ivan told us they were on their way back, Sephie took the Wonder Twins upstairs
to the penthouse.
“I have an idea for an experiment anyway,” she said, her sweet smile on here. She was using it as an
excuse to not be around when Viktor got back. The heavy sadness that was from Viktor was still with
her. She’d been quiete han usual most of the weekend. The guys all tried their best to cheer her up, but
they could feel her struggling against it as well. None of us knew how to get rid of it.
“What experiment now, love?” I asked her, curious.
“You’ll see,” she said, grinning at me. For a brief moment, the sadness lifted. Her eyes had stayed
amber for almost the entire weekend. They would change briefly now and then, but even her eyes
weren’t changing like normal, er emotions were constantly changing, which meant her eyes were
constantly changing. But right now, it felt like the overwhelming sadness was the dominant emotion and
was overriding all other emotions. It was
starting to worry me.
I stuck my head out of my office door, motioning for Andrei and Misha toe to the office, instead of
her having to go to them. Since I’d learned she was self-conscious about people looking at her, I tried
to make sure I was hith her as often as possible or that she didn’t have to walk across the floor very
often. I’d started paying attention to the people in the office as they watched her, as well. Most were
fascinated by her, but she was still dealing with everything from being taken so it still felt negative to
her.
“Take her upstairs,” I said as they walked in. I watched as they looked at each other, seemingly having
a silent conversation between the two of them. Misha clearly won whatever contest they were having.
He walked to Sephie, schatting down in front of her while Andrei walked behind her and picked her up
so she could wrap her arms and legs around Misha.
She giggled as Misha bounced her higher. “I know I can jump again, but not gonna lie, I prefer to be
picked up like the princess I am,” she said, hugging Misha’s neck a little tighter.
“It’s easy when you’re still too skinny,” Andrei said, grinning at her.
She nced back at me, a devious grin on her face. “Bubba said I can eat more cookies, so I’m going
upstairs to eat more cookies.”
I justughed as they walked out of the office as Stephen walked in with my next meeting. While she
hadn’t been in my life for an entire year yet, I almost couldn’t remember my life before her.
I could feel her have moments of happiness, as I’m sure she wasughing and joking with Misha and
Andrei during my meeting. Once that meeting left, I had a few minutes before the next meeting arrived
that I was nning on using to catch up on some paperwork. As I got started, I figured out her
experiment.
She was at her piano, but I could hear her just as well as if I was in the same room as her. “This makes
paperwork so much more enjoyable, solnishko,”
“It works?”
“It does. I can hear you just as well as if I were in the same room.” I could hear her softugh as she
continued to y while I continued to look through boring reports.
Ivan walked in my office without Viktor. “He’ll be down in a minute. Aleksander called when we got
here. I guess he talked to Ilya before he left toe here. It might be worse than we thought from what
it sounded like,” he said.
“That doesn’t sound good. When does he get here?” I asked.
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Ivan looked at his watch. “Not for a few more hours. Viktor still has to leave st upid early to make it to
the airport since he’s flyingmercial. I hate that airport,” he said, a clear look of disgust on his face.
“It is very peopley there,” I said in agreement..
“Where’s the princess?” Ivan asked.
I could still hear her ying in my head. “She’s upstairs,” I said, as I shared bet impromptu concert with
Ivan.
“That’s impressive,” he said. “Did she just figure out she could do that?””
I nced toward the open door, expecting Viktor to walk in at any point. “She worried about being
around Viktor. She was looking for excuses to go upstairs to try and give him space.”
Ivan nodded in understanding. “He’s some better. I’m hoping seeing Ilya will help him. She’s still sad,
isn’t she?”
“Yeah, it’s starting to worry me. She can’t get rid of it. Her eyes have stayed amber the entire time you
two have been gone. The Wonder Twins and Stephen have tried their best to keep her distracted and
find ways to make herugh, but it’s always short-lived. The sadness is bing oppressive. I don’t
know how Viktor has handled it if he’s been walking around with that for this long.”
Before Ivan could respond, Viktor walked in. He did look better after his short time away, but it was
obvious he was still struggling toe to terms with everything.
“Everything okay, man?” Ivan asked.
“Yeah, Sasha is worried about Ilya too. He talked to him before his flight. He said he hasn’t ever heard
him like that. I guess the girl he thought he was in love with really did a number on his head,” Viktor
said.
“Hopefully some time away from it all can help him clear his head,” I said. “Give him a job, if he wants
it. We could use the extra help.”
Viktor chuckled. “Ivan said the same thing. I’m waiting to see how bad he is before I offer him a job, to
be honest.”
“Fair. Totally fair,” Ivan said. Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.
“Where’s Sephie?” Viktor asked.
“She’s upstairs with the Wonder Twins. She wanted ying time while it was quiet,” I said.
I almost expected him to want to go upstairs then, but he stayed quiet.
“He’s totally still avoiding her,” Ivan thought.
“Agreed.”