So, what do you guys think so far???
Good? Bad? Could be better?
LOL. Well, whatever you think, let me know! I'll apprachiate it!...
Love from, CK
Chapter 2: Deception
Kai mentally cursed Lady Aurora and tried to glare at her. She'd known that Kai worked for Mr. Dickinson and had used her friendship with him to connect Kai with Eva again, and judging from Eva's shock, she hadn't told Eva a single thing about it. But what in the world did that woman want from him and Eva? What good would it do to put them together again except for a few painful memories?...
"Eva, darling, don't looked so shocked" her grandmother said. "A proper Russian lady should never stutter or look so uncomfortable."
Eva tensed again at the sound of her grandmother's voice, but none the less straightened her posture and calmly looked over to Kai.
Both froze when their eyes met.
Ice-blue met ruby-red.
Not wanting to let the sight of a girl stop him—even if she was his childhood friend, and even though she looked pretty as ever—
He silently smacked himself for thinking of that, and forced himself to emotionlessly nod in her direction. She shyly nodded right back before becoming fascinated with the window where her grandmother stood. Her grandmother smiled at her, as if she couldn't see her grand-daughter's discomfort.
"May I ask what was the purpose of our arrival here again, grandmother?' Eva asked in a tone that sounded much calmer and politer than she felt like being.
"Ah, yes! Stanley, have you asked the boys yet?" Lady Aurora said turning to face the chairman of the BBA.
"I was just about to before you walked in" he said giving a tiny smile.
"Boys, as I was saying before, I have a favour I'd like to ask you. Lady Aurora has to go on an international trip to a couple different countries around the world, along with some other important people, to deal with a few political issues. However, while she's gone, Lady Eva won't have anyone to stay with her or help her in case of an emergency. So as a good friend, I suggested that perhaps Eva could stay with you boys for the next few weeks until her grandmother returns. What do you boys think of that?"
Needless to say, everyone was surprised by this suggestion, including Eva.
"WHAT!?" they all chorused.
"Grandmother!" Eva said in surprise, "we can't just!--I mean, we—I can't—"
"We'd love that Mr.D!" Tyson said smiling like a kid at Christmas. Eva turned to him startled.
"But I wouldn't want to?….I…you guys are—"
"It's no problem" Ray reassured her, "we'd love to have her with us, and I'm sure Hilary would like having another girl around. But we'll only do it if Eva's wants us to" Ray said kindly yet firmly.
He could see that this was all arranged by Lady Aurora without Eva's permission, and he meant it when he said they wanted her to stay—but he didn't want Eva to feel uncomfortable living with them. It was her choice, and he'd given her an option, now it was up to her.
That, and there was something very familiar about Eva, that Ray knew he recognised from somewhere….
Eva turned to Ray with awe written behind her eyes.
"I umm—really?" she asked him softly. Ray chuckled at her lightly and gave a firm nod.
"We'd love for you to stay with us, right guys?" he asked.
"Oh yeah!" Max cheered.
"Totally!" Tyson said grinning.
Kai did not reply or meet her gaze but gave a tiny shrug, as if to say 'whatever'. Eva could only stare at them. She suddenly gave a grateful, happy smile and Ray couldn't help but smile back at her.
"Thank you" she said smiling. She was allowed to stay!
"Wonderful!" her grandmother commented with a clap of her hands. "I cannot thank you boys enough for doing us a large favour for me. I know that she'll be in good hands with you strong boys watching over her!" she said with a wink.
"And Stanley, thank you so much for your help, you truly are a gift to me" she said giving him a gracious smile.
"No trouble at all, my dear" he replied smiling back.
"Well then, now that your boys have been kind enough to help my granddaughter…I'm afraid that I have to go. It was a pleasure to meet such fine boys as yourselves, and what a pleasure it was to see you again, Stanley. I hope to you in the next few weeks! Goodbye for now!" Lady Aurora said, strolling casually yet gracefully over to the door.
"Wait! You're leaving already? " Eva said whipping around to watch her grandmother gracefully open the office door. Her grandmother looked at her curiously.
"Of course," she replied as if it were obvious. "I have to be in Paris by nightfall and my plane leaves in just over an hour. I'll see you soon, sweetheart. Ta-ta" she called sweetly before vanishing out the door. And so…
20 minutes later…
Eva found herself inside the Granger dojo with 3 guys she had never met before, her old best-friend, and someone called "Gramps" who talked more slang than a teenage gangster.
"Yo homies, y'all want something to drink?" Gramps asked them as they sat in the main room of the dojo.
Mutters of agreement went through them and Gramps left them for a minute to go get drink from the kitchen.
'He seems nice' Eva thought, 'he scared me a little when I first met him, but he's sweet and funny…I like him …'
There was an awkward silence for a moment, no-one knowing what to say.
Max was the first to speak up and thankfully broke the silence.
"So Eva, how old are you?" he asked.
"Fourteen. I'll be fifteen in a few months" she answered, glad that there was at least some conversation going on.
"Really? That means you're almost the same age as us! That's awesome!" he shouted excitedly. She gave a tiny giggle at his happiness, but was thankful for how friendly he was towards her.
"Do you know Kai?" Tyson suddenly asked, leaning in suspiciously. The room went still and Eva was startled at how direct the question had been. She hesitated and bit her lip nervously but reluctantly nodded, looking away from Kai in case he would be angry at her for answering truthfully.
"How do you know Kai?" Tyson asked quickly, which earned him a light smack from Ray.
"I'm sorry about Tyson's rudeness" Ray quickly said, "he just—"
"We're friends" Eva stated.
"No way! Kai has friends!?" Tyson said in disbelief, which earned him another smack from Ray and a death glare from Kai.
Eva only smiled at them all.
They seemed so much like a family to her…they were all different and unique, but they all worked together and with that they could accomplish anything. And just like a family, everyone had their place.
Kai seemed to be cold and serious towards everyone, but that reminded Eva of a father figure, while Tyson and Max seemed like younger brothers, and Ray--truth be told-- reminded her of their mother, warning them to always be careful.
A picture of Ray in a pink dress and an apron popped into her head and she started to giggle, and then gave a little laugh, before she had to cover her mouth as she burst out laughing at the ridiculous image.
The boys turned to her as she laughed. No-one knew what was so funny, but she looked happy and they decided to leave her until she stopped—at least she felt less awkward being with them now.
Eva eventually forced herself to stop laughing and gave a cough of embarrassment. Gramps walked in with the drinks just then, and Tyson eagerly jumped up to get them.
"Thanks, Gramps, I got from here!" he said grabbing the tray from his grandpa's arms…and dropped the glasses.
Tyson's eyes widened when he realised what he'd done.
Eva had the drinks now, and by that, I mean that they were all over her.
Her blonde hair was covered in what she guessed was some kind of cherry-soda-pop and her white dress was now soaked and sticky from where the pop had landed all over her.
Tyson gave a nervous laugh as Eva sat there, not knowing what to do.
"Umm….oops" Tyson said sheepishly. Kai gave a dark growl at the back of his throat and sent Tyson another harsh, death-glare.
"Hey! I said I was sorry!" Tyson defended at his very pissed, very irritated team-captain.
"It's alright" Eva reassured, "I can just change into another pair of clothes from my suitcase" she said looking down at herself.
With his eyes still in full death-glare mode, Kai swiftly stood up and yanked Eva off of the floor. Before she could say anything, he was dragging her down the hallway by her wrist and led her into the kitchen. Without a word, he turned on the tap and ran a facecloth under it, muttering in Russian under his breath.
Not knowing what to say now that they were alone and he was obviously mad, Eva remained quiet as he shut off the tap.
He took the wet facecloth and put it in her hands and she wordlessly began wiping the drink off of her dress. She looked to the floor, feeling unsure of what to do, and when she looked up she was met with his harsh gaze.
"You shouldn't have told that idiot it was alright" he said coldly, "He thinks its okay that he did that now."
Startled at the edge in his voice, Eva took a step back, and he took a step forward.
"What? K-Kai, I –"
"Your luggage with your clothes in it isn't here" he hissed, and Eva was shocked at his statement.
"No, they are…" she reassured, "the luggage from the airport went straight to the car, and I took all of my luggage out from grandmother's car before she left. They have to be here" she said. Eva suddenly stiffened as a thought crept into her head.
"…Don't they?" she asked.
Kai's frown deepened. "They're not. Your grandmother made sure of that when she left you with us. If you don't believe you can take a look at the goddamn note she wrote for me. Instructions on how to keep you on her little leash while she's gone" he spat out.
Eva froze as he spoke.
"What?" she said softly, not trusting her voice.
Kai wordlessly took a folded piece of pale-blue paper—which she recognised as her grandmother's personal stationery—out of his pocket and handed it to her frowning.
She quickly unfolded the paper and saw her grandmother's handwriting neatly covering the paper.
The words were all in Russian, but Eva easily read them, being Russian herself.
"Dear Kaiser,
We've only briefly met before this, although I doubt that you know who I am. I do however; think you will remember my grand-daughter, Eva-- she's a beautiful girl, and even more beautiful now that she's grown. I have a feeling that Eva will be staying with you and your team for a little while, so here are a list of things I thought it might be kind to let you know.
1) Really, I do hate to deceive people, but I'm afraid I won't be gone a few weeks—rather a few months instead. I just didn't have the heart to tell Eva, She get so emotional over goodbyes, so I'm leaving you with her for a bit longer than originally planned. I do hope that isn't a problem…
2) I'm afraid that the airport lost all of Eva's clothing in her luggage, so you'll have to find her some extra clothes until the poor girl can go shopping for new ones. I only found out in the car, and that's no way to leave your grand-daughter is it? It's better for her if she finds out on her own.
3) Eva has quite a few different ---
Eva made a little noise in her throat pushing the paper back to Kai and pacing the kitchen in a state of panic. Kai simply watched her emotionlessly, as she paced the kitchen and muttered to herself—not knowing what to do about her grandmother's obvious change of plans.
A minute later, Eva stopped pacing and closed her eyes taking a couple deep breaths. When she opened them, the panic in her eyes was gone replaced by a look of deep hurt and sadness. She looked to the floor and fidgeted with her hands.
Kai watched her, unsure of what to do or say. He wasn't a talkative person and he sure as hell didn't know what to say when comforting someone—let alone an upset girl.
Eva turned suddenly and walked away, Kai following just behind her as she walked into the main room of the dojo again, smiling apologetically.
"Sorry" she said, "it turns but my grandmother isn't going to be gone for a couple weeks, but a couple of months instead. Thank you guys so much for offering to let me stay with you, but I really can't stay here for a couple months… I hope to see you guys soon, and it was really nice to meet you. I'm sorry" she said giving them what she hoped was a cheerful smile, but it was obvious to everyone how she really felt.
"No need to apologize" Ray said sensing the hurt in her voice, "and I don't think we'd mind having you stay with us for a couple months."
"That's really kind, but I couldn't. With the four of you staying here plus Tyson's grandfather, if I stayed for a month, let alone a few months, it would be way too crowded and I couldn't do that to you guys in your own home. I would be easier if I stayed in a hotel, I've done it before and I'd be alright on my own" Eva tried to reassure.
"Liar" Kai spat out at her from his regular position on the wall. She turned to him in confusion. Kai opened his eyes and shot her a hard look.
"I want your bags by the door in lees than an hour. You'll stay with me on days we're not at the dojo. Don't argue, don't complain, and I'm only making one trip, so make sure you have everything" he ordered her.
She was amazed at how calm he was—as if what he had just told her was something she heard all the time.
"Kai…I really can't, you—"
Kai shot her a death-glare and she shut her mouth, knowing there was no arguing with Kai when he had already made-up his mind on something.
Looks like she was going to be living with him for the next few months…
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