"I'm what?!" Lianne repeated, her eyes wide open.

She was just thinking it and it was true?

Kay laughed, thinking her brother effectively played Cupid for her, albeit unknowingly.

"Kyle offered a position to your father here," Kay explained, "Your father took a couple of days to think about it and he just accepted the offer."

Lianne smiled widely, happy beyond belief. The thought of moving into an entirely new country and leaving behind everything she had known did not faze her at all.

Country Tz was a nice place, and Mama was here.

That was all she needed, really. Nothing else mattered and one can adapt. It wasn't as if she had tons of friends back home anyway.

"When?" Lianne asked.

"Your dad needs a few days, maybe a week, to finalise things back home," Kay said, "While I have to get you, and your Dad, a place to stay."

"Does this mean we have to go back now?" Lianne asked, slightly disappointed.

"No," Kay replied with a grin, "The benefits of being the boss, is that I can order people to do it."

"Sweet," Lianne replied.

✿ Author only posts on w.e.b.n.o.v.e.l. ✿

The preparations went by smoothly and quickly, so much so that Joseph's head was reeling.

He had been fully prepared to go back home, only to discover that they were migrating here. He was both happy, and angry, at his father for making such a life-changing decision all by himself without asking them first.

Sure, he did want to migrate but that wasn't the point, was it?

His father often did these things, and it was only their mother who had listened to them and would often convey their thoughts to their father. Now that their mother was no longer around, there was no such bridge.

Talking to his father was such a chore as well.

He was still of the old school 'do what I tell you' and 'everything I do is for your own good'.

Joseph was beginning to want his own identity and such high handed moves made him more frustrated than ever. The frustration that he used to fuel the energy in his TokTik videos.

Tomorrow, their father would be arriving.

Joseph looked at the bag that he had already packed, ready to leave the house at anytime. In fact, all their main things had already been moved to their new home and they only had enough clothes for a few days.

The apartment provided by the company was fully furnished, and Kay had given them housewarming gifts already. Essentially, it wasn't just furnished, it had all the necessary items in order to live in.

Cutlery, utensils, clothes … *everything* …

All they needed to do was just move in.

Even their school uniform and supplies had been bought. Their visas and school transfers had been completed.

Although Joseph's mind reeled at the speed of it all, he was rational enough to think about the amount of work that was involved. At one time, he had taken things like this for granted but now, he found himself paying particularly close attention to Kay.

She may look laid back, but she wasn't.

He wanted to be just like that.

Someone efficient, and that one could rely on him to do things.

He pursed his lips as he thought about it.

Even if he couldn't be that 'one' for Kay, he could at least be that 'one' for his one - whoever she may be.

Joseph sighed loudly and leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling.

Tomorrow, his father is coming.

Tonight, Kay's going out on a date.

Great.

Juuuuuuuust great.

When he heard the car engine in the driveway, he knew who it was. Kay had already come home, having arrived earlier to get ready.

He gritted his teeth about that, thinking … why couldn't she just leave for the date from the office? Have him pick her up from there, or meet him at whatever stupid place they were going?

Oh, right. It was Friday.

She probably wanted to dress up.

A date just before the weekend.

Joseph stood at the window, staring out into the driveway. His room faced it, so he could barely make out the car that came. Unfortunately, it was already too close for him to make out the model or make of the car … not that it should bother him.

Not that he was interested.

He heard the door of Kay's room opening and he quashed his desire to open his own door and look.

He didn't have to look to know that she would be drop-dead gorgeous.

He stood there in his room, in the dark as he didn't want anyone from outside to know that he was peeking.

He heard the tinkle of her laughter as she walked out, heard some indistinct noises of them talking and the car door slamming shut.

He didn't bother to continue watching as he closed the curtain.

This was harder than he thought it would be.

During the entire trip out with Kay and his sister, he had tried so very, very hard to ignore them the entire time. It wasn't easy.

Focusing on his phone, playing games and chatting with his online friends didn't quite distract him from the person in front of him. It got to be so bad that he had to go off on his own in the end.

Joseph sat in his chair again, thinking … new place, new life.

From tomorrow, he was going to cut off everything with the Smith Industries.

He couldn't stand the pain.

It was better to cut cold-turkey, start a brand new life and pave a different path here.

One that did not involve any interaction with anyone from the Smith family.

Once he made that decision, Joseph calmed down a bit.

The pain wasn't any less, though.

✿✿✿✿✿

Stephan sat in the car, looking at his two kids that walked into the school. He had wanted to accompany them to the office, and get them settled in, but Joseph had blocked him from doing so.

He remembered the slight argument that morning.

Coming here to this new place was something he felt was a good thing, despite uprooting the entire family. It wasn't just because the position that he got was better than his old job, it was also because it took them away from *that* place.

No matter what, Stephan couldn't get over the fact that his wife had been tortured and killed. It wasn't death by accident, but a murder.

It haunted him.

So he had made this rather rash decision to come. Since the kids were already here, and they were settling in quite well, Stephan didn't think twice nor thought of asking them about the move.

It was for the best, after all.

Still, it took some getting used to.

Living a life without his wife.

He remembered the scene from this morning.

"Papa, we can do this," Joseph told him, "We're old enough."

"You just don't want me to embarrass you, huh?" Stephan said to him, figuring it out.

"It's not that you are an embarrassment," Joseph corrected, "It's that it would look bad on us, having a parent follow us to make sure we get settled in."

Stephan actually wanted to argue about that, and normally, he would have insisted and teased him more but … there was this determination in his son's eyes that made Stephan swallow his words.

"Fine," Stephan replied in a curt voice, feeling more upset than he thought he would be, "Have it your way."

Stephan did feel upset.

He was trying his best to fill up the hole that their mother left behind, but his kids seem to be doing fine on their own. Usually, it was their mother that would have done this and they never protested.

But if it was him?

It was obvious that they didn't want him around.

Stephan drove off, thinking that with his wife passing, the relationship he had with his kids would never be the same. He was never the expressive type and he was worried about losing them.

He already felt the gap that was forming but he felt helpless about it.

Pushing the thought out of his mind, he focused on getting to work and doing a good job.

Joseph turned back to watch his father go, and was relieved.

A part of him was worried that his father would change his mind and follow them in. If he had done that, there was no way Joseph could stop him and their first day in school would have been disastrous.

As he headed towards the office with his sister, he managed to hide his nervousness well. He was so focused on getting to the office that he did not notice anything else.

The hallway was full of people, and lockers were lined against the wall. Joseph passed through them, staring at the map in his hand as he walked on. The place was noisy, with people laughing and jostling about.

One would think that they wouldn't garner any attention, but they did.

Lianne, who was walking beside her brother, was internally rolling her eyes.

She saw how some girls would stop, and stare, as they passed by. The girls here sure had such bad taste to be giving such admiring looks at her oblivious brother.

Lianne turned to look at her brother and shrugged.

The most she could say was that he was not ugly, but nothing outstanding.

Maybe they just liked the 'dumb' look?