Lianne looked at her watch and sighed.

She turned to face Akikai, who was staring at her and said, "He should be back soon. You'll probably be required to stay here every weekend from now on. If you have any personal stuff, I can keep them in my room during the weekdays."

Akikai didn't say a word but continued to stare at her.

Lianne couldn't be bothered, really, and got up to go back to her room.

Staying out here with that staring doofus was utterly draining, but it was far better to have him hear everything than having to explain everything to him all over again. He was bright enough to know what was happening though it was unexpected that he would be so affected by it that he couldn't even open his mouth to ask anything.

Since he wasn't going to ask her anything, she wasn't going to volunteer any information. Let Zero handle that bit.

Akikai watched her get up, and without sparing him another look, go to her room. Before she left, she said, "You should leave before Joseph comes back. If he was to see you, he'd get a shock of his life and have too many questions."

Akikai barely nodded, as he just sat there, still in shock over everything.

What was happening?

Or rather, what just happened?

He had been there, listening to everything, but nothing seemed to make sense.

No, that wasn't it.

It was more to the fact that he couldn't believe how firm this little girl was, how she just seemed to shoot down while talking to Ms. Kay like it was nothing … hearing such personal issues made his head spin as well.

The 2nd-in-command was with Joseph?!

The Boss wouldn't be happy about it?!

She told the 2nd-in-command to get married to avoid the bullets?!

Akikai leaned into the sofa more, leaning his head back and placed the book to cover his face.

Can he opt out of the mission now?

Can he resign from being Joseph's shadow guard?

Akikai shuddered at the thought if he ever brought it up.

When he was first presented with this mission, he had been ecstatic. Though it was just being the shadow guard of someone that wasn't of the Smith Line, the mission utilised his skills to the utmost.

To infiltrate the school. Become a student and good friend of Joseph. Always be vigilant. If he did a good job, he may even be entrusted with the future kids of the Smiths? Or something along those lines.

He knew how important these two kids were to Sir, though he had no idea why. He didn't care about that. He just cared that they were high on the list of 'important people'. The fact that they actually had people protecting them was a testament to that.

But this …?

This was beyond what he signed up for.

Being the one who would be used to cover up for the 2nd-in-command against the Big Boss himself.

He felt like he was caught in the middle of two sharp knives.

He took several more minutes to calm himself down.

No matter what, his duty was to obey whatever orders that were given to him. After all, Ms. Kay was still his Boss. Thus, there was no issue of betrayal. If it had been an order from anyone else, he wouldn't hesitate to reject and report it.

His gaze landed on Lianne's bedroom door.

She was scary.

Impressive, but scary.

He should get out now. Lianne had already warned him, after all. After what he had seen, he wasn't going to second guess her words and just do it. Trying to figure it all out is just confusing.

Throughout Akikai's years with the Yangs, he found that his decision today to just go with the flow certainly did make things much easier for him. Getting constant heart attacks over things Lianne did and said was not fun.

In her room, Lianne felt rather stressed out, to be honest.

She was tired and starting to feel rather depressed, though she couldn't quite put her finger on the reason for her feelings. There were times when she was just tired out and feeling rather low.

She didn't know whether her feelings arose from her tiredness, or her tiredness caused her low feelings.

Whatever it was, it had been going on for a bit of time, and slowly, she noticed that her 'low moments' were getting to be more frequent.

Now that Kay and Joseph's issues were more or less settled, the 'low feelings' did not dissipate. Lianne had placed it upon her being stressed out about the progress (or lack of it) that caused her to feel so down but now that it was over?

So why was she still feeling so low?

Lianne brushed it aside, thinking that she just needed some time to unwind and relax. Joseph was coming home soon and things will be back to normal again.

Well, the 'new' normal, that is.

Her brother is married yet they aren't living together as a married couple and would only be together during weekends that their father would be working. This would minimise the risk of exposure.

Joseph would have to tone down his goofy happiness lest their father figured it out, so she would need to guide him on what to say when it happened. Lianne had no doubt that their father would ask, sooner or later.

Joseph's marriage was something akin to what is known as "nikah gantung", which, if literally translated, was 'hanging marriage'. That didn't make sense but it was quite prevalent back in Country M.

Being a more conservative country, society frowned upon an 'impure' relationship. Thus, when young couples are sure yet too young or not financially stable enough to get married, they would get married but still stay with their parents.

Thus, any social interactions would be legal and accepted. The responsibilities of husband and wife would be lessened (and in most cases, none exist). Of course, during this stage, getting pregnant wouldn't be encouraged but it wouldn't be a 'sin'.

Lianne also knew that Joseph would, eventually, be burdened by thoughts of guilt as to what had occurred between him and Kay. Though he was much more open-minded now, he was still raised in a certain way back in Country M.

The marriage was the best thing to happen so that these unnecessary thoughts and worries would not be an additional hurdle or become his inner demons.

All he needed to do now was to grow up more. In the sense of being more matured and responsible.

Lianne knew, once the euphoria of this newly formed relationship faded, he would start getting to be very worried about his future with Kay.

Lianne lamented over the amount of work that still needed to be done.

Perhaps that is why she was feeling rather low at the moment.

She punched the pillow on her bed, adamant at wanting to just sleep. She was tired and wanted to take a nap, yet somehow, she still had difficulty falling asleep. Nearly an hour later, she finally managed to close her eyes to fall into a fitful sleep.

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The days passed by quickly and the new normal became a comfortable routine.

Luckily, Joseph did manage to hide it so far so it wasn't so stressful at home. He would face-time his beloved wife every night and text throughout the day. Lianne was truly glad that he was adapting well.

The only thing that was left was to ease her mother into all of this.

Lianne had her plans already but as it turned out, Life gave her a curveball.

Well, it all began with Byron.

Lianne never did meet up with Byron on that day. She had arrived late to school and couldn't see him. After that, she made up excuses in order to escape from his questions and presence.

She was just not in the mood to deal with him and he didn't push it.

After all, she was in the school and Byron finally realised that she should be approached gently. The fact that she never revealed herself to him despite his rather high profile method of looking for her before meant she wasn't interested.

Well, he'd make her interested!

He didn't approach her but was always wherever she walked.

She went to the library, he was in the corridor talking with his friends. He didn't turn his head nor talk to her when she passed.

But she noticed his eyes following her movement.

During break time at the cafeteria, he is with his group of friends nearby, eating and laughing. He never stopped to stare, or point at her, while he was eating.

But she noticed how he would glance her way whenever he threw his head back to laugh.

Dear Lord, Lianne prayed, please give her strength.