“Are you sure you will be alright alone?” Volkov raised his brows when he saw Aaliyah quickly packing her stuff and rushing toward the exit as if she was rushing somewhere.
“Yeah, I will be fine. Don’t worry about it. Ashton will pick me up from a block away,” Aaliyah waved her hand to say bye, and Volkov stood there at the door with an unreadable expression.
Volkov walked inside the class, packing his own stuff, feeling a bit uneasy before his gaze fell on the eagle-keychain Aaliyah always carried inside her bag, and couldn’t help but sigh.
This girl is seriously so clumsy. How did she survive for so long? Volkov shook his head. He will have to find her tomorrow and give it to her or when he’ll meet her in the next session. Volkov thought before he paused in his steps.
Aaliyah forgot her key chain. What if this is important? Shouldn’t he go and give this to her right now? He smirked at his idea, taking his suitcase and car keys before locking the class.
“Aali-” He stopped himself from calling her when he saw her getting inside the restaurant with a man. On a closer inspection, the man looked like the same guy who had come to meet her in the restaurant the last time he was there for the meeting.
He was the one who had hugged her. Volkov raised his brows before he walked towards the restaurant slowly, his gaze not leaving the duo for a second.
“Why did you come here?” Aaliyah raised her brows, her happiness evident on her face.
“How could I not? You know I can’t stay away from you for long. It’s obvious Laura won’t allow me at home, so this is the only way we have,” Brian clapped his hands cheerfully.
“Can I get a cold coffee with extra chocolate and a normal coffee?” Brian raised his hand, and Aaliyah placed her head on her palm as she looked at the man in front of her.
“I missed you,” She murmured, and Brian’s smile faltered for a second.
“I missed you too, my cupcake. In fact, Harry misses you every second of the day,” Brian ruffled her hair, and she scoffed.
“That’s just an exaggeration. If that were the case, he would’ve come here to meet me. The last time I saw him was when I was in the fire – it’s been three months,” Aaliyah stopped mid-sentence, knowing how much that incident pissed everyone off.
“He wants to come too, my cupcake. He is kind of busy at the moment,” Brian huffed before looking at her mischievously.
“And I heard you stole the file from the Chief’s cabin. Why are you taking such risks? Your job is to study well and make us proud,” Brian said, and Aaliyah scoffed.
“My job is to follow my father. And I know all of you are against it, but I look up to him, okay? No matter what you say, I will become what he is, and even better than him. You just wait and watch. There will be a day when all of you will be known by my name,” Aaliyah said proudly, and Brian looked at the beaming girl, chuckling heartily, his eyes crinkling in a crescent moon shape.
“I knew there was a reason I liked you so much. This was the exact thing your father said to your grandfather. That’s why you are my favorite niece out of three of you,” Brian grinned and pulled Aaliyah’s cheeks from across the table, and Aaliyah chuckled.
Brian was Aaliyah’s father’s best friend, but their relationship was so unbreakable that they always treated each other as brothers. When Aaliyah met Brian for the first time, her father told her Brian was her uncle and his younger brother.
It was until she was a teenager that she found out the truth. But no matter what, he will stay as her uncle for the rest of her life.
“Actually, uncle, I wanted to discuss something with you. This is about uhhh, that lousy boss. Some people have been following me these days. A couple of days ago, one of his men cornered me, and I almost killed him. Thanks to my teacher and Ashton, who prevented it. Luckily, mom doesn’t know anything about it, or you know what would’ve happened. I don’t want her to worry over such things, but this is getting on my nerves now,” Aaliyah fiddled with her sleeves, and Brian placed his finger under her chin, forcing her to look at him.
“Were you scared?” He asked seriously, all the softness leaving his tone.
“I was scared of being called a murderer,” Aaliyah confessed, and Brian pressed his lips into a thin line helplessly before smiling.
“We won’t touch him right now. Let’s not gather unwanted attention. It will only gain your mother’s attention, which, as you said, is not what we want, right? I will ask a few men to protect you from now on. Don’t be scared. I won’t let anyone taint your name. I will cut every tongue who would say a wrong word about my niece,” Brian’s tone was bitter, and the colder he became, Aaliyah knew that the more serious he was.
“Okay, fine. Enough about it. You know, I am participating in a National English Olympiad. I have a party to go to. I bought a pair of black boots online and have become friends with some racers. I couldn’t tell you this last time. The other day, I also kicked some ass in the coastal ring. I knocked the other guy out with this fist,” Aaliyah showed him her fist proudly, and Brian couldn’t help but chuckle at her girlish talk.
It’s been so long since he last had this much laughter. And it’s all because of his friend’s daughter.
He looked at her like a man in love, only this was more of a fatherly love. He sat there listening to her blabbering about all the achievements she had since she last met him.
“Really? That’s great. Is this fist ready to fight with her uncle now?” Brian asked, amused, and Aaliyah pouted her lips before looking at her hands.
“Mmm… I am not too sure. My mom has limited my gym time. She says I need to start acting like other girls and learn more about makeup than the number of ways I can break someone’s bones,” Aaliyah pouted, and Brian laughed again.
“That’s such a Laura thing. I can imagine her scowling at you. What do you expect her to say if you tell her you are learning different ways to break someone’s bones? Oh, how much I missed your happy smile and blabbering, my cupcake. You have grown so much. I wish your father could be here to see all this. I am short on time. I will contact you when I am in the area once again,” Brian stood from the table, his gaze drifting to Volkov, who was sitting near the entrance, making him pause for a second.
This man. Where has he seen this man before? And even if he hasn’t met this man before, his aura and gaze aren’t something that can be tinkered with. Brian thought before he turned and left.
Standing outside the restaurant, he tried to remember the face before turning to look at his niece, raising his eyebrows when he saw the man walking and sitting in front of her.
He was ready to go inside and see if he was troubling his niece, but when he saw the man giving something to her and Aaliyah smiling sheepishly, he knew he didn’t need to worry about it.
He’ll just ask Aaliyah who this man is, but that would be some other day.
Today he needs to see the man he has especially come all the way here for.
Though it was stupid of Lily to ask Aaliyah to do the job, Lily did well in stealing that important file.
Involving Aaliyah in this kind of work was the last thing they wanted to do, but he must say, it was because of Aaliyah that they were able to secure this 100 thousand dollar deal. Brian sighed before sitting inside the car and removing his hat, finally revealing his face.
“Let’s go,” he ordered his man coldly, who nodded, not daring to look at the restaurant or his niece since he wanted to keep his life intact.
“It’s okay, Mr. Volkov. You didn’t really need to come all the way here to give me this. It’s not that important,” Aaliyah sipped her cold coffee, and Volkov nodded.
“You have a thing for eagles, don’t you?” Volkov asked, striking up a conversation, and Aaliyah nodded.
“I love eagles. The way they hunt their prey, especially pythons, look praiseworthy and amazing,” Aaliyah looked at Volkov innocently, and he sighed.
Honestly, if it would’ve been anyone else, Volkov would’ve thought they were deliberately looking down on pythons because of his identity, but he knew Aaliyah was oblivious to these things.
“You know, it’s not always that eagles win. Pythons put up a good fight most of the time, and strangle eagles to death,” Volkov looked at her with a smile.
“This is a game of traps and quick-wittedness. The one who acts fast and accurately wins,” Aaliyah shrugged, and Volkov hummed.
“So, who was the man you were meeting just now? Quite mysterious if I say so,” Volkov spoke, remembering how the large hat of the man along with the mask was making it impossible to see his face.
“The man who left just now? He is my father’s friend. My mom doesn’t actually like my aunt and my father’s profession. So everyone related to them is banned from meeting me. That’s why we sneak out and meet,” Aaliyah grinned, and Volkov smiled.
“You are a rule breaker, I see,” he commented.
“Didn’t you notice it by now? Isn’t it exactly why I got on your nerves?” Aaliyah batted her eyelashes, acting innocent, and he smirked.
How did she get on his nerves? Well, he doesn’t think she exactly knows the reason.
He wanted to ask her about the other day when he saw her fighting in the ring, but that would reveal that Volkov was there too, and that was the last thing he wanted to do right now since it might also disclose that he was the one who kissed and bit her.
“Hey, Aaliyah! I am sorry I was late. I got -” Ashton paused mid-sentence when he saw Mr. Volkov sitting at the table.
Nodding at him briefly, he looked at Aaliyah, who smiled back at him.
“I will leave now,” Aaliyah nodded at Volkov, and Volkov noticed how Ashton slung her bag on his shoulders before holding her hand.
“Guess what? I met him. Yeah, no joke. I know, right?” Aaliyah talked to Ashton with a vibrant smile as she left, and Volkov sighed.
The way this girl stirs up the ocean of emotions inside him is seriously praiseworthy.