"That's a nice name, lil' man!"
High fiving a little boy, Dréy writes his name down on a piece of paper.
"I heard you from Hawaii. You like it there?"
"Yeah! I like playing in the water and building big, big, big sandcastles that touch the sky!" the young boy happily says.
"Man, I wish I could touch the sky. What it feel like?" Dréy asks, as he puts a bandage on one of the little boy's cuts.
"It feels soft and the clouds feel very fluffy!"
"Okay! I got some more snacks for y'all!" Jai yells, as a handful of kids run over to the young man. "Take as much as you like!"
"Mr. Lennox, can I teach everyone how to do the unicorn dance?!" Khristina asks, jumping up and down.
"A'ight. Khristina's going to teach us how to do the unicorn." Lennox says, stepping aside. "And if anyone else wants to give a tutorial on their own dance, you're welcome to it."
Opening the door, Kazimir walks in, followed by Laurenté.
"Mr. Kazimir! Come join us!" Khristina says, running over to the young man.
The young detective smiles and follows Khristina over to her group.
"Mr. Kazimir's a bit tired, so he might have to stop a bit early."
Softly laughing, Laurenté walks over to Dréy who was currently talking to another kid.
"How's everything going for you all so far?"
"Everything's straight." Dréy replies, giving the little girl who sat in front of him a pinkie promise. "Where's Alexei?"
"Beats me. He ran off after confronting the head CEO of your father's company. Who's the little one sleeping against your side?"
Dréy shrugs.
"He just looked at me, wrapped himself against my leg, and started crying. I just told him he could stay by me if he wanted."
"What's his name?"
Dréy points to a name on the paper and Laurenté nods.
"Oh, I kinda see it now; you do look kind of like his biological father."
"What?" Dréy asks, taking a sip of soda.
Laurenté chuckles.
"His father was a soccer player. He died in a car crash a few years back and his kids haven't been the same ever since. Especially the littlest one, which is him."
"Oh, wow. Guess I'm a daddy for the time being."
Walking over to the table, Kazimir quickly grabs a bottle of water and chugs it down.
"Are you staying hydrated enough, Kazimir?" Laurenté asks, chuckling.
"I have never known any children to have that much energy, sheesh."
"It's 'cause Jai's feeding them ice cream, cookies, cakes, and doughnuts." Dréy replies, tapping his fingers on the table.
"What about a healthy dinner?" Laurenté asks. "Any one of you ever thought of that?"
Dréy shrugs.
"They're all burning off sugar with Lennox, so they'll probably be hungry soon."
Laurenté nods, before turning to Kazimir.
"Perfect. We can all have dinner at my place and sit on the patio. Kazimir, may I ask you to go find Alexei?"
"Sure." Kazimir replies.
Walking out of the door, the young man walks around the large building, a strong stench of metallic filling the air.
Noticing a familiar figure up on the balcony of the room they were all previously in, Kazimir makes his way up.
"Hey, man."
Alexei turns to him, before turning back forward.
Walking up beside him, the young detective looks down below, noticing Alexei staring at a picture of a couple on his phone.
"I'm assuming those are your parents." Kazimir says.
"Yes, they were in Costa Rica in this photo. Their last vacation, too." Alexei says, showing him the phone.
Kazimir smiles a little at the photo.
"They both complimented each other really well."
The young law student chuckles, putting the phone back into his pocket.
"They'd get that a lot."
He sighs, looking down at his shoes.
"Well, this is it, Kazimir. This is the downside to having money; lies, indefinitely, dark secrets, jealousy, paying people off to shut up about a certain incident while the ones who don't have much never receive proper justice, people who you thought you could trust but only used you to get a certain something."
A small tear trickles down from Alexei's eye.
"Honestly, I don't even know what to do anymore. My life feels as if it's all over the place. I wish papa was still here, I just want a bit of advice from him. Heaven knows how much I miss the man. Then there's Khristina, who Dréy and I sometimes have to rock to sleep at night because she misses being in both mama and papa's embrace. I just don't understand, didn't that bastard as least think about her before murdering my parents?!"
"That's the thing, some people don't tend to think about the multiple consequences that come with their selfish choices." Kazimir replies. "I may not be your father, but I do think you should spend more time with Khristina and Dréy; I'd think they both would like you being around more."
"I've been thinking about that a little and I guess your suggestion confirms it." Alexei says, walking out of the door. "Ah, in all my emotional distress, I've forgotten to ask you; has your parents kept any documents pertaining to your sister's death?"
"I think they have a copy on file located in the Claiza City Town Hall. Why?"
"If you don't mind, I'd like you to make a request to have the department reopen your sister's case. I want your family to get the proper justice."
Kazimir chuckles and shakes his head.
"I don't think that's possible. The police closed Camille's case around 5 years ago once Brent Domonkos paid them off."
"Don't worry about that; I know a couple of ways to get them all to talk." the young law student says. "Just make another copy of your sister's documents and give them to me."
"Alright, I'll get them to you as soon as possible."
"Well, it's about time you two showed up!" Jai says, holding a couple of the kid's hands.
Laurenté walks over, 8 kids trailing behind him.
"Good, now that you two are here, you both can take some of the little ones in your car."
Splitting up, 4 of the children, including Khristina, each run over to Alexei and Kazimir.
"We'll all be meeting back at my place for dinner." Laurenté says, leading his group out of the door.
"Well hello there, everyone." Alexei says, squatting down. "My name is Alexei La'rine and I'll be your chauffeur for the night. Might I take any song suggestions?"
A girl laughs, tugging at the young law student's collar chain.
"You have a weird accent, Alexei!"
"Why thank you, sweetheart. It's Russian."
"Can we listen to nursery rhymes?!" another little girl asks.
Alexei nods.
"Certainly, dear. Anyone else?"
"Khristina told us that you can sing! Can we listen to you sing?"
"Of course, little love. I have a pre-recorded file on my phone, so I'll just play that."
"Can I keep the necklace thingy on your collar?"
"Yes, honey." he replies, unclipping the chain collar and handing it to the little girl.
Kazimir chuckles as Alexei leads the 4 energetic little girls out to his car.
"Can we listen to songs too, Mr?!" one of the kids ask, spinning around Kazimir.
"It's not just Mr." Khristina says, putting a hand on her hip. "It's Mr. Kazimir!"
"Mr. Kazimir, can we hear you sing?" A small girl asks, holding the young man's hand.
"Uh, Mr. Kazimir doesn't do very well with-
"No, no, no!" Khristina interrupts. "You can sing very well, Mr. Kazimir!"
"Why don't I just sing to you all during bedtime?"
"Okay!" the small group says in sync.
Starting the car, the young man pulls out of the parking lot.
"Mr. Kazimir, can we stop for ice cream?" Khristina asks, swinging her legs.
"What about a milkshake? We still have a while until we get back to your cousin's house and the ice cream will melt if one of you decides that you'd like to save it."
Khristina happily nods.
"Okay!"
Pulling into a parking lot, the young man enters a small restaurant which read on the sign they'd serve milkshakes.
"Bonsoir, jeune homme. Qu'est ce que je peux vous servir?"
"Shit, I forgot they speak French here."
Looking down at the others, the young detective gives them a small smile.
"Anyone here know French?"
"I do!" Khristina says, turning to face the other kids. "What would everyone like?"
Kazimir watches as the little kids each tell Khristina their choice of milkshake.
"Would you like one, Mr. Kazimir?" Khristina asks.
"I'll try the strawberry. And for the sake of my wallet Khristina, please just get one."
"I will!"
Running up to the counter, Khristina tells the cashier all of the orders, before motioning for Kazimir to come over.
"She asked will you be paying with card or cash."
"Tell her card."
The older woman nods at Khristina's reply and motions for Kazimir to swipe his card, before giving him his receipt.
Looking over at the machine, the kids watch in awe as the woman begins to make the milkshakes and Khristina happily hands them out.
"And here you are, Mr. Kazimir!"
"Thank you, Khristina." the young man replies, taking the milkshake from her hands.
"Are you married, Mr. Kazimir?" a little girl asks, twirling around.
"No, I'm not."
"But we'll be getting married in a long, long time from now." Khristina says, grabbing his hand. "Like the princes and princesses do in the movies!"
The young detective shakes his head.
"Khristina, whatever happened to Kale?"
"Kale is my friend, just like Sung-hyun and Prince!"
"What's your job, Kazimir?" a little boy asks, kicking the back of the driver's seat.
"He works as a detective!" Khristina replies. "I'm gonna be a detective too when I grow up!"
"You should be whatever you want to be when you get older Khristina; that goes for the rest of you, as well." the young man says.
Finishing the last of her milkshake, a small girl leans forward to tap the man's arm.
"Have you been to college, Mr. Kazimir? My brother's in college and he doesn't do any work 'cause I heard mommy yelling at him over the phone about it."
"For a little while, but then I dropped out."
"What was going to be your job?"
"Something in marketing." Kazimir replies.
Pulling into Laurenté's driveway, the young man sighs in relief at the fact he finally made it back.
"Khristina, take the others inside while I check the car for any trash."
Leading the rest of the children inside, Khristina points to where they should go, before running back to Kazimir.
"Mr. Kazimir, can I ask you something?"
"What is it, Khristina? I'm listening."
"Do your parents live in Russia?"
The young man raises a brow.
"Uh, they actually just recently moved there. Why do you ask?"
"The blonde-haired movie director with the purple eyes said he was gonna make sure they died."