Luka would have guessed that Yana would act this way. Since a while, she has been more than ever adamant about avoiding his attention to get closer.
Luka wasn't sure what he did to her to keep distance between them after they cleared up the misunderstanding but he could also be adamant.
Adamant to bridge the distance between them with a damn crane that pinched the gap into nothingness.
"Hmm," a playful smile appeared on his face, "If you want to know, how about a … ahem, a kiss on the cheek?"
Although Luka wanted to appear confident and teasing, why the hell was he so embarrassed about this? But just imagining Yana's soft lips on his cheeks made him flush involuntarily.
However, the remarks just passed Yana and she elegantly ate her food while on the insides she was boiling at Luka's audacity. What was he planning to do now? What was this coy and infatuated act?
What the hell, were they middle schoolers or what? Was this here a damn romance novel or what?
Yana calmed herself and seemingly unbothered said, "You can kiss the hard ground if you don't spit it out."
The sad and aggrieved look on Luka's face was determinedly ignored by Yana. He was the one who made this to be an important and tense situation, so why did he suddenly decide to change the mood?
However, as calm and unfazed Yana wanted to be, time was runningout. Since there was evidence that poisoned her as the culprit, the police wouldn't sit idly back for too long. Just because Luka was able to hold them back, didn't mean that the police wouldn't receive pressure from others who wanted to implicate her.
Yana had to act first and quickly, "What evidence is there about me?" Yana repeated as Luka was still heartbroken.
Hearing the serious tone in her voice, Luka momentarily threw his love life matters aside, "They have a recording of you where you admit that you want to take advantage of the orphanage and me. You were talking to another staff of the orphanage. She found out about your, well, ulterior motives and tried to stop you but then you burnt down the orphanage and she disappeared."
So this was how it went. Luka looked at Yana with caution before he continued, "I verified it was your voice."
Yana scowled and ungently put the cutlery down, "You just had to, don't you? Gosh."
"I'm sorry but-" with a voice recording of Yana admitting her 'evil deeds' and Luka, her boss and rumoured partner, verifying the authenticity, it was obvious it counted as evidence. The only problem was how did they record Yana? She was sure they had modified her voice. Was it when she caught Carol and confronted her?
Yana wanted to listen to the audio but she wasn't going to hand herself to the police like that, without being able to defend herself.
"But did the police question where this sudden recording came from? Carol disappeared and it can't have been possibly laying intact in the ruins of the orphanage right?'' even though Yana asked this, she already knew the answer.
To the police it didn't matter if the evidence was fake or real, as long as someone high up told them to use it and frame her, the corrupt police wouldn't bother staying on justice's side. Their own lives and jobs were too important.
So, as long as Yana couldn't prove that the recording was fake and that she was innocent, there was no way for her to wash herself clean.
"Yana," Luka pulled Yana's attention back to him by putting his hands over hers, "I'll help you. I'll let the best people investigate and-"
"No need, pull out anyone you've hired for this. I can take care of this myself," Yana didn't want to sound harsh but once she realised it, it was too late. A heavy silence was cast over them as if it was trying to swallow them alive leaving nothing but air behind.
Luka slowly lowered his head. The two empty plates on the table and the morning sunlight from the window only magnified this uneasy tension between them.
Yana knew that Luka thought she was angry at him for verifying her voice. Although Yana knew Luka couldn't lie to the police, she didn't expect him to actually admit it was her voice. He could've just said something along the lines of him not being sure. Whilst it might've been Yana's voice, the things she said in the recording definitely wasn't what came out of her mouth.
But Yana didn't hold it against Luka for doing what he did. On the contrary, she didn't care. She was actually thankful that he held the police at bay and bought some time for her.
"Thanks for the info," Yana stood up and brought the dirty crockery to the sink, "But it's better if you leave now."
The water flushed and washed away the dirt on the plates, covering up that Luka was approaching Yana until a rueful, "Yana…" made it to her ears.
Once again, she was aware that Luka must think she was angry at him, thus she was acting cold.
Since Yana still needed him, it was better to clear up this misunderstanding. Although she told herself so, why was there such a strange pull on her heart that seemed to squeeze every drop of blood out of her beating organ?
Not knowing what it was and not wanting to know, Yana pressed this alien feeling down and with a smile turned to Luka. She dried her hand before she started to straighten and bottom up his messy shirt.
"Don't get me wrong," Yana's gaze was fixated on Luka's shirt, "I'm not mad at you. It was the only right thing to do to admit it was my voice because it is. Even though it's been manipulated. I just don't want you to get caught up and be a bother to your work. Please trust me when I say I can handle this alone. The best thing that you can do to help me is to focus on your work, ok?"
After fixing Luka's shirt, she gently patted him on the chest while she looked at him with a warm gaze.
Acting cold and then nice to him. Yana herself didn't know what she was doing anymore but for Luka to be still useful, Yana had to make sure that the distance between them didn't widen too much. Keeping him at an arm's length to be able to reach out to him whenever she needed, was perfect.
That was why she couldn't act too cold to him all the time. She has given him the stick for too long, so now she had to hand out the carrot.
"You don't have to worry about me," Luka's voice was tender while his eyes were drowning in excessive care and happiness.
Yana knew that if she showed him the slightest bit of affection, he would fall for it but she was sure that just like her, Luka was also only putting on an act. Both of them were playing each other. There were absolutely no real feelings involved. On both sides. There couldn't be.