As Dae, Evan, and Leilani pile into a large, luxurious SUV with the Orlov-Fasils, Nat is boisterously teasing her brother. "I promise Nikki, we only made out with five other convicts. Maybe six?"
"Wow. You're a real comedian." Nik's face was bright red as he tried to seem unbothered by her jokes. "A real Netflix original worthy set."
"Alright. Settle, you two." Emin spoke softly as he slid into the passenger seat of the vehicle. "Let's not have a blowout in front of Evan and his friends."
Then Emin slowly turned around and stuck his tongue out at Nik and Nat, resulting in laughs from them both and a certain redhead. Dae couldn't help but join in and his heart fluttered when he was rewarded with an endearing smile from Evan.
As Taisiya got behind the wheel, Dae half-expected the whole mood to change, but she just gently slapped Emin's shoulder with a smile. "Don't tease them too much, Emi. They'll think they're getting out of being punished. But you guys are still doing all of the dishes tonight--I even saved the ones that Evan made breakfast with, so you and your sister are gonna have a fun night."
"Wow, ma." Nat laughed, not seeming too bothered by her punishment. "I'm sensing some of The Patriarchy in your word choices."
"As you should," Taisiya glanced quickly in the rearview mirror and winked at her daughter. "I only feed into it when you mess up; so stop making mistakes, Natalia, and we can thrive in a matriarchy."
What Dae felt like should've been a slight seemed to settle in, as Nat just nodded to herself before Leilani spoke. "Actually this was my fault--"
"Absolutely not." Emin cut her off by raising a hand gently, the smallest edge detected in his tone when he spoke. "It's never your fault that someone else is racist, Leilani. You did nothing wrong. That man just saw a small islander woman who wasn't afraid to take up space. And that scared him. But that's nothing you should be ashamed of."
Nik reached out and wiped tears forming in a speechless Leilani's eyes, as Taisiya glanced in the rearview at Evan, wrapped up in Dae. At that moment, and for how brief her look was, Dae felt like she had noticed just how close the two boys were for the first time.
A brief smile played out on her lips, "So? How long have you two been dating?"
Evan erupted with a laugh as Dae immediately started stumbling over his word. "Oh--Uh--Well--I mean...we.."
"We're not official or anything, but we've been enjoying each other's company for a few months," Evan smirked, patting Dae's hand gently. His smirk melted into a comforting smile in Dae's direction before he looked back at the twins' mom in the rearview. "That's all you need to know, Taisiya."
"Such attitude from my favorite child!" Taisiya laughed, scrunching up her nose in delight. "Fine, fine. We'll allow you to keep your secrets...for now."
"Wow! Thanks, mom!" Nik laughed in response.
"She literally just admitted that they like you more, Ev! The audacity!" Natalia shook her head in a peal of laughter that matched Nikolai's.
Taisiya pulled into a familiar driveway, shrugging nonchalantly in the rearview at her kids, and Dae felt himself let out a breath he was holding. That relief caused another laugh from Evan, who seemed to feel every time his body tensed.
Emin smiled at the two boys before seeming to shake himself out of his thoughts. He gently tapped Taisiya's shoulder to get her attention, "Well, Tatli, you know whose secrets we can spill though?"
After a clap from Taisiya, Emin locked onto Nik and Nat with laser focus that seemed out of place in his warm eyes. Dae watched as the twins seemed to shrink despite their six-foot-plus stature. Nikolai blushed and put up his hands in gentle surrender, "You don't have to do that, guys..."
"Too late. Evan and company are going to know them all." Emin winked at Leilani who laughed fully for the first time in a while. "Like how...when you were ten you swore you were going to fulfill your dream of being a royally appointed cowboy, athlete, ninja, space-cop, king."
Emin cocked a thick eyebrow, and Dae felt himself let out a loud laugh that joined Leilani and Evan's. To his surprise, instead of adding her own to the laughter at her brother's expense, Nat groaned as she exited the car. "Great! We're starting with the cowlete-ninspop-king which means Ma and Baba are gonna be ruthless tonight, Nikki!"
As everyone exited the vehicle and headed towards the house that seemed to reflect the warmth that the Orlov-Fasils had for each other, Dae couldn't help but smile as Nat threw up her hands, "We'll be lucky if we get out of this before they bust out the home-"
"Natalia!" Nikolai facepalmed as his sister groaned again. "Why would you do that?!"
Emin laughed joyfully and glanced at Dae with a wink, "That's not such a bad idea, huh, Dae."