"Where did you find such a precious girl, Syl?"
At Grandma's question, Kaya's eyes flickered to Sylvan and she gave him an I-told-you-so look, and Sylvan looked as if he was holding off a glare, which increased Kaya's urge to laugh.
"I—" Sylvan cleared his throat, loss of words and Grandma raised her eyebrows at him. The fact that Sylvan was so put together but in front of Grandma he looked so worried, was very funny to Kaya. After a moment Sylvan seemed to compose himself to answer, "We met on the street."
"On the street?" Grandma's smile got wider.
Kaya also looked at Sylvan with confusion but Sylvan continued,
"Yes, she came in front of the car out of nowhere. I almost killed her."
Sylvan glanced at Kaya while saying the last part and Kaya looked away. Grandma's eyes went back and forth between Kaya and Sylvan as if she caught an inside joke, and then she burst out laughing.
"Is it true? Or are you making this up to tease your poor grandmother?" She said in between her laughs as she turned to Kaya.
Seeing grandma laugh so happily, even Sylvan cracked a smile and Kaya decided it was better to go with it.
"It's true, Grandma," Kaya smiled. "I didn't know where I was going and came in front of his car. But thank God he didn't kill me."
Grandma's laugh doubled but soon it turned into a fit of coughing. Immediately, Sylvan moved toward grandma but Kaya was quicker. She grabbed the glass of water from the table and handed it to grandma. As Grandma reached for the glass, Kaya didn't let go, she helped grandma drink the water as she lightly patted grandma's back to subdue the coughing, as she had done countless times to her mother.
"You ok, Grandma?" smiling comfortingly Kaya put the glass back and asked.
Grandma's eyes were glassy as she observed Kaya, maybe it was because of coughing or laughing or she was surprised by the warmth in Kaya's eyes.
"Why didn't you visit me before, darling?" Grandma almost whispered with a small smile.
Kaya's heart ached at Grandma's soft voice, grandma didn't show it maybe but being attached to needles and machines all the time was not exactly a walk in the park, and Kaya knew it.
"I wish I had visited you earlier," Kaya said and Grandma's eyes sparkled, but the next moment, her eyes snapped to Sylvan.
"Which means he didn't want to bring you here, right?" Grandma glared at Sylvan, who suddenly froze.
"But I —"
"Tell me, why didn't you bring this sweet girl here?" Grandma asked cutting Sylvan off.
Kaya again had to bite her smile back seeing the defeated expression on Sylvan's face as he sighed.
"Because I wanted to be sure who I bring to meet you, Grandma."
"And now are you sure?" Grandma asked chuckling.
"Maybe," Sylvan muttered keeping his eyes on Kaya.
Kaya was a bit surprised at Sylvan's response but Grandma didn't notice and rolled her eyes.
"You and your maybes."
"Anyway, Grandma, now that you have seen my bride, how about we go home now?" Sylvan straightened up.
"That depends . . ." Grandma said playfully.
"Grandma?" Sylvan chastised.
"Depends on how soon are you getting married," Grandma said with an annoyed look. "Don't think you can trick me into going home, only to postpone your wedding for next year."
At this Kaya gaped at Sylvan nervously but he didn't notice it. His focus was on grandma Aeri.
"We can get married as soon as you like, right Kaya?" He assured grandma and turned to Kaya, only to see her eyes looking troubled.
Sylvan's eyebrows knit together in question and Grandma glanced at Kaya back again. Realizing Grandma was looking at her, Kaya pulled a smile,
"Yes, of course, Grandma. Whatever you say."
Both Sylvan and Kaya smiled at Grandma, who started grinning at them.
"Then we need to go home as soon as possible. There is so much to prepare and do," Grandma clasped her hands together. "We would start with an engagement party. It would be the event of the year. I will arrange that whole thing myself. I don't trust Amelia. Have you met her, Kaya?" Grandma added to Kaya, who just shook her head since she had no clue who grandma was talking about.
"Grandma, calm down. Just because we said we don't mean tomorrow," Sylvan intervened. "You are still not fully recovered. You would need rest. We would do everything but we would take it slow, alright?"
Grandma pouted for a minute but Sylvan remained firm. Grandma sighed.
"Alright."
"Now nurses will pack all your things and get you ready to go home," Sylvan smiled at Grandma Aeri. "And while they do that I would drop off Kaya and then we would go together."
"Fine. See you, darling," Grandma returned to her small smile at Kaya.
"See you later, Grandma," Kaya smiled sweetly and left the room with Sylvan.
As soon as they were a little far from the suite, Kaya whispered,
"Mr. Pa— I mean, Sylvan, I know I agreed to this but can we please wait for my mother? Fake or not, I want her to be there when I get . . . married. She is the only person I have."
"Ok," Sylvan nodded without hesitation.
"Ok?" Kaya looked at him surprised.
"Yes, ok. We would wait until your mother can attend the wedding. Technically, I wasn't planning so soon either. We would need time."
"Time for what?"
"To prepare you before you meet my full family," Sylvan muttered.
"Oh, right? How are they like and who is Amelia?"
"My stepmother," Sylvan answered shortly. "And about others, I will tell you in a moment."
Kaya's thoughts swirled back to the article she was reading about Sylvan's family but couldn't finish reading it. While thinking, Kaya didn't even realize that Sylvan was leading her to the elevator, only when he stopped and pressed the ground floor button did Kaya notice him.
"Where are we going?"
"Well, I did I would drop you off," Sylvan stated matter of factly.
"Drop me off where?" Kaya was bewildered. "My mom is up there, still unconscious. I am not going anywhere."
"Then for now we could just sit in my car," Sylvan suggested but when Kaya looked more confused he explained. "I just don't want you on the top floor right now. After my Grandma leaves you can go back. And while we are in the car, we can discuss things."
"So we would just sit in the car?" Kaya asked processing what Sylvan meant.
"We can just . . . drive around . . . I do that sometimes when I need to clear my head," Sylvan said hesitantly as we reached the ground floor.
"Yeah, maybe driving around would be nice," Kaya sighed.
After the day she had she needed to clear her head, she just didn't expect Sylvan to suggest such a thing. As they walked toward the parking lot, Kaya noticed Sylvan's face, he looked a bit troubled since they had left Grandma's suite. Kaya wondered why? This man, she just met and signed a contract with was definitely not a simple man, she already guessed, but after spending a few hours with him and seeing such a different range of emotions from him, Kaya was far more interested. The articles she read, the photos she saw, everything screamed ruthless power as if he was someone no one should never cross in their lives, but the way he talked to his grandma and the way he got uncomfortable, nervous, hesitant, and soft, showed a different side of him.
Sylvan and Kaya reached the black sleek car, and Sylvan unlocked the door. They both got in and Sylvan drove out of the hospital.