"Why?"
"Because they don't like you!" Nik said, not removing his eyes from the screen.
"Why?"
"Because they don't like me!"
"Why?"
He pressed his lips for a second and then replied, "You can see that directly."
Lili's shoulders dropped. 'You expected him to say everything! You fool!' she cursed herself and looked outside to see only trees. She glanced at Nik, who was watching their wedding. "Are you sure we are going home?" she grumbled.
Niklaus mummed.
"Mmmm... My foot! This is a forest. Is your house in the forest?"
"Yes!"
Lili couldn't help but scratch her head. Can't a billionaire buy a luxurious house in the city near to work? She didn't want to know more but her curiosity was killing her. "Isn't it difficult to travel back and forth every day?"
"I don't live there. My father's family does."
This was even more confusing. "Aren't you, his family?"
"Yes, I am!"
Lili sighed and at once asked numerous questions, "Then why wasn't he invited to the wedding? What do you mean by 'his' family? Why don't they like you? So, why are we going?" she panted. "Remember, each question carries five marks, not one mark."
Nik's cheeks lifted upon hearing Lili's way of questioning. "My father remarried; he lives there with his second wife. I haven't invited because my stepmother would create a mess, which I don't want. We are going now, so that you can get familiar with my family."
Lili patiently heard, but her brows pinched to hear the last sentence. 'How did I become the cause for this journey?' However, from what she understood, the visit wouldn't be a friendly and joyful one. "How much more time would it take to reach?" she questioned, wishing that she could have a small nap.
"Ten minutes!"
Now that she had some time, she hesitated to sleep in his car. Basically, Mr. Cooper was like a stranger. In whatever way she thought, she didn't feel good about sleeping in his car. Left with nothing, she also watched the news, along with Niklaus.
The video of Nik's dress selection was playing on the screen. "What do you mean when you said that you wanted me to stand beside you comfortably?"
"The same meaning that it holds."
Her forehead furrowed by that statement. She kissed her teeth and cursed herself. 'Why do you talk first and embarrass yourself? What would you do if you knew that? Talk to him only when necessary.' The rest of time, she simply stared at the news with her mouth shut.
"Dad, Niklaus brother is here" Lili heard a young girl's voice the moment the car door opened. "Let me help you!" The same girl put her hand forward as Lili was struggling to get down with her dress.
"Thanks!" Lili gave her hand. Such a sweet sister! Why did Niklaus sound so scary? Is she, his stepsister? They don't have any similarities.
While Lili was lost in thought about who the new kind and charming girl was, the girl walked her Lili into the house. With a tap on her hand, Lili came back to find herself in the house, which from no corner appeared like a normal house. Everything was magnificent and enormous- the chandeliers, the staircase, and the design on the ceilings. The entire house glittered like gold as the bright yellow light brightened the beige walls.
"Come!" the girl, who was still holding her hand, whispered. Lili gave a confused smile, while the girl was smiling so warmly that her heart instantly calmed down. The girl made the newlywed couple sit together and sat beside her. "You don't have to worry! Nik can handle it!"
'Worry? Why should I worry? What is this guy going to handle?'
Suddenly the two people beside her stood up and Lili, too, got up to see a man in white hair, deep light brown eyes and pinched lips walkdown the stairs. Dressed in black clothes, he was just like how Niklaus might appear in his fifties. Behind him, a woman that somehow gave out dangerous and scary vibes tik-toked with her pointed heels and attracting knee length dress.
Just with the lady's reddish- brown hair, Lili could say that the girl who greeted her was her daughter. But how could the same hair make one charming and the other fierce?
Both sat on the two-sit sofa beside theirs. "What's your name, dear?" Mr. Cooper asked in a friendly but a strict tone.
"Liliya," she stopped, not understanding which surname to say.
"Your father's name?"
"Andrew Meyers."
"Good! Do you know my name?"
Lili gave a small nod. "Robert Cooper." Who wouldn't know the answer to that? It's written everywhere, on the internet, in magazines and in the news.
"Good! Do you know my wife's name?"
Suddenly it felt like an interview, where she was being appreciated for every answer. "Alice Cooper"
As she said that answer, the girl beside her tightened her grip over her hand. Based on the internet, it isn't wrong. Her heart began running like crazy. 'Idiot! Second Marriage! How did you forget? Cover up!' Lili was always that way. She gets heightened up with few praises and every time lands in trouble. "Sorry! I only know your first wife's name."
"Ok! How did you know about my second marriage?"
This…this question was the toughest. 'What should I say?' Telling Niklaus' name might bring more clashes for revealing the family secrets. "Sorry, if I was wrong! I assumed her to be your second wife, as none of Mr. Cooper's features match with her." While she spoke that statement, Lili's eyes met for the first time with the lady beside Robert. Her eyes were throwing flames at her while her lips silently read cursing chants. With just a single eye contact, the red-haired woman gave Lili, the coldest shiver through her spine.
Lili already fixed her mind to receive a scolding from Mr. Cooper, but his lips curled up, looking at his son, sitting beside her. However, Nik's stepmother seemed to have taken that chance. "You… whatever your name is… don't have to assume. I, Elizibeth Cooper, is the wife of Robert Cooper." Her voice was so loud, demanding, rude and discourteous.
Lili's jaw tightened to hear that disrespectable tone. "Sorry, my bad! The internet still says Alice is his wife. If I may ask, when did you get married?"