Even though Christoph had been staying at the house for a full day, Taeui barely had the chance to speak with him. And it seemed the girls had a mission of their own. Whenever they tried to talk with each other, one of the girls or both would run away. Since Christoph's priority was the girls, he had to stay with them at all times. Sometimes, they even threaten to touch Christoph to make him back away from Taeui. It wasn't difficult to guess who had tasked them with this, but something didn't make sense.
"Why did you ask the girls to keep me away from Christoph?"
"Why would I do that? Christoph can't touch you, and he should be busy enough with Ri–"
'Ah, I get it now.'
They both reached the same conclusion. Richard was the one who put the girls up to it.
"Why are they listening to him?"
Ilay's expression darkened as he thought it over, and Taeui couldn't help but smile. At that moment, the girls appeared from the corner of the house, rushing towards them, and finding refuge behind them laughing. Right behind them was Christoph, looking as annoyed as could be, following them.
"Rick, you f–"
"You better not swear in front of them, or I might need to hammer some manners into you."
Ilay interrupted Christoph's grumbling with a soft but cold voice. Christoph clicked his tongue and crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes. "Why did you put your nieces doing your dirty work?"
Ilay's eyes became colder after being accused for a second time, but when he spoke, his voice was warm. "Girls, make sure you play with him a lot and ask him a lot of things, especially in the morning."
Who knew Christoph, knew he hated waking up early and normally only woke up after eleven o'clock. They both answered promptly, smiling at their uncle and enjoying the little time they could spend with him. They both understood that something serious was going on and that both Ilay and Kyle wouldn't have much time to play with them while the rest of the family was there.
Since the girls were happily talking with Ilay and distracted, Taeui took the chance to ask something he had wanted to ask since Christoph appeared.
"Why did you accept this job? You don't seem to like children."
"Just."
Christoph's ears turned red, and it spread to his cheeks as he looked away from Taeui, and that made him smile. This man, as beautiful as a sculpture, who hated being touched, accepted this job simply so he could talk to Taeui. That was why Richard hated seeing them together.
*****
As Taeui had imagined, once the entire family gathered under one roof, the tension inside the mansion spiked. Despite all the smiles and politeness, the killing intent was palpable.
After two days, the girls forgot about the mission and preferred to play with Christoph and Taeui. They were resting by the pool, having a snack after playing around most of the afternoon with both of them. Although there were a few cousins around, the relationship between them mimicked the one between the elders and the children didn't play with Amber nor Scarlet. The ages of the children varied a lot. The oldest was a boy roughly ten years old, and the youngest was Scarlet, soon to be replaced by at least two newborns.
"Why don't you like to be touched?"
"I just don't."
Christoph stared at her hand slowly making its way towards his arm.
"You really shouldn't touch him, Scarlet. He has a bad reaction to people touching him."
Taeui tried to calm Scarlet's curiosity, but it wasn't an easy thing to do, especially when she was bored. Amber, on the other hand, barely talked to Christoph, much less tried to touch him. Taeui understood the feeling. Seeing such a picturesque man standing in front of you makes you forget about everything else.
The worst thing was that Christoph's smile was visibly better. He didn't make those weird expressions or forced smiles like he did before when he first began learning how to smile. So when Amber hid behind Taeui when she first met Christoph and, after two days still barely said a word to him but was unable to take her eyes from him, he understood her completely. His reaction was the same as the first time he met him. However, since that morning, something had been bothering Amber; she kept trying to find Ilay when they were on break from meetings, and her overall mood was down.
"Christina!" said a man approaching the table with a confident gait and a smirk. "Oops, Christoph. Been ages since I saw you. I heard you have been working with T&R?"
"I guess with so many people in this mansion, it's hard to sort out the trash."
Christoph glared at the man. They weren't friends or anything like that, simply acquaintances from when they were children and the elders had meetings. Although Ilay's cousins rarely attended, there were times they did, and when it happened, the children didn't get along. And if people normally gathered around Richard or Kyle, they ran away from Christoph and Ilay.
"Foul-mouthed as always. Can you really call me trash with Rick around?" The man chuckled and turned to look at Amber and Scarlet, who started glaring.
"I guess nobody has told you that your uncle is a cold-blooded killer," he said with malice.
"I can get a bag if you want, Chris."
Scarlet didn't miss a beat when she spoke, turning her head to Christoph. Beneath her serious face, she looked hurt.
"This amount of shit won't fit in just one bag. Better get two or three." Christoph looked at the girl and smiled.
"You said a bad word."
"A little secret between us."
Scarlet and Amber laughed.
"Better enjoy it while you can. Rick can kill you without thinking twice about it. That's the kind of man he is."
The man's smile vanished, and he glared at the girls. "Do you really think he cares about any of you? He doesn't."
The man pointed at Amber, Scarlet and lastly at Taeui. They remained quiet, a glare in all their faces.
"We have axes if you want, Chris."
Scarlet shrugged as she looked back at Christoph and after he smirked at her, she looked back at the man leaning back on her chair trying her best to look uninterested while eating a cookie. Just like Ilay taught her.
Taeui pressed his eyes with his fingers and shook his head. For a moment, it felt like it was Ilay next to Christoph. Taeui had heard stories of Ilay walking around with an axe, acting like his Nana's bodyguard, and he dreaded seeing history repeating itself like that again.
The man looked at them, venom dripping from his eyes, and he took his time eyeing each one of them, even the girls, with such intensity.
"You shouldn't act so high and mighty, little girl. Rick won't protect you forever." The man stepped closer to the table they were seated around, his glare focused on Scarlet. "One day, your blood will be on my hands." He slammed his palms on the tablet with a loud thump.
Christoph and Taeui stood up the next moment, vicious and ready to protect the girls. However, Christoph's orders were clear – under no circumstance was he to attack. His orders were only to protect the girls. Ilay asked Taeui the same, to refrain from fighting at all costs. So, even if they both stepped closer, neither could attack unless the man threw the first punch.
However, just as they stepped closer to the man still eyeing Scarlet, she too stood up on her chair. She glared at the man, tears threatening to fall at any second, but she kept them in. His eyes didn't leave hers, each second with more hate, and Scarlet matched his hate without wavering.
Until she didn't. She kept her eyes on him, glaring, but her eyes became cold, detached. She crossed her arms and curled the corner of her lips in disgust, looking down at him.
The man, seeing Taeui and Christoph closing in, lifted his hands and backed away.
"Chill, guys. It was just banter. No harm done." He said with a forced smile.
"Banter? Only a fucking piece of shit would threathen children and call it banter." Christoph retorted.
He was itching for the man to throw the first punch so he could claim self-defence when he punched him back. What stopped him from edging him on was his name being called and a hand on his shoulder moments later. Even without looking, he would recognise the hand that touched him anywhere. It was the only hand he could tolerate without feeling nauseous.