Allea

twenty-nine

"Elijah?"

At the familiar voice, Elijah's head abruptly moved toward the entrance of the private lounge. Seeing Kai standing there with a docile smile on his face, a momentary concern & panic passed through Elijah's calm face as his gaze flickered toward the esteemed men he was in discussion with. Nial Delton, whose attention also moved toward the door, was staring at Kai with a raised brow, trying to figure out how he was able to enter. The other man just sat there, indifferently overlooking everything.

Elijah wasn't concerned because Kai interrupted them, but he knows how much Allea doesn't want Kai to meet the people from the business world until he reaches his proper age. Pacifying his nerves once again, he excused himself from the men and walked toward Kai.

"Kai, how did you find me?"

Noticing the seriousness in his voice, Kai's smile dimmed, "I saw you coming here when we were leaving."

Hearing his words, Eijha was confirmed that Kai came running without telling Allea. He was not blaming Kai, it was not his fault, Allea never stopped Kai from approaching Elijah. For countless times, Allea has sent Kai with him to enjoy proper long drives. But if today she decided to leave, then Elijah could guess the reason, she didn't want Kai to meet the people around him, "You were leaving? Did you tell Allea before coming here?"

Kai pressed his lips and gave an awkward smile, slightly ducked his head down while scratching it. Shaking his head at Kai's sheepishness, Elijah turned toward Dan, who was unusually quiet the moment they stepped inside the room, and told him to text Allea.

"I just wanted to see you and the car!" Kai tried to explain, but now seeing Elijah's tensed face he was feeling culpable and somewhat conjectured his mistake.

Sighing softly, Elijah neared him and bent to reach his level, he looked straight at Kai and asked, "What did Allea say?"

 The child's voice was dripping from guilt, "That we should go home."

"Then, shouldn't you have listened to her?"

At Elijah's question, Kai comprehended that If Allea was stopping him then he should have heard her, bowing his head Kai apologetically nodded. The moment he entered his eyes met Elijah so Kai didn't notice the two other men in the room, so when Elijah moved toward them, he noticed a man in a gray suit staring at him with a smiling face. But his smile was not of good ones, Kai brows furrowed and his face hardened, he could only see the back of the head of the other man seated on the sofa and he truly apprehended his mistake, he shouldn't be here.

On the other side, Allea has long ago noticed that Kai was no longer following her -she was not mad at him but concerned- the moment she turned to see him, he was dashing toward the opposite side of the crowd. When she followed him to see where he disappeared to, her gaze fell on the familiar faces of guards standing outside the room, not long ago they introduced themselves as Aris Salvadges' security. Her steps halted, she wanted to follow Kai but also assumed whom he followed -he must have seen Elijah going in there. Allea was well aware that Elijah will never let Kai hear anything unwanted but...she still couldn't ease the restless feeling inside her. 

Kai rarely acts rashly like this, and does something Allea stops him from, she could suppose he genuinely wanted to see the car and couldn't help his teenager's rebellious urges. But now the problem was not Kai's disappearance but where he disappeared to, as she was thinking, Dan's message reached her iPhone informing her about Kai's whereabout and people inside the room. Seeing this, she really couldn't leave Kai alone there, even if Elijah was also there, he doesn't know them the way she does, and her heart won't allow ever leaving Kai among the kind of people that could harm him in any way. Without wasting another second, her steps moved forward.