Right Behind You

Chapter Sixty-Eight: Step by Step

"Step by step

Ooh baby
Gonna get to you girl
Step by step (AH!)

Step by step
Ooh baby
Gonna get to you girl
Step by step
Ooh baby
Really want you in my world

(step) hey girl, in your eyes
I see a picture of me all the time
(step) And girl, when you smile
You got to know that you drive me wild
(step by step) Ooh baby
You're always on my mind
(step by step) Ooh girl,
I really think its just a matter of time." 

-New Kids On The Block (Step by Step)

Kae:

I had never been to Oman before, but the first time I was doing it was with my family. Apparently, it was the Tavana family tradition to visit Oman together every year. It was a time for bonding, enjoying the beautiful landscape of the country, and eating great food at least that's what aunt Suri told me, she was super excited to finally be taking a "real vacation" and spending it with us. I rarely saw her around the house; she ran her own fashion company so she was always traveling around the world and creating designs. Everyone was here from uncle Bijan—dad's younger brother, cousin Kian, dad's older cousin, and few other relatives I was getting to know.

Isaac, Sabien's boyfriend was also here. His flight came in about a day ago and he was taking the trip with us as well. He was exactly how she described him, a brawny kind of guy with wavy blonde hair and baby blue eyes. His accent was definitely a lot stronger than hers and he seemed overall like a hardworking guy with high ambitions for himself, also very polite. Mahid also brought a girl on this trip, I was unaware of who she was exactly but her name was Roxie and she seemed to have the same kind of mentality that my brother did...

Party hard and all night long.

I had no idea what was going on with that and I didn't ask any questions.

Regardless, Oman was a very beautiful location the ultra-exclusive resort we were staying at was nuzzled between the Gulf of Oman and the Hajar mountains, there was also a beautiful beach down below that I would very much be partaking in enjoying. There was also a lot of fun activities to do here, so that would be interesting as well; I was all about seeing new places and experiencing them, especially with Andrei. I knew it would be a little different now, knowing that both my parents were here; Roya and her daughter were also joining us as well, so that was a frustration in itself.

The tension was clearly there between her, Ettie, and my mother, Sabien, and I. We all stayed very far from each other and did not engage unless absolutely necessary. She had half-assed another apology to us the other day and this one was even worse than the last one, she barely looked at us and said that she didn't mean anything she said and that she was just "fact-checking" our stories because it sounded weird.

I had no words for her, I flat-out rejected the apology and told her to watch her back.

My father ensured us this vacation was for fun and relaxation, let's hope it was exactly just that without the extra drama that Roya tended to bring wherever she went. I've been meaning to sit down with my father again just to see where his head was at concerning her.

"Oh, the mountains are gonna be such a gorgeous backdrop for my pictures. My Instagram feed is going to be popping!" Sabien said beside me as she looked around the beachfront villa we were sharing with our mother and aunts. It was a four-bedroom, Sabien and I were sharing while aunt Soraya and Suri got their own rooms along with my mother. The boys were all sharing a villa as well, not too far from where ours were located. The plan was to go to the beach today and enjoy the nice weather, both Sabien and mom were excited about it. I was too, just not as "chirpy" about it.