Oliver and the Knights.

Again, our families had the decency to not talk about Alice and her parents behind their back. They all said their thing and let them go have their talk in private without bringing attention to it while they weren’t there, even if some may have been itching to.

The singular issue with that is that it let me think, let me remember, and what came to mind over and over again were the words I spoke to Mr. Knight.

‘One day, when you’re older, you’ll wonder why she doesn’t call, why she doesn’t visit, what you did to lose her. You may genuinely not understand. This is why.’

I was conflicted. I was pissed, so with that in mind, I could argue that I held myself back quite a bit. I didn’t exactly regret what I said, but a part of me still believed I should’ve kept my mouth shut.

Ugh. I want to say this is a mess, but it really could’ve been worse. The meat turned out well, too, mostly thanks to Mr. Aliev.

I perked up when I caught Alice walking out of the house and standing by the door. Her eyes met mine and she waved for me to approach, so I excused myself from the table with a racing heart and went to her.

“Everything okay?” I asked Alice.

She nodded with a shy smile. “You… didn’t hear us shout all the way here, did you?”

My eyebrows shot up. “You were shouting?”

“Not exactly. We… raised our voices. I… vented, like I did with you guys. I’ve never done that in front of my parents. They… might be in shock.” Alice giggled. She was in a good mood. “I think I got my point across. I’ll continue studying at Hyogen, I’m staying with you. It’s a compromise since I did tell them I’d flat out drop out. Again, they went pale.” She grimaced. “Is it bad that I find that a bit gratifying?”

I chuckled. “You’ve been the perfect daughter all this time, always doing what they asked of you. I’d say you deserve a bit of catharsis.”

Alice took a deep breath and smiled. “My dad wants to talk to you. Alone.”

I winced. “R-Really?”

“What did you say to him?” Alice asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Just… that this would be the reason you’d contact them less and less,” I summarized.

“Ah. Well… You wouldn’t have been wrong,” Alice said, giggling again. “Anyway, things are good now, for the most part. I think my parents understood, even if they don’t like it.”

“So this is the part where I get threatened to break up with you so you leave and do what they tell you to, huh?”

“W-What?” Alice’s face fell.

I shook my head. “Don’t listen to me. Isabelle was telling me that she started watching Korean dramas. Speaking of my sister, go talk to her. She’s worried sick about you.”

“I’m going.” Before that, though, Alice kissed me on the cheek. “I love you. Thank you for everything.”

“I didn’t do much.”

She shook her head. “You’re the firmest pillar in my life, and I don’t say that because you stay hard for hours on end.”

I winced with closed eyes and breathed deep while Alice laughed and ran away. Had to take a moment to compose myself before heading to the library to meet Alice’s parents.

When I went there, I found them sitting on one of the couches, close to the fireplace. There wasn’t a sofa across from it, so I sat on the bergiere close to it.

“You wanted to talk to me?” I began, my tone soft.

Mr. And Mrs. Knight looked at each other and breathed out.

“We wanted to apologize,” Mrs. Knight said. “We came and caused a scene in your own house.”

I nodded. “Thank you. I… also wanted to apologize. What I said… It may have been out of line coming from me.”

Mr. Knight’s brow furrowed deeply as he shook his head. “I… needed to hear it. You were right. In fact, it already happened before. It’s how we ended up pushing Alex away, too. But he was always so rebellious, so against everything we said that… it felt like it was a matter of when, not if. Alice, though…”

“She’s always been such a good girl,” Mrs. Knight said. “Always respectful, always proper, always doing what was asked of her and more. Her grades, her responsibilities as student president, her chores at home, all while pursuing her true passion. We thought… she was more like us than her brother.”

“We thought we understood better,” Mr. Knight said. His voice was hoarse, like he was talking through a lump in his throat. “She just snapped in front of us. Said… many things we never knew. Things that… you and the girls helped her through, all while we kept demanding perfection out of her.”

“...” I sighed. “Alice loves you, and it breaks her heart that you see that she’s exactly where she wants to be. Alice means the world not just to me, but to the girls as well. If she wanted to leave us to follow her dreams, I wouldn’t have it in me to stop her. But she wants to stay, so I’ll do everything I have to to make sure she can.”

Mrs. Knight smiled while her husband nodded slowly.

“Good. Don’t worry, though. We’ll keep paying for her studies. She… agreed to continue studying law. Whether she follows up on that after graduating or not, it’s up to her. We won’t meddle anymore.”

“It’s not that she doesn’t want you to meddle,” I told him. “It’s that she wants you to understand that she’s happy. She wants you to be happy for her.”

Again, Mr. Knight nodded slowly. “Take good care of her, you hear? I’ll never forgive you if you don’t.”

“I’d never forgive myself, either.”

He smiled at that.

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