Chapter 3 Three

"I'll leave Elara in your care, Auntie." Abigail said to Adaline.

After completing the administrative process, Elara is now officially a new student and as per her agreement with her mother, she will be staying with the elderly couple Altezza-Adaline.

"If she makes trouble, you should not hesitate to punish her." Abigail continued in a stern tone.

"Sure, I will." Adaline replied with a smile on her face. Her aged right arm wrapped warmly around Elara's shoulder. "You guys take it easy, if she causes trouble I'll hire a bodyguard to guard her." Adaline continued, which although said in a joking tone, Elara was sure the woman would actually do it.

It is said that Quirino's wives, despite being friendly, soft-spoken and seemingly caring, can do extreme and unexpected things.

"You too," her mother now looked at Elara who immediately turned tense. "Don't make trouble and don't make your grandmother worry. If you have a class that requires you to come home late, you must tell your grandmother and let her know what time you'll be home." Her mother said in a warning tone.

"Yes, Mom. I'll do everything you say. I won't be naughty, I won't hang out with random people. And I will report to grandma if I go out with my friends or come home late. And more than that, I will study hard." Elara said deliberately as if she was mocking her mother which made her mother could only shake her head.

"Take good care of yourself. I know you can be trusted." Her father said which made Elara nod her head.

Her father was not the type of person who liked to talk at length like her mother. But somehow every word her father said always made Elara's heart feel more afraid, more alert and even occasionally-if her father reprimanded her, even with a short sentence-it always made Elara's heart feel sliced.

After saying goodbye to Granny Ada-because Grandpa Altezza was away-both Elara's parents and her sister returned to the town where they lived.

Elara and Adaline were still standing in the doorway when the car Elara's family was in disappeared.

After the gate closed again, Adaline wrapped her arms around Elara's waist and led her inside.

"I'm really happy that you want to stay here." The elderly woman said in her soft, sorrowful tone. "This house is too big for Altezza and I to live in. With you here, I'm sure this house will be crowded again.

"Bring your college friends here often." pleaded the elderly woman hopefully.

"Are you sure it's okay if I bring my friends here? If they make a scene later, won't it bother you?" Elara asked skeptically.

Adaline smiled. "That's exactly what I like. The commotion." She said with a chuckle. "Since your uncles and aunts aren't here, I really feel lonely." She continued.

Elara could understand. At her age, in a house that was almost as large as a soccer field, it must have felt lonely if it was just the two of them and a few household assistants.

Adaline and Altezza Quirino have four children. In the first birth, Adaline gave birth to a pair of boy and girl twins named Falisha and Geremia. After marrying doctor Ash Clarke, Falisha decided to stay in Kansas while Falisha's twin sister Geremia still lives in Kansas. Geremia is also a doctor, just like Falisha's husband. And Geremia married a nurse named Rianna Lynch. Both of them live in Manhattan, but because they are busy, they can only visit on weekends or other holidays.

The second time around, Adaline gave birth to a baby girl named Ivana. Sadly for Adaline, Ivana was declared dead after birth when in reality, Ivana was kidnapped by Altezza's crazy ex-wife who was still obsessed with Altezza. Ivana managed to return to the Quirino family when she was twenty-eight years old. They found her in a coma as the older sister of Rianna-Geremia's wife-who had grown up together in the same orphanage.

And the third time giving birth, Adaline managed to bring out the most annoying man in Elara's life named Rayyan Quirino. The handsome youngest decided to continue his studies in England along with Claire-Antony's youngest son, Meizar. But both of them chose to live in different countries after graduation.

Elara herself actually wondered why she had to hate him when he had never intruded into her personal life, other than little pranks whenever they met.

Perhaps it was the man's principles that made Elara dislike him.

His choice to be a playboy and date many women made Elara's feminine soul feel humiliated. From that one ugliness, Elara hated many other things about the man and never looked positively at anything Rayyan did.

Does it make sense to hate someone?

Elara herself didn't know. For now, she hoped that he would never show his face in front of her and would only return to America after she finished her studies.

Elara entered her room. The room Adaline had reserved for her. Why special? Because after finding out that Elara was going to be staying at her residence, the elderly woman had deliberately redecorated the room. Painting it, replacing the bed and all the furniture with the minimalist style of furniture that young people like to use. Even the curtains and even the bed cover Elara was sure were items that the middle-aged woman had deliberately bought for her.

Elara lay down and imagined her college days, which she believed would be fun. Aside from imagining making new friends, she also fantasized about having a boyfriend and living her college years like most girls her age did.

But her idyllic daydreams soon changed.

Three months into his studies, they discovered that Antony Quirino had suffered a mild heart attack and that left Grandpa Tony's youngest son-Meizar-worried and decided to return to America.

And three months after uncle Meizar's return, before Elara's second semester classes began. The youngest Altezza-Adaline also returned.

The question is, why does Rayyan have to come back? Even though the youngest son of Grandpa Tony is Meizar?

The answer is not really known to Elara. But from the glimpses she heard, Rayyan's return to America was because he was asked to help Meizar.

Yes, Elara's uncle said it was difficult to manage three Quirino family companies at once. One is his father's construction company, one is his older brother's entertainment company, and one is Meizar's own company.

For this reason, Grandpa Tony personally asked uncle Rayyan to help uncle Meizar.

And with the return of the man, Elara's unpleasant life was about to begin.

Like today, when she opened the door after returning home from her outing, she found a tall, muscular man with copper-colored hair lying on the sofa in the living room with his head on his mother's lap and the TV remote in his hand. The man glanced at her and waved his hand at Elara with an ignorant smile.

"Hello, little niece." The man greeted in an annoying tone to Elara's ears.

"What are you doing here?!" Elara asked with a snarl that made Granny Adaline chuckle at the sound.