"Holy..." Silo gasped, standing by the entrance of the walk-in wardrobe, ready to help Lola with some of her things.
He barely stepped inside when he saw how full her walk-in closet was. It shouldn’t have been surprising because, even though Lola was frugal, she had plenty of clothes to mix and match for business settings. But this walk-in closet didn’t just have women’s clothes; there were racks and racks of kids’ clothes (for boys and girls), and then a men’s clothing section.
Silo narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Lola. "Lola, what did you do last night when I dropped you off?"
"It’s not me," Lola rolled her eyes as she zipped a duffel bag and tossed it in his direction. Once he caught it midair, she added, "I didn’t go crazy just because I missed the twins, and I didn’t buy them clothes just because."
"Then, how come there are clothes for them and even men’s clothing?" he asked, tilting his head to the side as he held the duffel bag in front of him. "Lola, I know you’re fond of the twins, but don’t forget you only knew them for three days. Besides, going back to the men’s clothing, are you dating? How come I didn’t know this?"
"..." Lola opened her mouth, then bit her tongue. She squinted slightly, running her tongue across her inner cheek.
Initially, she planned to tell Silo about the twins’ father. After all, Silo might want to know who the twins’ father was. However, now that she thought about it and heard his insinuation that she had gone crazy, she thought, why should she be the only one to get the shock of her life?
Quite petty, but... fair.
In the end, Lola smiled. "Just help me out, alright?"
Seeing that smile on her face, Silo frowned a bit and furrowed his brows.
"I don’t like that smile," he muttered as he finally walked in to nag her. "Lola, you’re seeing someone?! Or are you planning to see someone?! No, no, you know you shouldn’t be a sugar mommy, right?"
"Nope!" Lola straightened her back as she slung a bag over her shoulder, smacking her lips as she faced him. "The men’s clothes are just... I don’t even know how they ended up there. Maybe someone got lost!"
"Huh?"
She slapped his shoulder. "Don’t think much about it. Let’s just go."
With that, Lola strode out of the walk-in closet without looking back. She had enough mystery for today, and she couldn’t just stop everything just because someone from the past showed up right in front of her... or because she had to face him in the most unflattering appearance.
As for Silo, his brows knitted deeply as he watched her walk away. He scanned the walk-in closet once more, approaching the men’s clothes just to check. Much to his dismay, some of the clothes still had price tags on them—prices even Lola would have to think twice about before purchasing.
"With how frugal she is with herself, she’d buy this?" he gasped, studying the row of men’s clothing.
The more he thought about it, the more concerned he became. Lola crying was pitiful, but a frugal person like her splurging on clothes? That was alarming.
"Wait—" Suddenly, a thought crossed his mind that made him pause.
Again, Silo studied the men’s clothes and narrowed his eyes. His face twisted when he spotted a few fish masks casually placed in a different rack.
"Don’t tell me... she’s planning to start cross-dressing as a man now?"
****
Silo nagged and nagged Lola on their way to Lion Square. Even when she didn’t have a headache anymore, she felt it coming back just because of him. Thankfully, he stopped when his phone started buzzing and he got busy with work.
Propping her arms against the armrest of her seat, Lola leaned back and kept her eyes on the window.
I can already imagine Silo’s reaction once he finds out who the twins’ father is.
Her lips were drawn into a thin line as she told herself to stop thinking about Atlas. Having that man in her mind was ruining the other fact that the twins graced her morning once more. A subtle smile appeared on her face as her eyes softened, reminding her of how her heart skipped a beat when she heard the twins’ voices again.
Just last night, she believed she might not be able to see them or hear them again. But they came back... to her. It was just that they had a chaperone.
"Now that I think about it, Atlas stepped down from the Pierson Empire years ago," she murmured. "And there wasn’t any news about him after that."
There had been other news about him before, but then, his name and presence just... disappeared. Considering how high-profile the man and his family were, it was strange that he hadn’t made headlines at least once in the last five years.
"Zorken," she whispered to herself, her brows knitting.
Curious about why the twins claimed their father wasn’t Atlas Bennet, but Atlas Zorken, Lola took out her phone. She searched:
[Atlas Zorken]
The result? Nothing.
"Huh?" she breathed out. "That’s strange."
Normally, there would be some random results about any Atlas Zorken or something close to the keywords. But somehow, it was blank. This was the internet. There was no way the internet wouldn’t give her any other results.
So, she tried again.
[Zorken]
The result was the same—nothing. But when she tried Atlas, there were many results that appeared. She tried [Atlas Bennet], and obviously, it showed all the articles about the man, which were all posted years ago.
Again, she tried [Atlas Zorken], and once again, nothing.
"Weird," she murmured, tilting her head a bit.
Lola thought about it deeply for a second, but in the end, she simply shook her head. She had told herself not to think about that man and what he was planning for now, but here she was, killing time thinking about him.
"Lola." Suddenly, Silo’s voice snapped her out of it. "Aren’t you going to do your makeup?"
Her brows rose as she turned her head to him. "Oh."
"We’re almost at Lion Square."
"I’ll do it in the suite. My skin needs to breathe," she said, making him nod his head.
"Well, you’re right. You have sensitive skin, and putting on heavy makeup every day might damage your skin."
With that, the two of them killed time as Lola asked him about the call he had received just now. They didn’t even realize they had arrived in front of the hotel’s driveway until their van pulled over.
"Let me help you," Silo reached out to her and held her bags, carrying them over his shoulders.
"Thanks," she said, stepping out of the van.
And just like that, the two of them headed inside the establishment, with people stopping and turning their heads at Lola. She wasn’t wearing anything on her face, not even mascara or lipstick. Yet, her bare face was so refreshing, matched with her streetwear outfit, that people—men especially—had to look twice.
Little did they know, the vehicle behind their van was Derek.
"Huh?" Derek furrowed his brows, watching the lady who just jumped out of the vehicle before his. "Isn’t that..."
Wasn’t that the lady he had bumped into a few nights ago at the airport?