For some reason, the atmosphere at the dining table was a little tense and no one was even speaking now.

The food served was not as luxurious and delicious as the food Misha usually ate, but at least it wasn't so bad.

And even so, Misha knew manners well and ate quietly, without commenting on anything.

But it was precisely his calm demeanor that made the atmosphere at the dining table a little strange, because they weren't used to eating in silence, but they didn't know what to say either.

Right at that moment, Alia, Daniel's sister, broke the silence. "Next month I have a painting exhibition at my club, can you come to my exhibition?" asked Alia while eating heartily. "The exhibition will last for two days over the weekend."

This teenage girl looked cheerful, although a little bit skinny than teenagers her age, her face looked a little thin and a little pale.

"Of course," Daniel replied, he then used it to open a conversation with Misha. "As I have often told you, Alia has a hobby of painting and her paintings have often been in exhibitions and some have even been sold."

Of course Misha knew. He had one painting of Alia in his apartment, he bought it for five times the original price when he heard that Alia had to have surgery a year ago.

This family was very talented and could be said to be smart in their respective fields, including Kia.

"Mr. Tordoff wants to see my paintings?" asked Alia enthusiastically, the questions as well as the chat at the dinner table came alive because of her. "Mom gave me an empty room to be my studio, would you like to see it? Actually it was my sister's room, but because it wasn't used, dad made it a studio for me."

Misha looked at Alia and nodded. "Of course."

The rest of the meal took place without any significant problems, they enjoyed the meal quietly and occasionally, Mr. Lyrant would ask Misha some questions about Daniel.

However, because of the very formal atmosphere between them, the conversation between the two became a little stiff and only Alia could break the ice. You could tell she was the apple in their eyes and Misha could see why that was.

"This is my little studio," said Alia in a proud voice. She showed him the room that had been Kia's once and had now been converted into her small studio, which contained her paintings.

This room was not so big and had its walls painted in bright yellow. It looked like this room had been repainted, according to Alia's taste.

The teenage girl then showed him some of the murals she had created as well as some of her projects in a very cheerful voice, she was proud of her work and rightfully so, because all of these pictures were incredibly beautiful.

Alia took a realism in her drawings.

Daniel, who walked in after Misha, was standing in the doorway, looking at his youngest sister with a warm smile.

While Daniel added a few words to Alia's story as he recounted passionately the paintings she had made and what inspired her, Misha noticed the closeness between the two of them.

It could be seen very clearly that Daniel really loved Alia and vice versa. There were no significant problems in the relationship between these two siblings, so why did 'she' choose to leave? This family also looked harmonious and peaceful.

There was no sign of violence whatsoever.

"Then where is Kiandra?" Misha asked somewhere in the middle of listening to Alia's story. "You guys turned this room into a studio, that means she won't be using this room anymore, right?"

Immediately, the cheerful atmosphere in the room turned somber with the mention of Kia's name.

Well, this was not the first time Misha had turned the situation became gloomy, so he didn't feel guilty for changing the atmosphere in the room.

"That… actually…" Alia stammered, her face turning sad at the mention of her older sister. She was holding back her tears.

Even Daniel looked like that. His face turned sad when Misha mentioned Kia.

During this time, Daniel didn't talk much about Kia, he turned the whole story toward Alia and Misha was too proud to ask more clearly about Kia. He only briefly asked, as if he didn't care and since Daniel was reluctant to talk about her, the information that could be gleaned from him was practically non-existent.

"That's because she left home four years ago," said Daniel. "She ran away from home four years ago."

"Ran away? Why?" Misha asked again. He no longer cared about the beautiful realistic paintings that were around him when he heard what Daniel had to say.

So far, Daniel had only said that Kia was at their distant relative's house, so they rarely saw each other.

But, if her room had been remodeled to be like this, wouldn't that mean she wouldn't come back to this house again?

Whether it was because they were sure Kia wouldn't be back or they really didn't want the girl to live in this house, the answer was still uncertain…

Misha stared at Daniel intently, while Alia lowered her head, as if feeling guilty.

"So?" Usually, Misha would not insist on knowing other people's problems. Moreover, people would drop the topic when the atmosphere turned uncomfortable like this, but Misha always created an atmosphere like this in every business discussion, because it could be said that this kind of atmosphere had no influence on him.

"Sister didn't come home because she was…" Alia said in a low voice, she looked almost like she was about to cry and was about to say the reason why Kia wasn't in this house.

"Alia." Daniel called out his sister's name in a warning tone. This was not something they could talk about carelessly. "Looks like it's getting late, how about we have a drink together? We still haven't opened the wine you gave us, have we?" Daniel then looked at Alia meaningfully. "Shouldn't you be asleep by now?"

Alia looked like she wanted to refute her brother's words, but then she nodded and said goodbye to Misha.

While on the other hand, Misha didn't seem happy that Daniel interrupted Alia's speech, the teenage girl was just about to say something which she thought was very important in this matter, but Daniel just cut it off.

"We'd better go to the living room," Daniel said with a forced smile on his lips, he looked like he wanted to get out of here quickly.

On the other hand, Misha was silent for a moment before he followed Daniel out of the room. The curiosity that he had now was mounting and he felt that he couldn't just sit still doing nothing about this.

"Looks like it's getting late and I have to go home now," Misha said when they were out of the room. "Thanks for the dinner."

Daniel was shocked, but he was relieved that Misha was going home now. He felt uncomfortable discussing Kia, he felt it was their home business which no one needed to know.

"I will tell my mom and dad that you are going home," said Daniel.

And finally Mr. and Mrs. Lyrant came and said a few words, flattering him followed by a few sweet words to Misha, because after all he was their son's boss and also who didn't know Misha Tordoff?

"Looks like there are only a few photos of your second daughter," Misha said, glancing at the small collection of framed photos that were placed on the table near the door.

On the table there were at least fifteen photos of their family, but it could be said that Kia was almost absent in every photo. Of the fifteen photos, there was only one photo of Kia, where she was wearing her high school uniform. That was all, while the rest of the photos of them were mostly taken together with Alia.

"That kid really doesn't like being photographed," said Mrs. Lyrant, sounding choked as she looked at the photos on the table.

Her brow furrowed slightly when she looked at the photos on display, for it was only this time that she realized, after Misha mentioned it that Kia was hardly in their family photos.

But, that was because she didn't like being photographed, right?

"Alia was seriously ill when she was little so we thought, we are going to lose her, so we have lots of photos with her," said Mr. Lyrant, staring at the photo on the table. "We are grateful we didn't lose her and she is now growing into a healthy child."

But you lost your second child, didn't you? Even if it's not a loss to death...

Misha wanted to say that, but he held back, because it sounded so intrusive and… why would he say such a thing? Their family matters were none of his business, right?

And after exchanging words of thanks, Misha finally left together with Richard, bidding goodbye to the three members of the family who saw him off.

"Shall we return to the Tordoff residence?" asked Richard, he looked at Misha through the rear view mirror of the car as they exited the housing estate.

"Yes," Misha replied curtly. He then looked out the window, at the very bright night view, wondering what Alia really wanted to say. "Find out where she is."

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*Read my new book: KISSED BY THE DARK ALPHA*

Alpha Micah Donovan's second chance mate.

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