Diamonds Dancing

Forty

Lilia's squeals had yet to settle, she could not believe it. Her sister, on the other hand, bore wide eyes and a stunned expression, petting the fluffy animal in her hands.

"Happy early Valentine's Day," Their father stated calmly, stroking the tops of the girls' heads. "since I won't be there tomorrow, I thought I could give your presents early."

He had gifted them puppies. Correction, two tiny Pomeranians, one with snow-white fur and the other a midnight black.

Rika barely contain her disbelief, walking further down the steps to find her girls in their ballet uniforms. They were sat on the floor in the hallway, two almost identical dogs in their hands.

She had heard screaming and thought something had gone terribly wrong.

Catching his eyes, a frown plastered across her face. She reached the bottom step when Janessa noticed her presence.

"Lovey! Look!" She yelled, shoving her arms up to show off her new pet. "Daddy got us puppies for Valentine's Day. Isn't mine so cute!"

"No mine's cuter!" Lilia said, trying to push hers in front first.

Clearly, not wanting to upset either child, the nanny gave him another hard glare. He rose a brow, perplexed by her reaction.

She had changed out of her loungewear and into a cocktail dress since he had last seen her in his bedroom.

Her curvy body was wrapped in ivory, adorned in a short fitted dress that showed off her large breasts in a classy way. His eyes roamed her bare legs, the strappy heels she wore gave her short frame a boost in height.

He realised she would not be joining them for dinner tonight.

She ignored his heavy regard and simply smiled, bending down and stroking each dog.

"They're both adorable. Aren't you both the luckiest little girls in the world, getting pets that you will need to care for and look after every single day for the rest of your lives, for no good reason?"

There it was. She was mad, he concluded.

He did not know why or care to know as the reaction from his daughters was more than enough for him to be satisfied.

Slater licked his lips. "Are you girls happy?" He asked, diverting the tense atmosphere into a jolly one.

She scoffed aloud, swivelling her head. To his surprise, she spun around, looking for the source of the voice. "Of course, they are. Why wouldn't they be? Don't they look happy to you?" Her words were controlled, cutthroat.

Lilia broke up the tension, letting out a wild scream. "I love him and I will take good care of him, I promise! His name is.... uh ... Cupid!"

When three pairs of eyes fell onto the silent girl with circle lenses, she shyly blushed. "Sakura," she settled on, kissing her puppy's dark fur. "It means cherry blossom in Japenese."

Rika halted, her heart pounding as she looked down at the eight-year-old. "Japenese? Where did you learn that?"

Janessa nodded over at her father, who barely spared them a glance, entertaining himself with one of the fur babies.

"Daddy's been making us take lessons for months now, he says we'll need to know the language when we all go to Japan. Jojo says I need a few more months of lessons and I'll be nearly fluent." She explained, very matter of factly. Jojo being her language teacher.

"Japan?" She questioned, unable to keep up with the casual answers. "And why would you be needing to go to Japan?"

Before she could get a proper response, a dry throat was cleared.