The mood in the air felt uncomfortable. Not the sort that left an stale taste in one’s mouth, but a rather obvious… odd feeling. As if there was an established connection that intertwined the three of them without Reina’s knowledge. It certainly didn’t feel normal, or like anything else she’d experienced in her adulthood. Not that she’d ever admit it, but the brunette felt unsettled. She had always been someone who could expertly read other people… a talent that had proven useful in her years with the cartel, and from what she was feeling, something was off. Was Ms. McKnight an ex of Jakob’s that she didn’t quite know about? Surely, it’d be impossible, especially considering the headmaster seemed to be significantly younger than the both of them.
“Muchísimas gracias, Ms. McKnight. I can’t begin to explain how grateful I am. I’ll make sure Lucia submits something remarkable… and you’ll best believe I’ll be watching very carefully this time. Your understanding means a lot to me… to the both of us. We were very disappointed to hear about her misbehavior.” Okay, that was definitely a lie. Cheating was tame compared to the things Mr. and Mrs. Cervantes-Müller dealt with on a daily basis. It wasn’t a surprise that their eldest took after them. “Ah, two… that’s a perfect age. They talk about the terrible twos, but our girls were as sweet as can be at that age. You must savor it. The cuddliness won’t last forever, let me tell you. She actually looks like Tilda did when she was two.”
Her dark gaze zeroed in on Jakob as he spoke, her interest piquing immensely at his next question. Almost as if he read her mind… she knew there was more to their sudden meeting. Her suspicions of a possible past connection between the two had proven to be right. Now she was even more interested, and perhaps slightly concerned.
Ah, the zoo. Of course. Although, Sarah’s response seemed somewhat feigned. As someone who lied regularly in her line of work, she could tell the truths from the false. There was a hint of nervousness behind the other woman’s reaction, but it would do nothing but harm to look too far into it. “You don’t do the tours anymore, do you, cariño? He’s mostly behind the scenes these days, but that’s so funny. It’s really a small world, isn’t it?”
We were very disappointed to hear about her misbehavior.
This what not exactly how he remembered Reina’s reaction when they had gotten the email from Ms. McKnight just days ago. Upset, that she had been, but not for the reasons one might think. As for Jakob, he had had no attention of wasting an hour of his time in a useless school appointment. They paid the school more than enough money, in exchange of what, his children got the best education they could get, the kind that they deserved.
His gaze had gotten harsher as the headmaster explained that they wouldn’t be any trace of this in Lucia’s file. Permanent record. A stain. One that would be hard to smudge. One that could keep Lucia from getting places.
Once again, the man had fallen silent. Reina’s silver tongue was ever so efficient after all.
Unlike his wife, he had not taken notice of the little child in the photograph, not until they had started to talk about it. Jakob might have not seen the use of having that professor wrapped around their little finger, but he trusted that his wife was making the right call. He did not refrain a fond smile at the mention of their youngest daughter. They were rays of sunshine in an otherwise grey sky. How he loved his daughters.
With his wife’s gaze on him, Jakob didn’t know anymore how wise it would have been to keep pushing, and although it was now obvious to him that the woman on the other side of the desk was lying, the reason behind those lies was a mystery to him. Who was she, really?
His wife’s question forcing him to focus on her instead, he reached out to put his hand on her knee, wondering if that called for a reply on his end. “Not anymore no. Unless it’s a special occasion,” such as the birth of a panda, the kind of event that brought all the town’s elite to his workplace. Could it have been that this was when he’d seen her? He doubted it. The school might have been prestigious, it didn’t seem the woman was married, and had she been married to someone who mattered, then he would have known that. As for her daughter’s love for red pandas, he certainly was not impressed. How spectacular, a child drawn to a cute animal. Why she felt like this was something worth sharing, he simply did not know. Small talk, the bane of his life.
“Such a small world indeed,” a smile on his face, he looked at the headmaster. “If everything is good, perhaps should we get going? Let’s not keep you away from Clara any longer, shall we?”
She’d never wanted to get out of a meeting more than she did for this one. However, she wasn’t letting Lucia off simply because she happened to have slept with her father. That wouldn’t have been appropriate behavior and she still couldn’t believe herself - believe what was unfolding in front of her, even if it seemed as though Jakob’s wife had no idea about what had happened. Sarah was hardly naïve enough to believe that she couldn’t sense some sort of tension in the room. She liked to think of herself as a fairly composed person, but this wasn’t something that she could have thought up at all.
“Of course.” She nodded again to Reina’s words. “It is my job to be understanding, after all.” Understanding, sometimes too accommodating, apparently the sort to be entranced and tricked by your husband... she shook her head. This would be fine - she’d just have to get Jakob by himself and come forward with the real reason she knew him and he knew her. Except her statement hadn’t been a lie - they had gone to the zoo (before back to her home and her bed) and Clara did adore the red pandas, though she’d never met Jakob (and maybe she never would). “Clara is quite sweet herself, I think I got lucky - and seems as though you did as well.” She glanced at the photo, “does she?” Sarah smiled, running her fingers against the photograph before she refocused on the couple in front of her.
“It must be it.” She bit her lip, shrugging, hoping that didn’t make either of them question anything too much - or too much more, since her explanation might have not been as satisfactory as they might have wanted. “It was not a tour - we just must have passed by.” Except it had been a tour, a promise to see the zoo exclusively, and then he couldn’t keep his hands off of her and though she didn’t consider herself one to usually do one-night-stands, that whole idea had gone right out the window that night, because she could still remember just how charming he’d been, and how nice the attention had felt, especially when she would have figured that he would have chosen someone else in the bar to speak to.
“She is quite alright, a girl in my building watches her.” Sarah nodded, “though your concern is appreciated.”
