JEOPARDY: The Cursed Soldier.

29. I like him

Her mama was impulsive. Anyone who knew her, knew that.

But somehow that had skipped Kayla's mind when she had sent her mama both the Tom Cruise video and the pictures she had taken with the Mission Impossible cast. Now her mama was calling her at 6 am, the exact moment she was about to take a bath after her morning workout.

"Mama!" Kayla answered the call, staring at her mama's beautiful, just-after-waking-up face.

Lianna had her hair in a large bonnet, and her face drawn by sleeping lines. But she was still beautiful, with her large blue eyes, delicate nose, and bow-shaped plump lips.

"You're awake. Thank the gods. I didn't want to wake you. But--" Then came her scream. Her mama screamed so hard that Kayla had to move the phone far from her face. While a smile tugged at Kayla's face. She loved it when her mama was happy and excited. It was all she wanted in her life. "That video baby, how did you do it? Seriously, Tom Cruise? Saying my name? Tell me everything. Like yesterday."

Kayla smiled wider and went on to irate everything to her mama. Everything. But she made sure to say, a friend did this ... and a friend did that... in place of Ivan's name to avoid unnecessary questions. But it was her mama she was talking about so, of course, she didn't let that go.

"So... a friend, huh?"

Kayla chortled. Her mama was a horrible romantic. And seeing her wagging her eyebrows suggestively was exactly what she needed to see so early in the morning. She had missed that woman like crazy.

"It's not like that. He is just a friend."

"Right." Her mama muttered. But Kayla knew better. It wasn't over. It was never that simple with Lianna Castillo. Never...

1, 2, 3, and the yelling started. 

"A dress. You were in a dress, Kayla. Do you remember how much you fought me when I tried to put you in a dress? And how many times? You despise dresses. Don't even get me started about the makeup--Who did your make-up, anyway? It was sooo well done, I wanted it on me. It didn't turn you into a whole different person. It just brought the best outta you, if you know what I mean.

"Anyway, back to the point, I have never managed to put make-up on, not seriously anyway... Always just for my practice, which you also hated the moment you turned 14. But there you were: looking all pretty, in a sexy little jumpsuit, makeup, styled hair, and heels... Heels, Kayla, heels. Rubbing shoulders with celebs. Repeat that again. A friend?"

Kayla rolled her eyes and made sure her mama saw it. "He was being nice. He is that nice all the time. To everyone. About those things, he arranged everything. I couldn't be rude to a person who was just being kind to me, mama. And I didn't wear the dresses you bought me because it didn't make sense for me to wear them. I was always training with father. It wasn't functional."

"Wait a minute. He arranged for all that? For you? I like this boy already. What is he like? Where did you meet him? Do you like him? Tell me everything. If I feel like you are withholding anything, and I mean anything, I will fly right down to Soleria and get the answers myself."

Kayla shook her head with a chuckle. "It's not like that, mamaa. He's just a friend. And he goes to Angela's school." She didn't want to mention his relationship with Angela. She knew how her mama would react to that.

It would turn Ivan into a villain. Which is a disservice to everything Ivan was. Ivan was more than Angela's boyfriend. That was his only flaw, actually. And Kayla didn't want his whole character judged by that one mistake he made. And kept making.