FOOLS AND GENIUSES | ✓

CHAPTER 53

Samuel side-eyeing everyone above.

kaizen

(n.) philosophy of continuous improvement

Sitting in uncomfortable silence, Kiara searched her father's features for any indication of what he was thinking. Karan, on the other hand, had made no attempt to hide his favouritism. Chris had done nothing but positively influence her life from the moment they met two years ago so it was no surprise that he took a liking to the actor.

Standing up as he buttoned his suit jacket, Samuel grumbled, "I suppose it is time we met the family since my kids haven't deigned to properly inform me on who their partners are."

Rolling her eyes, she sighed, "Appa, we aren't together."

"Oh, really? How should I interpret the images circulating of you two then?"

Karan quickly interceded, "It's complicated."

The stony glare Samuel shot at Karan was menacing enough to make Kiara cringe but her brother remained impressively unphased as he kicked his feet up and continued smacking his gum obnoxiously. One day this man would be the death of her and from the dark look that crossed her father's face, it was clear he shared the same sentiments.

Over the next few days, Kiara was bombarded with advertisement shoots for various products from clothing to foods. In the remainder of her free time, she busied herself with her new movie project as she familiarised with the cast and crew. Given that they were only due to make an announcement about said film later on in the week, any sightings of her and Cillian together spurred a series of absurd theories as 'close sources' begun spouting outrageous stories to the press. 

Honestly the assumption that she would be involved with a married man was repulsive but that was the ugly truth about the film industry, people were more inclined to believe negative gossip regardless of how much they claimed to respect you. Luckily for her, she had an amazing support system. Even her old castmates, Emilia and Jeffrey, had stopped by in support of the new project but, of course, spent the entire time teasing her about Chris.

By the time the weekend rolled around, Kiara hadn't even noticed how quickly time passed. Rifling through her closet, she tried to find a suitable outfit as the stress of their families meeting frayed her nerves. Karan walked into her room and plopped himself on her bed, amusement playing across his features as he watched her fret.

Deciding he had enough of watching this struggle, he pointed at articles of clothing and chirped, "The cornflower blue sundress with that cropped knitted cardigan."

Flicking her hand out dismissively, she huffed, "You're annoying, you know that?"

In their years apart, Kiara forgotten just how irritating her brother could be as Karan banged his fist against the door and whined at how long she was taking to get ready. Her mood soured with each impatient knock so in a race against time, she dressed in record speed and whipped the door open to confront Satan-spawn himself. After thoroughly exhausting herself chasing him around the house, they eventually trudged down to find Samuel half-asleep on the couch after waiting so long.

By the time they reached Chris' house, Kiara was in full-blown panic mode as Samuel and Karan seemed hell-bent on stressing her out. As always, her father vied for the upper hand by gifting the Evans family the most expensive wine bottle and box of chocolates but Lisa graciously accepted, refusing to show any signs of being impressed. It was like the two parents were playing chess, each one trying to outmanoeuvre the other. Though Carly made her dislike obvious with her expressions, she kept silent and cordially welcomed them.