Her Rogue

37. Talking to the cousin

"Hey... Can I sit here?" I look up to see a bundle of rainbow-hair and pale skin. Diana. I try to smile but I was way too hurt and too tired to be fake it being sincere. She doesn't seem to mind though, she just sat down with her bowl of spaghetti and smiled again.

I knew she could sense my discomfort but I like that she didn't show it. 

"So, that was a really cool fight," She tries again. I look back at her and give her a small smile, not really knowing what to say back. "I mean even though they were two against you, you seemed super focused and cool out there. You never seemed scared! I would've been a complete mess if I was in your place!"

Finally, a genuine smile at the petite woman, feeling a little more comfortable around Diana.

"Well, I saw you ready to kill us, you didn't seem that scared," I joke. She blushes but continues smiling.

"I'm really sorry about that. If I knew my secret family was in here I think I would've thought twice before pulling the trigger on you," She joked back and see her smile bring up a small dimple on her right cheek.

Diana was a really cute kid, her Asian features made her look even younger than what she was. Her hair was her bold statement, short and colored with pinks and blues. 

"But for real, I really am sorry about all of that," She tells, sobering up, guilt in her eyes.

"Hey, no hard feelings. I mean it did hurt but you know, I am glad you get to meet Grandma. Like that she has one more thing to worry about than my business," I tell her, making her laugh again.

"Olympe is pretty amazing, but I get what you mean. She reminds me a lot of my mom, she likes to make everything perfect for us. Didn't really work for me though, I was a little rebel," She tells me, eating her spaghetti with her mouth open. I huff a puff of air out of my nose, smiling.

"You miss your mom?" I ask her after a little while. I really had no idea what to say, but I knew she wanted to talk to me.

"Yeah, I do. But I miss my brothers even more," She stops and smiles, looking surprised by her words. "Huh, I never thought I would ever say that in my life. But yeah, I miss those little buggers,"

"Brothers? How many are they?"

"Four!" She says, cackling. "When my mom met my step-dad, they had one after the other, it was ridiculous! Andries is the eldest, he is 12. Then there is Diego, who is immediately followed by Giovanni, 8, and 7. They are the troublemakers of the house, they loved pranking every person they knew," She tells me, looking fondly in space.

"What about the last one? You said they were four?" I ask again, loving how she talked about her family.

"Yeah..." She says looking a little sadder. "Dev, named after my step-father. He was a surprise. My mom learned she was pregnant 3 months after the death of her husband. It was quite a shock, even more, because we had just lost our house. He is 5 now."

"That must've been rough. Did you have a good relationship with him?" I ask her, looking a little uncomfortable feeling a little out of place with Diana's tears. 

She cleans her few tears that were flowing without her consent and grins again, the small change of topic making her smile.

"He was amazing. He raised me even though I wasn't his. He helped with my language homework," She grinned again and looked at me in the eyes, as in confiding in me with something. "I am still really bad in language. I am much better with numbers. I would make so many mistakes in all of my papers. He really was the best."

"Is that why you searched for your biological father?" I ask her before I could analyze the insensitiveness of the question. She looks at me shocked.