Adrianna Kim has been sacrificing her whole life. Born into an old money family, she's been subjected to strict rules and a mother who acts like a Drill Sargent. With her parents away for work all the time, she voluntarily took over the role of rais...
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Adrianna's POV: I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes at my brother's excuse and instead crossed my arms as I switched my gaze between him and Ken.
"You are the older brother Michael, and they are children, they need food to grow so, as the older sibling, you should've at least given them a piece of fruit before leaving the house," I calmly explained as I held eye contact with Mickey, who eventually lowered his gaze.
"You too Ken, you have a routine and I expect you to stick to it now that I'm not there, have you taken your medicine today?" I asked with a raised brow.
"Yes Adrianna" he replied as he peered at me over Mickey. I nodded my head and relaxed my posture a little. At least there is still some sort of normalcy happening in that house.
I could see Owen observing our interaction from the corner of my eye, he looked fascinated. He seemed to notice that I relaxed a little as he caught my gaze and smiled a little at me. I smiled back and went back to fiddling with my sleeves.
I never feel nervous about anything that doesn't have my mother involved, so why does his gaze make me want to squirm in my chair and blush?
This is all very confusing, and I don't know how to handle it.
I'm used to having to take charge and having to maintain the peace but after getting 'married' and moving out it feels like I've been relieved of my duty.
I actually have the freedom to experience mundane things like romance. I don't know how to deal with this, and it might just overwhelm me.
Taking a deep breath, I straightened my posture again and calmed my beating heart, the butterflies in my stomach still continued to swarm but it was no longer obvious in my appearance.
I could feel Michael and Ken watching my every move, from the fiddling of my sleeves to the straightening of my posture, their eyes followed it all.
Until a month ago my siblings had never seen anything but organization from me, so seeing all these different emotions must be as foreign to them as they are to me.
Inessa walked back into the dining room with two maids trailing behind her. One of them was pushing a cart which held plates of food that the other took off the cart and sat them in front of my siblings one by one. None of them touched their plates without being told to.
Once the maids had retreated back into the kitchen and Inessa returned to her place next to Owen, I gave a gentle nod, and they began eating.
I watched Jae cut up the pancakes for Soo-ah before putting the knife down and just handing her the fork which made me smile.
Ken looked reluctant to touch the cutlery and fidgeted in his seat slightly which made my smile slowly drop.
"Tell Ken the staffs were trained by mother," I whispered in Michael's ear and watched as he relayed the message.
My brother significantly relaxed and stopped fidgeting. He was still slightly hesitant, which I expected with him being out of his comfort zone, but he eventually picked up his knife and fork and began eating too.
As soon as I knew the older ones were alright I stood up to check on Hana. I got up just in time as I was met with the sight of the awakening baby.
Smiling, I unclipped the straps confining her to the car seat and picked her up. She seemed to recognize me as she gripped onto my jumper, laid her head on my shoulder and proceeded to suck on the dummy in her mouth.
I had to restrain the pout my lips wanted to form from the cuteness of my youngest sibling. Sitting back down in my chair, I realized I hadn't touched my food since it was sat in front of me but that wasn't anything new.
Cold food was not a foreign concept in my daily life. It wouldn't take long for Michael to finish his food and then he could take Hana and I'll get a chance to eat.
The plan of waiting for Michael, however, was quickly halted as a voice broke the comfortable silence looming over the dining room.
"I can take her if you'd like Adrianna, you need to eat," Inessa offered and before I could even reply she had already gotten up again and was making her way around the table to me.
I was reluctant to the idea of giving up my sister, but the fact that she'd only be across the table from me and I could take her back if I needed to slightly helped to calm my beating heart.
I gently pulled the little hand off my jumper and handed her over to the woman who was stood ready with outstretched arms.
It took Hana a second to realize she was no longer in my arms, especially in her slightly sleepy state, but when she did she looked up at Inessa and just stared at her face for a while.
The older woman only rubbed small circles on the baby's back and gave her a motherly smile in return. Hana seemed to like the circles as she soon laid her head on Inessa's shoulder which the woman cooed at. "Thank you" I said as I kept my eyes focused on the two. Inessa only smiled at me as she walked back to her seat.
That felt slightly strange. I've never really had that much help before.
It may seem small, but I've basically raised all 4 of my siblings on my own since my early teen years, with the assistance of the nanny whenever I allowed her to help me.
Even though the boys are older now and help with the younger ones when they can, I still do most of it on my own.
So, having someone who wasn't being paid to be there jumping at the opportunity to watch Hana while I eat is foreign to me.
But I guess it feels nice.
I suppose I have that kind of support system now that I've married Owen? I'm no longer the oldest of the bunch and Owen's older siblings seem to like taking care of the younger ones, even if it isn't done as outright as I am with my younger siblings.
From Maxim and Alexander helping Owen unpack yesterday to Inessa getting food for my siblings and watching Hana now, the Volkov siblings seem to be more into simple gestures to show affection.
The thought is kind of calming. It almost feels like a little bit of pressure has been lifted off of my shoulders.
