The 6 Greatest Errors of All Time | ✓

BONUS | in the dark

"Alright bébé, we've been playing for three hours. Let's grab you a quick snack," Risa called from the living room. Her daughter had suggested playing hide-and-seek after the family ate breakfast and her father left for work.

Before Pierce had left, he pulled her aside and told her that Yuliya seemed to be showing signs of a fever since last night. Risa, on the other hand, could hardly see a trace of it the entire day—the child was completely full of energy. At the end, she decided to keep her daughter inside the house and away from the beach for the next few days. Besides, they've been having their own storm of fun inside the house.

"Yuliya, come downstairs please."

Their current game was lasting a little past their usual downtime, so Risa decided to head to the kitchen and prepare herself and her daughter something. As she pulled her hair back with a hair tie, the phone rang.

"Hello?" she answered, picking up the call.

"Larísa," came a hospitable tone from the other end. "How's life treating you, love?"

A smile broke on her face as she put the phone on speaker and placed it on the kitchen shelf above her workspace. "Do you prefer to hear the run-down from Risa herself or as Yuliya's mother?"

"Mhm, now that sounds like Yuliya's mama so far," Kenya analyzed with a teasing air. "Give me Risa."

Risa arched her brows at Kenya's choice. Usually, the woman would take every chance she could get on calls like these to hear Risa talking like a mother; Kenya had confessed before that she found that side of her to be unusual, but also 'unbearably lovely.'

Risa turned on the faucet to wash her hands as she spoke. "Well, let's just say Yuliya's entire school knows of her Papa ever since he came in and told off her teacher."

"No one does it like our Commander," Kenya commended after a brief pause, clearly developing interest in the subject at hand. "Serves the jackanapes right. Who in their right mind insults a child, and an Easton child at that? You must have been proud of him afterwards."

Risa's faint laugh echoed in the kitchen as she turned off the sink water and dried her hands. "I was," she agreed absentmindedly, bending down for a pan, "but despite what you think, I did give him a yelling at home."

"You did?" the woman asked incredulously. "Risa Kennedy did?"

She straightened up and tossed the pan lightly up and down in her palm. "He was only supposed to call her school. But the next day when I left on my business trip and he was at home, he visited her school and confronted the teacher in person."

"I frankly don't see the problem."

Risa smiled as she glanced at the phone before looking away. "As her father he did nothing wrong, but as a father, the image he presented might not be suitable for her classmates. I'm sure other parents don't send their kids off to school for a random dad to come and create ruckus in the middle of class."

"Interesting, that didn't cross my mind," Kenya noted, then added, "you really are a mother now, love. Yet you're always mentioning how insecure you feel in this role. I think it fits you perfectly."

Risa gradually came to a stop before she turned on the stove fire, and a small frown formed on her face. "I don't know, Kenya—" she sighed, "—some days it feels like I'm fulfilling someone else's role, while some days I am the role."

"Should I be concerned with that or is that a mom thing?"

She grinned and shook her head a little. "What's up with you and Osias?"