Diamonds Dancing

Five

"Can we watch another one, lovey?"

The ending credits rolled onto the plasma screen tv, something she was still getting used to, and a big yawn escaped her mouth. She could feel the tiredness seeping into her limbs, listening to the question being directed at her.

Lilia, who was busy peering up at her in awaiting, pouted her bottom lip. "Pretty please?"

A smile broke out on her lips at the silly nickname, it had been a few weeks into her stay at the manor. Both of the girls were equally as adorable, polite and well-mannered. All in all, they were two perfectly raised children, who were easy to look after. The nanny was shocked to find that they were shy yet hilarious in their own ways.

"I don't know..." Rika hesitated, eyes wandering over to where the girls were wrapped in a blanket. Janessa was at the end of the sofa, busy drawing in the sketchbook on her lap, Lilia was much closer to the older woman, clutching onto her mug of hot cocoa. "It's almost bedtime, I don't think your father would be too pleased if I let you watch another movie."

Caring for the famous kids was not as difficult as she had expected it would be. In fact, she was learning a lot from them. For starters, she was helping them with hobbies she had never practised before, such as sitting in on their piano lessons, and ballet recitals. Individually, each child was gifted. Janessa was a little pianist at the ripe age of eight, and Lilia was becoming a dancer.

"Oh, but I really wanna know what happens next," Lilia whined, battering her long lashes.

"I'm sorry, Lia." She sighed, shaking her head. "You know the rule already, if we want to go to the beach tomorrow, then you girls have to be in bed, on time." Making sure to add extra emphasis on the latter word, although they were good—bedtime was always a rather dreaded, strenuous activity.

Getting up from her comfy position, she motioned for the girls to lift their arms up and dragged the blanket off their bodies. "Come on, up you get. The quicker you get to bed, the faster tomorrow will come."

They had been super excited for their little beach trip, the weekends were made up of whatever fun they decided on. During the week, they had their usual routine; wake up, breakfast, school work, lunch, more school and hobbies, dinner, playtime, and lastly, bath time and bed with a nighttime story. It was a very practical routine and kept them on track. However, the weekends were the time for them to let loose and be their authentic selves.

Rika couldn't stress the importance of letting kids be themselves, she let them pick out their own outfits, and wanted them to know that there were no restrictions on how they should behave. They were kids after all.

Picking Lilia up with ease, she set the empty beverage onto the coffee table, then waited patiently for Janessa to gather her things up and stand up to her full height.

Her glasses were pushed onto the bridge of her nose, her hair in small pigtails. "Is Daddy coming tomorrow?" Janessa muttered as they started to walk out of the movie room together.

With her free hand, she held onto her little hand whilst holding the smaller child on her hip.

Rika looked down at her and the forced smile she was supporting, twitched ever so slightly.

Thankfully, she had bathed them early that evening and so, they headed up the stairs onto the second floor and went straight to their shared bedroom.

"Um, I still need to ask him, but don't you worry. I'll make sure he comes, just for you." She promised, even though she knew it was an empty promise.

She tried to hide the distaste at the mention of their father, in the space of the few weeks she had been there, she had seen Slater Ivanov a total of ten times.