“How old are you, Jeremy?”
“Twenty-four.”
“Aren’t you too old for university?”
“He’s finishing his master’s degree and getting his PhD, Papa,” Cecily answers on his behalf. “Like Eli.”
I don’t cut eye contact with him. “What do you study?”
“Business.”
“What do you plan to do after university?”
“Take over the family business.”
“Which is?”
It’s subtle, but I feel Cecily’s posture stiffen beside her mother before she beams at me. “Do you want wine?”
“I don’t drink, remember?”
“Oh, right. Sorry.”
I narrow my eyes on her, and she lowers her head. Something’s fishy. Cecily knows I stopped drinking way before she was born. I did sometimes in the past, on special occasions, and only when my wife was holding my hand, but I stopped drinking altogether years ago.
My attention falls on Jeremy, who’s wearing his blank expression like a second skin.
“What did you say your family business was?”
“I still didn’t say.”
“Go on then. Get on with it.”
“My father is one of the biggest shareholders in a corporation. We have countless subsidiaries in every field, including but not limited to imports and exports, electronics, medical research, cars, and investment.”
Cecily slowly relaxes, and Kim smiles. “That sounds huge.”
“It is. As my father’s heir, I’m expected to take over those responsibilities sooner rather than later.”
“But you’re still so young,” Kim says. “Don’t you want to live your life first?”
“Age is just a number. I’ve been ready to serve this role since I was a child.”
My wife strokes our daughter’s hand. “Cecy has also wanted to enter the field of psychology since she was a kid. She said she wanted to be able to listen properly to those who have no one who listens to them and to be able to give them the help they need but don’t know how to ask for. I guess being responsible is something both of you have in common.”
“I know.” He stares at my daughter, whose eyes glitter at her mother’s words. “She listened to me like no one else has.”
Cecily lifts her head and they maintain eye contact for a disgusting amount of time before I slam my glass of water on the table.
“You’re just shamelessly exploiting my daughter, aren’t you?”
“Papa!” Cecily chastises me with that pleading look in her eyes, and Kim strokes the back of my hand, asking me without words to stop being an arsehole.
The fact is, these two know all too well that I can’t say no to them.
Not even if they ask me for the impossible.
So I try to keep my scathing remarks to a minimum as I watch him effortlessly bewitch my girls.