The Outside World

"Are you okay, Boss?"

Victor glanced at Leon sarcastically as his right-hand man asked him. He held the stack of papers in his hand tightly as his eyes once again swept over the rows of sentences listed in the report.

"Are you sure she's really Enzo's cousin?" Victor asked briefly. His sharp eyes stared at Leon, who nodded in certainty before the man explained his reasons to Victor.

"She is the only child of David, Mrs. Ruby's older brother, who was the mastermind of the big commotion seven years ago. Who knows the reason for their conflict at that time? But Mrs. Ruby seemed kind enough to take care of Mia and raise her."

"Three years after Mrs. Ruby brought Mia into her house, the accident that took the lives of her and her husband happened. Mia was also involved in the accident. She was the only survivor of the accident. A year after the incident, Enzo started to save a large amount of shares in one of the famous entertainment agencies in the country."

"Enzo also bought a luxury apartment complex in the capital city after that. Mia started to be registered as a singer under the company where Enzo invested his shares three months later, and she debuted as a solo singer after about five months of being trained at the agency. She used the name Mia Caroline as her stage name. While the official name listed on the adoption list is Mia Don Zello, the second child of Ruby Zello and Clark Zello."

After listening to Leon's long explanation, Victor finally put away the report paper in his hand. The man leaned back in his leather chair, his gaze still sharp as he seemed to be thinking about something.

"She is part of that family, you said?"

Victor's words may have sounded as calm as the bottom of the ocean. But from the look in his eyes, Victor seemed unable to hold back the complicated feelings that suddenly filled his heart.

Mia Caroline or Mia Don Zello. Victor would continue to remember that name.

***

"How are you feeling?"

When Mia finally woke up, Enzo's worried face was the first thing that greeted her. Mia answered Enzo's question with a nod before she tried to get up.

Mia unconsciously hissed as she chose to lie back down and ease the pain that was hitting her entire body. Enzo, who heard Mia's hiss, also helped Mia lie back down carefully. His hands carefully covered Mia with her thick blanket. Enzo was silent for a long time before he spoke again when Mia started to look at him in confusion.

"Don't try to get up yet, Mia. You had a high fever yesterday. I almost took you to the hospital if the doctor hadn't tried to convince me that you were fine."

Mia could tell that Enzo was angry with her even though the man had been talking to her in a gentle tone. Mia lowered her head as she secretly touched Enzo's hand.

"I'm sorry, Enzo," Mia whispered. The teenager could hear Enzo let out a long breath before the man's fingers gently touched her forehead.

"Why did you do it, Mia? Why did you have to run away from me? You almost drove me crazy yesterday...."

Mia's eyes were teary, as she could see disappointment on her cousin's face. Enzo even slept in his yesterday clothes because he was busy looking and taking care of Mia when the girl was finally found.

"Sorry. I'm so sorry, Enzo. I, I was just curious about school life yesterday. I just secretly watched their interactions. I didn't do anything else after that."

Enzo's heart began to soften as Mia began to cry in front of him. Once again, Enzo moved to gently wipe Mia's forehead before his hand slowly went down to wipe away the tears on Mia's cheeks.

"Since when did you learn to disguise yourself, hm?"

Mia began to calm down when she felt Enzo was no longer too angry with her. Mia tried to calm her emotions before explaining everything to the man.

"Jay taught me. He said that I had to disguise myself if I wanted to go out alone, or the fans might recognize me. Previously, Jay didn't believe I had ever been to a public school and started to tease me because of that. Hearing what he said made me curious about school until I started learning to disguise myself from the internet," Mia explained. She knew that revealing her secret now might only make it difficult for her to escape again in the future. But it's better than seeing Enzo look disappointed in her.

Mia was willing to do anything as long as Enzo didn't hate her. Enzo was the first person who was willing to reach out to help her. Enzo, Ruby, and Clark were the ones who brought Mia out of the dark hole she had been living in. Mia didn't want to disappoint them, no matter what.

Previously, Mia thought that it would be okay if she sneaked out alone once in a while. Mia saw many of her agency friends doing that all the time, but nothing happened. Mia didn't know Enzo would panic that much when she left for a while. Mia knew she had troubled many people, and she regretted her actions.

Seeing that Mia had given up on her escape attempt, Enzo began to try to forget what made him so panicked yesterday. The man stared at Mia while trying to remember the man named Jay that the girl had talked about.

"Mia, who is the Jay you mentioned earlier?" Enzo asked softly. Mia stared back at Enzo before answering the question very smoothly.

"Jay is someone I met on the See My Voice program. Apart from occasionally teasing me, he is a good man, Enzo. He also gave me a lot of good advice," Mia explained. Enzo replied to the girl's words with a nod and a smile, although his mind kept repeating Jay's name over and over again. Enzo felt that he had to teach a lesson to the man named Jay because he had dared to teach his sweet cousin bad things.

"Enzo?"

"Hm?"

Enzo immediately changed his expression to a gentle one when Mia talked to him again. The girl looked embarrassed before her slender fingers awkwardly tried to touch Enzo's hand.

"You're no longer angry, right? I'm so sorry. I was just curious about how people went to school yesterday..." Mia said once again. Enzo smiled. His anger already disappeared since Mia was willing to admit her mistake.

"Yes, as long as you promise not to do something reckless like that again. The outside world is dangerous, Mia. I won't be able to protect you if you leave without telling me."

Mia nodded after she finished listening to Enzo's words. The people she met were all kind and friendly to her. Mia thought maybe the world wasn't as scary as she thought. But now, it was her cousin who kept emphasizing that the world would be dangerous if Mia didn't stay with Enzo.

Mia was now thinking. Maybe there were still many sides of the world that she had never seen. Mia was lucky that a good man wanted to help her yesterday. She couldn't imagine if bad people took her away yesterday.

Just imagining it was enough to make Mia's neck shiver. After that, Mia respected her artist friends, who were able to come back safely without getting hurt many times.

"Mia, are you hungry? Let's have breakfast together. I've asked someone to prepare porridge for you."

Mia nodded as soon as Enzo invited her to have breakfast together. Satisfied with Mia's nod, Enzo went out of the room to prepare breakfast that had previously been prepared by one of his servants. He returned with a tray full of food for two people and found Mia looking at him with curious eyes.

"Enzo, do you know who helped me yesterday? I want to thank them. I must have troubled them a lot yesterday."

Enzo's grip on the tray in his hand tightened as he heard Mia bring up the issue of Victor and his subordinates again. Enzo tried to remain calm on the outside as he gave Mia a bowl of warm porridge to eat before he answered the girl's question.

"I know him and have thanked him personally. You don't need to think about it anymore. They were also happy to be able to help you."

Hearing Enzo's answer, Mia was a little disappointed because it meant she couldn't express her gratitude directly to them. But Mia realized that Enzo would not like it if she denied it. Mia finally just nodded as she slowly ate the warm porridge in her hands.

Even though if possible, Mia wanted to meet the good man and thank him directly.