"Was my acting convincing Honey? I was barely pretending, I was seriously angry that something would happen to Nikolai, in Andrea's house nonetheless?!
But out of curiosity, why did you ask me to act as if I'm still Angry at Jin instead of letting me scold Andrea?"
"First of all Rushil dear, you were fantastic! the Parmar acting skills are legendary after all.
Second, the role of the evil parent is your role."
Scoffing, "I'm the evil parent? Radka We've been married for so many years, if there's one thing I was sure of, is that you value your family more than your own life, yet our son is hospitalized and you're barely showing any signs of distress so far.
You're a far better actress than me, honey." Rushil said.
"I'm really distressed, but I'm also suspicious of something, especially Andrea.
My gut feeling is telling me this was no accident and even though Nikolai made it alive, investigating what happened is my main focus... I'll get to the bottom of this even if I have to make a deal with the Devil." Radka replied.
"You're not planning revenge if you found Something incriminating, are you?
Ugh Rad!...for many years we managed to keep this part of our lives a secret especially from Nikolai, I think a revenge would be too much if that's what you're heading for...with media, police and the public fixated on our son, someone will come across who we are."
"Rushil dear, no one touches a hair from any member of my family, and think they can get away with it...I'm making that person pay.
And honestly, I think Nikolai already knows something, there's no way we were that perfect at covering our tracks...we should've never settled here when Nikolai started highschool."
"We've been moving from a place to a place to avoid problems...Ugh, Do you really think Niko knows something? what if that's the reason for the death threats?!" Rushil asked.
"I think Niko found something out in Highschool, before his suicide attempt.
I caught him once digging in my study room...he said he was looking for an empty notebook to use, but the look on his face said that he saw something he wasn't supposed to.
And some days after that suicide attempt happened, when i talked with Niko at the hospital once he woke up...
I said that I was going to make those bullies including Jin pay the price for what they did to him, but Nikolai suddenly begged me to leave them alone...he cried like his life depended on it, especially for Jin. " Radka replied.
"That's why you didn't do or let me do anything.
That explains why Nikolai moved out of the house to live with his mentor afterwards, and why you accepted with no argument when he bought us a new house after his success." Rushil said.
"Although when Nikolai moved out, i cleaned our previous house from head to toe, it wasn't enough to get him back... if he does know, then we have ruined his gathered memories in that house, obviously.
I'm just glad he still sees us as his family." Radka replied sighing.
"Radka, why didn't you tell me all those years about that incident? you kept worrying by yourself!" Rushil asked.
"I wasn't sure what he knows exactly, I mean he never said anything directly about the subject...and at least one of us had to act normal like usual around him.
Besides, Niko didn't cut us off, he wasn't that scared, although that all could've been play pretend...he's an actor after all." Radka replied.
Sighing, "I won't forgive myself if this is the reason why our son's life has a Target mark on it." Rushil said.
Clutching her hand in his, "Listen love, I know that it's a hard pill to swallow, but the truth is, I think we really are the reason why the death threats are existing, Ru-Ru." Radka said worriedly.
"To be frank, we made hella lot of enemies in this business, if someone is really targeting our son, we need to find out who and fast." Rushil replied squeezing her hand.
"We're going to find who's after our Boy, and I have a feeling that's it's more than just an enemy of ours... someone else has it against Niko and he's part of Andrea's crew." Radka said.
"Are you sure it's a murder attempt?" Rushil asked.
"Yes, I want to start investigating with that Salvatore guy first... I know exactly the guy who can help us...I'll contact my girl, she'll send him a tip." Radka replied.
"Tell her to tell him, he should also ask Jin What happened exactly from his pov, I Know in my heart the boy is innocent, but it's better not to make Andrea feel like we're onto him alone." Rushil said.
"You seem to have taken a likening to Jin, Rushil." Radka said smiling.
"I like his cooking, and he's a good caretaker for our son...Plus if I were a gay man, he's definitely on my list." He replied snickering.
"Ru-Ru you don't need to be gay to appreciate another man's Beauty." She replied snickering as well.
"I feel bad for what happened to Jin's mother though, she was the woman who almost stole my bisexual wife from me." Rushil replied smiling sadly.
"C'mon! don't say it that way, you're making me feel like a cheater! I didn't do anything with her!" Radka said hiding her embarrassed face, "You said after meeting her that you like a woman who can actually kill you.
I was thinking about signing us for couples therapy, that's how scared I was for our marriage!" Rushil replied teasingly.
"Unfortunately I also like 5 foot and short-tempered men who can cook and clean, i mean...I married one." Radka responded winking.
"Instead of mentioning your husband's height, let's talk more about Lily, you usually avoid her subject at all costs, but with Jin around we can't avoid it forever." Rushil said.
"I asked around, Lily registered Jin under his father's last name 'Young', I don't know if that was her way of protecting him, or that Mister Young himself asked her to do that... apparently she did keep contact with the father's side, but only the father's side...she still hid herself and her son from her family." Radka said.
"So she did whatever she could to hide him...Jin, is he some kind of prize waiting to be collected? she even managed to hide him from us." Rushil replied asking.
"I guess so...the main reason we moved into this town was to hunt her down, I never Imagined her to die that way, it's not fitting for the woman who nearly ended my career.
Now Jin's safety falls into my hands since I owe her my life for sparing it, and I have no intentions of handing him over to that freak...that's what Lily would've wanted anyways." Radka said, "Freak? the guy who hired you that time?...her sociopath Father." Rushil said knowingly.
"Yeah...I don't think that freak knows Jin existed, I never told him what I found on her, I just told him that I failed to finish the job." Radka replied.
Yawning, "Poor Jin, he's in the middle of all of this, Whatever happens, we need to protect him since he's dating our son." Rushil said rubbing his eyes tiredly.
"Awe! you really like him don't you?" Radka said smiling, "Andrea is still a good candidate until the results of this investigation are out, the competition is still on...but yeah I like Jin, surprisingly." Rushil replied.
...[Flashback]...Dinner invite...few days ago...
"Thank you for having me again, Mr and Mrs Parmar." Jin said handshaking Radka, "Actually dear, The full name is Radka Dubinsky...I also chose my son's name 'Nikolai' when he was born, to match my heritage a little, since he took his father's last name anyways." Radka said.
"You kept your maiden name, I respect that." Jin replied, "Thank you." Radka said smiling.
Rolling his eyes, "I need to get something from the basement quick, Niko come help me." Rushil said ushering for Nikolai to follow him.
"Let me help you instead!" Jin said, "No, You get your ass in the kitchen! and start prepping shit! we're making Baked Cabbage and Vegetable Biryani, I don't expect you to be familiar with these dishes." Rushil said.
"The first is a Bulgarian dish, and the second is Indian, both dishes are based on vegetables, right?" Jin answered enthusiastically, "Wow, someone did their cultural homework." Radka said smiling.
...Few minutes later...
Making preparation with Radka as his company in the kitchen until her husband is back, Jin listened as she told him about her favorite conspiracy theory.
"I'm sorry I've been blabbering like a car engine, didn't give you a chance to speak" Radka said.
"It's fine ma'am." Jin replied, "Just Radka, I feel like a Mafia lady when you call me Ma'am like that." She replied.
"Okay, Radka." Jin happily said her name.
"Lily-Mae Harrison, she's your mother?" she asked, "Yeah, she is my mom." he replied.
"She was and will stay the biggest mystery I came across." Radka said confusing Jin.
"You knew her personally? Were you interrogated by the police at the time?" he asked.
"I knew her briefly, but had no connection to her case, I heard a rumor she died but didn't believe it.
At the time, I had already cut my relationship with her.
Your mother and I knew each other, because we had a mutual hobby."
"Rap, right?"
"Yeah, Lily was the best, she was bold, brave and we bonded because we were of the few women roaming a man's world."
"It's good to know my mom had more friends."
"Was there someone else?" Radka asked, "Another girl, Kim Ha-yoon... she's a music producer." Jin replied.
"Huh, I see...there was this girl that wanted Lily to 'Teach her her ways'." Radka said.
"I bet it's Ha-yoon." Jin replied chuckling.
"I'm back, I hope you didn't burn my kitchen." Rushil said, "No One can burn the kitchen while cutting some vegetables." Nikolai replied.
Rushil found himself raising an eyebrow when Jin instantly smiled as he saw Nikolai, "Say, you two...you share a bedroom?" Rushil asked.
Blushing, "No." Jin said but at the same time, "Yes." Nikolai said.
"Already...when did you two go back to dating anyways? it must be recent, right?" Rushil asked again.
"Yeah, in fact this might sound a little cheesy but I never stopped loving Nikolai." Jin replied.
"I'm aware that my son was the one who broke up with you, after discovering the truth of your first relationship." Radka said.
"The very first time you two dated, we never met you Jin, we only heard stories from our son." Rushil added.
"I wanted to meet you guys, actually that very day Nikolai learned the truth... I had a plan to come and see you at your home, I was gonna tell Nikolai the truth myself, but I failed... miserably." Jin answered.
"Listen Jin, Although we do not approve of you 100%, given the history between you and our son.
if Niko went back to you, we would love to respect our son's decision, he's an adult after all.
but a fair warning, I'll tell you in front of everyone...this is your second, and last chance.
I am not dealing with another breakup that could cost me my son's life." Rushil said.
The older man was surprised when Jin began tearing up, "Oh my god why are you crying? I didn't even scream?!" he asked.
"Just the onion cutting Ninjas sir." Jin replied wiping his tears.
Nikolai And Radka shared a knowing look and a smile, "Whatever, come let's start cooking." Rushil said.
"Yes, sir." Jin replied.
"Let's give'em space." Radka whispered to Nikolai and the two quietly left the kitchen.