Dinner With Mischa

Vega was so happy when she heard Mischa saying that she was a good girl and ruffled her hair. She then continued eating her meal with a smile and made Mischa frown.

He did not know why the teenager in front of him was acting so strangely.

Again he became suspicious that Vega had a crush on him.

Gosh ...

He could not understand what she was seeing from him. Although Mischa's age seemed to have stopped in his 30s, he was still twice her age.

Why couldn't Vega see him like an uncle?

"Actually, my brothers and I don't mind if you and the others visit our house often and still consider our father as your father," Vega said after thinking for a while. "I don't want to monopolize my father, really. I now understand you must feel jealous after he returned to our mother and us, his biological children."

Mischa just smiled at that. He felt the sincerity in Vega's voice. Now the girl understood how Mischa felt after her own foster father was reunited with his wife and biological child. That's why she could be more sympathetic toward Mischa and his foster siblings.

"All right," said Mischa after sipping his wine. "Thank you."

"Will you promise to visit often?" Vega asked him.

"Why do I have to make a promise? Can't you trust my words?" Mischa asked in puzzlement.

"Well ... I just want to be sure," Vega said with a shrug.

"All right, I promise," Mischa finally said. He was finally convinced that the teenage girl in front of him was indeed a little obsessed with him. Actually, he felt that it was quite funny.

This must be puppy love. How adorable!

Vega was like one of those kindergarten students who claimed to fall in love with their teacher. It didn't mean anything and would only embarrass them when they got older. This must be what Vega felt about him.

He couldn't wait for the girl to grow up as an adult and tease her with this. He was sure that Vega would be embarrassed when she remembered her past behavior as a teenager when she was pursuing Mischa so aggressively.

Since Mischa did not take Vega's feelings for him seriously, he remained relaxed. Throughout dinner, he invited Vega to talk about various things. Enthusiastically, Vega shared about the exciting experiences she and her friends had done while they were in Paris and in Bordeaux.

Mischa listened attentively. He realized that Alaric and Aleksis's decision to let their children live a normal life was the right decision.

Vega looked happy with her life as a regular teenager. She was adventurous and spent a lot of time with friends her age who came from an ordinary background.

"Big brother Mischa, tell me how you met my father ..." Vega asked suddenly. "I know you started living with my father when you were like 7 years old, right? What made you decide to stay with him?"

Mischa had kept bad memories of his childhood for a long time. For decades she didn't want to remember what happened when he was still living with his biological parents who were drug addicts and often beat him up.

Elios Linden, who went by the name Alaric Rhionen thirty years ago, happened to see him lying on the streets after being hit by his drunk mother and helped him. Years later, Mischa understood why at that time Alaric helped him. His foster father saw himself in Mischa.

As a child, Alaric lived on the streets and he suffered so much when he was really young. He experienced constant tortures and beatings from the bad guys. He grew up to be a tough man to defend himself. His harsh childhood turned him to be reclusive and ruthless towards most people. But he would always have a soft spot for poor children.

Alaric cared for Mischa attentively and then took him to look for his parents. When they met, Alaric killed Mischa's father and mother in cold blood. That's when Mischa decided to come with Alaric. He felt that Alaric was the only one who cared about him.

Mischa was Alaric's first foster son and who then went with him anywhere in the world. Mischa slowly learned martial arts from him and trained to become a fierce assassin. They were together for decades until Mischa became an adult and started to live on his own.

When Alaric suffered a calamity and was declared 'dead', Mischa continued Alaric's ideals and missions, along with his foster siblings. They all felt they were indebted to Alaric and determined to repay him by realizing his dreams to rule the world.

They were the reasons why Rhionen Industries did not collapse after Alaric Rhionen's 'death'. When Alaric woke up from a coma and took the identity of Elios Linden, all his ideals were already running, and he could continue working on his objectives.

That was until... finally, he was reunited with Aleksis, the only woman he loved, and their children. Their lives now had changed for the better, and all of those changes had influenced Mischa's life just like his foster siblings.

"Why don't you answer me?" Vega asked again. She watched Mischa for a few minutes, hoping to know how the man first met her father.

Mischa was pensive and his mind drifted back to the past, but he didn't want to answer.

"Hmm ... I can't answer your question because the experience is quite personal," Mischa said. "Not a pleasant thing to share."

"Ah .." Vega sighed, disappointed. She was very interested in hearing stories about Mischa's past, but apparently, the man did not want to share them. "Have you ever told anyone about it? If it was a bad experience, you should at least share it with someone, so that you can feel relieved."

Mischa frowned at Vega's words. That reminded him of the events two months ago, when he finally told Lisa about his past. She was the only woman he had ever loved with all his heart and had been his girlfriend for eight years.

Because he wanted to marry Lisa, he finally decided to share all his secrets with the girl. He began by telling her about his grim childhood and then his past as an assassin before becoming one of the directors at Rhionen Meier Industries.

If all went well, he would share with her his last and biggest secret ... about his status as an alchemist.

He had no idea Lisa would think of him as a monster that had deceived her for years. The girl was devastated and then cut all ties ... after eight years of being in a relationship.

No matter what Mischa did to try to change her mind, she wouldn't budge. Lisa still wanted to break up. Mischa's last visit to Paris was also his last effort to convince Lisa to accept him.

But it was all in vain.

Mischa's face was slowly overcome with grief. Vega soon realized that she had touched a sensitive topic. She did not expect a tough guy like Mischa could look so sad.

"Uhm ... I'm so sorry," the girl said quietly. "I didn't mean to make you sad."

Mischa raised his face and looked closely at Vega. "Sometimes, it's better to live a lie, but you're happy than to live in honesty but suffer."

"Uh ... that's not true," Vega said. "That's a very wrong mindset. Truth sometimes hurts. But it's better to live in suffering from the truth than to live happily in lies."

Mischa shook his head and looked away. "You are still a child. I hope you will never experience this, Vega, but, if you are an adult ... you will understand how I feel."