He grabs the back of my neck and keeps me still as he presses something on the collar.
“Little companion, what are you doing?” Daddy asks.
I don’t reply. He doesn’t deserve a reply if he is going to turn my translator off at any given moment. If only I could do that to him so he couldn’t understand me, but sadly, I can’t.
“Are you going to ignore me?” The grip around my neck tightens a little.
I don’t say anything. Is it going to get me into trouble? Probably, but he needs to know it’s not okay to turn it off at anypoint, so I can’t understand them. Is he trying to keep something from me a secret?
“Adryn.” His voice is sharp, and I flinch, giving away that I can understand.“We know you can understand us. Your collar is working. Answer me.”
“Such a stubborn girl.” Chale makes a tsking noise.
I look up at him and glare, but I can only see the desk.
“Why are you ignoring us?” Daddy asks.
Before I know it, Daddy has me in his lap and is holding my face still as we make eye contact.
“You will tell me why you are ignoring me,” he demands. “Why were you trying so hard to get away from me, turning on your translator again?”
I open and close my mouth several times. I definitely need to tell him the truth, but I am so annoyed and hurt that he would do such a thing. I don’t know how to process my emotions and tell him without getting in trouble.
But maybe that’s exactly what I need to do.
Get into trouble after I let everything out.
“Answer me,” he commands.
I glare at him and fold my arms over my chest.
“Adryn,” he growls.
“I’m mad at you,” I state.
Silence fills the office, and Chale is still here.
“I will see myself out,” Chale gently says, but neither one of us pays any attention to him.
“Why are you mad at me?” Daddy asks.
“You turned off the translator.” Hurt fills my voice.
The emotions on his face don’t change as he stares at me.
“I did,” he replies. “We were talking about something that you didn’t need to listen to, so I turned it off.”
Does he not see the problem here? He gets to have privacy, but I don’t? I can’t talk to my friend, Luna, and yet he can have full-blown conversations with his friends with my translator off.
Not fair.
“It will happen more since I will talk to other people I work with about things you shouldn’t hear,” he tells me. “You better get used to it.”
I'd better get used to it? I don’t think I want to.
I can feel the anger boiling inside me as we stare at each other.
“Are you going to continue to ignore me, or are we going to move past this?” he asks.
