"Right, friend!" she brightened. "They all said we look exactly alike. Is that really true?"
Alexander and I locked gazes, the air crackling with renewed tension.
"People often imagine similarities," I said carefully, "even when there's no actual relation."
Sofia seemed deflated by this explanation, her lower lip jutting outslightly, but children's emotions are mercurial. Soon she'd forgotten her disappointment and launched into an animated account of her games with the other kids.
But I noticed she sneezed mid-sentence.
"Sofia, are you feeling alright?" I asked with growing concern.
"I'm fine, just a tiny bit chilly." Then she sneezed again.
"We need to leave. Now." I stood abruptly, already gathering our belongings. "You need to get into dry clothes immediately."
"But I still want to play..." she whined.
"Another time," I said firmly, brooking no argument. "Right now we're going home. Go say goodbye to your godmother."
Alexander rose as well. "Let me drive you—"
"Absolutely not," I cut him off sharply. "We can manage perfectly fine on our own."
I guided a reluctant Sofia through her farewells with Yekaterina, then headed for the changing rooms under Yekaterina's knowing gaze.
...Naturally, I could feel another pair of eyes tracking our every move.
In the changing room, Sofia sneezed several more times.
"Mommy, I really don't feel good," she said pitifully.
My maternal instincts kicked into overdrive. Was she catching a cold?
"It's alright, sweetheart," I soothed while helping her into dry clothes. "Once we're home, Mommy will draw you a nice hot bath and make you some warm milk."
But my mind was already spinning with worry. Today's swimming event, Sofia and Alexander's undeniable connection, the surrounding speculation, and that earth-shattering kiss...
Everything was becoming impossibly complicated.
And now Sofia might be getting sick on top of everything else.
I scooped her up and carried her out of the community center, my heart heavy with dread and uncertainty.
Everything that had transpired today felt like the calm before an inevitable storm.
Chapter Twelve
Alexander
It was two in the morning when I finally finished the last document.
The office was empty, just me alone in the entire building, so quiet I could hear my own breathing. I leaned back in my chair, rubbing my tired eyes, but my mind couldn't help drifting back to that afternoon.
The pool.
Sofia's excited laughter, the splash of her little hands hitting the water, the way she trusted me completely as I held her up, teaching her to swim. That feeling... that warm rush of blood connection, that fierce protective instinct, that urge to give her the whole world... I'd never imagined I'd feel anything like it.
For five years, my life had been nothing but work, power, money, and the occasional woman. I thought that was all I needed. But seeing Sofia, those brown eyes just like her mother's, it hit me what "blood is thicker than water" really meant.
