Chapter 40. The Silly Conversation

After the seminar at college had ended, Sienna went home to have a family brunch. Actually, Sienna wanted to eat her favorite beef bacon at the cafeteria, but Cora suddenly told her that she had to go home immediately. She said there was something urgent happening with her mother.
Sienna hoped everything would be okay with her and her family. She didn’t want to be noisy at the time by asking what happened. She just let her went home that day.
However, ever since they got to know each other in freshman year, Cora had never spoken anything about her family. It seemed that she was not comfortable mentioning them to Sienna. And Sienna thought it was just okay, she understood that there was a limit to what she got to know from her best friend. And she wouldn’t want to cross the line if Cora didn’t feel like it.
After Sienna arrived home, she greeted her parents on the porch. Her mom said that she just made a spicy lasagna for lunch. While her dad said that he was about to eat it ahead if Sienna didn’t come home early.
“Please have your lunch ahead, I have to take care of my flowers here,” her mom said while nodding her chin at the purple flowers in the front yard.
“Okay, honey! Don’t take too long. We will miss you,” her dad shouted after.
Sienna smiled happily, seeing the harmonic relationship between her mom and dad.
As soon as she entered the house, she looked around the foyer. Then she glanced at her dad to ask, “Has Aunty Milla returned home from work yet?”
“Not yet. Isn’t she a workaholic?” Her dad chuckled while walking into the dining room with her. “She wouldn’t be home until tonight, I guess,” and he added, “As usual.”
As far as she knew, her aunt would be staying here until next month once her office contract was over. Aunty Milla’s daughter attended a junior high school in New York. Aunty Milla would like to return there to take care of her only daughter, even though her ex-husband had been taking care of their child. Estelle was still fourteen-year-old. She was still so young to witness her parents got divorced. Sienna pitied her cousin.
Thereafter, Sienna approached the dining table. She could smell the delicious aroma from the large serving of spicy lasagna.
Her dad immediately dragged the wooden chair to sit there. Then he took a big portion of the lasagna into his white plate.
After he chewed the lasagna in his mouth, he murmured cheerfully, “Your mom is the best chef in my whole life.”
Sienna nodded, “Super agree.”
And then she took a bite and enjoyed the yummy taste of the warm lasagna.
For a moment, after her dad gulped the glass of water, he glanced at her. His eyes looked curious about something. Sienna stared back at him, wondering what he was thinking.
“What?” Sienna wondered. “Are you going to ask me something, Dad?”
“Yeah, of course,” he didn’t blink and kept on looking at her like a detective. “Let’s talk about you, Sienna Moss.”
Sienna giggled with his witty tone when talking.
Afterward, her dad spoke again, “You know what? Your mom and I were talking about your college earlier. We’re so proud of you. I know that you can make it there in the business school.”
Sienna smiled widely at him. “I can be there because you two have been supporting me.”
“Right, it’s our job to support you, Sienna. You are our only daughter,” her dad said as he took a small bite of the lasagna. Then he talked while chewing, “As long as I still have the money to support our family, everything will be just well.”
“Working diligently is good, but I don’t like the idea if you would return home late at night like Aunty Milla,” she reminded him. “I just want you to remember about your health. You’ve been working well as a full-time content writer. And the salary is enough to support us here. And that’s enough.”
He stared down at his plate as he listened to her words. Then he glanced at her again and said, “Well, now, I’d like to talk about something a little bit personal, aye? How’s your college life? Is there any good friend you have there?”
Sienna chuckled out once he asked away. Then she answered him, “I have told you about Cora, didn’t I? She’s my best friend at college. I like her. And I like my life at college.”
“Good. Everything’s been falling into places, huh?” Her dad was happy for her. “And do you have a boyfriend yet?”
Sienna immediately got choked. She was halfway gulping down the lasagna into her throat when he asked that.
He quickly poured cold water into her empty glass for her to drink. She thanked him afterward, and then she stared back quietly at him.
“Why are you getting so work up?” He chuckled in disbelief. “I was just asking if you have met the one maybe?”
Sienna shook her head, “I haven’t. And isn’t it too soon to meet *the one*, Dad?”
“Really? You’re already in your sophomore year though,” her dad looked surprised. “No boyfriend? What about Cora? Does she have one?”
Sienna shook her head again. “No, Dad. We are too focused on getting the perfect score for our report card.”
“That’s more like it,” he chuckled, teasing her. But he was still curious to ask her, “So, what type of man that you like, Sienna?”
She instantly narrowed her eyebrows at him. “Really? Are we going to have this silly conversation during our lunch break?”
He shrugged his shoulders ignorantly while chewing his food. And then he said, “You’re about to turn nineteen this year, why are you shy to talk about your future romantic partner with me? Remember, I am your super dad.”
Sienna giggled, amused by his humor. Then she tried to think the answer for a moment. She had never imagined what kind of man she would like in the future. All she had been thinking was just a bunch of paperwork at college.
“Come on, tell me,” her dad was still wondering.
Sienna grinned shyly before she told him, “Well, since you ask me, I will answer it wholeheartedly.”
Her dad chuckled as she said that with a witty tone. She was kind of mimicking him.
Then she took a deep breath before she told him, “I’d like to dream that I have a handsome husband…”
“Like me,” her dad shouted quickly as he played with his eyebrows. He was joking.
Sienna giggled. “Yeah, like you.”
“But seriously, your future husband has to possess good qualities besides just having a good-looking face,” he reminded her. “You know what I mean, right? A stupid billboard model can have a handsome face, but that doesn’t mean he can give you warm love and safety.”
“Sure,” Sienna murmured. And then she snapped out anything that just crossed her mind, “I’d like to have a billionaire husband like Daniel Wilson.”
The moment she mentioned the name, his dad stopped chewing the food. He paused to give her a wondering look.
“Daniel Wilson?” He repeated the name. And he looked kind of surprised.
Sienna put down her spoon on the plate as she stared back at him.
“Do you know him?” Sienna asked curiously.
Something in his eyes told her that he was disapproved of what she wanted. She didn’t know why her dad would look defensive when she mentioned Daniel to him.
“I have just attended his seminar at college,” Sienna told him. “He is an entrepreneur. And he is just getting started in the stock trading business,” then she added quickly, “I heard that he is a billionaire. And he’s only in his twenties when he becomes such a successful man, Dad.”
“Yeah, I know. I heard about his family. The Wilson,” her dad looked as if he was about to get a heart attack. He seemed uneasy.
Sienna tried to break the ice as she talked wittily again, “He seems to have a lot of fans. He is hugely adored by all the girls at college.”
“No, Sienna,” his dad suddenly sounded tensed. “Stay away from the like of him.”
Sienna astonished. “What makes you say that?”
“I heard the bad rumor about the Wilson family. They are the Romanian mafias. They are involved in many illegal market businesses,” her dad informed her. “I just don’t like the idea of you involving yourself with them. It’s too dangerous.”
“God, Dad, it’s not like I know Daniel in person,” Sienna muttered, annoyed.
“I hope you’re not dreaming about him as your future husband anymore. You need to see other option there,” he gave her a suggestion.
Sienna narrowed her eyebrows in disbelief. “But… how do you know about the rumor? Where did you get the information from?”
“Come on, Sienna, it’s actually a small world out there,” her dad assured her. “I specialize as the content writer of various news. I kind of have my source about many things.”
“If that’s the truth about Daniel Wilson, I’m hugely surprised,” Sienna muttered.
“Yeah, and I hope you never engage yourself with dangerous people like them,” her dad reminded her once again. “It won’t be good for your life and your future.”
Sienna nodded, frightened at the thought about Daniel’s dark secret.
And the last thing she would need was to feel at peace with her mind.