Page 62 of Oblivion
Laughter erupted deep from within my belly, making me bend over while Cillian tried getting away.
“Get him off me! Ophelia!”
“I-I.” I was crying from laughter. “I can’t stop.”
“Ophelia Ekaterina Aster!” Cillian yelled out. “He’s going to eat me! I’m telling you. He’s checking if I’m tasty!”
“Oh, my God!” I laughed and sat down, letting go of Kaiser’s leash.
“You’re a monster, Ophelia,” Cillian mumbled. “A real monster.”
“He likes you,” I exclaimed, unable to take my eyes off them. “He really, really likes you.”
“And I would like him even more if he didn’t try to lick away my face.”
I felt almost sorry for Cillian but watching him like this with Kaiser was much needed after the day I'd had.
“Kaiser!” I bellowed. “Come here,” I commanded, and within a second, Kaiser got off Cillian and came to me, pushing his head toward my hand, asking to be petted.
“Jesus fucking Christ.” Cillian groaned as he stood up, wiping his face. “That dog is insane.”
“He’s just showing his love.” I chuckled.
“Well, he didn’t have to do it in that way.”
Kaiser turned around and looked at him. “No.” Cillian stepped back, glaring at Kaiser. “We’re not going to do that again.”
Cillian started wiping at his pants and walked toward me, taking a seat right next to me.
“So, what’s with that cryptic voice message you sent me?”
I could feel his eyes on the left side of my face, but I couldn’t look at him. I still couldn’t stop thinking about everything that had happened in the past couple of hours. It was as if the planet Earth was suddenly turned upside down, and nothing made sense anymore.
“My father came to see me,” I murmured, keeping my hand on Kaiser’s head.
“Your what?”
“My father.”
“Nikolai is alive?” he exclaimed. I could almost hear his thoughts and the direction they were taking.
“Not quite.”
“I don’t understand, Ophelia. You just said your father visited you, but Nikolai—”
“Nikolai isn’t my father. Well,” I chuckled sadly, “not my real father at least.” I looked at him, hating the fear and anger written all over his face.
“What are you talking about?”
“My real father is Lazar, Kill. Lazar Asterov.”
“Uh, say again?”
“The man I thought was my uncle is actually my father, and he knew. They all knew, but Nikolai used me as leverage against him.”
A thousand questions flashed through his eyes, but he kept his mouth shut, letting me talk.
I told him about my mother, about Russia, about everything Lazar told me. He took it all, grimacing at parts, hugging me when it became too hard to continue, and he kept quiet the entire time.
