Sweet Love 2x: Miss Ruthless CEO for our Superstar Uncle

Chapter 419: First Day

The presidential suite was enormous.

Two bedrooms, a sitting area that could have housed a small apartment, a kitchen outfitted with marble countertops, and a bar that no one in their family was likely to use. The windows faced the city skyline, and the morning light was already pouring in when Lily and Leo woke up.

They woke up early. Very early. The kind of early that came from jet lag and excitement and the particular energy of children who had been promised a day of exploration in a foreign city.

"There’s a business district," Lily said, kneeling on the couch with a tourist map spread across the cushions. She had found it in the lobby the night before and had been studying it like a military strategist planning a campaign. "And shopping malls. And restaurants. And there’s a park with a fountain that lights up at night. And an amusement park. And a zoo. A new zoo. Aunt Estella’s friends said it just opened."

"We haven’t had breakfast yet," Arianne said from the kitchen, where she was preparing a bottle for Lexx.

"Can we eat fast?"

"You can eat properly. Then we’ll go."

Lily sighed the sigh of someone thwarted by the unreasonable demands of nutrition. Leo, sitting on the floor with the whale in his lap, looked up. "Is Lexx coming?"

Aunt Estella, seated in the armchair with a cup of tea, shook her head. "Lexx and I will stay here. The city will be too loud for him: too many people, too much noise. And I’m not as young as I used to be. I can’t stroll around all day the way I used to." She paused. "But my friends said you should visit the amusement park. And the zoo. The zoo is new. They only opened it a few months ago."

"We’ll go," Arianne said. "The zoo first. Then we’ll see about the park." She set the bottle aside and looked at the twins. "But there are rules. You stay with me or Uncle Franz at all times. Or with one of the bodyguards. You don’t go anywhere alone. Understood?"

"I promise," Leo said.

Lily held up her pinky finger. "Pinky promise. I’ll stay with you the whole time. Leo will too. We’ll be very careful."

Arianne hooked her pinky around Lily’s. "Good."

The drive to the zoo took them through the heart of Rohan.

The city was different in the daylight: no less busy, but brighter. The neon signs were dark now, but the streets were just as full, the sidewalks crowded with people on their way to work or school or wherever people went in a city that never stopped moving. The skyscrapers gleamed in the morning sun. The port was visible in the distance, cargo ships easing into the harbor.

A second car followed them at a careful distance. The bodyguards. Franz had almost forgotten they were there. That was the point.

Lily pressed her face against the window. "Does the zoo have an aquarium? Like the one in Montclair?"

"I don’t know," Arianne said. "The zoo is new. I’ve never been there before."

"You’ve never been to the zoo here?"

"I didn’t go to the zoo when I lived here. I was working."

"You were always working," Lily said. "Even in another country."

"Some things don’t change."

Lily turned to Franz, apparently deciding he would be a more receptive audience for her memories. "The aquarium in Montclair was huge. There was a tunnel with fish swimming over your head. And a tank with sharks. Real sharks, with teeth. Leo was scared of them."

"I wasn’t scared," Leo said.

"You held my hand the whole time."

"That’s different."

"And there was a starfish," Lily continued, undeterred. "A really big one."

Leo shook his head. "As big as your face."

Lily’s head swiveled toward him. "My face is not that big!"

"You pressed it against the glass. I saw."

"I did not press my face against the glass!"

"You did. Your nose was flat against it. The starfish was right there. Same size."

"That’s because the glass makes things look bigger!"

"The starfish wasn’t behind glass. It was in the touching pool."

Lily opened her mouth, closed it, and found nothing useful to say. "Well," she said finally. "It wasn’t as big as my face."

"Almost as big," Leo conceded.

"Almost is different from exactly."

"Almost is close."

Franz, who had been watching this with the particular patience of someone who had learned to mediate twin arguments, decided to intervene before it escalated. "The starfish was somewhere in between. Bigger than Leo’s hand, smaller than Lily’s face. Can we agree on that?"

Lily considered this. "Maybe."

Leo nodded. "Okay."

"Good. Now both of you remember what Mommy Aria said. Stay close. Listen to the guides. Don’t wander off."

"We know," Lily said. "We’re very good at listening."

"You’re very good at talking. Listening is a different skill."

Lily looked offended. Leo’s mouth curved.

Then Lily’s expression changed. She glanced at the security car behind them, then back at Franz. "Uncle Franz? Are you worried? About being seen?"

"Worried about what?"

"People recognizing you. You’re very famous. Everyone knows your face. What if someone sees you with us and starts asking questions?"

Franz shook his head. "I’m not worried. Everyone knows I’m with your Mommy Aria now. If anyone asks about you two, we’ll say you’re her niece and nephew. Which you are."

"Technically we’re your niece and nephew."

"Technically, yes. But it’s easier to explain if we say you’re hers."

Lily nodded, turning this over. "It’s hard going out with you sometimes. Because your face is so popular. We have to be careful."

"I know. I’m sorry."

"It’s not your fault. You can’t help being famous." She paused. "But it’s easier now. Because people know about you and Mommy Aria. So they won’t think it’s weird that we’re together."

"No. They won’t."

Lily seemed satisfied. She turned back to the window, her concern resolved.

Arianne caught Franz’s eye. "She’s right, you know. Your face is very popular."

"Thank you. I think."

"It wasn’t a compliment."

"I’m taking it as one."

The zoo was new, and it showed.

The pathways were clean and wide, lined with young trees that hadn’t yet grown tall enough to provide real shade. The enclosures were modern: spacious habitats designed to mimic the animals’ natural environments rather than the cramped cages of older zoos. Signs in multiple languages identified each species, and guides in bright uniforms stood at intervals, ready to answer questions.

Lily and Leo moved from exhibit to exhibit with the focused intensity of children who had been waiting for this all morning. Lily narrated everything she saw, reading the signs aloud and adding her own commentary. Leo followed at his own pace, the whale tucked under his arm, stopping occasionally to study an animal with the same careful attention he brought to his drawings.

"The tigers are sleeping," Lily reported. "That one’s tail is twitching. Do you think he’s dreaming?"

"Probably," Franz said.

"What do tigers dream about?"

"Chasing things. Eating things. Normal tiger activities."

The aquarium was near the back of the zoo: a low, modern building with a curved glass entrance. Lily spotted it first and grabbed Leo’s hand, pulling him toward the doors.

"There’s an aquarium! Leo, there’s an aquarium! Maybe they have starfish!"

Inside, the aquarium was cool and dim, the tanks glowing blue. A tunnel ran through the largest tank, exactly like the one in Montclair, and Lily stopped in the middle of it to watch the fish swim overhead.

"This is just like last time," she said. "Remember, Leo? The sharks were over there. And you held my hand."

"I wasn’t scared," Leo said.

"I know. You were just holding my hand because you wanted to."

"Yes."

They found the starfish exhibit near the end: a shallow tank where children could reach in and touch the rough, knobby surface of the creatures clinging to the rocks. Lily pressed her finger against one.

"It’s not as big as the one in Montclair," she said.

"Nothing ever is," Franz said. "Memory makes things bigger."

"That’s what Leo said. About my face."

"Leo is very wise."

Leo looked up at him, and a small, pleased expression settled on his face.

They stayed at the zoo until the afternoon sun grew too warm and the twins’ energy began to flag. Lily, who had been moving from exhibit to exhibit for hours, finally slowed enough to hold Franz’s hand as they walked toward the exit. Leo walked beside Arianne, the whale tucked more securely under his arm, his dark eyes taking in the last of it.

"Did you like it?" Franz asked.

"It was good," Lily said. "The aquarium was the best part. But the tigers were also good. And the monkeys. And the penguins reminded me of Mr. Penguin. We should tell Lexx about them."

"He won’t understand you."

"He’ll understand the pictures. I’ll draw them for him when we get back."

They walked out of the zoo together, the bodyguards falling into step behind them, the Rohan skyline glittering in the distance. A normal family outing in a foreign city. Nothing more, nothing less.