"H-Hey guys...I guess...I worried you all?" Viktor asked awkwardly as he scratched his hair.
"D-Dorian..." Sayana mumbled as her eyes quickly transitioned from shock to relief and to happiness.
Tiana was blinking her eyes without rest, wondering if it was really Dorian since she didn't expect someone who disappeared without a word to suddenly return without any announcement.
Taya and Umilia shook their heads with helpless smiles and looked at each other with a relieved expression since they knew their daughters would have definitely become more suspicious if he didn't show up now.
Unfortunately, Nyissa wasn't here, and she had also taken Ayana with her. Otherwise, Ayana would be waiting with a lot of questions.
"Dorian! Where the fuck were you!" Tiana was the first to break the silence as she jumped before him. She was feeling frustrated and disappointed that despite leaving hundreds of missed calls, he didn't even call her once back or not even a single text message.
How could he really show her the cold shoulder like that?
"Tia, language!" Taya called out from behind as she rubbed her forehead while feeling suspicious why Tiana seemed so bothered about Dorian's return. She couldn't help but feel the expressions Tiana made when she first questioned her about his disappearance.
Sayana unconsciously stepped forward since she was also curious why he was gone without staying in touch. What kind of business did he have to take care of in his hometown?
Viktor scratched his brows as he said, "Actually...I lost my phone, and I couldn't find any way to contact you guys. Some thief stole it from me. I could only rely on a kind aunt over there to let Aunt Taya not get worried."
"Ah...You lost your phone again?" Sayana mumbled with her hand on her mouth as she felt that it made sense why he couldn't contact anyone.
Umilia gulped while wondering where he had lost the phone since only she knew what kind of naughty things contained inside that phone. She had read stories of how so many scandalous pictures of celebrities get leaked from their phone and social media. This only made her feel even more worried if the pics in Viktor's phone would get exposed if somebody got their hands on it.
She definitely had to chide him about losing phones left and right like this, especially with such sensitive content in them.
However, at the same time, she felt happy that Viktor remembered her by looking through those pics whenever she was not with him. This left her greatly conflicted.
Tiana lightly slapped his shoulder as she said with her hands on her hips, "How could you lose your phone to a thief like that? See, I told you to be a bit tougher so that these bad guys won't see you as an easy target. But still, you could have called us from that kind auntie's phone. Why didn't you do that?"
Taya was shooting glances at Viktor from the side, hoping that he better tell a better convincing story than theirs lest Tiana or Sayana get even more suspicious.
Viktor actually wanted to let Tiana and Sayana know who he really was, but he knew he couldn't do that without Umilia and Taya's consent. He had to respect their opinions.
"That's because I didn't stay in that place for too long. I took a boat trip along with an old man to spread the ashes of my late parents. I didn't get to do that before. So this time, I wanted to let their souls rest in peace while trying to find what my true purpose was. For that, I decided to journey longer through the river as the old man kindly let me use his boat for free," Dorian said with a wandering gaze, making Tiana squint her eyes, not expecting him to go on such a deep journey all of a sudden.
But since this also involved his late parents, Tiana felt that she could sympathize with him to a certain point.
Sayana's heartbeat slowed down as she felt moved after thinking how he must be really feeling about his late parents. She knew how lucky she was to have a kind and gentle mother like hers and thought about how Dorian missed out on all that left her sad.
Now she didn't feel that bad that Dorian wasn't able to contact her.
Taya had a look of disbelief, wondering how he always comes up with such convincing stories on the spot.
She then decided to walk ahead and said in a sympathetic voice, "Oh Dorian...I am so glad that you finally got to do what you wanted for all these years. I hope this journey has been very helpful to you. I was actually worried when I heard that you went away on a boat, and that is why I didn't even tell Tia or Saya since they might get worried as well. So...did you actually get what you set out for?" Taya asked with a hint of double meaning since she really wanted to know why he took so much time to get back.
She didn't want to hear that it was because he was busy getting his body warmed by some other alien woman. Even now, she was still coming to terms with the fact that aliens existed, or to be precise, life outside Earth existed.
As a scientist, this was fascinating for her, and she couldn't imagine how the rest of the world would react if they knew they were not alone.
Viktor could feel her piercing cold gaze and chuckled as he said, "Actually, I--"
"Madam, we should let Dorian take some rest first. It must have been a long and tiring journey for him on his way back. Saya and Tia, why don't you two chat with him after he takes some rest, hm?" Umilia asked with a smile, while Taya nodded in agreement since she knew Umilia was trying to get Viktor alone with them so that they could ask all the questions they needed to know.
