48. What a coinci--panic

48. What a coinci--panic
Garber Yarros’ POV

“Yarros,” he called my name heartily like he had an important announcement to make, “come in. Come in,” he encouraged in a high tone as he raised his head from the computer screen, a warm smile on his face as I bowed in greeting, the door knob still tightened in my grip.

I couldn’t relax even with the smile on his face.

“Thank you,” I said nervously and he nodded politely at me, “you can have your seat,” he gestured to one of the leather chairs directly in front of him.

“Your secretary said you needed to see me,” I said sounding my most confident, because if there’s anything I’ve learned from my experience with Mia, it would be to not wear my emotions on my face—especially when I had my doubts about the situation at hand.

“Oh yes,” he moved his files aside and took off his glasses, “I needed to confirm some things.” He looked at me intently as he paused. I would have let the silence simmer for much longer if I could handle it.

But the mirage of questions and guesses going through my mind wouldn’t let me.

“What might they be? I will do my best to answer any questions that you have,” I said as I sat upright and tried my best to hide my anxiety.

Keeping my hands underneath the table as I curled my feet in my shoes. It felt like someone was watching me.

“Oh good, because you are the only one that can answer my questions.” I raised my eyebrows in questioning but said nothing. “After all, it’s about your family.”

I relaxed a bit, but my blood still surged in the wrong direction because of the tension I was feeling.

“Do you have a younger sister?” he asked and I paused for a moment before nodding.

Rina’s details had been erased from the state and every other place that she ever appeared in after the incident happened three years ago. It was the only way to avoid the issue from spreading further or even getting dug up in the future.

So how did he find out? He definitely wasn’t looking into my family. I hope.

“Yes,” I nodded, my defensive action not escaping his gaze.

“Okay,” he paused and drawled as he tapped his tongue with his thumb and index finger before flipping through the bunch of papers in front of him and settling on one and sliding it out.

“Good, because I’m about to ask some sensitive questions and like I said, I wanted to be certain I wasn’t asking the wrong person. So her name is Catherine Yarros, am I right?” he asked and I nodded again, this time slowly, less eagerly.

“Ahh, I see,” he put the paper away, massaged his temple, and sank back into his chair.

“If I may ask, Sir. Is there an issue?”

“No, no, not at all. There’s just something I’m trying to remember from three or four years ago. There was a huge incident and that name keeps ringing a bell, but I can’t remember what situation it was. I also tried looking up the name but found nothing. I’ll try to remember later, this old brain of mine,” he said and chuckled nervously before sitting back to face me.

His gaze, even through his glasses, was expectant. However, I wasn’t about to remind my principal—who saw my family in good light—about a sister who killed someone.

So I stared back, as innocently as I could.

“Nevermind,” he waved his hand, “I’ll remember it later. Anyways, she came around today,” he said and I froze.

For what? Did she come for Mia? She had asked Mia for another ‘family dinner’ as if she didn’t almost die in the last one. However, I had no choice but to keep pushing it off because she was sick.

My sister is wild, but not wild enough to cause a tantrum publicly, right? She’s too calculative for that.

Plus she wouldn’t come see the principal if that was the case.

“Oh,” I nodded softly like I was aware of the visit.

“But we had to decline because it’s too late to admit any new students now. We have a reputation to uphold in our school, don’t you think so?” he chuckled and I had to join in with an awkward laugh to save myself.

“Okay, you can take your leave now. I’m sorry for interrupting the school’s golden child during his lunch,” he said and I waved it with a laugh.

“It’s okay, I was…”

“So please help me apologize to your mother and also tell her that we really appreciate her continuous funding and hope she wouldn’t take the rejection personal,” he said as I pushed the chair back and got to my feet.

“I will,” I nodded, and let out a sigh of relief as I walked out of his office.

I nodded at his secretary who was behind her desk before adjusting my uniform to step out.

He had sounded vague, but I knew clearly the reason what he was talking about.

The reason Rina had come was to apply for admission, and I couldn’t be more grateful to hear that she had been rejected, because my scalp had gone numb when she had mentioned joining me at my school days ago.

At least I wasn’t so unlucky.

I let out a heavy exhale, forcing myself to feel lighter as I pushed the door out.

“Oh!” I collided into the person trying to come in.

“Mia, it’s been a while,” I called out in surprise as we stepped away from each other and I got a better look at her.

What a coincidence.