A Word of Praise
Chapter 35

As the day went by, Kiara got apprehensive about dinner with Chris' parents. She knew things would get complicated now that their relationship was not purely contractual. She had no problem fitting into the whole of compliant girlfriend to help him out before, but now that she knew him better, it felt... wrong.

His goal got pretty clear to her once she understood the family dynamics. Get him some brownie points with his parents by showing them he was ready to commit. But she couldn't understand why he'd go to such lengths to prove himself to them.

She wanted to ask him, but they were not actually friends, were they? So she didn't. When they went back to the room to get ready for dinner, she could feel his stress level rising to the roof. He wasn't even touching her as he did throughout the day. "Are you alright?"

"Sure, why wouldn't I be?" He demanded a bit too fast for her to believe.

She shrugged, unable to think of something else to drag the truth out of him.

"Remember your role, Kiara. We won't be alone tonight," he mumbled, straightening his tie.

"That was uncalled for, Christopher," she responded, annoyed by how different he was acting. He only shot her a murdering glare at the use of his full name, but she couldn't care less. He was not Chris at that moment, so she wouldn't call him that. What was his fucking problem with his parents anyway?

They reached the dining room without another word, and she noticed Chris's friends were already there. Edgar and Patricia were absent, but Gloria announced they'd be down shortly. Probably just waiting for the audience to settle down. When the royal couple finally arrived, she could feel the room's atmosphere shifting into a wary one, more so than when she first met them. She didn't know how the relationship between the older couple and Chris' friends was, but she could sense it was furthest from 'Aunt Patty and Uncle Ed' than it should. Marcus and Luke were their son's childhood friends, and she expected that at least once they wouldn't act like overly priced robots that shouldn't be touched.

Unfortunately, she was wrong in assuming anything normal from them. By the time the entrees were served, she wanted nothing more than to fly back to the continent.

She wanted to talk to Amanda, maybe continue that interesting conversation they had earlier, but the situation didn't allow for parallel talking. It felt like a classroom with an awfully strict teacher, but the teacher was her fake boyfriend's father, and the subject was purchase orders and subcontractors. Living hell.

She tuned out of the conversation for longer than socially acceptable, concentrating on the honey garlic salmon in front of her. She was so caught up in helping herself to a second plate that she missed the scrutinizing stares from her hosts. Eventually, something caught her ear.

"You don't believe the energy-based industrial segment will be shifting, then?" Luke questioned with a nonchalant tone, but an inquiring eye. She wished she were paying more attention because the question produced the first sign of human emotion on Edgar's face since dinner started.

"Why would it? All power plants we build are either natural gas or coal. Nobody asked for others." Edgar replied with a dismissing attitude.

"Of course. But what about some of the new companies? Haven't they been building something else?" Luke was truly a remarkable man. Kiara noticed how precise his comments were, hitting a soft spot with a head-down attitude. Anything different would result in a quick dismissal from the older man, but he couldn't refuse to answer something that was perfectly masked as sheer curiosity.

"There is no evidence that the US will quit fossil fuels in the foreseeable future."

Kiara tried to recall anything from her limited knowledge about electricity generation in the country, but she had no way of knowing if Edgar was right. He sure seemed to be, but then again Luke's remarks were spot on. She looked at Chris to see where he stood in the disguised battle, but he was absolutely impassive.

"You see, there was actually a presentation I saw a couple of years ago on renewable sources, focused on solar energy. The profit projections were astounding." Luke was way too engaged in the topic, and she couldn't quite understand where he was heading.

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"Luke," Chris warned with a strict glare, and Kiara was rendered even more confused.

"Let the man speak, Christopher," Edgar chastised, and Kiara wanted to jump on the man's throat. It was clear he was also bothered by the topic, but when his son was the one to try to squash it, he decided to show interest. "It's been a while already, but I remember the surprising forecasts on the whole chain of production. I'm sure the construction business would benefit too."

"Interesting. I'd like to take a look. Do you think you can get me access to the work, Lucas?" Edgar replied. She then noticed how Chris's knuckles were turning white on his lap and his jawline was sharper than ever. Why was he so worked up with that topic? She thought he was into those green initiatives.

"I believe Chris can get it for you. I'm sure he didn't get rid of his final project." Oh fuck. Now it was pretty obvious why Luke was leading the conversation that way, but it didn't explain why Chris was so annoyed by it.

"Oh, that? No need then, I'm sure if it were worth it Chris would have let me know."

"I did, Edgar, it was part of the sustainable project we discussed last year. If you want, I can schedule a new meeting and present the updated data," Chris stated plainly. Kiara expected to hear a little more fire in his voice, but even if it wasn't there she didn't fail to notice a bit of hope in his last statement.

"Don't bother❞

"Fucking hell!" Kiara shouted, unable to contain herself. Everyone turned to look at her, the Wrights in absolute horror and Chris' friends in some sort of sympathy. But she couldn't care less, the cat was out of the bag and she wasn't in the mood to put it back in..

"Why don't you listen to your son's ideas, Edgar? He is a fucking business genius, for the little I gathered in what? Three days? And you are incapable of noticing!" "Kiara," Chris hissed through gritted teeth "What? You are the one who should be defending yourself! You have amazing ideas, why don't you fucking share them?!" "Language!" intervened Patricia. Really? She was talking about crushed futures here and the woman was worried about swearing.

"Have any of you ever noticed the things he's done? Because all those stuck up business partners of yours have."

"He doesn't need cuddling, woman. He's not an artist" Edgar replied in a condescending tone. Showing his true colors, wasn't he?

"Everyone does, Edgar. It won't kill you to give your son a word of praise every now and then."

"Enough," Chris shouted, in the first evidence of some sort of spine she'd seen from him all night. Pity, it was for the wrong side. He stood and motioned her to walk, leading her outside the room to the utter discomfort of all his guests. At least he knew better than to take her by the arm to get there.