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Yuri still hadn't returned by the time the interview began, leaving Kilian and Y/n to enter together.
Kilian didn't mind Yuri's absence, although he was a little concerned, but found himself feeling ten times more nervous than before.
The little boy sat awkwardly in the seat which was between the couch which threw interviewers from Eden Academy sat in and the couch y/n sat on.
Kilian wanted to sit next to his Aunt and hold her hand, but figured it'd be more appropriate to sit a distance away. To give off the impression that he was independent.
Which he was!
Kind of.
'Auntieeee...' Kilian's eyes were burning as he fought off tears, 'I hate it here, I wanna go homeee!!!'
"Good Morning to you both." one of the three men greeted, a soft and friendly looking gentleman with glasses was the first to speak, "Miss Y/n Briar and Kilian Briar, right? Will your husband not be attending?"
Y/n opened her mouth to reply but was rudely interrupted when the pompous man in the middle *the one who's receding hairline had y/n internally shrieking, "You do realize that both parents are supposed to attend the interview, correct? Since your husband isn't here, you may as well see yourself out now!"
"With all due respect, my husband is here. He was injured when your animals got free and ran rampant around the campus." y/n replied sharply, a bit of an irritated edge to her tone, "He's currently being tended to. My husband is a strong man, so I have no doubt that he'll be joining us soon, but it'll just be me for now."
The receding hairline man 'tsk'ed while the friendly looking guy and the man with the little round spectacle bowed their heads with a, "We sincerely apologize for what happened to your husband, Miss Briar. It was a mistake on our part, allowing such an accident to occur."
"No worries, Yuri should be just fine!" y/n exclaimed but Kilian could tell she was very worried from the slight change in the pitch of her voice when she said 'fine'.
"Well then, I'll begin with asking you some questions about Kilian? It says here that you're actually his Aunt, correct? Can you tell us what your nephew's upbringing was like?"
"Yes, he's my older brother's son." y/n confirmed with a nod, "Since he passed away a couple years ago, I've raised Kilian instead. It's definitely been an experience, but Kilian is a lot like my brother. Raising him has been like interacting with a smaller version of my brother! Kilian is a very anxious child, so he likes to be close very often, but he does enjoy engaging activities like puzzles, and he is an avid reader! He's not a picky child, but he does have standards that are a little shocking to me, haha!"
"So his Father died? What happened to his mother? Why is he under your care and not hers?" the receding hairline man questioned, "Shouldn't he be living with her? You do look far too young to be raising a child, not at all capable of it either!"
Kilian clasped his hands together with an unsettled look, staring down at his lap. Y/n noticed from the corner of her eye, frowning a little before replying.
"It's unusual, hearing a man like yourself talk about capability when raising a child." y/n muttered that piece under her breath before continuing, "That's our own personal business. His mother is alive and well," 'Unfortunately' "But she's no longer part of the family."
"That doesn't explain anything-!"
"Excuse me, but since when was that any of your business?" y/n challenged, "I told you all you need to know, so please quit asking. You're making my nephew uncomfortable."'Is this place really supposed to be a prestigious school? Seems like a place for narcissists to grow even bigger noses.'
Y/n didn't like to walk into situations blind, so she took a couple of precautions before the interview.
Corinne ran some background checks on the men who would be interviewing them. The one with the spectacle and the very impressive mustache was Henry Henderson. He didn't pose any threats according to Corinne, so y/n wasn't too worried about him.
The friendly looking man with the glasses was someone recognized. Though he was older than the last time she saw him, y/n recognized him as the troubled man who had visited her father years before. He needed money or something to pay for his wife's hospital bills, and wasn't in any place to be paying such a horrendous price.
Y/n's father had lent the man an impressive amount of money, and asked for nothing in return except for a simple blueberry pie. That blueberry pie was later on eaten by him, little Achille and a far younger y/n while the three of them watched fireworks on the little girl's fifth birthday.
What was his name again? Ah, yes, Walter Evans.
And then, there was the man in the middle. The pompous looking bastard who had the audacity to take jabs at y/n's dwindling patience.
Murdoch Swan.
Not too long ago, Laurence had told y/n of a "Mr. Swan" who wanted the Leone Family's help in swaying the court in his favor so he could keep custody of his daughter since him and his wife were divorcing.
Apparently, Laurence had found the man so disgusting that he turned him away without even receiving orders from y/n! He apologized profusely after the fact, but y/n brushed it off and assured her right hand man that it was fine, simply because the guy seemed like a jerk.
'So this is him, eh? I can see why Laurence automatically refused to provide aid...' y/n thought with a scowl.
"Ahem, uh, you and your husband are a rather young couple, aren't you?" Mr. Evans began, hoping to ease the tension, "How was it that the two of you met?"
"Oh, how we met?" y/n murmured before tapping her chin with a thoughtful look, "Well... it was around four years ago. Kilian here was still just a toddler at the time..."
Kilian glanced at his Aunt with curious eyes, 'How Auntie and that man met? This sounds pretty interesting.'
"I was out by myself hoping to buy something sweet, and I was super bad with directions at the time, so I took a short cut to get to my destination quicker... which wasn't the best decision, and I was cornered by some punks." y/n said thoughtfully, "I was pretty outnumbered, but I figured I could take them all. Then, Yuri showed up."
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"That Leone bastard is gonna pay for what he said!"
"Please, my older brother has a bit of a sharp tongue, but I'm sure he didn't mean to insult you." y/n scoffed, clutching her bag close with a scowl as she gave the seven men who cornered her a wary stare, "Instead of targeting me, why don't you have a civilized conversation with him instead so you can clear up the misunderstandings?"
"Misunderstandings?" one of the men snapped, pointing a metal bat at the young lady, "He called us bumbling bastards!"
"Bumbling buffoons." y/n corrected, "And he only said that because your shenanigans got us in trouble with the Secret Police."
Her statement seemed to piss off the group even more and she took a little step back when they began closing in on her.
"Whatever! Let's see what that moron thinks of us 'bumbling buffoons' when we leave you bloody on his doorstep!"
"My period already reserved that job—"
"Hey!"
Everyone paused to look back and found some well dressed boy around standing in the entrance to the alleyway with a glare set on his face.
The men froze under his red glare as he pointed at them with a, "What do you think you're all doing, cornering a girl like that?!"
"Move along, kid!" one of the men snapped, looping an arm around the girl's shoulders and dragging her close while she gave him a disgusted look, "This is none of your—UGH!"
Y/n had whipped out a pen from her bag and stabbed him in the eye with it, a goddamn feral look on her face as he stumbled back only to be kicked in between the legs.
Everyone gawked as the man slowly dropped to his knees and keeled over, squealing as he rolled around and fumbled to tear the pen out of his eye.
"I hate idiots like you, who think you can target me like I'm some type of helpless little girl..." y/n murmured, slowly walking over to a pile of bricks and lifting two to dump them in her bag, "All this trouble you keep causing... all your attempts to get back at my brother by hurting me...!"
She secured her bag in her hands before pointing at the group of men with a look of pure rage, "IT'S BECAUSE OF YOU IDIOTS THAT I DON'T HAVE ANY GODDAMN FRIENDS OR A SOCIAL LIFE! 🚚 OFF!!!"
It was chaos after that, the group of men charging at y/n only to be smacked by her brick filled back or have a heel jabbed into their eye.
Amidst the chaos, as y/n was struggling to tug her heel out of a screaming man's nostril, she felt someone behind her and whipped around to smack them in the face.
There was an "OW!" and y/n realized that it was the boy from before who had shouted at the group of men.
"Oh, crap, sorry!" she began frantically, wincing when she saw the bruise already forming and the boy's face as he rubbed at it with a pained look, "Oo, that's bad."
"No, no, it's alright." the boy assured her as y/n finally freed her heel and gave it a disgusted look, "Here, let me help you."
He guided y/n behind him, standing in front of her protectively as the group of angry and very hurt men got up to go at them again.
Y/n typically would've gone into full on rabid cat mode and started screeching about how she could deal with them herself, but she was oddly subdued as she watched the ebony haired boy stand in front of her protectively with an intense look.
'Woah...' she thought, 'He's super handsome.'
"You don't know who you're messing with, brat!" one of the men who had been smacked with y/n's bag shouted, "We'll kill you!"
"I won't let you harm this young lady!" the boy snapped, "I'll fight you all if I have to, bring it on!"
Five minutes later, y/n was frantically checking on the boy as he was laying down in a pile of garbage bags. He was pretty jacked up, as the group of men had beaten the 💩 out of him, but they were all down and out.
Pretty impressive, y/n had to admit.
"Are you alright? I'm pretty sure you broke a rib!" y/n asked worriedly as she used a handkerchief to clean blood off the boy's face, "You really didn't have to jump in like that!"
"I'm fine, I've been through worse." the boy chirped, "But are you alright? You stumbled in those heels a bit there."
Y/n only took notice of the dull ache in her feet from running around so carelessly after he'd made that statement, but smiled and shook her head.
"I'm okay, it's nothing." 'What do you mean you've been through worse?! Is he another mobster, maybe?' "Let's get you to a hospital!"
Y/n helped the boy to his feet, helping him stand as she carefully watched his face for signs of pain.
"By the way? What's your name?" the girl inquired as the two of them made their way towards the alley exit, "Mine is Y/n Le—err... Leonard!"
"Y/n, huh?" the boy hummed before smiling, "I'm-!"
Both the boy and the girl paused and looked back to find that one of the fallen men had gone and stabbed the ebony haired boy in the left ass cheek. Specifically the left.
He paled when he saw he saw the unamused and cold looks in the respective crimson and e/c eyes, and the last thing he saw was y/n stamping a foot down onto his face.
"As I was saying, my name is Yuri Briar!"
"Mm! Nice to meet you, Yuri!"
"He insisted on carrying me to the hospital after the fact since I'd lost both of my heels, even with his serious injuries, and we started to spend a lot of time together too!" y/n finished with a dreamy smile, "Ah... we decided we wanted to get married when we were around 17, but held it off until after we got jobs."
Kilian, and the three interviewers were all gawking at y/n with looks of horror as she held her face with a delighted little look, lightly swaying from side to side.
Y/n had been sure to leave out the parts about her brother, and the reason why she was being attacked by those dudes, but the story was still pretty... unusual.
"Oh, I see." Mr. Evans began in a small voice, "Ahem! For the next question! Why is it that you chose to apply to our school?"
"Kilian was the one who wanted to attend, actually." y/n replied, giving her nephew a little amused glance, "Initially, Yuri and I were very hesitant. We wanted him to learn in a carefree, relaxed environment. That way, he could take the time to enjoy his childhood. However, Kilian was very emphatic about wanting to attend, and studied diligently with Yuri's help to prove that he could handle it. In the end, I sort of caved after realizing how much he wanted to attend, and decided to give it a chance."
Kilian gave his Aunt a pleased smile before she turned her gaze back to the three interviewers, 'Auntie has such a good poker face! But...'. His gaze flicked down to her hands and he began to sweat a little at how tightly she was digging her finger nails into her clothing, 'That nosy old man's comment really pissed her off...'
"I've also heard plenty of good things about your staff, and how you ensure that your students become cultured and knowledgeable young adults. After some thinking, and a little hesitance, I decided that Eden Academy would be the best school for my nephew to attend." y/n finished, then added sheepishly, "That, and I'm sure he would have been miserable anywhere else."
'That's not true! If you home schooled me, I'd be the happiest person in the world!' Kilian thought.
"Speaking of which, how would you describe your nephew? What are his strengths and weaknesses?"
"Strengths and weaknesses..." y/n murmured, closing her eyes and wearily recalling Kilian and Yuri's frequent banter, "Well, he definitely is a precocious child. He makes good arguments, and is scarily skilled at backing them up. That and he's got quite the sharp tongue, although that does frequently get him into trouble. Kilian likes his quiet time and dislikes larger groups of people. He's a little shy, but a sweet kid nonetheless, and he can be a little awkward around others his age."
The young woman paused to laugh to herself, "Kilian is a resilient little kid, stubborn and driven as well. However, he does get a little anxious. That anxiousness causes him to act irrationally on some occasions."
Kilian glanced at his Auntie with warm cheeks, '!'
Mr. Evans chuckled, "Is that so? Well, how about your parenting style? How would you describe it, ma'am?"
"I... I do struggle a little at times, but I always have Yuri there to help. I'm a huge softie for my nephew, so I'm typically the one providing encouragement and a pillar to lean on." y/n explained, "And my husband, Yuri, is the one who makes sure Kilian stays out of trouble. He's stern, and the two of them get into little debates very often, but Yuri really cares for my nephew. The two of them were a little on edge with one another when they first met, but they have gotten closer over time. Honestly..."
Kilian's eyes rounded as y/n's grip on her clothing eased and a calm look graced her features.
"I don't think I could do it without him."
As she spoke those words, the door to the room opened and revealed a very surprised looking Yuri. His arm, the one that didn't look too good earlier, was in a brace now, and there was a bandage wrapped around Yuri's head from when he'd been 🚚ing trampled,
"Hey!" Mr. Swan snapped, "You can't just intrude on the meeting, just who do you think you are?!"
"Enough, Master Swan." there was a warning tone to Mr. Henderson's voice as he glanced back to Yuri, "Mr. Briar, shouldn't you rest a little longer?"
"Oh no, I'll be fine. My arm was broken but it should be fine if I'm careful with it." Yuri began quickly before he glanced back at y/n with a little smile, "But, even if it was worse than that, there was no way I was going to miss this interview."
Y/n's expression melted into a grateful smile and she mouthed a simple, Thank you to her husband.
Yuri only smiled in return and headed on over to take a seat as well so he could join in on the interview.
Kilian didn't like Yuri.
He thought he was weird, and annoying.
But, oddly enough, the little boy found it much easier to sit a little taller now that Yuri was there with them.
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