Femme Fatale: The King's Deadly Temptress

Chapter 565: Their Lullaby

Katherine saw that Emma was heading towards the ladies' room. She hurriedly went after her and warned the men from Maverick Security to keep their distanceafter all, they were all men. 

Entering the posh restroom, she scanned from left to right as she searched for her friend. With marble tiles and soft ambiance lighting, the ladies' room felt like a spa. There was a sofa in one corner and huge mirrors everywhere. 

Katherine had to check each cubicle to look for Emma. There were two cubicles occupied, and one of them just opened, and an older woman came out. She politely smiled at the other and continued to the end of the stalls where she thought Emma was hiding. 

"Ems?" she called. She could hear sniffles from outside. "I know you're in there. Can we talk?"

Silence.

"Please open" Katherine knocked. "I really need to pee. If you don't open for me, I'll pee on the floor."

The older woman who was washing her hands a few meters away gave her a weird look.

The door to Emma's cubicle opened, and she quickly got inside, closing the door behind her.

"You're sly. The other stalls are empty." Emma pouted, still crying as she grabbed more tissue.

She was sitting on the covered toilet bowl, wiping her eyes and nose.

"Yeah Well I like this stall." Katherine shrugged. It was actually pretty spacious inside the stall.

Lowering down until she was squatting in front of her friend, Katherine patted Emma's arm. "Hey talk to me."

Emma lifted her head and met Katherine's eyes with her red and misty ones. "Who is he, Kath? Why did he say he knows me? Why does he say he's Kristof?"

Katherine took a deep breath. "Are you Karina? Is that really your name?"

With trembling lips, Emma nodded. "I am That was my name before"

Katherine decided not to dwell on this part at the moment because she knew that it wasn't a pressing matter. "So tell me, who is Kristof?"

"He was my brother Kristof." Emma's shoulders shook when she cried some more. "But he died in a fire when we were kids I don't remember much. It was a really long time ago. All I know is that there was a fire and only a few of us were saved. I haven't seen him since then. So how could he say that he's Kristof? My brother has been dead for twenty years!"

Seeing her friend cry, Katherine couldn't help but also tear up. But she swallowed the massive lump in her throat and stopped her tears from falling by looking up and blinking fast.

"I'm sorry" She stroked Emma's back to soothe her. At this point, Katherine already believed that the two were siblings. They couldn't just make this up. There's too much going on. "Chris He's He was my mentor before I met youbefore I lost my memories. But I only heard about what happened to him and his sister not long ago. He's been looking for you for a long time."

When Emma looked at her but didn't say anything, she continued, "He was also told that you died in that fire. He didn't know you were alive"

"Is he Is he really Kristof?" Emma sobbed.

Katherine shrugged with an apologetic look on her face. "Only you can tell, really. Your stories match You both know each other's names Why don't you see for yourself?"

"I'm scared" Emma sniffed.

"Why would you be scared?"

Emma's brows were deeply knitted. "I don't know, Kath If he's really my brother, he was supposed to be dead. I've always thought he died for a really long time now. So suddenly seeing him out of the blue, that's scary, okay? He's like a ghost, but not really."

Somehow, Katherine could understand her friend. If she were to see her parents in the flesh suddenly, that would scare the hell out of her too.

Grabbing some tissue from the dispenser on the cubicle's wall, she wiped her friend's face with it and smiled at her. "Why don't we head back first and talk it out? I'm sure he's very worried now."

Emma nodded and let Katherine help her up to her feet. Once they finally left the stall, Emma held the other's hand so tightly as if she was trying to absorb her friend's strength. "Are you mad that I kept my real name from you?"

"What? No of course not." Katherine sighed. "I still have a lot of things I haven't told you yet too, but is it okay if I don't tell you now? I promise I will tell you one day."

"We'll have to catch up one day." Emma smiled. "We're like spies. With lots of secrets."

"Right" Katherine awkwardly chuckled.

Emma washed up her face before they headed back to the private dining room. When they were near the door, she suddenly froze and held Katherine back. "I don't know what to tell him. What do I say?"

"Anything Anything that you remember about him or when you were kids. Do you still know how to speak Russian?"

Emma shook her head. "It's been a really long time."

"I'm sure you'll think of something when you see him." Katherine smiled at her friend. "I'll be right there next to you."

One of the men from the Alpha Team opened the door for them. The two women entered the room, and Christopher got up from his seat.

Emma looked up at him and stared at his eyes. His blue eyes looked so familiaronly they used to belong to a younger boy.

"Karina" Chris called under his breath. He wanted to take a step towards her, but he stopped himself, afraid that he would scare her again.

Out of nowhere, Emma started humming an unknown tune. At the same time, she started sniffing again when her tears rolled down her cheeks. She didn't know how to speak fluent Russian anymore. She could pick up words, but she hadn't learned it again as she only learned how to speak English when she got separated from her brother. 

However, there was one song that she could never forget. It was an old lullaby that her mother used to sing to them before sleeping. The words and tune were stuck to her head, and upon laying eyes on Chris, she was reminded of this particular memory.

And then Emma started singing the song in Russian.

She didn't have a great voice, and she was sobbing while she sang, but it moved everyone who was in the room, especially Chris who looked pained as he lowered his head and tears escaped his eyes. 

~Emma singing in Russian~

"...And at night I'll wonder, I'll think that you're in trouble. Far away in a strange land"

Stepping towards Emma, Chris agonized as he joined her to finish the song also in Russian, "Sleep now, as long as you know no sorrows, Bayushki bayu."

"Kristof" Emma lunged into her brother's arms and sobbed on his chest.

Chris tightened his embrace around her frame. It was as though a huge weight had been lifted from his chest when he was finally reunited with his sister. 

Seeing the two, Katherine also felt relieved. There were still so many unanswered questions, but this particular one was enough to make her feel satisfied. When she felt Damien's arm around her waist, she turned towards him and buried her face on his shoulder. Then he wrapped his arms around her. It felt good to be hugged.

As always, Styles knew when to butt in whenever the atmosphere got heavy. His voice through the comms sounded melancholic, and he was sniffling when he muttered, "I don't know what they were singing... but that sounded so sad. I feel so lonely. Falcon, hug me too."

1. Bayushki bayu is an expression to lull a baby to sleep in Russian.