"Didn't the inspection take way too long?" Laila asked after Monica and Luke came out of the room, the former averting her gaze.
Luke coughed lightly. "We needed to do a bit of cleaning too. Otherwise, you'd have been surrounded by spiders later."
As he said, he turned towards Monica, silently urging her to say something
"Ah-yes. There was even a snake down there so it took us time to make that place safe." Monica hurriedly added to make it sounded believable.
Naturally, she couldn't tell her daughter the actual reason behind their delay.
Laila narrowed her eyes, unconvinced by the transparent excuse. It wasn't hard to guess what had truly kept the two of them occupied inside the room. Still, she chose not to tease them any further.
"Come on," she said instead. "Everyone's waiting."
The two nodded and quietly followed her to the dining table, where Roxanne, Thea, and Mila were already seated.
Several steaming pots filled the table, their rich aroma filling the room.
