The credits of the third romantic comedy rolled across the massive screen of the home theater, casting a soft, scrolling light over the U-shaped sectional.
Alexander had reluctantly stepped out an hour earlier to handle an unavoidable crisis call from Tokyo, leaving Airis and Victoria bundled together under a mountain of plush cashmere blankets.
Somewhere around the middle of the second film, exhaustion had finally overtaken the adrenaline of the day.
Victoria hadn't let go of her daughter. She had shifted, pulling Airis fully against her side.
Airis's head rested comfortably against her mother's chest, enveloped in the soft silk of Victoria's robe and the lingering, comforting scent of jasmine and oil paints.
For the twenty-seven-year-old soul of Lin Ye, the sensation was entirely foreign. His own mother had worked double shifts; his memories of her were mostly passing glimpses in a cramped kitchen.
He had never known this kind of absolute, unconditional physical comfort. He listened to the steady, rhythmic beating of Victoria's heart beneath the silk, feeling a profound, aching sense of security wash over him.
This is what it feels like to be truly safe, Airis thought, her eyes fluttering shut.
She didn't pull away. She allowed the hardened, cynical edges of her past life to completely dissolve into the warmth of her mother's embrace, drifting into the deepest, most peaceful sleep she had experienced in two lifetimes.
The next morning, the sunlight filtering into Airis's bedroom was bright and cheerful.
Airis woke up with her mind wrapped in a thick, comfortable fog of deep relaxation.
The intense pampering of the previous day had completely neutralized her usual sharp, corporate alertness.
She sat up, rubbing her sapphire eyes, her golden-blonde hair a messy halo around her head.
Victoria was already up, the space beside Airis empty but still warm.
Still half-asleep, Airis swung her legs over the edge of the bed and padded barefoot into the cavernous, marble-tiled en-suite bathroom.
She stood in front of the massive vanity mirror, blinking sleepily at her reflection.
I need to brush my teeth, she thought sluggishly.
She didn't reach out with her hand. Her mind, perfectly acclimated to the ultimate laziness of her new 'Absolute Psychokinesis', simply reached out for her.
A faint, almost imperceptible emerald-green shimmer briefly outlined her silhouette.
Across the marble counter, the electric toothbrush lifted smoothly into the air.
The tube of imported mint toothpaste floated up right beside it.
The cap unscrewed itself, spinning mid-air, and a perfect, pea-sized dollop of paste squeezed onto the bristles.
The tube capped itself and floated back down to the counter, while the toothbrush drifted directly into Airis's open mouth and began humming, perfectly brushing her teeth while her arms remained lazily resting at her sides.
It was the pinnacle of morning convenience.
"Airis, darling, I brought you some—"
The bathroom door, which had been slightly ajar, pushed open entirely. Victoria stepped inside, carrying a silver tray with a steaming cup of herbal tea.
Victoria froze.
Her blue eyes widened to the size of saucers. She stared at her daughter, who was standing with her hands by her sides, while a motorized toothbrush aggressively hovered in mid-air, brushing her teeth entirely on its own.
The silver tray in Victoria's hands trembled. The teacup rattled violently against the saucer.
Airis's sleepy brain short-circuited. Her eyes snapped wide open in the mirror, making direct eye contact with her mother's horrified reflection.
Oh, no, Lin Ye's soul screamed internally.
The toothbrush instantly lost its emerald-green glow and dropped like a stone, clattering loudly against the marble sink.
Victoria gasped, quickly slapping a hand over her own mouth to stifle a scream, her other hand miraculously keeping the tea tray balanced.
She looked from the dropped toothbrush to Airis, her chest heaving.
[Ding!]
[System Warning: Host's supernatural capabilities have been visually confirmed by a non-system entity.]
[Recommendation: Formulate a plausible deniability protocol immediately.]
Shut up, System, I'm thinking! Airis panicked. She couldn't wipe her mother's memory. She couldn't pretend it was a magic trick.
Airis quickly spat into the sink and wiped her mouth, turning around slowly to face her mother. She had to pivot.
She had to use the corporate art of spinning a crisis into a narrative advantage.
"Mom," Airis started, keeping her voice incredibly soft and slightly trembling, instantly playing the vulnerability card.
"I... I can explain."
Victoria slowly lowered the tray onto a nearby towel rack. She took a tentative step forward, her eyes darting to the sink and back to Airis.
"Airis. The brush. It was... it was floating. It was brushing your teeth by itself."
"I know," Airis whispered, looking down at the heated slate floor, the picture of a guilty, frightened teenager.
"How?" Victoria asked, her voice breathless, a mix of sheer terror and maternal instinct fighting for dominance.
"What is happening to you? Was it those men on the bus? Did they do something to you?"
"No! No, Mom, it wasn't them,"
Airis said quickly, stepping forward and gently taking her mother's trembling hands.
She looked up, her sapphire eyes wide and pleading.
"I've... I've been able to do things like this for a long time. Since I was little."
Victoria stared at her, stunned.
"Since you were little? What do you mean?"
Airis took a deep breath, weaving the lie with the precision of a master tailor, leaning heavily into the truths of her parents' busy lifestyles.
"I think I was around seven when it started,"
Airis lied smoothly.
"Small things. A book floating to me when I couldn't reach the shelf.
My door locking itself when I was scared.
It's... it's just my mind, Mom. I can move things if I think about them."
"Seven years old?" Victoria gasped, her hands gripping Airis's tightly.
"Airis, why didn't you ever tell us? Why did you hide this? We are your parents!"
Here was the emotional crux. Airis let a single, perfectly timed tear slip down her cheek.
"Because you and Dad were always so busy,"
Airis said softly, injecting just enough melancholic understanding into her tone.
"Dad was building the European acquisitions, and you were preparing for your international gallery tours.
You both had so much weight on your shoulders, dealing with the whole world.
I... I didn't want to be a freak. I didn't want to be another massive problem for you guys to manage."
Victoria's breath hitched. The word freak and the implication of parental neglect struck the billionaire mother directly in the heart.
"I just wanted to be your normal, perfect daughter," Airis finished, looking down again.
"So I hid it. I promised myself I would never use it unless I had to. But this morning... I was just so tired, and I lost focus."
The silence in the bathroom was thick, broken only by the soft hum of the heated floors.
Then, Victoria moved. She didn't pull away in fear.
She didn't call Alexander to summon a team of scientists. She threw her arms around Airis, pulling her into a fierce, desperate hug.
"Oh, my sweet, beautiful girl," Victoria cried softly, burying her face in Airis's hair.
"You could never be a problem. You are not a freak. You are my daughter. You are a miracle."
Airis let out a long, silent exhale over her mother's shoulder. The crisis was averted.
The mother's fierce, protective love had completely overridden her shock at the supernatural.
Victoria pulled back, her eyes shining with tears, but her expression hardening with the same formidable resolve she showed when defending Airis against high school drama.
"Does your father know?" Victoria asked, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper.
"No," Airis shook her head truthfully.
"Nobody knows. Just you."
Victoria looked at the toothbrush in the sink, and then back to her daughter.
The cogs in her brilliant, artistic mind were turning. She understood the implications immediately.
The world was dangerous—the bus hijacking had proven that.
If the government or rival corporate entities discovered her daughter had supernatural powers, Airis would become a target, a lab rat, or a weapon.
"Then it stays that way," Victoria declared firmly, wiping her eyes.
"This is our secret. A secret between mother and daughter. We won't even tell your father yet—he's already on edge with the security protocols, and he might overreact and lock you in a bunker."
Airis nodded obediently, deeply relieved. "Thank you, Mom."
Victoria sniffled, a sudden, slightly unhinged smile breaking through her tears. She looked at Airis, her artistic curiosity suddenly bubbling to the surface.
"So..." Victoria whispered, glancing around the bathroom.
"Can you... can you lift other things? What's your weight limit?"
Airis blinked, caught off guard by the sudden shift in tone.
"Um. I don't know the exact limit. But it's pretty strong."
Victoria's eyes sparkled with mischievous, maternal excitement.
"Can you lift... Mrs. Gable?"
"Mom!" Airis laughed, a genuine, startled sound.
"I am not going to levitate the housekeeper!"
"Fine, fine," Victoria giggled, the heavy tension completely evaporating from the room.
"But next time I'm in the studio and I need a heavy canvas moved... I'm calling you instead of the movers."
Airis smiled, the emerald-green aura briefly flashing in her eyes as she subtly used her mind to lift the dropped toothbrush from the sink, rinse it under the tap, and place it neatly back into its holder.
She had just admitted to having superpowers, and instead of calling an exorcist, her mother was trying to figure out how to use telekinesis for interior decorating.
"Whatever you need, Mom," Airis said.
Her slow-paced life had just gotten a little more complicated, but as she looked at her mother's beaming face, Airis realized that sharing the secret wasn't a burden. It was the perfect, protective alibi.