Astrid was already embarrassed beyond belief.
She had not expected Mika to sit there, calmly holding pieces of her private heart in his hands, and start fitting them together like he had known the shape of them all along.
Still, she refused to just sit there and accept it.
If she did that, then what would she even look like?
A hypocrite. A woman who said one thing and did another.
Someone who claimed her sisters meant nothing to her while secretly filling her office with proof that the opposite was true.
That was exactly how it would seem right now, and Astrid could not bear that.
She needed to explain herself. She needed to prove that there had been logic to it, some dignity in it, some form of consistency, however fragile.
But unfortunately for her, Mika was already ahead of her.
He looked at her with that insufferably thoughtful expression, one hand rubbing his chin as if he were considering a puzzle he had nearly solved.
