"It's ugly." I say and poke Ren's cast on his foot.
"It's not a work of art, Chikara." Ren pulls his leg away.
"But still they could have used another color except for white. When you take this off it's going to be so dirty. Ew!" I say in disgust. I shake my head to try to clear the image out. "Mel do you think it's ugly?" I ask Melanie who is holding her son Kin in a corner of the hospital room.
"Yes." Melanie agrees.
I smirk at Ren. "See I told you so. If only you let me heal it, this wouldn't have happened."
"Teacher Ito!" Ren whines.
Epstein shakes his head and sinks into a corner when seeing the look from his wife. Melanie smiles and holds her son's hand which has begun to wave in the air.
"Aiyah. So cute!" She exclaims.
I watch the two interact and sure enough Melanie is delicate and caring for the child as she always has been.
After a while Kin goes back to sleep. Melanie catches me looking though I try to turn away.
"Do you want to hold him?" Melanie asks and before I can refuse she pushes it in my hands, gently.
I look at Melanie hoping that she would take the month old baby back but she pulls Epstein out of the room leaving me holding it. I look at the baby which has woken up.
"Stop looking at it like that. You'll scare it." Ren scolds.
"This is my first time holding it." I whisper.
"I thought you held it before?"
"No. The only time I interacted with it was when I changed his diaper on the day he was born but I did that using magic so I didn't touch him."
"Wow! Even the best lie." Ren shakes his head.
"Everyone lies." I hiss. "I just lied about holding a baby."
Ren laughs.
I turn away from him with an angry pout. I look at Kin who is staring at me with his huge eyes. Are they supposed to be this big? The Myth's siblings didn't have eyes this big.
[It might be because it doesn't have any hair while the Myth's siblings did] Astrid says casually lying down inside my mind.
'It could be.' I nod. I don't know babies. I wait until they are a year old before I pick them up because a baby's mind is so jumbled and squishy that I can't read its thoughts making it a ticking time bomb.
I try reading Kin's mind but it doesn't work. "Here take it." I pass it to Ren.
"What? Why?" Ren asks taking the baby on reflex.
"It's a ticking time bomb."
"How?"
"I can't read its thoughts."
There is a moment of silence in the room before Ren breaks it.
"Hahahaha. You're scared of a baby since you can't read its mind. This is hilarious!"
"Oh shut up Ren!"
"I don't shut up I grow up. Meh!" Ren pokes out his tongue.
"If you wasn't holding the baby I'd strangle you." I hiss.
"And if I wasn't holding the baby and don't have a cast on my foot, I'd totally run." Ren replies.
We stare at each other before laughter explodes from outside of the hospital room.
"Epstein Ito! Melanie Ito!" I growl and run out of the room to see the married couple in their mid-twenties crouched on the floor listening to our conversation.
"RUN!" Melanie and Epstein both shout. They run down the white corridors of the hospital.
"Stop there!" I shout. I look back into Ren's room. "Look after the child." I say before chasing after the couple.
"Don't be like them when you grow Little Kin." Ren says to the child. Ren eyes widen when he sees the child nod before closing his eyes, asleep.
After giving up on chasing Melanie and Epstein we discharge Ren from the hospital. Epstein stops in front of a small shop.
"What are we doing here?" Ren asks.
"I am getting pens." I reply while getting out of the car.
"Why?"
"To draw on your cast. It's so ugly." I stride into the shop and come out a few minutes later. "I got fabric markers, paint and normal markers in case none of them work."
I smirk at Ren who's giving me an angry look.
Epstein drives back to our apartment and we grab one of the moving compartments to wheel him into the elevator but because this apartment building is filled with a few rich people they stare at us weirdly. I would stare too if I were them but thank goodness I'm not those boring bunch.
"Let's test them out." Melanie claps her hands and pull out the markers. "Oh these are thick!" She exclaims and looks over at me.
I shrug. "I don't know."
"No that's good." Melanie says hurriedly when I mistook her words.
"Oh."
Melanie takes out the yellow and brown before drawing on Ren's cast. After a minute she finishes.
"Done." She says staring at the sunflower she drew.
"My turn." Epstein grabs a pack and starts drawing. He takes longer than Melanie so I grab another pack and start drawing.
Melanie also begins drawing another picture.
Ren groans annoyed but he doesn't protest and soon falls asleep.
The next hour is spent with the three of us drawing on Ren's cast. When we finish we step back and admire our work.
"That's a nice blue jay." Melanie praises her husband.
"Nice small sunset, Darling." Epstein praises back.
"Nice forest Chikara." Melanie says when seeing the small circle.
"Mm." I hum. I look at the empty spots on the cast. We couldn't have all the fun so we left more than enough room for our other friends to draw. I walk to the kitchen and grab something to eat. I turn back while stuffing food into my mouth. "Has anyone told the others yet?"
Melanie and Epstein stop talking. "We thought you did?"
"I didn't."
"Oh sh*t!" We all curse before remembering there is a baby in the room. "Oh shivers!"