Maery pretended to be fully concentrated on eating her salad, while in truth, she kept sneakily peeking towards her little brother sitting across from her.
No, it wasn't because seeing Noah munching on crispy fried chicken made her feel bitter about being forced to eat a salad so as to not give away her previous lie of being on a diet… And it also wasn't because she suddenly realized that her darling brother had this rather enchanting way of eating. (／≧ω＼)
No, the reason why she kept looking over was to gauge her baby bro's current value on the happiness meter as to strike when it reached its optimum.
Her wait didn't take long – Noah hadn't been that hungry in the first place. As soon as the first delicious piece of chicken went down his throat, his oil-covered pink lips curved up in a satisfied smile.
"Little brother," Maery spoke up, "Earlier, I remember you asking whether Levi and I broke up?"
Noah nodded. He did seem to ask that when the two came out after their lengthy talk.
Maery wished to take Noah's hands into her own, but seeing that the other's hands were currently holding a chicken drumstick, she restrained the urge. "Did we break up? Honestly, no..."
Levi, who had been sitting on the third side of the four-sided table, in between Noah and Maery, jumped up as if his tail had been stepped on, with a facial expression of someone who'd just been stabbed in the back by a trusted comrade. The only things missing to turn this betrayal into a tear-jerking scene of tragedy were melodramatic background music and the dying words of 'Et tu, Brute?'
Maery nearly bit off her tongue, despising this idiot for not living up to expectations. Feeling like she would not be able to resist the urge to clobber him if this continued any longer, she turned a blind eye to Levi's exaggerated outrage and rapidly finished her words, "…because we've never been together in the first place! For six years now, Levi and I have been pretending to date for the sake of appearances."
Levi, caught in the middle of a vehement protest to declare his innocence, choked on his spit. He abruptly stiffened and then tried to play off his sudden jerky jump as just stretching his legs due to a cramp.
It took every ounce of self-control in Maery's body to prevent herself from facepalming.
Blackie didn't need to control himself, so he freely facepalmed. Virtually, that is.
On the other hand, Noah, with wide eyes and gaping mouth, dropped the chicken drumstick he had been holding, "Huh??"
Maery struck while the iron was hot to further elaborate, "Honestly, little brother, Levi and I don't have and never had even a smidgen of chemistry between us. We are really, really, really, not compatible in the slightest!"
"You–you–you were never together??" Noah stuttered out, his round eyes darting between his sister and Levi.
Both nodded in unison, perfectly synchronized. Maery confirmed it with "That's right. Never!" while Levi, on the other hand, emphasized, "It was completely, entirely, 100% fake dating from start to end!"
Noah suddenly felt as if a shower of New Year's firecrackers went inside his head in a loud boom of light and color. Many things that previously made no sense suddenly became clear.
Neither Maery nor Levi ever talked about each other unless asked, and even when they were asked, their answers were curt. The first time Noah had met Levi, he had wanted to brush up Levi's good feelings by telling him how his sister had praised him in private, but in that awkward moment, Noah realized that his sister had never praised Levi for anything other than being handsome and good at his job!!!
Holy crap! If the two of them were lovey-dovey, how would it be possible for his chatty sister to never coyly praise her darling boyfriend through these long six years?! Not only did she not praise him, but she had also felt greatly apologetic that she had left Noah alone to entertain Levi as if this task of socializing with Levi was something horribly undesirable!
And Levi, too, from the first time they met, seemed to be avoiding inviting Maery out to join them as if Maery's presence would ruin the mood of their pleasant outing! Even when Noah wanted to take the two out for a swim, Levi was not in the least interested in seeing Maery in a swimsuit and found all kinds of silly excuses to not invite her out!
Thinking back, Levi had actually been rather obvious about it this entire time! He had claimed the two never went on any dates and didn't even kiss or have intimate relations! Even if Levi, this loner wolf, was too busy to remember to take his girlfriend on dates, how would his high-EQ sister not make her boyfriend set some time off for dating?!
At the time, Noah had thought the other was bullshitting, but it seemed that from beginning to end, Levi had never lied to him! He had displayed the truth in front of Noah openly, yet it was Noah who missed all these little clues!
Suddenly Noah's heart clenched, and he thought he had really wronged Levi. The other wore his heart on his sleeve, yet Noah thought the other, at times, really had a thick face! Ah, ah, how could he wrong his honest and good brother like this?!
The only thing that comforted Noah's injured little heart right now was the fact that Aris had been even more fooled than him. Checking out his memories, Aris had honestly believed his sister and Levi were happily dating even though he never saw the two acting intimate in person, and even though all the photos he saw in newspapers of the couple were just the two of them walking arm in arm!
Ah, ah! It wasn't that he had been blind; it was Aris that had pitted him! If it wasn't for his bias, Noah would have realized something so obvious much sooner!
The more Noah thought about it, the more previously ignored clues popped out of the woodworks. How come Noah didn't find it super weird that Aris, as the brother of the bride, had only been officially introduced to the groom a week before the wedding?
And this morning, when Levi had told him that there were no feelings between the two, why did he not realize just how lacking in feelings their relationship really was? If the two had ever had something in the past, how would Levi have the balls to 'play' with his ex's little brother so happily?! Noah had even felt guilty about doing this and that with his sister's ex, yet it turned out there was no ex!
Blackie, (￢_￢;) 'I hate to break it to you, host, but your brother-in-law's balls are larger than the twin moons of Mars! Even if this relationship had been real, he would still have the balls to eat your tofu…'
Noah, (っ °Д °;)っ 'Levi is a caring, conscientious and responsible adult! How would he ever mess around with his ex's brother, even if that brother was his best bro?! Ah, how could I have been so blind?!'
Noah's train of thought was interrupted by the sounds of vomiting coming from Blackie.
Noah, (≖ ‸ ≖) "Blackie, can you try to NOT have one of your episodes while I am having a touching epiphany?"
Blackie, _(´ཀ`∠)_ "…Impossible. It's your 'touching epiphany' that is causing the nausea…"