Asea's
"Hey, Asea, what's happening?" Azrael asked again. "Uh...wait.."
"What wait, what is it?" Azrael's always so impatient when it's Asea. Sometimes it's just painfully obvious. "Hand me the knife." She said, her hand appearing from the hole. Yasser handed her the knife and every step she did makes creeks on the ceiling.
"There's no window?" Trey.
"None." She answered, as the sound of the knife hitting the wall was heard. Again. And again. She's trying to break the wall. "There's nothing there?" Trey asked again.
"Nothing." She continued trying to hack the wall when she heard it. The sound of a door creaking behind her. She looked back, pointed the flashlight at it, and saw an ajar trapdoor on the wall.
"Asea?" She could hear them calling her name but her eyes are stuck at the trapdoor. She walked towards it and pulled the door open. It smelled of mothballs. Like a closet full of clothes and blankets stuck there for several years.
And yet, when she opened it, there's nothing but a hollow space, shaped like a dumb waiter. That's it? Is this the only way out here? There's no button or anything, pressing the wooden door will make it blend back to the wall. If this is an elevator, it leads to somewhere then.
See, Asea's really clumsy and unaware of her surroundings. Anyone could sneak in behind her and she wouldn't know. It wasn't surprising that someone managed to hold on to her arm, flip her and press her against the wall. The flashlight fell down to her feet and she couldn't see whoever it is but before she can make any sound, a warm hand covered her mouth.
And even if he covered her mouth, she felt a warm wave of pheromones clinging to her skin. Strong and intense. Her knees felt melting. She can't see his face because of the darkness and his arm pinned her shoulder against the wall. She wasn't panicking but feeling the strong presence of his pheromones clinging to her intentionally, she knew he's dangerous.
"Who are you? Who are those people?" She stopped struggling, hearing his voice. It's deep and low, yet slightly afraid. Then she realized any wounded animal would be dangerous. "Should I be asking you that?" She mumbled on his palm and he didn't let go. His hand is soft. Is that what really matters, Asea, really?
"I've been stuck here for six hours," he whispered as if he's afraid anyone else will hear him. Six hours? Way before they woke up?
She pushed him off slightly and he was still so close to her even when he takes his hand off that slightly, just slightly made her shy. Anyway, they can't see each other so it's fine, maybe. Keep telling yourself that, Asea. "W-where are you staying?" Stuttering because of the closeness, wow.
"I woke up inside the dumbwaiter. Are they bad?" He asked and she shook her head. Like a kid, he's asking if they're bad. He's cautious, of course.
Her eyes widened when he lost balance and she was quick to hold on to his waist to pull him up. His knees gave up and she hugged him tight as she cursed, feeling his weight. His head fell on her shoulder and she swallowed. "Uhm." She pinched his side as she closed her eyes, controlling herself not to panic at what's happening.
🧐🧐🧐
Jace's
Jace's eyes are as curious and bothered when Azrael came up to check on Asea only to come back down with an unconscious tall, beautiful guy in tow. It's hard to put him down even as they both held by his armpits so that Trey and Ourie can catch him from down below, Yasser holding on to his head so it won't get hit by anything. They put him down on the couch and his eyes roamed the young man's body.
He's young. Maybe, coincidentally, might be the same age as them. He's wearing jeans and a white sweatshirt but barefooted. There are two gaping wounds, knife slashes right above his knee, still bleeding and dirtying his pants but other than that, he doubts it is the reason why he lost consciousness. The wounds seemed new.
His raven hair is short and clean-cut, slight dark bags under his eyes and somehow, he reminds him of someone. "Shit, why is your brother here?" Trey asked Azrael as Ethan starts checking him for signs of anything that might have caused his loss of consciousness. Wait what? Azrael's brother?
And...he can see that the good genes are not all from the alpha DNA but on the family themselves. Yeah, he won't even deny that he's checking Azrael's brother out. Azrael's friends seemed worried and they seemed to know him, too. "What did you do?" Azrael asked Asea who has gone pale looking at the guy. "What?"
"What did you do?" His voice wasn't accusing but his tone seemed to be doing just that. After all, Asea was long silent on the attic and they couldn't hear anything for the past few minutes until Azrael came up. He can understand why Azrael seemed worked up since he last saw his brother with Asea.
"What did you do to him?" Asea's lips parted as if wanting to speak but she didn't.
Her eyes are just glassy. Like she wanted to say the truth but her throat got frozen. Their eyes widened when he held her wrist tight.
"If anything happens to my brother, I won't hesitate to hurt you."
Her lips pursed in response and her eyes narrowed as she pushed him away, leaving them. Did he just grab Asea like that to threaten her? He saw how Yasser sighed, amidst their shocked reactions to what he just did. "Azrael, he's waking up," Ethan said as he looked back.
Ethan looked back at Aeria and she immediately got the cue, holding on to his knee as Ethan started bandaging the gaping wounds to stop the bleeding. "Fuck." He groaned in pain, as he flinched when Aeria followed Ethan's motion to keep his knee straight. "Kuya," Azrael called and his eyes widened. He forcefully sat up and hugged Azrael. Seeing them hug each other warmed his heart. Azrael wouldn't have to be alone anymore. His brother found him.
Why does he feel sad anyway? He feels envious, of course. Seeing him tugged something inside him, made him realize that he still has a life outside this. People who he knows are looking for him.
He has a family, looking for him, wondering where he is. If he's still alive or dead. He took a sharp breath, trying to will away the heaviness on his chest. "How did you come here?" Ethan asked.
Em handed him a glass of water which he gladly received. He doesn't seem thirsty but he drank all the same. "I've been awake for six hours. I woke up in a dumbwaiter."
"What happened before that? How were you taken?" Trey asked. His eyes are gentle even tired, unlike his brother, Azrael who has cold, piercing eyes. "I was going home from the supermarket. Someone threw a dart on my nape." He showed his nape, a small red puncture in it. "Then, I woke up on the dumb waiter, heard someone breaking the floor. And saw that girl-- wait, where's the girl?" He looked around but didn't saw Asea. "She's in her room." He pursed his lips at what Roo answered, looked down for a while before speaking again.
"You've been missing for weeks. Just a week ago, they managed to put the ten of you in one whole case. A traffic cam saw both your groups going in the same direction, leading to the cafe...you." He motioned to Fiona. He seemed confident, straight to the point, and yet kind. That's just what his aura tells them. "I saw you in some isolated case of missing persons but not here."
"Police are looking for us? Do they have any leads?" Roo asked again, his tone hopeful and desperate as the man shook his head. "Everyone thought it was kidnapping, but weeks later, human trafficking is their best lead. No one has seen you got out of the cafe. It has become a national headline, and yet, no matter what they do, they just have no idea where to start." then he smiled, gently. "Now, you have to tell me what happened for the past three weeks."
😃😃😃
Jace's
"Good-looking. right?" Jace has relaxed a while ago, listening to them relay what happened and whatever clues they found all through the past weeks. His name is Akio, just a year and a half older than Azrael. He really is gentler, more relaxed, and not like Azrael who's too-rational and cynic for his own good. Then, Ourie sat down beside him.
"Yeah." He said, nonchalant. See, after coming to terms with the fact that he liked Ourie, he just decided to go with the flow. Ourie acted like the kiss didn't bother him and he did, too even though it really is a pivotal moment for him. He's no usual person who'll think of all the consequences and say, oh I'll hide it to him because I know he doesn't like me. He knows Ourie likes him, even just a bit, or even if it's just short-lived and brought by the loneliness introduced by this hell hole, he sees no reason to rush things. He sees no reason to confess. He likes him, period.
Ourie got back to his usual laidback and chill character arc, starting this day with the fact that "the human head remains conscious for about 10 to 15 seconds after it has been decapitated." as he tries not to sigh loudly.
Ourie has gotten confident, too, after that stint he did two days ago. Brighter, every random thing that pops off his mind, he'll say. He really is random and Jace doesn't mind Ourie being a chatterbox out of boredom.
Yesterday, he was busy putting a cold compress on the strangulation marks when Ourie takes his hand off the cold compress and did it for him. He was just silent but it was enough for the whirring to be confidently loud and dominate his system.
"Have you slept well last night?"
"Yeah. Asea hugged me to sleep." He refused to think too much these days. On the first night, he can't sleep, afraid that if he closes his eyes, he'll get woken up with hands around his neck. But since Asea wordlessly hugged her to sleep, he was forced to not think of any of it.
"I think I'll get my rut tomorrow." Oh.
"Good luck?" A hearty laugh filled his ears.
"Yeah, good luck."
"Are you not bonded?" Jace asked, a small part of him wanting him to say there's none. He shook his head, and that small part felt relieved. "Are you nervous?"
"Yeah. There are too many omegas in here." Jace's heat is fast approaching, too. Maybe the end of the week. Maybe... No. He swallowed at the thought. No fucking way. This hell hole's giving him ideas, such as asking Ourie to help him when it's his heat. Fuck, he's going crazy.
"You admit things too fast."
Ourie looked him in the eye. "There's no reason for me to lie." Too honest.
"See you then...after four days."
Ourie smirked, his half-lidded eyes, lazy but focused on him. "I have something running on my mind..." Jace looked at his lips and he tried not to think of those lips against his but failed inevitably. When he looked up, Ourie's eyes are traveling from his eyes down to his lips and he felt his skin tingle.
Jace, after almost 20 years of living, found out how sexual tension works. It's when someone wants you as much as you want them. And good news, he's not going crazy.
"Why are you not good at fighting?" Jace asked, just to try to minimize the tension as he looks away.
"I'm a black belter in judo, actually." The alpha chuckled as he slightly laughed. Ironic. "I just don't use judo to fight someone outside sparring. It doesn't feel right."
"That's weird. People learn fighting so they can defend themselves in real life."
"Maybe if something's worthy to protect, I will." His voice was low and it lingered like how the sunlight would stay caressing his skin lightly. It's exhilarating how he can feel almost everything.
He felt the alpha's index and middle finger reaching towards his neck. He didn't flinch, surprisingly. It touched one of the marks and it stings. Jace somehow hopes it stays there. "They shouldn't have done that," Ourie whispered, his tone unreadable, and he swore on his life, feather-light fingers crossed his spine and his stomach at that. His finger lightly grazed against the mark and yet it didn't sting anymore. The whirring's much more confident now in making itself known to him. Makes him regret finally admitting it to himself.
"Ourie, help me here," Yasser called as he sighs and retreats his fingers. He smiled lightly as if no fingers on his neck just grazed on him. "I'll be back."
And when he got out of his sight, now he can breathe just to calm himself. "You didn't sleep last night again?" Jace turned his head towards the door, hearing Yasser's voice. He saw Ourie just smiled and dismiss him before crouching down by the drawer.
He didn't sleep last night? Why?
He took a shaky breath and closed his eyes to relax.
😎😎😎
Aeria's
"Are you okay?" Aeria blinked fast when Em slid down beside her near the floor. She looked back to the scene at the couch and thought of getting the battered butcher knife (which was used to hack several walls and ceilings today) to throw towards the girl at the couch. She's talking about her two pet dogs, Mimi and Lili, to Yasser who had a Siberian Husky, that recently died.
Actually, Fiona talks more, Yasser didn't say anything more about his dog. Actually, she knows about that story. He said, he cried for days when the dog died. He's back to their vacation house so his friends aren't there near him. She remembers telling him that "at least you had five years with him, all happy memories you could keep for yourself." And she could remember his amused smile at what he said as she thought about her words, worried about offending him or something.
"It's weird, everyone else told me that he's in a better place now, or at least he's not in pain anymore. But, I love what you told me the most." She found herself smiling at that, her heart doing a little dance.
"Really?"
"Yeah...I mean, it doesn't make me feel better that he's in a better place now without me, it's still painful. But, thinking back that he lived, and most of it is with me, that makes his existence...more rewarding." The fond smile on Yasser's face made her stay awake that night. Made her sing in the shower that night after days of not singing in the shower.
"Yeah." She answered, finally, as Em hugged her knees and bumped her on the side. "I don't believe you, what is it?" Emerald is not annoying, she knows when to stop. But she knows how to make them say what they're trying to hide because she just gives off that comfortable vibe that makes them trust her. That whatever they say, Emerald will listen, no matter how weird and shitty that is. She sighed, okay, maybe it's not just because it's Emerald who's asking but also because she wants to let this out on her chest somehow.
She looked down at her crossed legs and she lets out a sigh. Too brokenhearted sigh? Check. "Just...Fiona seemed to hate me." Bullshit, Aeria. You know that's not it.
"Hate you?" She tilted her head to the right, her wide, curious eyes on her.
"It's the body language, I guess. Yesterday, she was holding Yasser on his arm and making him face her away from me. Like.." She quickly motioned how they were seated yesterday and how Fiona held Yasser. "Then, before that, she sat down on my usual seat, I mean...It's not like that's my permanent seat but...she didn't even say sorry that she got my seat. And she wasn't acknowledging me." And Yasser forgot my good morning with his smile because of that. "I mean she's not obliged to acknowledge me, but still, just...I really think she hates me."
"I think she just doesn't see us as worthy to talk to," Em said, shrugging as she leans back on the wall. "Sometimes she would talk to Roo, though. Don't mind her so much." But Yasser forgot to say good morning to her that day, because she got her seat. And she got her seat today, too, and yes, she got her good morning with a smile from Yasser but her seat, her seat was stolen!
"You're projecting." She almost yelped in shock when Asea talked. She's in front of them, at the back of the couch. She's not even sitting up, she's lying there like a fetus, hugging herself and burying herself under a blanket.
"What?"
"You're jealous but you're thinking she hates you instead because you can't admit it to yourself." She sniffed lightly and closed her eyes. "Don't sleep there. Here." Em said, tapping her thigh and she got up to lie down on Em's thigh.
She blinked fast, hating that she's right but no, she wouldn't give it up that easy. "I'm not jealous." She just hummed as a response and Em smiling at her as if she already knows Asea's right. Makes her feel she'll never gonna win in this argument called 'trying to win an argument when you're an open book to your best friends.'
"But...I really think she hates me."
"She doesn't. She likes him and like you who likes Yasser, she's jealous when Yasser gives attention to you." Asea answered. Realization washed over her. Jealousy can really make people blind. "But...she's been hanging out with Azrael more a few days ago..." How the hell did she just go from Azrael to Yasser now? Really, girl, choose a side and stay. Hopefully not with Yasser.
"Yeah. Let her be." Em said, nonchalant. Em is usually the teasing one type whenever she tells her current crush's woes, but it seemed like, sometimes, bad things happen and distractions stop being enough.
It kept bothering her. She wasn't one who tries to get someone's attention when they're clearly busy hanging out with someone else. And so, she just lets them hang out and she stayed behind with Em and Asea. Though it kept nudging with her mind, bothering her.
Because she feels jealous. Awfully jealous. There's a heaviness on her chest she badly wants to let out but how? It's not like she can just tell it over and over to Asea and Em, hoping it would stop bothering her because it wouldn't. It would just annoy Asea who's most likely to stand up and just tell Yasser she's jealous just so she'll shut up. Asea has always been the braver one. She sometimes wonders where she gets that from.
And it's not like he can go to Yasser and like a jealous kid ask him, hey, Yasser, can you hang out less with her and hang out more with me? Please? That's ridiculous. Just ridiculous.
"Do you want to cook lunch with me?" Em asked, obviously still worried about her being too caught up with this. She didn't know her getting jealous and repressing it means getting silent and just staring at the couch they're both staring at and wishing it bursts out in flames suddenly. She took one last look at them before nodding.
Roo threw a pillow at them and Em slowly lifts Asea's head to put the pillow under. Asea might wake up if they ask someone to bring her to the room. She seemed tired after going up to the attic and getting threatened by Azrael. And they know she loves sleeping on the floor, so they did leave her sleeping on the floor, like a fetus covered in a blanket up until her mouth.
She tapped her head lightly before standing up to follow Em to cook lunch with her. She just hopes Fiona just stops stealing her seat later in lunch.
🙂🙂🙂
Roo's
Akio. That's Azrael's older brother's name. He was kind, his eyes aren't judging or rude. After a few minutes of silence about everything they said about their situation, he composed himself and nodded. Asked if he could take a rest for a while since it's a lot to take in. He was an alpha, too. Yet he's like Trey or Yasser, or even Ourie when he's not too laid back about all this.
After he got inside the alphas' room, Roo turned to the salty man-- Ethan, who's clipping his nails silently on the floor, just a foot away from him. They're at the couch, aside from Fiona and Yasser at the opposite couch and Trey chatting with Aeria and Em at the kitchen, everyone else is in their rooms. It's pretty silent after that whole fiasco. "What?" He asked, sensing him look at him.
Roo will be honest. He hates that Ethan seemed to feel it so easily whenever he just glanced at him or stared too long because he's wondering something. Sometimes he wants to card his fingers on his short wavy hair on the back of his head just to find if he has eyes there too.
Dating Ethan Yu is weird because Ethan Yu is weird as it is.
Weird is the term he uses for people he has no idea if they're really existing or not. Ethan Yu is one of them.
Dating him should have air quotes around it whenever he acknowledges the relationship. Ethan's not touchy, which is good, because he's not fond of physical affection, too. He acknowledges him in the morning with a knowing stare and a nod. They talk silently, about what? Small talk. Like, food, his friends, Roo's friends, themselves. They just gloss on things, he's a good listener and doesn't ask too much about things he thinks are too personal.
Their favorite topic is their friends. He roasts his friends with him and he does, too, though, Roo's nicer about it and he feels bad about roasting them too much even behind their back. That's the thing that changed about them, he's keeping a conversation with him, their flow is good. And when it just dies down slowly, it's their cue to get back to what they're doing. Then, a few moments later, one of them, mostly Ethan, has a random realization of a question like, 'Asea seemed someone I would like to hang out with, why would she even fell in love with you in the first place?' (In which he begrudgingly say he doesn't know but that's all in the past) or 'that tomato soup the other day's good. Don't listen to Azrael saying it needs more salt. He's just into salty food, that's why.' (In which he took as a compliment despite his often nonchalant and calm tone when commenting about him, his drawing, and cooking)
He's always a foot away from him because of his phobia and when they talk, he actually appreciates that Ethan looks at him in the eye and is actually engaged with their conversation.
He still does that, when they eat in midday after lunch, and Roo makes him something because really, one thing that stayed the same is when Ethan makes sure he didn't poison it before he finally eats it himself. He notices that he watches his friends eat first before he eats some. He wanted to ask him about it sometimes but he feels like they're not close enough to chitchat about their childhood traumas yet.
He wanted to ask him about something, though. Something that has been bothering him for days since they started 'dating'. Scratch that, ever since that day he made apple risotto for him. He asked Asea about it some time, in case he forgot the recipe and she did confirm that cinnamon and bacon are included in it.
Why does he feel that there's something else? Maybe he watched the anime and found it similar so he suggested it, that's all. Why is he so bothered?
"You watched Shokugeki no Souma before?"
"I don't watch anime." Oh. That's weird. And too specific. Makes him feel more bothered.
"Why did you ask me to put cinnamon and bacon on the apple risotto that day?"
He thought for a while as if remembering that day and after a few seconds, he answered:
"I like bacon and you smelled like cinnamon. Apples fit cinnamon very well." He hissed and got back to clipping his nails. "It came out well, don't ask too much." He said, rolling his eyes.
It didn't stop his heart from drumming wildly. Similar to how his heart behaved that one fateful day when everything changed between them.