Everyone stared at each other one more time before Alek got in the car.
It was like everyone knew what was going on besides Alek.
But Alek didn't notice the tension in the car as she was busy remembering the time when she got lost in a forest but, Aether found her.
She was playing hide-and-seek with Aether in a forest but, when she was looking for a place to hide, she steeped into the deepest part of the forest and got lost.
She cried and called out her brother's name but, no one seemed to have heard her. She heard the creepy sound of birds and, even though it was the middle of August, a twilight in a forest was cold.
She stumbled on a root of a tree and sprained her ankle. Her ankle was in pain, the forest is creepy and cold, and no one came for her.
She started thinking about what her mother told her. "Do not go to that forest after the sun goes down. Animals there are dangerous."
But she was too concentrated on finding a place to hide, she didn't realize the sun was touching the horizon.
She cried harder and screamed her brother's name. But when she thought no one was coming for her, she heard something coming to her, but it didn't sound like footsteps. It sounded like something was crawling, and it was fast!
She trembled in fear, covered her mouth and even stopped breathing. She didn't notice she had stopped crying. She didn't dare to look back.
The snake got closer until it came in the sight of Alek. The snake was tiny, but to her, it looked like it could swallow her whole.
Alek was about to scream, but she heard footsteps. The snake disappeared quickly from her sight but, she couldn't sigh in relief.
Someone was behind her and, tears pooled in her eyes.
That person seemed like he had a light with him. Every time he gets closer to Alek, the light will move closer to her.
Alek thought about running, but she couldn't with a sprained ankle.
He reached her and touched her shoulder. She screamed as she would never scream. But that person quickly lit up his face and sat beside her.
It was Aether. He hugged his sister tight and told her that it's okay now. She cried harder and but Aether told her they need to leave this place because animals like snakes are very common.
Her tears stopped but, hiccups started.
Aether was proud of his sister for stop crying. He gave her a sunflower he had in his hand and told her.
"No matter where you are, I will find you. I promise to this sunflower. It's a secret promise, just the two of us."
He put his pinky out and, Alek held his pinky with hers, nodding vigorously between hiccups. Aether smiled and carried her piggyback style to the entrance of the forest.
Panacea and Robin were waiting outside of the forest with worried faces but, when they saw Alek on the back of Aether, carrying a sunflower in her hand, they were relieved.
They rushed to their children and hugged them tightly before going to the hospital. On the way to the hospital, Panacea was furious with both Aether and Alek.
Telling the two, they should have been more careful but, it was useless to tell them since they were just kids.
They went to the hospital, put bandages around Alek's sprained ankle and went home.
By the time they reached home, Alek and Aether were peacefully sleeping in the backseat, with Alek slightly snoring with her puffy eyes.
Alek was brought back to reality when the car stopped in front of her grandmother's house.
Her grandmother came out of the door just in time to see her grandchildren.
Even though all her hair was white, she was a charming and energetic lady.
There was a time when she and Alek went on a morning walk when Alek came for a sleepover. Alek found herself unable to keep up with her grandma in her who is in the seventies.
After the walk, she was drained of all of her energy but, her grandma looked alive more than ever. Since that day, Alek promised herself, not to tag along with her grandmother for a walk.
Her grandmother, Mikoto, came down the steps and hugged each one of her family.
She wore a sunflower printed crew neck casual long dress. She had an Asian face due to her mother being Japanese.
Mikoto taught all of her children and grandchildren Japanese to keep the language alive in her family.
They used it when don't want other people to know what they were talking about.
And Alek, Bia and Kai did the same when they talked in school or have an argument. Panacea sometimes grumbles in Japanese when she's frustrated.
Mikoto lived in a one-story, Japanese style house with a garden, including a pond with Koi fishes, shishi-odoshi and a Bonsai, and a field of sunflowers behind it.
Her husband had died early when Astraea, Panacea's sister, was twenty years old due to sickness.
Panacea was already married to Robin at a time and, they insisted on living with her in their house but, Mikoto declined the offer as she told them she would stay in her house, which is filled with memories.
When Alek and others entered the house, they met Astraea, Lake, Astraea's husband and a younger brother to Robin, and their kids, Jin and Rin, the twin brothers, and Iris, the youngest of the family.
Alek greeted her aunt and uncle and moved to greet the twins. The twins were older than her by a year and, they often played with four when they were little. Aether, Alek, Jin and Rin.
But when Astraea's family moved to the other side of the country, it became harder for them to meet and eventually, they stopped talking.
It had been three years since they met each other apart from Astraea and Lake, who often came to visit her older sister, Panacea, to have a chitchat.
When Alek stood in front of the twins and she found herself looking up to talk to them.
'Men, they've grown!'
It was an extremely awkward meeting when they have not talked for a long time. But seeing them again made Alek remind her of the times they played together with Aether.
Jin and Rin always argued but, Aether always stepped in between them to stop them. Those were fun times. Alek didn't know if they remembered about that night.
Iris looked like a flower fairy with a sunflower headband on her head.
'I see a real-life fairy now!!'
And Alek also saw flowers behind Iris in her vision. Alek brushed her eyes. But still saw a fairy with big eyes.
Before Alek could run to her, Iris hid behind her brothers.
Iris carried her small stuffed lamb in her arms and peeked at Alek.
She was not good with meeting unfamiliar people and, she didn't have much memory of her cousins. Iris looked at her cousins and saw they were beautiful.
The girl with the blue dress looked like she was the oldest of them all but, she looked like a five-year-old at the same time.
The moment girl with a blue skirt looked at Iris, she thought this girl would eat her whole, but the girl wearing the suit stopped the oldest from coming to her.
The girl with the suits looked cold but, Iris could feel that is just the outside of her. The suit girl had the eyes of an overprotective sister. She looked like a personal bodyguard of the blue dress girl. Iris knew that because her brothers had the same eyes as Bia.
And finally, Iris's eyes settled on Kai. She thought he was older than her, but not that much. He looked like a mature man despite being shorter than the suited girl next to him.
Kai looked calm but also had something childish about him. He looked like a person who wouldn't stop talking if someone asks about what he liked.
The blue dress girl had the same vibe as him but without calmness.
Alek found Iris staring at her and her siblings with curiosity. She crouched down next to the girl.
"Sorry, I forgot to introduce ourselves. Hi, my name is Alektrona. People call me Alek but, maybe you can create a nickname for me and call me by that.
The one with the suit, her name is Bia, she is my sister. She may look cold, but she is funny if you get to know her. And the boy next to her is Kairos, my brother. People call him Kai. He is a few years older than you but, I have a feeling you two would get along pretty well."
Alek told her little cousin with a smile on her face. Iris reddened her face and stared at her stuffed lamb. Alek smiled faintly seeing her little cousin.
Iris looked like the observing type like Kai. She gathered information with eyes and ears. If Iris were a boy, she would have turned out like Kai.
Alek was dozing off, imagining fake scenarios in her head like always.
It took a while for Iris to respond. She looked like she was debating with herself if she should introduce herself or not.
But finally, she looked up from her lamb and talked.
"Hi...I'm Iris...Nice to meet you."
It was a whisper but, Alek heard it crystal clear. The fact that Iris responded made the smile on her face wider. She was crying fountain in her mind.
'She is destroying my heart!'
"Nice to meet you too, Iris." The girl flushed a little harder when she heard Alek call her name.
Alek stood up and was about to leave when she saw that the little girl seemed to have more to say. She crouched down again next to her.
"What's wrong?" Alek asked her but, the little girl seemed somehow scared of her.
She thought Iris wanted to talk to Bia, so she was about to stand up again when the little girl grabbed the edge of her dress. She looked hesitant but, she looked up and asked Alek with big round eyes of hers.
"Can I call you Nana?" Her eyes were full of hope. If this were the situation in mangas, Alek would have nose bled by now, dying from the cuteness Iris was emitting.
"Of course!"
When those words left Alek's mouth, Iris's face lit up like a child who got the toy she wanted.
Alek almost hugged the little one but, she didn't want to scare her, so instead, she held Iris' hand with both of her hands and smiled back at her.
When Alek turned to look at her siblings, they were talking with their cousins and didn't seem to realize what Alek was doing.
Iris looked like she didn't want to give up her new friend, and also, Alek wanted to know her little cousin more.
Alek asked without breaking eye contact with Iris.
"Do you want to take a walk with me outside garden?"
The girl nodded her head with a smile.