Alek was having a fun time with Castor. Pollux joined the conversation, and soon, Bia joined too in their talk.
Kai and Iris were watching their siblings talk.
It was now awkward for them to talk. It was their siblings who were leading the talk and, the two younger ones were the ones to listen to their talk.
They looked at each other with awkwardness.
"So...the food is great...Do you want more?" Kai asked with an awkward smile.
The moment he saw Iris look down, he face palmed himself inside.
'Stupid! Stupid me!!'
It was already too late for him to take those words back. Kai was used to Alek being honest about the food and, he forgot that not all girls are not like his sister.
Kai was about to bring up another topic when Iris raised her head and served more chikuzen-ni on her plate.
Now, Kai was more than feeling bad. He felt like he forced her to eat more.
'Argh, dang it!'
Kai wished he never spoke from the beginning. He'd rather be in an awkward silence than forcing a little girl to eat more.
Iris saw how Kai was like and decided to talk.
"Your sister told me that me and you would get along pretty well." Making Kai startle.
He didn't think the little girl would talk to him. He took some time to understand what she had said.
"You mean Alek?" Kai asked the girl in front of him who had big, round eyes.
The girl nodded her head before putting food in her mouth.
"I think she's no that wrong." She spoke before Kai could talk. "I do think that we are similar."
"..." Kai was speechless.
Not only that the girl talked like a grown woman but, she was right. He had noticed the girl observed everything before she did anything. Iris was careful despite her age. He wondered where she got that from.
Iris thought what she said had caused Kai to be angry because he had frozen on the spot.
"Or, maybe I–"
"She's right. I agree that we are similar in most ways." Kai interrupted Iris.
Iris didn't expect this kind of answer from him. Iris didn't understand what Alek meant when she said the boy and her would get along well.
But when Iris was observing him closely, she finally understood what Alek meant.
She saw him observe the surroundings and noticed things that nobody else would have noticed.
Kai finally noticed that his sister was smart. He used to think she only had her brain for books and myths, no offence. The awkwardness in the air slowly disappeared that now, they understand each other.
They both knew that talking was not the way to communicate with each other so, they sat in silence. Kind of like communicating with facial expressions.
Kai and Iris had finally found a person who understood each other without talking.
Iris was glad she had someone like Kai in the family and, Kai was thinking the same thing about Iris.
They smiled at each other and continued eating in silence, watching their siblings talk in different emotions from five minutes ago.
-----------------
The sun was halfway down the horizon when both families decided to stay for the night.
Astraea's family had a long drive back home and, Lake didn't want to drive back home at night with a bad eye field.
Besides, the house had enough rooms and had clothes for everyone. Everyone had their spare clothes that moms kept in this house in case of need.
Everyone was full from all the food they ate lunch, so they needn't had to eat supper.
So when the sun was entirely under the horizon, leaving gorgeous, different colours in the sky, one by one, they started showering, starting from the youngest.
While Iris was taking a bath, Alek went to sit on the bench under the tree in the garden.
Thankfully, there were lights in the garden and, she could read the book nonetheless.
Alek brought out the book she was reading yesterday night. She stopped reading the book yesterday because one of her favourite character died and because she was sleepy.
Her heart started pumping really loudly and, her hands began to sweat. It seemed like she hasn't recovered from yesterday's blow.
Even thinking about his death made her eyes pool with tears and, she hasn't even begun the book.
'I gotta deal with this! I can do this! I'm a b*tch. Grow your a*s up, woman!' Alek told herself like she was getting ready for a dangerous fight. She even stretched her muscles just to read a book.
When she had enough of her stretches, she was finally ready to continue the book. She opened her book to where she left off yesterday.
It was where his best friend goes on berserk without him.
They were more than best friends. They were brothers. And he couldn't be there next to his brother when he died because he was saving his best friend's love.
He was angry with himself, but that was his best friend's wish. He had to keep on moving.
She closed the book and stood up.
"Oh, hell no! I CAN NOT do this! I am not strong enough! I am not a b*tch! I thought I was one, but hell no! You are not one, you stupido!"
She spoke to herself out loud. Good thing her mother wasn't close enough to hear her. Otherwise, those words will be her last words. But someone else had heard her.
"I heard you!" Bia shouted from her room to Alek.
Alek: 'Oh, snap...'
"Sorry!" Alek shouted back at her sister.
Alek had forgotten Bia and her room were next to the garden. She was waiting for anyone who has heard her but, it seemed like no one else had heard her. She relaxed.
She was about to leave when a voice scared her.
"I heard you too." Her aunt, Astraea, had shown up from the back and scared the heck out of Alek.
"Uhhh!!" Alek screamed.
"Would you stop that, Alek?! It's at night!" Bia shouted at her sister again, not knowing the situation outside.
"Sorry!" Alek shouted back at her sister again.
"Sorry for making you startle, Alek." Astraea told her with a troubled expression. She didn't expect her niece to be so scared.
Astraea thought Alek knew she was in the garden, feeding the Koi fishes.
"Should I tell your sister that it's my fault for making you scream?"
"No, that's okay, aunti. I didn't know you were close by." Alek didn't know when her aunt had heard her from. She hoped her aunt was far away, not close enough to make out the words that she spoke.
"What are you reading?" Astraea saw the book in Alek's hand.
"This is just a book that I've been reading for a while." Alek replied honestly.
"Would you mind telling me the story of the book?" Astraea asked her niece, who looked really sad as soon as she asked her.
"What's wrong? You don't have to tell me the story if you don't want to, Alek."
"It's not that. I have not yet finished the book and, the story is so sad." Alek looked like she was about to cry.
"So, will you tell me the story? Maybe we can share the sadness?" Astraea shrugged her shoulders slightly and sat on the bench.
"You asked for it..." Alek sighed and started to explain the book from the beginning.
When she began talking about the book, her face started to light up. It was entertaining to watch how Alek's face changed from story to story.
It took an hour to finish explaining the book and, the whole time, Astraea was just looking at her niece's face and not listening to the story she was telling.
Actually, Astraea had read the book Alek was talking about but, she didn't dare to say it out loud.
"...And, that's about it for the book. I hope you understood what I explained..." Alek looked at her aunt's face and looking for any sign of discomfort.
"That was amazing, Alek. I enjoyed it very much. Thank you for reading explaining it to me."
Astraea didn't lie. She was talking about Alek's facial expressions. It was fun watching her niece go crazy over a book.
"You're welcome, aunti. Are there any questions about the book?" Alek saw the quick smirk that flashed on her aunt's face and, she was about to ask her but, Bia butted in.
"It's your turn to take a bath, Alek." Bia's hair was not dry and, it looked like she just came out of the shower.
Bia wore a black half-sleeved top and black shorts that showed her smooth, muscled legs. She had a towel in her right hand to dry her hair.
"Oh, okay. I guess I'll go shower now." Alek carried her book and left Bia and Astraea in the garden.
When Astraea was sure Alek was gone, she looked at Bia with a confused gaze.
"You still haven't told her? When are you planning to tell her?"
"It's not my job to tell her, auntie. Besides, she will know when the time comes." Bia told her aunt with a boring expression.
"So she doesn't know." Astraea looked at her niece with disbelief. "It can be dangerous for her. I can't understand what your parents are thinking. It's not like she would be safe. Keeping her in the dark only delay what's going to happen. They have dragged this for way too long." Astraea was really concerned about Alek.
Bia was about to retort when her aunt stood up and started walking towards the house.
"Keep your eyes on your sister. This is not going to be pretty."
Astraea didn't turn around to see Bia's face and, without waiting for her to reply, she disappeared into the house.
Bia clenched the innocent towel in her hand and stared at where her aunt had disappeared.