"Lee!" Alek ran to the boy after a long time of searching for the cave.
When she was done showering, the twins had left as she told them and, she looked for the cave by herself, which was a bad idea.
She didn't remember where she was and followed the trail she took to find Lee in the morning. Even though she thought she took the same path, it led her to a completely different place. Because she didn't want to bother her cousins by coming and picking her up, she decided to find the cave alone without telling them that she was lost. Well, the good thing was that she found the cave in about thirty minutes of being lost.
"Alek!" The boy hugged her and, she carried him in her arms as she stood up. Behind Lee were her twin cousins walking to them with a weird expression.
"What?" Alek asked the two who approached her.
"We were discussing when you would finally be here. I told him in an hour and, he said in thirty minutes. Guess he was right." Rin smiled at her.
"You owe me noise-cancelling headphone." Jin tapped his brother's shoulder lightly and grinned at him. He was, again, shirtless and provided a very alluring look to everyone.
"You already have headphone." Rin told him. "Why would I need to get you another?"
"To cancel out your voice, idiot. You make a lot of noise when I'm trying to do my studies for once. You distract me." He replied.
"Use earplugs then."
"I watched a video recently about a person who got their earplugs stuck in his ear. It was horrifying, brother." Castor told his brother with a serious tone. That person took an hour to remove the damn thing and, he promised in his heart to never put an earplug or a wireless earphone in his ears.
"Use what you have wisely. Plus, I didn't bet anything."
"I know and, I don't care. You still owe me." Jin put his arms around his brother.
"Haaaarggghh." Rin sighed deeply. He was annoyed with his brother. "Fine, but not until the current one doesn't work anymore."
"Yey! Love you, bro!" Jin tried to kiss his brother on the cheek but, he dodged it smoothly with disgust.
"That's disgusting. Never do that to me." He did the motion for vomiting and went back into the cave.
"Were you swimming again?" Alek asked the boy in her arms and, he nodded excitedly.
"Yes! Rin taught me how to hold my breath without using my powers!" Lee was almost jumping in excitement.
"Really?" She then turned to Jin. "Rin also swam?"
"Nah, he just floated like a dead fish." Jin shrugged his shoulders.
"I heard that!" A voice shouted from the cave and echoed in the forest.
"Oh... Well. I was just saying facts." Jin scratched his head. "Anyway, let's go back to the river and swim! I will teach you how to swim." He then turned at Lee and told him excitedly. He was like an egg in the oven, ready to pop any time.
Lee jumped off Alek's embrace and ran with his brother-friend to the river.
"Be careful!" Alek shouted towards the boys and went into the cave. "Hey. I heard you taught Lee how to hold his breath without the help of his animal. Aren't you going to teach him more?" She found her cousin reading a book.
"Nope. I think I received enough vitamin d for today." Pollux smiled and continued to read. He brought a book that he had never finished reading and a pair of glasses for reading.
"I didn't know you wore glasses. I thought you supernaturals have good eyesight." She spoke as she sat down on the stone near him.
"Are you mocking the entire supernatural world?" He closed the book and looked at her through his sexy glasses. He gave off a different vibe from when he was without glasses. He already looked intelligent from his appearance but, with the glasses, he was hot. Also, his hair was longer than Jin's but shorter than his father. So his hair was partially tied on the top from avoiding them from getting into his eyes. Iris loved to play with his hair since she was a baby and, she always put his hair this way. He didn't mind it anyway as it was his sister, who did it, and it was also helpful when he was studying or cooking.
"No! I, I didn't mean it that way! I thought because you have the powers from the animals, I thought you guys would never be in need of glasses and stuff..." Alek immediately put her hands in front of her as a defense. She didn't mean to offend anybody.
Rin chuckled, seeing her defense. "Stop it. I'm kidding, Alek. I'm not mad. But you did offend many people in the supernatural world." He told her.
"So people like you do wear glasses?" She asked. She still wasn't able to meet his gaze. She felt guilty.
"Many people wear glasses in this world, Alek, including myself. Although this is for reading and light." He removed his glasses and put them as a bookmark for the book.
"Ohh..." She only nodded.
"Yep."
"Yep." Alek raised her eyebrows. She needed to find a good topic to carry on with the conversation as her eyes landed on the book cover he was reading. "Is that, is that Sierra Gu's book?"
"Yeah, how did you know?" Rin asked her. Even though the cover was visible, he put the back cover as a top and, the margin was a blind spot from where Alek sat.
"I have a few of her books back home and, she always has her mark on all front and back cover and the margin." She then pointed at the mark that was on the corner of the book.
"Do you this one?" He passed the book to her since she said she had some books of her.
"Ahh, nope." Alek scanned the book cover and the first few paragraphs from the book but, it didn't ring a bell in her mind. "What's the story about?"
"I'm not sure. I haven't grasped the concept of the book. It's kinda confusing with too many 'mysterious' characters I'm starting to question their point of existing." Rin wore back his glasses as she gave back the book.
"I also didn't know you were this savage." Alek told him. She knew he sometimes had a sharp tongue but not this much. He sounded a little bit like her brother.
"You know now." He raised his eyes from the book for a few seconds before putting them back. His brows were knitted together but, that didn't mean he was angry. It was just his unnoticed habit when reading a book. Those lines on the bridge of his nose never disappeared even when he was reading happy parts or sad parts. Plus, his facial expression never changed. He would occasionally push back his glasses but, apart from that, it stayed the same when reading r-eighteen parts or parts that are not for kids.
"I will swim for a bit and come back." Alek informed him before she slid down the comfortable stone and walked out of the cave. She had removed her sport shoes and kept it in the cave, hence, she walked barefoot to the river.As she walked to the river, she heard two familiar voices having fun. She ran to the origin of the voices and found them as she expected.
"Hey!" Jin put waved his hand and, Lee took the chance to splash water on him. "Lee!" He blocked the water with his arms and acted mad. The boy laughed as he swam in an attempt to get away from him. But his attempt was fertile and got caught within a second. He was soon tickled all over his body and made gasp for air because of too much laughing.
"I... won't do... it... again! I... prom...ise!" Lee told the person tickling and, it was over. Right then, he noticed the presence of Alek and turned to look at her. She was casually wearing a tank top and shorts so that she was able to swim. "You are so pretty!"
"Thank you." Alek replied to the boy and began walking towards them. She was wearing the tanktop inside after the shower and, she was wearing the shorts from the beginning. "It's not cold as I had expected..."
"The sun." Jin pointed up to the sky river. Indeed the sun was warming up the river as everything else underground.
"Definitely." She squinted her eyes and continued to walk. But she was soon no longer walking. The riverbed disappeared and, she didn't expect that.
"Alek!" Jin rushed to where his cousin sank but, her head popped up after seconds and, it relieved him.
"Wow. I thought I would die." Alek put her wet hair backwards and looked at the two people in the river. "This is fun! Man, it's nice to be in water." She floated on the surface, cherishing the moment. She had to think and make many decisions. She needed peace. Maybe that was the reason why Rin decided to float instead of swimming in the nice flow of the river. "I'll be floating."
"Got it." Jin replied and, he no longer paid attention to his cousin anymore as he saw her getting stuck between the rocks and, she was not going to flow away like a leaf.
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"Alek, wake up!" A voice woke up the dazed Alek from her sleep.
"Yeh?" She rubbed her eyes and looked around even when all she could see was a blur. Slowly, her visions became clear and, she could see that she was in the cave, on one of the stones.
"It has rained."