"Come again?"
"I said I like you!"
Aves certainly wasn't a master at reading expressions, but even he was able to see the disbelief written all over her face. It wasn't limited to that either since even her tone was laced in that same emotion.
Not knowing what to do next, as a consequence of not having thought this far ahead, Aves chose to let his body's natural instincts do the rest.
His eyesight turned blurry as he slightly closed his eyes in anticipation of the reply that he had fretted over ever since he first came to know Isabelle. Not knowing whether that small action of his would actually affect the situation, he held on to the slightest hope that it would at least soften the blow that might arrive anytime now.
Alas… what happened next made his heart drop to the bottom of his stomach anyway.
The awkward silence that followed Isabelle's question came to a sudden stop when a subtle peal of laughter reached his ears. It was Isabelle's. It started off as a low giggle at first, but then slowly turned into the female version of a guffaw.
'No, not the laugh! Anything but the laugh! That's the worst…' Aves had quite literally poured his heart and soul into that one confession, to the point where he felt a little lighter following it. So, to see the very one he liked not taking his proclamation seriously made him briefly reconsider his entire existence.
It was only for a brief moment though, because soon after, confusion took over.
Sure, it could be argued that Aves barely knew anything about Isabelle, so he couldn't have predicted how things would play out once he confessed, but still…
Isabelle was the first girl he had ever come to like. He didn't exactly know why or how it had come to be, but it did. Perhaps it was a quality, or a group of qualities of hers that he had come to appreciate over those plain pretty faces that he barely paid any attention to in High-School, but he certainly knew that there was something about her that drew his attention in at first sight. It was through that judgement of his, which he had come to trust over the years, that he could say for certain that the Isabelle he knew could definitely reject his proposal but never laugh or scorn at it.
It was a gut feeling more than anything, but he trusted it anyway.
'People might start coming in anytime now, though.' Regardless of what he thought about Isabelle, it was a fact that her laugh was slowly getting louder, and it wouldn't be long before people came over to check on the situation. It was quite fortunate that Aves had chosen to confess to her very early in the morning, so not a lot of people were around. He had done that on purpose to specifically avoid the prying eyes of people that would do nothing but make him unnecessarily nervous when he confessed — more nervous than he already was, anyway.
Meanwhile, as Aves was stuck in place, practically scrambling around trying to find a way out of that awkward position— as evident by his eyes unnaturally flitting all over the place, Isabelle seemed to finally have left that state of constant laughter — if ever so slowly, at least. It was only then, amidst her clumsy attempt at wiping the tears that had formed at the corners of her eyes, that she finally appeared to have noticed Aves' plight.
Maybe it was out of shame for what she had just done, or maybe it was something else entirely, but almost immediately after she realised what she just did, her cheeks started adopting a slight red shade.
"I-I'm so sorry for that. I didn't mean to laugh, it just came out by accident." Isabelle sputtered hurriedly, hoping to clear up any confusion.
"Accident?" Layers upon layers of confusion had already been built to resemble a castle in Aves's mind, and it would take one mighty fine explanation from Isabelle to knock it down.
"Yes," Isabelle paused to heave what Aves assumed to be a sigh of relief, probably because she was glad he even thought to reply to her after her previous display.
"You see, the reason I started laughing was because of what you said… No, wait, that's not what I meant —" Seeing Aves' expression grow downtrodden real fast, she scrambled to say, "What I meant to say was that I felt really happy hearing what you said, but that alone wasn't enough to make me laugh."
She paused for a bit then continued, "The truth is… I was planning on asking you out after we finished reading the book, so I was obviously more than shocked when you said you liked me all of a sudden. I-I guess I just laughed at how funny fate can be sometimes…"
She then started playing with a strand of hair as her voice dropped to a whisper, "I guess I owe you one."
Aves' world had already been thrown into the abyss and shot straight back up to heaven so many times throughout that speech that he didn't even know what to think anymore when Isabelle started taking slow steps toward him. He could bet his entire life savings, though, that his facial expression at the moment could be used as comedic material anywhere, that was one thing he was certain of.
It was only when there was barely a few inches separating their faces from each other that Isabelle stopped, her expression a sweet smile that could brighten up any room, and said:
"Aves Glotterman, will you please go out with me?"
---
"And then you two kissed?!"
An ordinary family dinner would usually entail a nicely kept dining area with a few points of interest that would match the overall setting of the room, such as a big dining table, a cabinet in which the plates and cutleries were kept, and maybe a wine cabinet for the families that wanted to feel more luxurious while doing so. It also shouldn't be forgotten to be mentioned that the most important aspect of a family dinner is the family itself and their etiquette at the table, and while that wouldn't be a problem for most families…
Well…
"Dad, I called dibs on this last steak when I was helping mom prepare the food, way before you came down from your office! Mom, isn't that right?"
"What the hell are you even talking about?! How did you even know that there would be one last steak thirty minutes ago? I never knew that my son was a prophet!"
"Guys, guys, guys!" Aves' mother sounded completely exasperated as she yelled over the clamour going on between the father and son pair. "Whoever gets the damned steak isn't the issue at the moment. What matters is whether Aves kissed Isabelle or not! Get your head in the game, dear!"
"Right, right. Sorry, honey. You're totally right…" Aves' father's life or death resolve to get the last steak pretty much crumbled under his wife's stern gaze as he finally let go of the fork that was holding down the plate in the middle of the table.
"Haha! Coward…" Bathing in the light of triumph and glory, all the while wearing a silly grin while doing so, Aves started to taunt his father a little.
"We'll see who will have the last laugh once you let your missus into the house." Aves' dad grumbled under his breath, his back slumped against his wooden chair as he watched his son reaching out to take a bite from the steak.
"Well? Are you going to tell us now?" His mother asked as she turned her head toward Aves.
"Jeez, mom! Why do you want to know so badly?" Aves refused to budge his case for some reason, and instead asked back.
"The answer's right there on your face!" Aves' mother pointed a finger at him, stopping him from getting a bite in on his juicy steak.
"Do you know how long it's been since I've last seen you laugh or even smile like you've been doing over this dinner." His mother's expression softened as she continued, "Forget dinner, you've been grinning from ear to ear ever since you walked through that front door earlier. So, of course, as your mother, I would be interested in any piece of information about the girl who made you like this."
Aves slowly put down the fork that had a piece of steak stuck to it as he pondered over his mother's words. It was true that, ever since his confession earlier in the day, his life had never been brighter. Everywhere he went, even if it was some place he had walked past countless times already, everything seemed different than before. It was as if everything, life included, appeared more interesting and vibrant all of a sudden. That sudden change in mindset and outlook on life appeared to have translated into him smiling and grinning like an idiot all the time, but he didn't hate that. Because, for the first time in what seemed like forever, he was actually looking forward to the future.
It seemed stupid how such a small thing as getting a girlfriend had completely changed his life, and some people might even say that his self-esteem was so low that he basically lived his life depending on how other people saw him, but while they may be true to some extent, they were also wrong in thinking that he needed other people's opinion to survive. The truth was, he just didn't want to spend his early adulthood years all alone and with nobody, aside from his parents, to care for. In that sense, Isabelle's opinion, and only Isabelle's opinion, mattered a lot to him; nobody else's opinion mattered.
Having sorted through all his thoughts, Aves seriously replied to his parents' questioning gazes, "No, we did not kiss."
"Why not?" Surprisingly, it was his father who asked, flabbergasted.
"Well… apparently, she's a lot more popular than I thought, and a lot of people came over to ask what her loud laugh was all about, so they kind of ended up ruining our mood." Aves replied quickly whilst alternating his gaze between his father and mother, checking for any sort of reaction that might tell him whether he had messed up in not taking the chance to kiss her or not.
"Hmm… it could've gone worse." His father said while eyeing his mom after a brief lull had hung in the room.
"Yeah, definitely." His mother nodded her head seriously.
Before Aves could ask them to decrypt their not-so-polite secret code conversation for him, his mom turned to look at him and asked, "So, did you just leave after that?"
"What? No, of course not! We agreed on a place for our first date tomorrow before splitting up…" It was getting quite clear to Aves that he had sort of messed up the latter half of that confession, seeing that even his tone was getting less and less confident, and more embarrassed the more he spoke.
Sigh…
Aves didn't need to be a genius to be able to figure out that he had messed up big time, reason being that he could quite literally feel the palpable disappointment hanging in the air. That, and both of his parents breathing a sigh at the same time helped him figure it out.
"Is it that bad?" Aves asked.
"Hmm… it could've gone worse." His father said.
"Yeah, defin—"
"Would you please stop that?!" Aves was getting tired of their soul to soul conversation and decided to seriously ask, "Do I still have a chance or not?"
"It's not as bad as you think it is, but you still have to make sure that you give her one hell of a good time tomorrow, just in case." His father began.
"Just don't worry about it. You will be fine," His mother reassured. "By the way, it should comfort you to know that I'm pulling for this relationship of yours to succeed. I want to see what she looks like when you bring her over, after all."
"Bring her over?" Aves was too dumbfounded not to ask, "Whoever said anything about bringing her over?"
"What do you mean? You aren't planning on bringing her over? What happens if everything works out between you two, and you end up getting married? Are your father and I supposed to live our lives not knowing what our daughter-in-law even looks like? That's absurd!" Aves' mother's tone was surprisingly quite serious for what Aves considered to be a sensitive subject.
"What she said is right. Besides, why wouldn't you want to bring her over?" His father questioned, confused.
"Well…" As Aves took a brief moment to think of what to say, his eyes inevitably wandered the small room that, by some gracious miracle, they called the dining room.
The dining room was pretty simple in its decor. It had a small, round dining table in the middle that could seat three members, four if necessary. However, that wasn't recommended unless you wanted to accidentally get your food mixed up with the one right next to you. There was an old chandelier hanging off of the ceiling that should've looked gold in colour, but looked bronze instead due to the passing of time. With a few hanging cobwebs at different corners of the room and a couple wooden floor planks that needed more than just a few nails to get fixed, the 'dining' room looked more haunted than habitable.
To add more to the ambience, the central heating system was broken, so it wasn't exactly healthy to stay there for long periods of time during the winter or autumn. And while the dinner that his mom cooked was always nice, he didn't quite like the idea of inviting his girlfriend over…
Ever.
Apparently, whatever Aves had thought of during those few seconds was written all over his face, because his parents ended up exchanging a couple helpless glances that Aves didn't fail to pick up.
The mood swiftly turned awkward as neither his parents nor Aves knew what to say at that moment.
"Son, I understand if you don't want to bring Isabelle over, but I want you to know that things have never been better at work, and if it makes you feel any better, we don't like living here either." It was his father that ended up breaking the ice first.
"That's right, Aves," His mother continued where his dad left off.
"Just a few more years and we will finally be able to move out of this dumpster. We would then be able to interact with society better and, who knows, get a few neighbours that don't hate our guts. Maybe then, you could invite her over for dinner." She giggled in an attempt to lighten the mood.
Hearing what both his parents had to say, Aves felt extremely bad for even thinking that it was an embarrassment to bring Isabelle over. The fact of the matter was that, whatever he had gone through as a child, his parents had probably had it much worse living in this house.
Aves could imagine the bad events they've had to endure, and the scorn that they shielded his eyes and ears from, just because they lived in a run-down house with not much money to spare for materialistic luxury that people often compared themselves with in this society.
It wasn't a lie to say that he felt like a spoilt brat all of a sudden.
This wasn't to undermine the amount of hardships that Aves had had to go through throughout his life, as he'd definitely had his fair share of those, but he was also now aware that, as supposed providers and carers for a child, his parents might've felt like they hadn't done their job properly.
Only now realising the amount of pressure his parents had had to endure, Aves quickly said, "No, no… it's my fault for being insensitive about things. I'm sorry about that. I think it would be a great idea if Isabelle could come here and eat with us. Though, that would have to wait until I get through the first date safe and sound first."
His mother was the first to beam a smile at him, though Aves suspected that it might not have been because of the joke that he cracked towards the end of his apology.
His father followed with a pat on Aves' shoulder while laughing, "No worries, son! We'll make sure that this place is the best it can be for the incoming Mrs. Girlfriend."
After exchanging a couple of laughs with his parents, Aves was about to finally take a bite off of the steak that had gone a little cold by now when his father exclaimed, "Aves, you're still wearing that thing?"
"Eh?" Aves looked down at where his father was pointing, only to notice a silver plated, crucible-shaped pendant attached to a braided, black thread that was hung around his neck .
'Damn, it must have come out from under my shirt when dad patted me on the shoulder.' Aves cursed.
There really wasn't anything special about the pendant that he was wearing. Aves wasn't even religious so it was all the more confusing as to why he was wearing a crucible around his neck to anyone who knew him.
Long story short, Aves had always had trouble falling asleep when he was a kid; whether it be from nyctophobia or any other issues, he'd always stay up until it was deep in the night, which made him very drowsy when he eventually woke up early the next morning.
To try and help him, his mother sang him a short lullaby that she'd made up before he went to sleep one night. Lo' and behold, it ended up working. Unfortunately, it quickly became apparent that it wasn't a sustainable approach due to the obvious flaw that his mother had to be there for him every single night. So, to put an end to the issue, his father went to a random convenience store, bought him a small recording device in the shape of a crucible, Aves' crucible, and recorded his mother's singing so that she wouldn't have to do it again.
It worked like a charm, and so every single night until he was twelve years old, he would put the lullaby on loop until he fell asleep. He stopped using it as much when he got past the age of twelve, but there had been times when he had to use it to fall asleep. There was something about his mother's soothing voice that would put him to sleep all the time, so he didn't mind using it when he was struggling to fall asleep.
However, Aves was too embarrassed to tell his parents that, so he just said, "Um, yeah… I've been wearing it more out of habit than anything else. Plus, the braid feels nice on the skin so long as you get used to it."
"Don't tell me that you still use it?" As expected of his sly father, he completely disregarded Aves' explanation and went straight for the embarrassing stuff. He even seemed to be suppressing a a laugh when he asked.
"Dad, grow up. I haven't used it in ages." Aves wasn't going to let the truth slip, so he lied with the straightest face he could muster.
"Dear, it seems that our little bubba still — eh? Honey, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Aves' father turned to his wife in a bid to continue his teasing, when he noticed that there were some tears forming at the corner of her eyes.
"Ah— it's nothing… Nothing at all." She quickly wiped her tears.
"Mom, are you okay?" Even Aves started getting worried.
"Yes, it's just that with me being extra hormonal and you having my lullaby for over ten years… it made me a bit emotional, that's all." His mother ended up explaining.
"Oh… so that's what it is. You had me worried there for a second." Aves' father sighed in relief.
Aves, on the other hand, caught onto a confusing detail and he didn't hesitate to ask, "Wait, extra hormonal? What's that supposed to mean?"
It looked like both his parents didn't expect that question, given that both of them had different yet sort of extreme reactions to it. His mother's eyebrows jumped at the same time she bit her lips in what looked like nervousness. His father, on the other hand, turned to look at her as if blaming her for something.
Just like that, an unnerving silence descended yet again.
"Hello… Can anyone tell me what the hell's going on?" Every second that passed by in silence only served to increase the sense of foreboding building up inside of him, so Aves decided to break the ice by waving his hand.
Aves' follow-up question appeared to have activated some sort of switch, seeing that both of his parents nodded at each other at the same time.
"Aves, there's something your father and I want to tell you." Alarmed by the sudden severity of his mother's tone, Aves silently nodded his head and gestured for her to continue.
"The truth is… your mother is pregnant." His father finally revealed after a deep breath. "You are going to have a new sibling!"
"Preg…nant?" Aves simply echoed back, too dumbfounded to think of anything else to say.
"That's right, Aves! Just think about it! In less than a year, there will be another mini-Aves roaming around the house. Or it might even turn out to be a girl. Imagine a tiny but cute girl crawling around and calling you big brother!" The more his mother spoke, the more excited she sounded. "Or wait! She might even start calling you bubba just like we do! Wouldn't that be the most adorable thing, Aves?"
"We are also aware of how much you've been wanting a sibling ever since you were a child, so this has got to be fantastic news!" His father followed up in his over-enthusiastic… grating tone.
"We were thinking that we could get your old crib from the storage area and place it in your room, so that the baby could sleep there once it grows old enough. I know it's your room and everything, but you don't use it anymore since you're away most of the time." His mother paused to take a breath after talking so fast in one go. "You don't have to worry, though. We can always make some space if you ever want to sleep there in the future. But, that's not the point! The point is that you will finally have a sibling after so many years! It's great, isn't it? Isn't it… Aves?"
"Great…?" Aves just sat there, slowly shifting his gaze from his father to his mother, and back to his father again, his neck movements too stiff to be anything remotely human-like. His eyes then glanced a little downward, right on his parent's side of the table, where he happened to see his father's hand firmly holding on to his mother's, an ever so slight tremble running through them.
And that's when it clicked.
"This isn't a joke, right? Th-this whole thing isn't some facade that you two made up, right? Because if it is, it's too unfunny… Mom, dad. Please, tell me this is a joke—"
"This isn't a joke, Aves—"
"Why?!! Why isn't this a joke?! Why couldn't this have been a joke?! Pregnant? What kind of sick sh*t is this?!" Aves snapped, his hands involuntarily slamming the table.
"Aves, please, listen—" His father tried to interject.
"No! You need to listen to me. All of this is bullshit, okay?! Great? What's so great about having a sibling, huh? I am eighteen years old for f*ck's sakes! That child would be as old to me as I am to you two!! Where's the sense in that?!"
Aves was breathing roughly at this point, "Eighteen years! Mom, dad, eighteen years with no other children than me, and then you two suddenly go and decide it's time for another one? In what world does this make sense?! Please, please! I am begging you, give me an answer right now!"
The room fell silent once again, with Aves' deep breaths being the only audible sounds to focus on until his father decided to speak up.
"Aves, you have to understand that with how good everything has been going in life, we—"
"Good?" Aves almost thought that he had misheard him. "Dad, you're kidding right? What part of this is good?"
Aves abruptly stood up and gestured at the place around him, "Does this look 'good' to you, dad? Because it sure as sh*t doesn't look good to me! Look around us, dad! None of this is good! Nothing has changed since my childhood. Nothing! We still live in the same old house, wearing the same old clothes and doing the same old sh*t we used to do! The only difference is that you have a job now, but have you forgotten about the debt, dad? Surely, you haven't! You want to know why, dad? Because we get reminded of it every single f*cking month!"
Aves had apparently gone completely crazy, flailing his arms around while making wild gestures when appropriate, but apparently, he wasn't done yet.
"What about you, mom? What do you have to say about this?" Aves asked as he turned to face his mom who had already gone pale by now.
"Don't you dare go there, Aves! You know it's not her fault. The fault here lies on no one, okay?" His father tried to explain slowly. "It's just that with you no longer around as often, your mother and I have been getting a little lonely—"
"Oh, so just because you two were getting a little lonely, you go ahead and decide to give birth to a child whose life is about to get ruined?!" Aves exclaimed.
"What do you mean 'ruin', Aves? Nobody is going to ruin anybody's life!" This time, it was his mother who responded, her voice sounding a little weak and on the verge of tears.
"Did you guys really think that, growing up, everything was nice and dandy for me? That, despite our living conditions, I was happy? News flash, mom, dad, I wasn't! Everyday that I went to school was just another day that I'd get bullied, oppressed and practically sh*t on for living here, in the slums! Not one day was I happy! Not one f*cking day! But, do you know what? I never once complained, because I knew that you guys had enough on your plate already…" His voice started getting raspier and raspier as he struggled to fight back the emotions welling up inside him.
"Aves…" His father whispered. "We didn't think—"
"That's the problem, dad." Aves responded, a few locks of hair covering his face as he looked down on the floor. "You never think. You only just do things, and never think of the consequences…"
Aves' mind was a mess at the moment, and those stupid intermittent periods of silence, like the one occurring right now, didn't help clear it up one bit. He had never once liked yelling at his parents because it always managed to leave a bad taste in his mouth. But, this one time, Aves truly felt like his parents deserved the harsh round of scolding, and by the looks of their pale faces and still clenched — yet ever so trembling — hands, his parents knew that they deserved it too.
There was one thing that Aves left out from his rant, and that was the fact that he was not only enraged at their foolishness, he also felt betrayed by their decision. He wouldn't admit it, but for the longest time, it had only been him and his parents. No one else. So, to suddenly find out that there would be a fourth addition to the family… it scared him.
"I'm leaving." Aves suddenly announced, already taking slow steps toward the exit.
"Aves, wait—" His mother started, a few tears running down her cheeks.
"It's fine. I just need some time alone to think, that's all. Sorry for not being able to finish the last of the steak. Good night."
And just like that, with the slow creaking sound of the front door opening and closing, his parents were left with themselves, their thoughts and the few trails of cold wind that accompanied Aves' departure.