I looked at the head popping out of the door frame that was slightly open.
"Can...I...come in big brother" a tiny voice squeaked out from behind them.
"Yes" I awkwardly replied back in confusion.
In an instant, I saw a red ball of fury tackle me down as I had to balance myself from falling back down on the bed.
Two slender and tiny hands warped around my waist "Are you alright now? Big brother"
I looked down at the girl who just tackled me, she wasn't as tiny as I imagined her to be, she looked fairly older than I imagined her to be.
Her golden irises met my auburn ones, her face held different kinds of emotions worry, sadness, and fear?
She instantly jumped back and looked at me from head to toe, and then walked over to the table and grabbed a pitcher from which she carefully poured water into a glass.
I watched her slightly fidgeting as she poured it into a glasses and walked back to me with a glass of Luke warm water.
"M-my apologises elder brother, I se-seemed to have forgotten my manners" holding the glass in her hand extended towards me, she looked at the ground.
I drank the water she handed me and finally realised how dry my throat felt, my lips felt very chapped too. Having finally had some water down my throat, I felt refreshed for once in the entirety of the past week.
"Thanks, I feel a lot better..." I felt her gaze on me "Arnold had a younger sister, if I could recall it right. Her name was..." I looked at her and smiled "...Sera"
Her face brightened as the edges of her lips tried to curve upwards but she forced herself to look dignified. It was somewhat comical witnessing this internal struggle in front of me.
"Hahaha" I let out a chuckle looking at the mess of a girl in front of me, her face turned blank and she glared at my face.
Her cheeks puffed ever slightly and her ears turned red.
"So, what are doing here?" I noticed the uniform she was wearing, Sera is 2 years young than. My age is around 16 I'm assuming, I'm not really sure what Arnold's age is but I'll worry about that later, since she is in her uniform and the outside looked really early. I imagine her to be at school right about now.
"What do you mean? 'What am I doing'!? You are asking me that! You know you promised you would attend my Orientation and I come back to find you fallen over and unconscious!? have you lost your mind?! If only you ke-" Tears threatened to drop out from the corners of her eyes if she uttered another word, her posture was aggressively bent forward as her hands clenched themselves. Looking at my utterly confused look she instantly backed away, wiping the tears that threatened to come out. She straightened her posture and bowed down slightly "Apologies brother, it seems I've stepped out of line, I took the liberty of your mood that you gave me too far" she looked down and proceeded to turn around to walk out of the room.
My eyes widened at the sudden outburst but I said nothing, I kept myself relaxed because I still don't understand. A part of me wants to say "sorry" but something in my mind was forcefully not letting me do that, an internal conflict I have never recognized. A state of Ambivalence that I didn't know existed in me until now....No, this isn't mine, these aren't mine. With all my willpower I squeezed out these two words.
"Come. Here" It felt like an echoing reaction vibrating all around the room resounding several times louder than I wanted it to be, it was weird. I barely managed to say these words, the depth of my voice resounded and Sera instantly froze, her hand on the door knob trembled for a bit. She didn't come to me instantly, she left her hand and stood there for a few seconds, before making her way towards my bed.
"She's terrified of me? No, if she was terrified she wouldn't rush me earlier like she did... What did you do to your sister Arnold" As soon as my eyes met with her slightly watery ones, I let out a sigh "Maybe, that wasn't the best move. I still don't know what happened to Arnold and I don't even have memories of his to know what happened. And I'm feeling guilt towards a girl I met barely minutes prior, I was somehow remaining passive and clearing the situation at that moment but I don't know what to do now that I have taken an active action, act like me or act like Arnold. I'm not sure about the dynamic Arnold has with his sister. this hurts my head!!!!" scratching my hair internally, I let out a small sigh outside and patted the place beside me on the bed "Come here" I said it this time softer and barely audible enough that she heard it. her face went through a series of emotion that I couldn't understand but hesitantly sat beside by my side.
I still didn't know what to say to her so it was awkward looking at her, she was fidgeting looking at the plain bedsheet. her red hair looked surreal as the light from the window shined on her. her slightly dim golden eyes, felt almost magical to stare at. I couldn't help myself as I put a hand on top of her head and slowly caressed her hair.
Sera's entire body stiffened as soon as my hand touched her head, but her body relaxed and I slowly played with her for a bit. I didn't trust my words right now so I just relied on continuing to pat her head.
"Brother Al... Are you really okay?" Her voice was slightly cracked from the hoarseness I felt from it, It was a weird feeling. she still wasn't looking at me, so I couldn't just nod my head like before and tried to answer with my voice praying it won't fail me again.
"Yes, I am...dear sister" I bent myself down a little from my place and softly told here again, afraid I might freeze her like I did earlier. It was slow, but I saw her reach out to my hand that was on her head and grab it. she pulled it down and closer to her cheek as I finally realized "This girl was silently crying, huh" It wasn't much, but once my hand touched her cheek I felt way more tears flow down; like a dam that have just overflowed and broke apart. It was weird, since I didn't know the circumstances to why she would break down so much. I assumed she was afraid of her brother, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
I caught a glimpse of her eyes that were overshadowed by her wavy red hair, I saw a glint of crimson in her eyes. My memory faintly jogged back to when I realized when I was about lose consciousness I saw the same pair of similar eyes rushing towards me, I guess I found the source of that now.
"I...was...so scared...*hic*....that just father and mother *hic* you would *hic* disappear" I heard her say between her weeps and tears "Just like them...you made a promise...but would also disappear...like them" It seems, I understood a little bit of the backstory behind this family now. seeing a child that was barely 14 cry in front of me wasn't a pretty sight "Right now, I'm Arnold. I'm sorry in advance Arnold, It was a question pinging at my morality and I wanted to answer it"
I used my other arm to grab her shoulder and brought her closer "Don't worry, it's fine. Big brother won't go anywhere" I tried my best to reassure her only to terribly fail when her weeping got louder.
She dashed forward pushing me down on the bed as she cling on to my neck and pressed her face against my chest "If you want to comfort me...*hic* than let me be here" I didn't say anything to such a claim, this girl saw through my efforts easily.
So, I just let her do whatever she wanted to do. It didn't even take 5 minutes before I felt her breath soften on my shirt that wet due to her tears, she fell asleep clinging on top of me, I slowly moved sideway and laid her on the bed beside me and pulled the blanket up and covered both of us up.
I saw the door open and my head butler enter, having shocked expression on his before it turned into a smile.
Shhh~
The gesture with my finger on my mouth was easily understood by him as he bowed his head and left the room. I patted Sera on her shoulder lightly as her expression changed into her sleep before a smile appeared on her face.
"She's quite adorable, isn't she?" I heard an inner voice within me say that, to which I just agreed with.
"With that done, Time to collect my thoughts on this whole ordeal..." I said to particular no one before glancing back at the ceiling.