I woke up to the smell of coffee.
I immediately remembered that teasing voice that woke me up every day with the promise of newly made coffee, and how she would laugh as I tried my best to untangle from all the blankets and fail. I remembered the rare days she made breakfast, the days we had time and neither of us was rushing out the door.
The mornings when we ate together, laughed together, when it felt like my whole world was in the room right next to me.
I rushed to the kitchen.
my love wasn't there waiting for me with coffee.
I saw Arthur sitting on one of the barstools, sipping on my coffee.
he looked at me and smiled,"Hope you don't mind me drinking your coffee".
I did mind it a lot.
It was my coffee, and my kitchen.
wait- how did he get in????
and that's when I finally noticed the guy standing a few feet away from Arthur. He was an inch or two taller than me,had dark brown hair, and was in a suit just like Arthur. I wondered if he was there yesterday too.
I seemed to have stared at him for too long because he glares right at me, "I apologise for using your kitchen without permission, Mr woods wouldn't stop complaining about not having any coffee to drink." the amount of disdain he had used in just the word Mr woods was astounding, my lover would have honestly liked him just for that.
"you wound me, Merlin! you know I can't survive without my morning coffee." Arthur sounded like this was a conversation they had already had before.
"What are you doing in my kitchen?" I asked, yes that's what mattered first, I shall take revenge for the coffee later.
Arthur smiled and gestured for me to take a sit as if this was his home and not mine. Arthur didn't show up in a lot of my love's stories, she didn't like to think about her past there, but when she did it was always so terribly sweet. I could always see the sadness in her eyes and how she longed to have her brother back.
she wouldn't like me to be rude to him but he makes it so hard.
"I would like your help in a case," Arthur said as he reached for the file Merlin had in his hand. when did that get there?
"a case?" my love's voice whispered, without noticing I had whispered the same.
"a case indeed, and I need your expertise," he said.
"why me?", I asked. it could be any of the countless other people yet he chose me? the only one who has a connection with his sister. It couldn't just be a coincidence.
he sighed like he couldn't comprehend how I couldn't understand something so simple, and if that wasn't insulting I don't know what is.
"You break rules, color out of the line, and I need that." and bells rang in my head.
"I ain't helping you break the law," I said, I am a good citizen damn it.
he tilts his head looking at his partner and they seem to have a silent conversation.
"Less rule breaking, more like taking advantage of the loopholes."
my love threw her head back and hackled, I could totally see the resemblance now.
I pinched my nose, it was only morning and I was already so exhausted.
"let me look at the file and I will think about it." i held my hand out.
His face went through an emotion too fast to name. He gave me the file in a very hesitant motion, "It's about my sister."
so it's about the incident. "I didn't know something happened to Iris, there was nothing in the news." it's not about Iris, I know that, but it's best to see how much he knows before I show him all my cards.
"No, this is about my other sister..." and he was hesitant again,
"Nyx" he finally finishes.
"I see", I say as I look through the file.
The same disaster I had looked through three months ago when the incident had taken place.
"Woah! Would you look at that! so gruesome. Did you know that the explosion was so huge that they couldn't even recover my body?" my love's voice cheerfully said as she peeked at the file over my shoulder. I did know know that. I remember the feeling of having to bury a box that didn't have a body. placing her grave right next to her mom's, while I had cried and apologised because I had promised I would keep her daughter safe, that I would keep her happy.
did I even have any right to be upset with my love for breaking her promises when I had done the same?
not that it matters now.
I am alive, Nyx is dead, and her brother is sitting in my kitchen, uninvited might I add.
I closed the file, and there were so many holes in the case, none of which made sense, not that anything can be done about it since I was taken off the case, since everyone was taken off the case and put out of limits.
"I am not sure what this has to do with your sister," I said, and for more emphasis, I turned the television on, there on the screen was Nyx Woods the middle child with her golden yellow hair and blue eyes to match the rest of the Woods family. She seems to be giving another interview about something I could care less about.
There was a flash of anger as he pointed at the screen, "That's not my sister," he nearly growled.
"That's an imposter", he spat out.
I knew that. And it seems Arthur really did care for my love if he was all the way here. But I couldn't say this out loud so I settled for just an eyebrow raise.
That seems to just agitate him more, before whatever he is about to say, a cup of more coffee is shoved into his hands by his partner? bodyguard? friend?
He calms down a bit, "that's a shame, it was finally getting exciting" my love says as she leans entirely on me. And after years I have realised that just maybe Gwen was right, that I am indeed becoming like Nyx, a sucker for mind games, not that I would ever tell her, she would brag so much.
"That's not my sister," he repeats again and I am so tempted to say I know.
"My sister disappeared when I had left the country to study, I didn't know about that till I came back and was facing a person who looked and sounded nothing like my sister but had her name." he pauses to sip his coffee and maybe even think and the few seconds gives me enough time to notice the dark circles I hadn't noticed before.
"I searched for her and came up with nothing," and he sounded so sad when he said that, but my hallucination clearly wasn't because she jumped and said, "Why, thank you, I am very proud of that! spent so many weeks, day and night to hide all traces", which is why I was surprised in the first place when Arthur had found me.
"I was investigating the reasons for the explosion when I came across this report." he slides a sheet of paper across the table, and my lover's face stares at me.
"It's been years but I know that that is my sister."
Today is gonna be a long day.