Chapter 17 (Part. I)

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And then the sound of my door opening very loudly followed by what I only describe as a stage gasp, those ones you hear in bad movies or theatre plays, that was abruptly stopped. Being once again pulled out of sleep, I moved the arm restraining me and looked up to glare at Allegra who had a hand wrapped around her mouth and a shocked expression in her eyes. My somewhat conscious brain didnt like the fact that I was being woken up constantly so I only remember going back to sleep.

It felt like five mins later when I was pulled from sleep a last time when some decided to rip my cover of warmth.

My eyes flew wide up at a smirking yet tired looking Ian standing at the foot of my bed with all of my blankets in his arms.

"WHAT THE HELL IAN!" I shrieked, and I knew that the rest could hear me if they were still in the house. As much as I hated to bother them, this was something that bothered me cause my room was freezing and I really didnt need to wake up.

What is with this place, I just want to sleep more.

"Come on Naila, we actually have to get up now. We definitely missed breakfast at this point," Ian looked at me with a pointed look. Im not sure if my mind registered what he said properly so I didn't respond but furrowed my eyebrows.

Quite suddenly, I flung myself at my blanket only for him to hold it out of my reach to which he raised an eyebrow in surprise but he only looked amused.

We sat there staring at each other for a good few seconds before I got out of bed grumbling, leaving Ian there and entering the bathroom just to brush my teeth, not wanting to change out of my pajamas yet.

Instead of checking where Ian was, I padded through the hall, feet bare against the cold wood, and went downstairs. Going through the kitchen area and towards the living room. I followed the sound of voices and found Mikael and Mako on the couch. Mako was working with a laptop on his legs and a text book was open beside him while Mikael was

Well The easy answer was that Mikael looked to be attempting to climb Mako while Mako kept pushing him to the side which caused Mikael to glare at him but somewhat stopped when Mako pushed him to lay down and started patting his head. Contented with the touch, Mikael somewhat melted?? He calmed down, his eyes drooping a little, and started to just watch the show playing on the Tv with the sound low, until he noticed me staring at him.

Oh god, why was I just staring?!

Just now I realized I was leaning against the wall and moved to stand straight. I quickly retreated into the kitchen before Mikael could say anything as I saw he was about to speak while Mako, too absorbed in his work didnt seem to notice me.

Instead of dwelling on anything, knowing how much good that has gotten me so far, I decided Id just heat up the leftovers from the breakfast for Ian and I, just piling everything on one plate and Id divide it once its done, I stuff it into the microwave, I leaned against the counter sipping some orange juice occasionally.

Not really paying attention to much other my thoughts, I jumped a little, when a hand was placed on my shoulder. Feeling a cold discomfort on my chest, looking down, my shirt was slightly wet from some orange juice being spilt.

"Oops, sorry about that," Mikael looked sheepishly, quickly grabbing some paper towel and handing it to me. "You seemed to be in your own little world, I didnt mean to startle you."

I shook my head while wiping down my pajama shirt.

"No, no. It's alright. Yeah, I was just in my head. It was my own fault," the beeping of the microwave signalling the food was done and I went to take it out but Mikael beat me to it. He placed it on the counter beside me and I gave him a grateful nod and a small, somewhat half hearted smile. I don't know, today I was just really out of it.

Not really acknowledging Mikael much further, I grabbed another plate and portioned out half of it onto it.

"Hey," I spoke, addressing Mikael. "Do you think you could find Ian, and tell him I got him some of the leftovers?"

"No worries, Im already here Nai."

Looking over, Ian came in and breezed past Mikael, but not without brushing their hands together, probably thinking I wouldnt notice but I suppose I did kind of see it from the corner of my eye. Somehow, the way Ian looked was somewhat tense, looking at me with what I could tell was concern, a look I was getting very familiar with. I silently sighed passing the plate of food to Ian with a thin smile and glancing at him noticed he was staring absentmindedly.

Instead of dwelling I checked the time, it seems me and Ian really slept in as it was approaching noon. I looked back at the other guy in the room.

"Did you want to eat too, Mikael?" This seemed to break Ian out of his reverie, and dashing the confused look off of Mikael's face as he flashed another smirk (of course) and shaking his head. "No, Im good, I'm still full. You guys go ahead."

"Alright, theres still more in the fridge if you want some," I replied shrugging and taking my plate. "Im just going to eat in my room. I have to get ready for work a bit anyways."

Leaving them before they could protest, as I was walking away I came to realize I was going through one of my more reclusive moods. Amelia has said before that if that ever happens before a shift, I could just call in sick. I really love her for worrying but its not really easy for her to find replacements at short notice, but then again she always seems to know if Im out of it and she starts scolding me a lot

Somehow, Amelia seems to be able to read me better than a lot of my own friends and family. Everyone at the Café has always seen her as a second mother because of her absolutely scary protectiveness over me and my other coworkers as well as some of our regulars.

I should just call in and sleep for the rest of the day. Grabbing my phone from the charger, a couple of texts from my mom and sister showed up as well as some from Fayre, Orion and Marcie. Unlocking, I entered my messaging app and scrolled through, just looking at them, not having the energy to reply just yet until one name caught my attention, my breathing hitched and I could only stare at the preview message, not willing myself to open it.

"Hello sweetheart, it's been too long. I think we should have a talk"

A deep feeling of dread started to fill up a lot of space inside of me quickly.

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A/N: Hiya! I'm sorry that I haven't updated recently. Online school has been sucking the life outta me lol. For some reason, I'm always mind-boggled when I see how many views there are on this story (I sound like such a pick-me girl, idek if thats the right term, my sister says it and says its from TikTok which I dont have, but I'm just being honest heh).

Anyways... I hope you guys enjoyed the first part of this chapter because things are really starting to go down lol.

I hope you guys have an amazing day/night!!

If you have any suggestions to make my writing better in any way, please do comment and tell me! It would be very much appreciated.

Thank you so much for reading!

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