Lucent

chapter 2: brothers

     "What's your favorite dish?" he queries leaning on the counter while crossing his arms over his chest and looking sideways at me. I lift my finger and point at the plate of delicious pasta while a cheeky smile creeps into his face. "I knew you had a good taste."

     Once I'm done eating I look up to see my brother furrowing at me as well as staring at my plate, confused. I frown at him too, while he still stares weirdly at me switching his gaze between me and the plate before my eyes. I stare again at my half full plate of pasta and somehow get why he's discombobulated. His words just confirm my theories. "Are you not hungry? You ate very little," he states, uncrossing his arms while looking down at me, a little bit concerned. Even though I'm seated in a high stool beside the island in the middle of the room, his figure is still taller than mine. A head and a half is what he towers over me, at least the minimum. These men I have already met seem to have a slight problem with their heights. In my whole fourteen years of life I had never seen any guy this tall. What did they eat while being children? Seriously. I doubt that milk was extracted from cows, it must have been from giraffes.

     I just stare at him, not making any move to finish off my plate when he sighs, taking the plate from me and pouring it in a bowl before put it in the fridge, either for somebody else to finish or for me to do it another time. He then wasted no time in guiding me into my new room, not before going into the first room I went in when I got to the house, to pick up my small backpack and swing it over his shoulder, pushing me on the back gently to start walking again since I had stopped on my tracks when my curious eyes had landed on a thing in the room. More specifically on a person; an obviously tall figure with incredibly fluffy and dark hair. His eyes were set on his phone but looked up when he heard our footsteps coming into the warm room. A grin on them spread widely, just like when I met Kipp half an hour ago.

     The unknown male gets up from his seat and basically darts across the room to embrace me in an oddly comforting and softhearted hug. Just like Kipp and Ezekiel had done back then in the same room as I am standing now.

     Just like Kipp and Ezekiel, this man has identical greenish eyes as them, making the three of them appear more manly and attractive in a strange way. That was the most common feature the three seemed to share. Unlike the muscular dark-haired man with olive orbs, Kipp is more lanky; however you could perfectly see that he indeed has muscles under that shirt he's wearing.

     My thoughts seem to be interrupted when the man pulls me out of the hug and tilts my chin upwards; his fingers grazing my skin so softly as if he feared I was made of some fragile material such as glass. His eyes scanned me with warmth.

     "I missed you so much, Layla."

    His words caught me by surprise. How did he miss me when I had never met him before? That question roamed in my mind for what seemed like minutes, trying to figure out what he meant by it. I clearly was not going to demand an answer for him. I did not want to speak yet. I just didn't feel prepared for it.

     Of course they know why I unexpectedly came here to live with them, they must know. After all she was their family too. A family she never talked about. I had not heard anything about them since I began thinking for myself as I grew up. I always thought it was just me and her. Two sisters living alone because of their parent's car crash. I would have never imagined that behind that lie, a huge yet unforeseen secret would be spilled once she'd die. I know something must have happened between my new and unknown family for me and my sister to live away from them. Family matters I guess? A fight? Problems? Whatever it is, I am willing to discover it. You just don't go away from your family with your baby sister without a reason. That's the only clear thing I know for sure. There has to be something that she was hiding from me my entire childhood and early years of my adolescence. There has to be a reason, always.