Two Red Strings

Chapter 10

Gérard, on the other hand, couldn't even survive a full minute out in the sun without collapsing from heat stroke. Camellia watched Magnolia passing the ball to her teammates from a shady tree nearby.

She turned to the boys. She saw Feliciano panting as he ran feebly around the tracks. Saul and Ben overtook the Italian. She grinned. "Any news from Jordan?" Gérard asked, coming over with an umbrella. Camellia's smiled instantly vanished, as if it was never there in the first place.

"Not really. But he's definitely with Golden Bell. What about you?" Camellia shifted closer to hide in the shade, even though she sat under a tree. "I found out about that Golden Bell isn't in an Alliance with White Fang, so it's natural that WF and GB are rivals, maybe." He replied.

"That's nice..." Camellia muttered. "Some cranberry juice?" Gérard offered, holding out a spare carton. Camellia took it with great reluctance. "Thanks..." she mumbled, taking out the straw. "No problem." Gérard poked a hole with his fang.

・・・

On Saturday, Magnolia waited outside her house for Myosotis. She sat on the bench, petting a stray cat. It was nearly eight when Pantherlily walked out of the house, shirtless. He yawned, before noticing Magnolia. "Why are you all dressed so early?" He asked, scratching his back.

"Myoy invited me to his cousin's birthday party." She answered. Pantherlily nodded, acknowledging and went back into the house. Just then, she saw a red convertible drive up to her house. In Myosotis' car, there were three other girls. Two were much older while the third one was around their age.

The cat ran off, using her lap as a launching pad. "Is that Magnolia?" A fair ginger cried. "Her hair is like snow!" A pixie-haired brunette commented. "She's soooo pretty!" Another brunette cheered. "Myo, you're one lucky guy!" The ginger punched his shoulder. She heard the girls joke as she ran over.

"Morning Mag," Myosotis smiled, opening the passenger door for her. "Morning Myoy," Magnolia smiled, getting in and closing the door behind her. "Okay!" He turned his body around. Magnolia followed.

"The number one in the family, Jeannette. She's 27 this year." He pointed to the fair ginger. "Hi Magnolia. I've heard a lot about you from Myo." She commented. "The number four, Piper. She's 23." He pointed to the pixie-haired brunette. Now that Magnolia was closer, Piper had red highlights.

"Sup, 'Lia." She popped her bubblegum bubble. Magnolia smelled strawberry. "Finally, this is our youngest cousin, Nicole. She's 13." Myosotis pointed at another brunette. She had braided her hair into tight locks with ribbons weaving in and put of her hair. "Hello." She shyly smiled. Magnolia waved.

"Let's go!" Myosotis turned back to the wheel and drove off. While driving, Jeanette had her One Direction playlist playing in Myosotis' convertible.

"This time I'm ready to run
Escape from the city and follow the sun
'Cause I wanna be yours
Don't you wanna be mine?
I don't wanna get lost in the dark of the night
This time I'm ready to run
Wherever you are is the place I belong
'Cause I wanna be free
And I wanna be young
I will never look back, now I'm ready to run."

As Jeanette sang, Piper typed away on her phone as Nicole danced along to the song, just to get the feel. Magnolia did like One Direction, but she wasn't a huge Directioner. She was more into other bands like Maroon 5 or singers like Taylor Swift. "How many cousins do you have?" Magnolia asked Myosotis, the moment the question popped into her mind.

"Well, about 8, excluding me. Myers and I are the only boys. But he's not coming today." He replied. "Nope, he's coming alright." Piper commented, eyes glued to her phone. "Just told me." She showed Myosotis her phone. "Piper! I'm driving! Do you want to get hurt?" He scolded. "Sorry." She mumbled, recoiling her arm.

Magnolia felt her stomach lurching. She didn't like the idea of Myers at the party, even though she didn't know who he was. She just had a bad feeling about Myers. "Who's Myers?" Magnolia couldn't help but ask. "My twin." Myosotis lowly grumbled, as if he had hated Myers his whole life.

For some reason, Myers's name rang a bell. Magnolia wondered where she had heard that name.

"He's my darling grandson. And he's your age."

Magnolia remembered that nostalgic voice of Gwen. However, her thoughts cracked up as Jeanette and Nicole started to sing to the next song: End of the Day.

"All I know at the end of the day
is you want what you want
and you say what you say
And you're follow your heart even though it'll break
Sometimes..."