The Elementalists

40.

"See you tomorrow, guys!" I said as I stepped out the car door.

Eric and Flo barely paused to reply in their hurt to get back to their fight. I believe this time it was about which pet has softer paws. Personally, I believed it was a cat but the conversation was too interesting to break up by taking sides.

As soon as I opened the door, I heard another car crunch onto the gravel of the driveway. Surprise passed through me as I turned around to stare at the familiar sports car.

"Wafi?" I spoke up, confused as my brother stepped out of the car. He showed up within ten seconds of them leaving... Was he waiting around the bend?

Maybe I should declare myself as a Water Elemental, atleast then I wouldn't be worried about being compared to Wadi. Who looked every bit the model with sunglasses and perfect hair. If this was an ad for his car, he just got hired.

"Fi." He greeted warmly. I was pulled into a hug as he took his sunglasses off.

I stayed a bit lukewarm to his warm greeting, and pulled away with an awkward pat. "What are you doing?" I spoke with irritation in my voice. He hadn't even called to apologise for that day.

He ran a hand through his hair casually, not a hint of guilt in his eyes. "I'm here to take you to dinner."

I cocked an eyebrow, surprise pushed away the irritation. "Dinner?"

"Yes.
" He smiled wider as he saw my interest. "You know— where you go out to a nice restaurant, eat something healthy, socialise with your family?"

"Wafi, I can't be seen outside with you." I took a step back as I vaguely realised his outfit wasn't him returning from some meeting. It was a casual suit. White shirt, one button open at the collar, navy blue velvet jacket and black trousers. "It's a bit early for me to have dinner, but I could make it right now. I'll have to freshen up first."

Wafi glanced over his shoulder. "Let's continue this inside." I turned to walk in and Wafi closed the door behind him as I walked over to the dining table.

Placing my bag on the table, I went to get a glass of water. "You want something?"

"Fi, come on." I heard a chair scrape back. "Let's go out for dinner. You coming out as my sister out of nowhere would be more suspicious if we've never even been seen together before."

"Well..." I turned around. "I doubt the first thing people might think after seeing me with you will be 'sister'."

"God—" Wafi threw his arms out in frustration. "—you're always so skeptical."

"For good reason, Wafi. My life was, and is, a mess and you turned it upside down when you walked in that gym."

Annoyance passed through his face. "So you would prefer it if you never knew you had family alive?" His tone had a bite in it.

I took a sip of water to stall as I thought of a reply. It was clear I'd hurt him by saying that. In a way, life would be much simpler if I'd never known I was a Royal, but I'd also never know I had a second element. And I hadn't had a reason to regret my small crush on Christopher so far, so even that could be counted as a plus. The training he gave me as well counted for a good part of where I am today.

I sighed. "That's not what I'm saying. I just wish that... when you actually introduced yourself, you did a bit better?" I gave a sheepish smile. "And that it had come at a time I was a bit less stressed."

Wafi's shoulders slumped. "I didn't want to wait. I wanted to tell you. Hell—" his hands flew up halfway and fell back in a half-hearted shrug "I was so happy that I wanted to just scream it. How was I to know you were stressed? But... here you are.