That Night √

8» that time

Lucius murmured something incoherent before plopping down on the couch. Tipping his head back against it, he closed his eyes.

"You know, whenever Mum and Dad leave me here, I feel like they'd find my dead body here when they come back," Grace confessed, and broke into a tiny shudder. "And they would never even know how or why I got killed."

Luc kept quiet for a while, a furrow between his brows the only showing sign that he was listening. "Why would somebody kill you?"

"Why not? Serial killers do not go around choosing their victims, Luca." She pulled out a dining chair for her to sit down on. Lucius grimaced at the noise as if even that was a bit too unpleasant.

It didn't take long for Grace to realise what the real problem was. It troubled her a bit because she should've realised it sooner. Luc was only ever agitated like this when he was having a migraine.

"Your family is noisy." She stood up and walked inside the kitchen, pulling out a clean blue mug. Fortunately, her dad had left some of his recently made black coffee in the kettle.

"And you're realising that just now?"

Adding a pinch of ginger into the mug, Grace stirred the coffee with a spoon. Then she went over towards Lucius and settled down beside him. "Well, I don't have grandparents like you, Luca. Just an Aunt who doesn't even visit us much often. So I don't know whether family get-togethers are supposed to be loud or not."

He opened his eyes and looked over at Grace, the frown softening on his face as he looked down at the mug she was holding out towards him.

"What's this?" He asked.

"Caffeine with ginger. I heard it helps migraines." She never really heard it from anyone, but rather saw her Papa drinking it quite often when he was having the bad headaches he usually got after coming back from a long trip.

Lucius looked over at the mug with distaste. Grace couldn't really blame him. After all, she was the only one who liked drinking coffee. Lucius hated it.

"I never said I had a migraine."

"Oh come on, Luca. You and I both know why you're here. If you weren't having a migraine right now, you wouldn't be here." Grace said, nudging him with her elbow to make a point

Lucius looked offended. "That's not true. If you'd have wanted me to--"

"I know, I know. That's not what I meant." Grace took his hand and wrapped it around the warm mug. "Drink it up. It'll help."

Luc looked over at the mug sceptically. But eventually, he raised it to his lips and took a sip.

Grace leaned back on the couch and linked her arm through his before looking over at the clock. One more hour before her parents came back.

"This is horrible," Lucius concluded once he had finished the drink. "And you drink this, why?"

"I don't know." Grace placed her head on his shoulder. "I may be addicted to it or something."

"It's disgusting, Gracie."

"And dark like my soul." She added.