Enigma

Chapter 18

Once Killian stepped foot into the room, he was immediately greeted by the four figures occupying the dining room and the kitchen. Sitting around the dining table were Nyclaine and Jiro along with Kimberly, while Jourdaine was looking rather comfortable being seated on one of the stools near the kitchen island on the other side of the room.

"Good morning," he yawned while tousling his hair that was still slightly dripping with water from his previous shower.

"Morning", Jourdaine replied before gesturing at the dining table. "Have breakfast."

"Thank you," he said gratefully before taking a seat beside Kimberly, across from Nyclaine and Jiro.

Once he filled his plate with what he wanted to eat, he tilted his head to look at the others. Just like him, their hairs were still damp in that early morning. Kimberly was still finishing the food on her plate while Nyclaine was only sipping her glass of hot chocolate in silent. Killian arched his brows in amusement upon noticing Jiro who had a mug filled with coffee between his hands.

"That's his second mug," Nyclaine said when she noticed the questioning look he was giving to the other.

Killian was about to comment about it when he noticed Jiro looking past him- towards the direction where he came from- before rolling his eyes while grumbling, "Fuck off."

"Good morning to you too," Razael said sarcastically, emerging from the hallway leading away from the stairs. He began to take a seat beside Killian with a taunting smirk still plastered on his lips.

"Where's Axelia?" Killian asked upon noticing no sign of her when everybody else was already having their meals.

"Remember how I told you about how she feels towards eating breakfast?" Jourdaine asked while placing his coffee mug on the sink. "Well, it was only a miracle I happened to persuade into eating it yesterday. And unfortunately for us, miracles don't occur in two consecutive days."

Before any of them could even form a statement about what he said, he continued, "Actually, from the four of us, she's the least one you'll be seeing in this kitchen."

"She doesn't cook?" Jiro asked with a frown and to their surprise, Jourdaine bursted out laughing.

"Axelia? Cooking?" he asked as his laughter began to die down into mere chuckles. "The only reason why this house hasn't yet been burned to ashes is solely because of her freezing abilities."

"Seriously?" Kimberly asked in disbelief. "She can't be that bad."

"Please," Jourdaine scoffed. "My sister's a one of a kind disaster in the kitchen."

While Kimberly kept on questioning the latter further about Axelia's kitchen incidents, Killian had a small smile on his lips. But it quickly disappeared when he finally took notice of the faint dark circles underneath Razael's eyes.

Eyeing the redhead with worry, he asked, "Last night must've been rough on you, huh?"

"No shit," Raze mumbled in agreement before returning his attention to his food.

"Did you even manage to sleep at all?" Nyclaine asked, her face lacing with obvious concern for her friend. "You look like someone who stayed up all night with a train wreck of thoughts."

"Don't worry. I'll live," Raze answered bitterly.

Nobody pressed on the topic any further for he clearly had no desire to talk about the matter. When the silence became too uncomfortable for Killian, his thoughts began to wander back to the melody which helped him fall asleep the previous night.