Days passed and Aurum and Kimi found more times to kiss. They kissed in his room, in the garden, in a corner in the hallways and all sorts of private corners. They kissed on the lips and that was all. They didn’t touch each other but the tension was there; it was eased by snide remarks and flirtatious wordplays. Eventually, every single person in the mansion knew what was going on, and most of them simply gave thumbs up to Kimi and Aurum’s bold move to start a relationship despite what some people might think about it.
It was the day when Rhodes Academy will finally reopen. Everyone was having breakfast, getting ready for the day. Kimi and Aurum were exchanging words and Elvira was egging them with a happy nod and claps, to the irritation of Anxo. Their conversations were cut short as the doors were opened and a man walked in. At once, Haruna stood from her chair and the man spread his arms wide, grinning toothily.
“Brother Jarumi!” she said, rushing to give him a hug. “Welcome.”
“Haru! It’s been so long,” he said, holding her at arm’s length.
Meraki stood and walked to him. “Jarumi,” he said, shaking hands with him with a nod. “It’s nice to see you.”
“Nice to see you too,” he said, looking at the quiet room. “Good morning all,” he greeted them with a light wave of his hand.
A few of them nodded in reply and the rest replied with words.
Jarumi’s eyes slid to Aurum who stood and walked to him. He hummed, a small smile on his face. “You must be Aurum Caedis.”
“Yes.” He shook his hand. “It’s good to have you here Mr. Malak. How was your trip from Nigeria?”
“A little hectic.” He shifted his grey eyes around the huge room, eyeing each and every ornament in it. “This place hasn’t changed at all.”
“We do our best to keep it homely,” Meraki said. He motioned with his hands for him to join them. “Please join us. We were expecting you.”
“Very thoughtful of you,” Jarumi said as they walked back to their seat.
Kimi’s eyes followed him as he was led to Meraki’s side on the table. He watched as he sat beside Haruna. They didn’t waste time and engaged themselves in discussion. Kimi easier an eyebrow in confusion at the unfamiliar language that they were talking in.
“Why do you have that look?” Aurum asked, sliding back into his seat.
“What language are they speaking?” Kimi asked.
Aurum looked at them and smiled. “Hausa.”
Kimi frowned in puzzlement. “What type of language is that?”
“It’s a language that’s spoken mostly in west Africa. And the language is spoken in the northern parts of the country Jarumi hails from.”
Kimi’s brows slowly raised up. “Then how does Haruna understand the language?”
“Haruna is from Nigeria.”
“Are they siblings?”
“No Kimi. A cadaver’s venom and bite doesn’t work on Hunters and Jarumi is a Hunter. And no... they can not be siblings.” He smirked at Kimi and Kimi rolled his eyes.
“You could have just said no,” he huffed, checking the time on his phone. ‘Shit, it’s almost time for school. Will I ride the cadavers?’ “Aurum?”
“Yes Kimi?”
“Do you think if it’ll be possible for Ren to drive me to school? Usually, I walk because our house was close.”
Aurum nodded. “Let me just text him.” He picked up his phone and texted Ren. A ping sounded and he read the message that was sent as a reply. “He’ll just come and get you after he freshens up.”
“Okay.” Kimi’s gaze trailed back to Haruna and Jarumi. He snorted at the sight of Meraki looking left out as he ate in silence, his shoulders slouched.
The door flew open and Illiad rushed in, his bag slung over his shoulders. His siblings and Silver also walked in but they stayed by the door.
“Illiad!” Jarumi said, standing up.
“Uncle Jarumi,” Illiad said, hugging the man tightly.
“Ohh! Look at you so big and strong,” he said, patting Illiad’s back. “Hello kids.” He waved at his siblings and Silver and they waved back with small smiles. “It seems like you’re ready to leave for school. We’ll talk after you return.”
“Yes. Bye Uncle.” Jarumi patted his shoulder and Illiad waved as he walked to the door. He spotted Kimi and asked, “Kimi are you not joining us?”
“Nope. I’ll be leaving with Ren,” he said in a dry tone and Illiad nodded.
Silver heaved a sad sigh. “Bye Kimi. See you at school.”
Kimi hummed, keeping his gaze on his plate as they walked out. The door was shut but it didn’t take long and it was opened again.
“I’m here,” Ren said, standing by the door, his hand ruffling his wet hair. “Let’s go?”
“Sure.” Kimi picked up his bag that was by his leg and stood. He froze as Aurum placed his hand on his.
“Stay safe and have a great day,” Aurum said and kissed the back of Kimi’s hand.
Kimi shuddered at the feeling of his lips against his hand. Aurum unhanded him and he brought his hand to his chest. “Y-yeah,” he said, ungracefully putting on his bag.
Aurum waved at him as he left, wearing a happy smile. He watched as Kimi rushed out of the room and Ren shut the door behind them.
*
“You better be a good boy,” Ren said as Kimi stepped out of the car. Kimi flipped him the bird and he snorted a laugh.
Kimi shut the door and pulled his hoodie up. He watched as Ren revised out of the school’s premises. Everyone was whispering, sneaking looks between him and the car as he walked to the gatehouse. He wasted no time and wrote down his name in the right book.
Kimi held onto the straps of his backpack as he walked to the main entrance. Once he was inside, he went to the his first class which was Latin.
The talk that filled the classroom to the brim as he entered the class was about Clover and her parents. Kimi dropped his head but instantly raised it back up.
He frowned and thought, why am I acting like I owe the world shit?
Kimi heaved a sigh and made a beeline to a spare seat in back of the rowdy classroom. He sat down at once and removed his bag. As he was trying to pull out his textbooks, someone walked to him and tapped his shoulder. He flinched and looked up. Standing in front of his table was a beaming Homer.
His eyebrows knitted. “What do you freaking want?”
“I just wanted to ask if this seat is taken,” Homer said, pointing at the seat beside Kimi’s.
“Do you see anybody freaking sitting there?” Kimi said, scoffing as he rolled his eyes.
Homer snorted and occupied the seat. He dropped his bag on the table and fished out his books from his bag. A little frown appeared on his face as he still searched his bag.
He sighed and turned to look at Kimi. “Kimi do you have an ex—”
“Ask your brother,” Kimi said in a sharp tone, the classroom quieting down as Mr. Marshall walked into the classroom.
Homer blew a raspberry at him and looked forward.
Mr. Marshall dropped the books in his hands on the table and interlaced his fingers as he faced the class. “Good morning students.”
“Good morning Mr. Marshall,” a few students hollered, giggling afterwards.
Mr. Marshall nodded and turned to the board. He picked up a marker and wrote a topic on the board. “Today we will be talking about food items and cloth items in Latin. Open your books to chapter seven.”
Flipping of pages filled the room and Mr. Marshall capped the marker and picked up his own textbook. He started turning pages but paused mid-turn and looked up. “Kimi Mikaelis?”
“Yes?” Kimi asked with a raised eyebrow.
“See me after class,” Marshall said and continued turning the pages of his book.
Kimi furrowed his brows. “Yes... Sir.”
The class went slowly and was boring, most especially Kimi who was wondering why Marshall had asked for him to remain after the class. As soon as the class ended, Kimi waited behind as students rushed to pack up their things and exit the class.
“Good luck,” Homer said as he walked out.
“Like I need good luck when I’ve already got a bad one,” he mumbled under his breath.
Kimi bagged his stuff and slung his bag over his shoulder. He stepped to Marshall’s table and waited.
“I hope you aren’t having a silent panic attack,” Mr. Marshall said as he sat down on his seat.
Kimi shrugged a shoulder and looked into Marshall’s eyes.
Marshall sighed lightly and removed his glasses. “Kimi the time that you had enrolled into this school was after the midterms,” he started in a calm voice. “And because of this you have nothing that I could use to assess you with in your final results.”
“Yeah I know that,” Kimi said, drumming his fingers on the handles of his bag. “So what’s the reason you had freaking asked me to stay behind?”
Marshall exhaled, shaking his head. “You’re impatient.”
“Because I’m late for class.”
“Mmm, right.” He interlocked his fingers over the table. “I would like to inform you of a makeup test that I’ll be holding next week for students. And you’ll have to fix yourself in the timetable I had prepared,” he said, tapping his finger on the paper.
Kimi leaned down and looked through the designed timetable. “Has anyone chosen this one?” he asked, pointing at the four o’ clock space that was under Friday.
“No. Do you prefer that one?” he asked, pushing a pen forward.
“Yes.”
“Write your name and class in this space,” he said, tapping the space under the time.
Kimi picked up the pen and scrawled his required details under the space. When he was done, he straightened his back and dropped the pen. After that, Marshall motioned for him to go but he stayed put.
“My pass,” he said stiffly.
“Mm-mm,” he said, shaking his head. “I don’t think Miss Yin Fen will bother you.” He made a shooing motion with his fingers. “You may leave.”
Kimi huffed in irritation and marched to the door.
Marshall folded his arms over the table and watched Kimi with a glazed over gaze. “Goodbye Kimi,” he said in a soft tone, watching as Kimi pulled the door open, walked out and slammed it shut.
Author’s Note: Hello everyone. So how’s the lockdown going for you guys? Mine is okay. Please vote and comment about your thoughts on the world right now and about this chapter.