I needed a walk, or literally anything that would distract me from this. I strolled out of my room to have a check on Jonas, but something else caught my eyes-
Xaviers was giving one-arm pushups with his other arm drawn to his back. I looked away deciding that it was none of my business. My dear dog, however, seemed to consider it a part of his business as Bruno merrily hopped past me and towards Xaviers while producing low curious barks. That disrupted Xaviers' pushups as he looked up and probably noticed me for the first time in the room. He got up almost instantly, as if it was a reflex action, and turned away to move to June's room without a word, perhaps not wanting me to watch him while working out.
Well, someone was a gentleman.
Something struck my mind, and I called him back as he was proceeding.
"I needed to ask you something."
He just moved his head, gesturing for me to continue.
"Did you get Pappa's new autopsy reports yet?"
"Didn't I already tell you Miss Valdez that I'm out of this case?" it was more of a statement than a question.
"But the autopsy-"
"Not in my hands. The previous autopsy reports said that it was a heart attack and that's all we have," he responded sharply, cutting me out in the middle.
"But how come you went to the Valdez Mansion yesterday if you're out of this case?" I questioned.
"A last visit to end all the formalities," he answered, turning away to leave.
Before I could interject further, he had left the room. How rude-
Now I couldn't even go and have a check on Jonas since Xaviers was in the room. I motioned to carry my hazel-nut fur ball back to my room but-
Bruno was not there. That disobedient pet of mine had followed Xaviers into the room.
Luckily, Jonas himself came to my room within a few minutes, thanks to Bruno.
"Your pet seems to like Xav Bro more than you," he teased.
"I wonder if dogs have a fascination towards rude guys," I commented while my puppy tried to jump on my lap with his 'puppy eyes' but I wouldn't let him. That's what he gets for liking people I hate.
"So, you okay now?" I asked Jonas in a soft tone.
Jonas nodded with a meek smile.
"That's like my brother," I smiled as I ruffled his unkempt hair.
"Hmmmmmm," he chuckled after a while.
I could smell something cooking in his head.
"So, I'm your brother right?"
I nodded.
"What about Xav Bro?" he asked in a way too curious tone.
"He's too rude to be my brother," I replied with an eye roll.
"Too rude to be your brother, or too handsome to be your something else huh?" he chortled, nudging me by the elbow as if I was going to blush now or something.
I looked at Jonas through squinted eyes, trying to convey my annoyance.
So what if he was handsome? His rudeness overpowers it all.
I would have given Jonas a good beating if I was actually decent in karate, but seeing no other option, my hands automatically motioned towards the pillow on the bed. I aimed the pillow towards him and breathed out an air of victory after smacking him mildly with it once.
"I would rather date you, you know," I said giggling.
"Sure you would," Jonas winked and hurried to grab another pillow to shield himself from the next smack.
As he expected, I commenced my next attack almost instantly, but he was already ready not only to defend himself but to attack me back as well. That initiated a pillow fight between us and soon we both were dashing across the whole room, each trying our best to score the highest in bashing the other person with the pillows. At one point, I noticed small white stuff strewn across the floor. We both stared at each other with a question mark on our faces before realizing that they were feathers coming out from the torn edges of the pillows. I had only seen feathers dematerializing from pillows during pillow fights in movies, but never expected to see it happen live. Well makes sense, Xaviers' pillows were just as hopeless as him.
We both giggled again before resuming our fight, and at one point, I almost took the lead and thrashed him real hard. Wait, was it him or someone else?
I jerked my pillow back to reveal the vexed face of Xaviers with his jet black hair sprinkled with grains of white feathers. I gulped and shifted my eyes towards Jonas to see his reaction. He had the same alarmed look on his face. We were so lost in the pillow fight that none of us realized when Xaviers entered the room through the ajar door.
"What-do-you-two-think-you-are-doing-?" he snapped, blowing out the feather that was clinging to his lips.
Although naturally it was time to be apprehensive now, the look on his face was worth it. It was clearly visible that neither Jonas nor I was successful in our attempts at suppressing our laughter as we both eventually let out a cackle in unison instead of answering Xaviers' question.
Xaviers glanced sideways to first examine me and then Jonas before muttering something like 'What do I do with these two?' and turning away to leave.
"Angry Young Man," I mumbled jokingly, ready for him to turn back and throw another angry remark.
To my great surprise, he didn't. Instead-
I swear I saw him chuckle as he left the room.
"Is it just me, or did you also see-"
"Now that's concerning, we both seem to have developed the same eye problem at the same time," June tittered, answering my question in the best way possible.
We both exchanged another laugh at that.
"But he's so mean, he didn't even try to make you feel better when you were upset," I remarked.
"Who said he didn't?" Jonas replied with a chuckle.
"He didn't even go to the bureau for me today and tried cracking jokes the whole afternoon to make me laugh, even though he's horrible at it. He has his own way of handling my emotional self, and they always work on me, you know."
"Oh, I just saw him being blunt in the morning, so..." I reasoned.
"That was for making me realize what's best for me because he always knows it better than I do," Jonas grinned.
"I see."
"Well, he just doesn't show it in front of you, but he cares a lot for me, you know. After all, I'm the only person he can call his 'family'."
"Your duo is indeed unique," I smiled.
"Maybe we can make it a trio now, if you two finally stop fighting," Jonas giggled.
I stirred as Bruno licked my face, probably trying to wake his master up to serve him with his treats. To his disappointment, I embraced that mushy fur ball like a side pillow, trying to steal another five minutes of sleep. I had a peaceful slumber without any kind of interruption after days, so I took my time to get up and stretched my arms lazily when my eyes fell on the calendar right on the front wall. Wait-
I let my arms fall back too abruptly as I realized today's date. It was 7th August- the day I had been waiting for.
I immediately rushed out of my room to find Jonas. I doubted that he remembered. To my utter astonishment, Jonas wasn't in his room; there was only Xaviers sitting on a comfortable armchair with his legs crossed, skimming his eyes through the newspaper.
"Where's June?" I asked.
"He has gone to his parent's house, he visits there every weekend," he replied without lifting his eyes from the newspaper.
It was Friday. But did he forget about our mission?
"When's he returning?"
"By evening."
I breathed a sigh of relief. We still could manage to go to the forest at night. I turned to go back when Xaviers called out.
"Take your breakfast, it's on the table."
I found a plate of appetizing lasagna and a cup of frothy café latte on the table along June's bed. That was the best home-made lasagna I ever had. I must say that Mrs. Arabella, I guess that was her name, had magic in her hands. Just like my mom... I lazed in my room afterwards till twilight fell, waiting for June's arrival.
It was already past dusk when instead of June's arrival, then was a call from him.
"June, when are you returning? You remember about going to the forest, right?" I asked straight away after picking up the call, even without saying a hello.
"Amy, I'm really sorry. I had planned on returning there by evening, but mom fell ill all of a sudden. I'm at the hospital with her now."
I asked Jonas to stay with his mother and take care of her until she recovered, his mother was more important. I would have done the same if it was my mother. My heart ached at that thought.
"Amy, you can tell Xav Bro about it, he might accompany you there."
That Mr. Angry Young Man? Never.
He would probably reply something like "I'm out of it" or "None of my business". I would rather go there by myself.
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