Chapter 17: Chapter 17

Sunny

"Are you sure that you are okay?" I asked Steven the moment he came out of his room. "I heard from your brother that your fever is coming back from time to time. You need to eat, and then drink your medicine afterward." I reminded him.

He nodded, not answering.

"What?" He asked. "You are staring at me." He added.

"You are not answering me. I am not sure, and I cannot pinpoint whether you are good or not." I replied.

Well, I am actually staring at him. Observing if he was really okay.

"May I touch your forehead?" I asked him.

"Why would you do that?" He asked back and walked down the stairs, leaving me behind.

"I need to make sure you are okay." I replied. "Why is that dog out when it is already night? Their parents must not let it out. Someone was harmed as a result of their irresponsibility." I explained.

I could hear him sigh."Nod is a form of answering. Non-verbal." He said. "Is nodding not enough to satisfy your worries?" He then asked.

"Yes, that is why you have to answer me with a yes or no since you won't say anything more than that. I want verbal communication, not sign language." I replied.

"Steven, eat. Your brother is in the dining room already." Grandma said when she saw him coming down.

"Eat with us." He invited.

Grandma shook her head. "It's alright. We will rest for an hour and go after washing the dishes." She answered.

"No. Eat with us. No going home. Eat before you go home. Mavin will wash our dishes afterward." He replied.

Grandma smiled. "Let's eat then." She said.

We headed to the dining room and saw Mavin already eating. "Why did you guys took so long? I ate already," He said. "Come and sit. Do not let the food wait here. We need to chomp them all." He added after he drank his water.

"Is it good?" I asked him.

He gave me the thumbs-up. "The best. Grandma, would you like to build a restaurant with me? I think it will be a big hit." He suggested.

We took our seats and grandma started preparing our food.

"I will do―"

"Just sit. Grandma will do it for you. I heard you are still sick about what happened to you." Grandma told Steven.

I motioned to Steven to go back to his seat and let Grandma do it for us.

My grandma is too thoughtful. She even does it in our house, she always wants to serve and no one can change that.

"I suddenly missed our grandparents." Mavin shared.

I turned to him. "Where are they? Are they living with your parents?" I asked.

Mavin shook his head and pointed at the ceiling―oh. "I am sorry about that." I apologize.

"It's okay. We are okay now and it happened years ago already. They died honorably." He shared again.

Woah? Did they die honorably? It denotes that they were a soldier or a police officer.

"Let's eat now." Grandma said.

We started eating quietly.

I can say that I am lucky that my grandparents on my mother's side were still alive. From time to time, we are able to be with them and bond with them. We cannot do it with my father's side since they have all died already. The last time we saw them was when I was five years old and they were living in the province.

After eating our lunch, Mavin really washed the dishes. He said that he does almost everything here in their house when we are not here. Steven does not go out of his room these days because of his condition, and he rarely talks either.

"We will go now, Mavin. Call us if you need some help, okay?" I told him as I bid my goodbye.

He nodded. "Thank you. See you next time." He replied.

"Tell Steven that we have already gone home. He might be resting in his room." I added.

"Tell him yourself or just text him and please force him to go out of his room and talk to me for a few minutes. I am bored here watching on my own." He pleaded.

"Okay, so I will go and try to talk to him." I shared and headed upstairs. I knocked three times when I got in front of his room. "Steven? Steven? We are going home now." I said.

"Alright." He replied faintly.

"Have you drunk your medicine already? Do you feel okay?" I asked.

"Yeah." He replied shortly.

"Go out sometimes or stay in the sala and watch. Do not stay in your room forever and try to talk to your brother. Resting alone will make you feel sick. Are we clear?" I reminded them, but received no response. "Steven?" I called him. "If you are not going to answer, I will open this door and go inside to check on you." I warned.

"Yeah, yeah. I will. You can now go home." He finally replied.

"You better do it later. I will check in with Mavin from time to time to see if you are really doing it. Grandma said we would check on you later in the evening if you are still not feeling well. I just want to remind you." I added.

"I am okay. I can handle myself. Go home already." He answered.

"Get well soon. Answer my chats too, and if you can't go to school tomorrow, just message me. I will tell our professors about your condition. Do not force yourself to go because you will just stay in the clinic afterwards. Okay, I will just send you our lessons. Get well soon!"

"Thank you. Take care on your way too." He replied.

I thought he wouldn't reply, but he did.

"Let's go, Grandma." I said. "Mavin, you know the drill." I told him.

"Okay. Thank you very much, Sunny. I owe you one. I will treat you next time." Said Mavin.

That's what I want to hear. "Call! I am looking forward to it." I replied.

"Their parents must be proud of them. They are kind and respectful." Grandma said.

"If we do not include Steven not being wordy, yes grandma, they are." I replied, laughing. "I also love how they treat us equally. They do not look based on their social status. And you know what, grandma? A while ago, I saw their mom and dad on Mavin's phone. They are both pretty and handsome. No wonder they look good." I shared.

The next day came, and Steven did not really go to school. I guess he is still not feeling well. It's a good thing he listened when I told him that if he's not feeling well, he shouldn't go to school because he'll just end up in the clinic.

"I will just chat with Mavin then." I said and fished out my phone to chat with him.

Even before sending the message, I got a chat from Jake, and he asked if I was available. I quickly type my reply that I am not busy at all.

"AAAAACK!!" I yelled.

"WHAT? WHAT HAPPENED?!" Shiela asked worriedly who came to my chair to see what happened.

I showed her my phone. "Jake asked me out today! I think he is recuperating now." I exclaimed in glee.

"Girl! I thought something bad was happening to you. You made me jump from my chair. I suddenly want to pull your hair, but since it is good news, I won't. Go and have fun later." She said, and Give me a hug.

It is been a while since we went out together, as in it's been a while. If I count the times we went out, I can count them using my two hands.

It's really good news.

"Oh! I forgot to send my message to Mavin. Okaaay, sent!"

While the class is ongoing, I cannot hide my excitement that it made me recite a few times with our subjects today. After our class, I quickly fixed my things and headed out of our room excitedly, almost running.

"I will head out now! Take care on your way! Shiela, I will update you later! See you tomorrow!" I screamed and run.

He said a while ago, while we were talking, that he would fetch me at the school gate. I messaged him that I was here already and would wait for him since he is still not here.

"Where should we go? Are we going to the mall or a park? Kyaah! I am excited to see him."

Steven's

"Where are we going?" I asked Mavin.

We are now driving on our way home. We went to our parents' because I needed to heal myself. I need to because it is killing me, and I have missed a lot of our lessons already. That is why I need to remove this poison from my body.

"Hey, this is not our way home? Where the hell do you plan to go?" I asked again since he was not answering me.

Instead of answering, he handed me his phone. "Messa―no just call Sunny. I promised to treat her. Let's do that tonight." He said.

"What?" I was confused. "You are the one who promised her. Why am I joining you then?" I wondered.

"Because I just want too?" he replied, unsure of his own answer. "And now that we are together, I must use this time. You will be staying in your room, reading a book. Rest, dude. You just healed yourself from the poison. Have fun once in a while, can you?" He added.

I can not do anything with this older brother of mine. I can't just shapeshift here because I am sure I will just turn back to my real form.

I started to dial Sunny's number.

After a few rings, she answered.

"Sunnnny!" Mavin yelled. "It's me, Mavin. I am driving." He added.

I heard a sniff. "Why? Is Steven not well? Have you checked him drinking his medicine?" she asked and tried to sniff secretly.

"This is me. I am doing well. How about you?" I asked back.

"Steven? Is it on the loudspeaker?" she asked.

"No. Only I can hear you. He asked me to call you. Are you up? Mavin will treat us." I told her. "So, I will ask you again. Are you okay?" I asked her again.

Silence ensued before she cried out.

"Why is she crying? Is she in danger?" Mavin asked worriedly.

"Are you home already?" I asked.

"No." she answered.

"Where?" I replied.

"At the front gate of our school." She replied, sniffing.

"Wait for us. We will be there in a few minutes." I said and ended the call.

"You should have asked her why she's crying." Mavin complained.

"We can just ask her when we get there. Why are you even mad at me?" I asked back.

"Because my friend is crying! I want to know the reason why she is crying first." He replied.

I sighed. "Like I told you a while ago since you are not cleaning your ears―"

"I am cleaning my ears every two days! What do you think of me? I am into hygiene!" he replied, angrily.

"Like I said, we can just ask her when we get there." I finished my sentence.

"I want to know the answer now. Is there any problem with that?!" he asked, still not over with his confutation.

"Then why did you not ask while I was not still ending the call?" I asked him.

"It is because you are still talking. I did not know that you would end the call when you said that we would be there in a few minutes!" he replied. "I thought you would let me talk or say something before ending the call. That is what is common. Don't you know about that?" he asked.

"No." I answered. "That is why I ended the call without asking you." I added.

"I want to poison you or just cut your head off right here, right now." He muttered. "If you are not just my brother. Tsk." He added. "Oh, that slipped out. Sorry, not sorry. Just spitting some facts, I won't be denying it. Liars go to hell they say."

"Do not worry. Your name is on the list in Hell's book." I replied.

"If mine is there, then you are as well." he replied.

I shook my head. "My name is not on the list I heard." I told him.

"And who told you that you would end up in heaven?"

"The one above us. We are basically friends. Don't you know about it?"