Von POV
After I told my siblings everything, they agreed for us to bond today. No one is leaving the house, and no one else will join but us who live in this house.
At the back of the house, they are fixing. Creed and Fin will cook while Leana and Leona with Van are setting the back of the house. Clementine and Rizden are on top because their husbands don't want them to help. While I, on the other hand, am here in the Gazebo and watching the three fix it.
I also wanted to help them, but they didn't want to. Van said I should just reflect here first.
"Von." I looked to call me. Clementine was holding her baby. She sat in front of me, so I arranged a seat.
"Ozix looks good sleeping ah," I said while looking at Ozix sleeping.
"Hmm, that was already asleep." Laughing, Clementine said and looked at me.
"How's your heart?" She asked.
I just smiled hard.
"Here, it's still throbbing somehow," I replied. We laughed together.
"Honestly, I was even surprised that she was married." She said, so the smile disappeared from my lips.
Clementine also didn't know she was married. But isn't Lit her best friend? I thought she was invited.
"You don't know?" I asked.
She shook his head.
"I just found out from your story." She replied.
I fell silent. Lit probably didn't want the news that she was married to reach me, so she didn't invite Clementine.
"The last time we talked was three months ago. We even met at the grocery store." Clementine's story, so I looked at her.
"But before that, I remember she called me a month before we met." She said.
"Did she call you?" I asked.
"Yes, she's asking for my help, and... she's looking for you." She said, so I swallowed.
"She's looking for me? What did you say? Why didn't you tell me that?" I asked.
"You left, Von." She said.
"You are with Aphrodite that time, you go to the Dead Sea." She added.
I remember that day. Two months before we came home from the Dead Sea. Fuck.
"Why is she asking for your help?" I ask.
She shrugged.
"I also don't know Von. Suddenly, the line was cut when I asked her where she was so I could go to her." She said. I was suddenly nervous.
"But when will you meet? Is she okay?" I asked.
She nodded.
"She smiled when we met. We even talked to each other and drank coffee at the coffee shop before I parted ways with Lit." She said, but she stopped.
"But I noticed what she was wearing. She wore a turtle neck even though it was sweltering during those days. Her neck was wrapped. She was even wearing a scarf." She said, so my forehead wrinkled even more.
"I also notice her eyes. Even though she's smiling, her eyes want to say something." Clementine added.
I look away. Isn't it that something strange happened to Lit?
"Do you think something strange happened to Lit?" I asked Clementine.
"Maybe? I don't know Von, but Lit was so far away that I talked to Lit that I was with at Vampire High." She said.
"Dude, Aphrodite is outside." I turned to Van as he approached us.
"I'm looking for you." He said.
I looked away.
"Tell her that I leave early," I said.
"She's already left." I turned to Van, who was beside me but was looking at his side, so I looked at him and saw Aphrodite, who was at us and was looking at me.
"Don't leave, dude, it's up to you," Van said and left me.
Clementine also said goodbye, and Fin was going, so Aphrodite and I were the only ones in the Gazebo.
"Hi?" She said awkwardly. I just stared at her.
"Ugh ... I brought you a Cake, Van. I put it in your kitchen." She said. I didn't look at her.
"I just came here to check on you." She said nervously.
She stood up and smiled.
"And I saw you're fine, so I'm leaving." She said and was about to pass when I touched the shovel on her wrist, so she looked at me.
"Eat first before leaving," I said coldly, slowly releasing the shovel on her wrist.
"N-no more stuff--"
She couldn't continue what she would say when I looked at her. She became silent and slowly returned before me, then sat in the chair Clementine had shared earlier.
The two of us were just quiet here in the Gazebo. She was awkward, so I looked at others.
By the way, I didn't send her home yesterday.
"Did you come home well yesterday?" I looked at her as we asked together.
"Yes." We both answered. She laughed, so I laughed, too.
We fell silent again. I looked in the direction of Leana and Leona, arguing over what to put on the table.
"The day I accompanied you to the Devil's Sea," I said, then looked to Aphrodite, who was looking at me.
"The day Lit called Clementine for help," I added. I can see her swallowing.
"Really? Why is she asking for help?" She asked. I shrugged.
"I don't know either," I said and deeply breathed.
"Do you want us to find out why she's asking for help?" She asked. I looked at her.
She knew she had no hope for me, but everything seemed normal.
Is Aphrodite a masochist?
"Will you come with me?" I asked. She smiled. The smile that she always shows to everyone.
"I shouldn't let you go alone." She said while smiling. "Someday, you'll need me too." She said while turning to smile.
Someday, I will need her, too. What does she mean?