It was a beautiful Thursday morning in the Wynter household. Clouds littered the sky as the sun beamed through the windows, creating a relaxing warmth throughout the morning. Inside the household, Peter stood in the kitchen, three mugs and his phone were placed on the counter in front of the high-tech kettle. A machine which looks like a coffee maker but only dispenses hot water. The 18-year-old pressed the ‘boil’ button which sat atop the kettle. As he waited for the kettle to boil, standing in his pale blue robe, he ran a hand through his dark brown hair, disturbing the chocolate highlights that scattered throughout it. The calmness in the kitchen made him more sleepy than he usually was. The kitchen staff had already prepped the morning food so there was only the odd person here and there.
The phone lit up, his mismatched eyes rested upon it as he saw that he had a notification. The right eye looked just like a human’s only the pupil was slightly sharper, like a cat. The left eye, however, was very different. The sclera was a deep black which contrasted with the strong white iris and pupil. A jagged scar ran through it, from the middle of his cheek to the top of his eyebrow. Despite how it looks, he can still see perfectly fine.
Looking closer, he saw that it was just a report on the current weather; it was currently 20oc. Displayed on the screen was a photo of him, his twin brother, his younger sister, his father, and his mother. They all looked up at him happily, reminding Peter of a time he longed for. Covering part of this image was the date, time and battery percentage; 21/08/2036 - 7:30 am - 58%
The brunet raised his left hand and placed it over the screen, his fingers placed upon the sides of the device. With a quick click, he had switched off the screen, returning it to its rested state. However, as he removed his hand, a spark surged from his hand and into the phone, lighting up the screen to show that the battery percentage switched from 58% to 100%, glitching the screen for a split second. Peter had failed to notice what just happened and moved to make his coffee and two cups of tea.
He placed the coffee granules into a pale blue mug and two teabags into the two stark white tea cups. As he did this, the smartwatch on his right wrist beeped, prompting Peter to raise his wrist closer to his face. Within the second of reading it, he rolled his eyes and sighed, dropping his wrist back to his side as he continued making the beverages. He placed his coffee mug on the kettle and pushed a button labelled ‘pour’ that rested next to ‘boil’. Once the water had reached the preferred height, he then replaced his mug with one of the two teacups, he repeated the process while he simultaneously stirred his coffee.
In the background, his younger twin, Eric, stood in the kitchen doorway, taking selfies on his smartphone. He had captured Peter in several of the images, as he wanted to get the best lighting. Once Eric was happy with one, he moved closer to his brother and wrapped his left arm over him, leaning against him. Peter was shocked at first but quickly smirked, wrapping his right arm around Eric’s waist and gladly took a selfie with his brother. Eric laughed as Peter ruffled his chocolate brown hair, messing up the light brown highlights that ran down the fringe. The younger twin then scrolled through his phone, looking at the pictures he took.
After he picked 1 out of the 5 pictures, Peter had placed Eric’s cup of tea onto a dark grey serving tray he had taken out as the kettle boiled. As he retracted his hand, another surge of electricity had emitted from his hand and into the cup, making the tea hotter than molten lava. No one in the kitchen noticed this anyhow, so Eric happily reached for his cup.
“Careful it’s-!” Peter had moved to stop him but was a second too late since Eric had already taken a sip. He yelped and whined in pain, roughly placing the cup back on the saucer, spilling a little tea. “-hot...” Peter sighed through his nose and facepalmed.
He rummaged through the fridge/freezer that stood next to the counter, a much smaller storage space compared to the fridge/freezer room they had across the room; he pulled out a tub of double choc ice cream, opening the lid as he pulled out a spoon from a draw. Peter scooped a big chunk of ice cream and shoved it into Eric’s mouth, all while the younger twin whined in pain.
The brunet handed his twin the tub of ice cream and the spoon so he could go back to making his beverages.
“Better?” Peter asked, placing the final cup underneath the kettle.
Eric hummed and nodded in response, scooping another big lump of ice cream into his mouth.
That usually never burns... Eric thought as he let out a sigh of relief.
“What’s up?” The older twin turned as his brother walked up to him. “You’ve got bags under your eyes, and you’re unusually out of it.” He poked his cheek. Eric stuck his tongue out at him.
Peter chuckled and placed the final cup onto the tray. He picked up the tray after placing a small plate of biscuits onto it and headed out of the door. Eric followed, still holding and eating the ice cream.
“I’m guessing Caleb was live-streaming last night.” Peter asked as they walked.
Eric nodded happily in response. “He played Visit to the Game 2 and said he’d play until he won… But….He.. still hasn’t beaten it.” He laughed nervously as he trailed off.
Peter also chuckled nervously. “Ahh, I’m guessing he ended his stream late.” It was more of a statement than a question. A maid came out of nowhere and handed Peter a clipboard which he took after he placed the tray onto one hand.
“Haha… Yeah..” Eric rubbed the back of his neck as his brother handed him the clipboard. “But he read out one of my comments during the stream so I’m super duper happy about that!!” He beamed.
The two stopped outside of a room marked ‘Main Office’. Eric held open the door for Peter as the older twin thanked him and talked.
“You know we can arrange for you to meet him, right? We are the Wynters.”
“You’ve said that before!” Eric whined as he shut the door behind them and placed the ice cream on the tray. “I told you it doesn’t feel authentic that way and I also don’t want him to think I’m snobby.” He pouted.
Peter chuckled and shrugged slightly. “Fair enough.” He said as he placed the tray onto the desk where the secret head of Wynter Industries sat; his sister, Autumn. Her royal purple hair rested in a loose ponytail with a black headband holding back any stray hairs from falling into her face. She ruled the company in secret as the board had wanted someone older and not female to run the company. However, no matter how many times the chairman; AKA their Father; had protested, the board insisted that Wynter Industries would lose money if Autumn was appointed CEO. It wasn’t as if Peter was incapable of running the company, it was just that he preferred working on robotics and the fact that he’d almost always fall asleep at meetings.
The older twin placed her cup onto a coaster and once again, sparks flowed into the liquid without anyone noticing.
“Here’s your tea Autumn.” Peter then placed the plate of biscuits next to the tea as Autumn continued to type away at the computer.
“Thanks.” She said without looking away from the screen. Immediately, she reached out for her cup and took a quick sip. Within the second that the tea was in her mouth, it was out and dripping from her chin. The cup was roughly placed back on the saucer and Autumn began coughing.
She quickly grabbed a tissue from the box on the desk and wiped the spilt tea.
“What the fuck did you put into this, lava?!” She half yelled out.
Peter’s face went from concerned back to his normal stoic expression. He sighed. “Of course not. Seriously, what is with you two today.” He grabbed the ice cream off of the tray and scooped up a big chunk. “This is why…” Peter placed the spoonful into Autumn’s mouth as she finished wiping up the tea. “... I brought the ice cream.” He placed the tub back onto the tray and sighed through his nose once more, giving his siblings a subtle worried look.
As Eric handed Autumn the clipboard he was holding, Peter simultaneously picked up his coffee mug from the tray and brought it close to his face, inhaling the pleasant aroma. What he had failed to notice, however, was the mess of sparks coming from his hand and into his drink. Unlike his siblings, Peter did not notice the heat and felt no pain as he chugged down several gulps. This time, Autumn and Eric noticed and looked concerned at each other. Had Peter used his abilities on purpose? If so, why? If not, then how had he not noticed? Did he not notice the heat? Had he pranked them? The two had so many questions but remained silent as Autumn placed the clipboard onto a stack of papers.
Peter leaned back onto the large, rectangle meeting table that took up the majority of the room.
“So, what’s the plan for today?” He asked, holding his mug close to his face.
Autumn reached into a drawer and pulled out a Wynter brand tablet. “Preparing for the arrival of the residents. I’ve already ordered everything we need online which should arrive soon, but some items need to be picked up in store.” She tapped away on the tablet and placed it onto a dock next to the monitor, connecting the two. “I’m making you a list of things I need you to do since we’ve also had some complaints about some of our landlords. But preparing for the residents should be our top priority.” She then started typing on the keyboard once more.
“Oh yeah!” Eric piped up, raised a pointed hand up to his chin. “We have that one resident coming a day early, right?” He smiled.
Peter raised his head and lowered his mug slightly. “Ah. Miss Kimiko? She’s coming tomorrow evening, right?” He brought the mug back up to his mouth, slowly taking a sip. He looked slightly proud of himself for remembering this fact.
“No, we’ve already established that she’s coming a day earlier than the rest. So she’s coming tonight.” Autumn corrected him as she continued to type on the keyboard, glancing at him every once and a while. Upon hearing this statement, Peter’s eyes went wide and he spat out his coffee.
“I would have sent a private jet to pick her up but she said she’d prefer to make her own way here from Marlstrune.”
“I thought she lived in Kikozawa, in Shikon?” Eric asked, tilting his head and his index finger placed on his chin. His twin coughed in the background attempting to get the word ‘what’ out of his mouth.
“Her aunt lives in Marlstrune along with her cousin Leo who is, oddly enough, a resident here as well.” After taking a sip from her cooled down tea, she continued. “She left Shikon two days ago after Leo convinced her that it’d be easier to travel here from their house. Their original plan was to travel here together, but seeing as she was the first to sign up, we decided her coming here a day early would be a good bonus.” She then began to nibble on a biscuit. Eric hummed in response and leaned against the side of the desk where Autumn sat.
All the while she explained, Peter had been coughing in the background. It took him a full two minutes to calm down. He wiped his mouth and chin with his sleeve.
“Wait!” He breathed. “She’s coming tonight?! I thought she was coming Thursday evening?!” A distressed and confused expression was shown on his usually stoic face.
The room went silent when Autumn stopped typing. The only other two in the room stared at their brother with worry written on their faces.
“...Peter…” Autumn started. “...Today is Thursday.”
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