“I did not expect to see you in the kitchen of all places.”

Aubyn’s voice broke my concentration and I ended up spilling a bit of the drink as I poured it into a tall glass. Thankfully, it wasn’t much which meant an easy cleanup. “Mr S… I mean, Mr Ionadi said I should make myself useful. He found it pitiful that I couldn’t cook. I don’t think he has much of a filter. Aren’t hosts supposed to be more polite to their guests?”

“He is only polite when he wants to be, and it is pitiful that you have no experience in the kitchen. You are a young man who is looking to live alone. How will you survive?” Aubyn came around to look at what I was doing and stopped behind me, looking over my shoulder. “Have you called him Mr Ionadi to his face?” he asked.

“Should I not?” I asked, turning to see him but looking forward again when I realized just how close our faces would be. “Is he like you who would hate it if I called him that?”

“It is not that I hated it. I would just prefer it if you called me Aubyn. It is a bit of an inside joke of ours, but I would like for you to call him that when we all settle down to eat. If he reacts the way I expect him to, then I will tell you why it is so triggering coming out of your mouth.”

I didn’t understand, but I pushed it aside and started cleaning up. I used nearly all the ingredients, filling two glasses with the smoothie. Aubyn helped me clean up and Milan and Mr S joined us afterwards. Aubyn set a glass of the green smoothie I made in Milan’s place at the table.

“Can’t I have an omelette too?” Milan asked weakly. He looked pale.

“No. You have been throwing up since you woke up and I do not want you doing any more of that. Drink your smoothie. It should help,” Mr S said, sitting at the table.

Once we were all seated, I watched the three men close their eyes and say a short prayer before they started eating. I wasn’t very religious. I didn’t pray or go to church, but there were too many things science couldn’t explain that I could only call magic performed by some greater force out there.

“I don’t want this,” Milan mumbled, swirling the smoothie with a glass straw. “It’s green. I don’t like green food that’s not matcha flavoured.”

“Then just pretend it’s matcha flavoured,” Mr S told him.

“It doesn’t smell like matcha. It smells like tea with a hint of grass,” Milan whined.

“Milan, do I need to remind you that your sensitive stomach is your fault?” Mr S asked taking a sip of his coffee. “You know you can hardly stomach regular food as it is, and yet you overindulged in processed sugar. You are going to drink all of it. Every last drop. And do not even assume that because you are in pain now that I will not find a suitable pun-”

I didn’t get to hear the rest of what he said clearly because Aubyn had reached over to me and covered my ears. Mr S’ voice became muffled even though he was sitting right next to me at the small square table. Whatever it was that he’d said made Milan suddenly timid as he sipped on his smoothie.

Aubyn removed his hands after a few seconds. “Nao, maybe you should be more careful of the things you say with a guest here,” he said, looking at Mr S pointedly.

Mr S looked at me as if he had forgotten I was sitting there and shrugged. “I think he is old enough to not need censoring of any kind. Right, Zedikai?”

Aubyn poked my thigh under the table and discreetly gestured towards Mr S. Remembering what he had asked me to do, I replied, “Yes… Mr Ionadi”.

Mr S’ response was a bit different than Aubyn’s had been. Instead of just pausing for a few seconds too long, he put down his fork and leaned back in his chair to give me a look I couldn’t recognize. “My name is Sang.”

I looked to Aubyn for answers, but he was busy trying to contain a chuckle that slipped out anyway. “Ni toi eyo heda, ani?” he asked Sang.

Sang glanced at me briefly and nodded. “Da.”

“What?” I asked, a bit frustrated and lost. “Did I pronounce your name wrong?”

“No, not at all,” Sang said.

“It is just that the way it comes out of your mouth makes it sound a bit…” Aubyn started but then paused to find the right word. “Nao, sos ora ni kong ‘handen’ xin Eiga?”

“Et’ta… sexy tam provocative maybe,” Sang offered. “He is trying to say your voice is sexy when you say that specifically. I agree.”

Aubyn was quick to jump in with, “I am sure you do not mean for it to come out that way. I took it in the wrong way, but your voice and tone make it sound that way without you having to try. Like… kuyou.”

Sang nearly burst out laughing over his coffee and mumbled something under his breath that I didn’t catch. I was confused for only two more seconds until it hit me. “Oh, you mean the two of you have some kind of title kink, don’t you? That’s dirty,” It kind of felt nice to be told by someone that my voice was sexy.

“I hope we did not make you feel uncomfortable,” Sang said. “Remember who to blame for that if you do,” he said, nodding his head towards Aubyn.

“I’m not uncomfortable,” I responded, glancing at Aubyn. “Even aliens have dirty minds it seems.”

“Eat your food,” Aubyn said, avoiding looking at me.

“Are you going to be here all day?” Sang asked as we were tidying up after breakfast.

Aubyn had offered the suit for a few days, but neither Milan nor Sang had mentioned anything about me staying at their place. I was putting Aubyn out of his own room, so they probably thought I was a burden already. They had been nice enough to let me, a complete stranger, stay the night twice.

“Uhm… no. I’ll be out soon,” I answered.

“Where are you going?” Aubyn asked, setting the last plate to dry.

“School, maybe the bank.” I had a few hundred dollars paid to me by Jeff that I hadn’t deposited yet and I didn’t know what Peter was doing while I wasn’t at the house. He could have taken it already for all I knew. “Then home, I guess.”

“I thought you were homeless,” Milan said, raising his head from the table. He hadn’t been helping to clean up since he’d mumbled something about feeling nauseated, so Sang had told him to put his head down. “Isn’t that why you’re going to stay here?”

“I’m not homeless,” I said through clenched teeth.

“I thought you said you did not have to show up to your classes during exams,” Aubyn pointed out. “Is that not why you asked if it would be quiet here? To study?”

Damn his memory. Well, it wasn’t as if I was a talented liar. I felt cornered with all their eyes on me. I didn’t know if they wanted me to go or stay and I didn’t want to choose the wrong one. I wanted to stay, but the last thing I wanted was to hang around in a space where I wasn’t wanted. From Aubyn’s words, I thought maybe he wanted me around. Wasn’t the plan, for now, to get to know everyone better so I would feel more comfortable with them helping me?

They hadn’t been like Peter or Jeff who would just tell me to get out, but I could be reading too much into the way Sang asked his question. I didn’t know what to do. If I asked, I felt like I’d just look dumb like I should know the answer already, but I didn’t. I didn’t know.

“I’m going to go…” I said, exiting the dining area quickly and going back to Aubyn’s room.

It had been nice sitting and eating and talking around the table. I’d never had that before. Peter was a failure of a parent and Jeff was more into my body than sharing meals. It was strange and unfamiliar, and even though I felt out of place, I had liked watching them interact with each other.