- Serena -

It's been two days since I saw the image of my brother in the next town. I can't shake it off. 

Though it sounds stupid, his light blonde hair is the one thing I always recognise him by.

That and his tall build.

Ben went crazy when I dashed out on the road like that, he literally shook me and I didn't realise how scared he was when he saw me like that.

But my brother, ever since the skiing accident, no one could find him. I never got the chance to say goodbye.

"Serena," Roxy placed a hand on my shoulder and I looked at her, snapping out of my daydream.

"Yes?"

"Thinking about your brother again?"

I nodded, my thoughts drifting again.

"It's been three years Serena, if your brother was alive he should have found you by now. Or at the very least contacted your parents about it, right?" 

I shook my head, "I moved halfway through the country Roxy, plus my parents have gone MIA somewhere in Asia. He couldn't find us even if he wanted to."

"So you think that man you saw is your brother?"

I sighed, "I don't know Roxy, it's been so long. I miss him so much. I don't want to give myself false hope but I can't shake that image of him away."

"If you really want to check it out then maybe you can ask Ben to follow you down. I mean, he was from that town anyway."

"Austin and Ben got kicked out of that place remember? What the hell did they do that a whole town will throw them out?" I wondered out loud and Roxanne sighed dreamily.

"Must've been something really manly of course."

I smacked her hand, "You're a lost cause Roxy."

She giggled and the door to the cafe opened, Ben strode in, his toned muscular body in its full glory.

I realised it's been two days since I spoke to him, I was too distracted with thoughts of my brother to think about Ben.

Roxanne skipped over to Ben, "Since you're here, I'll pop by to see Austin. Take care of little Serena for me."

I glared at her and she danced across the street.

Ben came over to me, his beautiful eyes gazing down at me, "How have you been?"

"I'm fine. Ben, I want to apologise for that day, I kinda freaked out really bad. I'm sorry if I inconvenienced you in any way."

His eyes were dark and serious, it was creepy, "You dashed across a busy street Serena, if I didn't pull you back God knows what would've happened to you."

He wasn't scolding me, but it felt like it. Each word was laced with worry and I couldn't help but feel guilty.

"I'm really sorry Ben."

He reached out and placed his hand against my cheek, "You drive me crazy with worry Serena. Every second I worry something will happen to you."

"I can protect myself-"

"I know but recently I feel like I need to be there. Trust me I know damn well you can protect yourself. The way you punched those guys at the bar, I've never seen a girl hit someone that hard before. But when other situations arise like a few days ago, when you're totally out of it, I worry for you."

His warm hand was coaxing me and honestly, I will agree to anything he said right now. 

"Thank you for watching out for me then," I smiled at him and he finally breathed out a sigh of relief, releasing my face from his hand.

"You're welcome. I actually have something to ask you."

I raised an eyebrow, "Regarding?"

"When you ran out on the road, you were shouting for someone."

Oh right. 

I looked away, "Um yeah. It was nothing. I thought I saw someone I knew."

"Really? You seem pretty anxious when you ran across the road," he continued.

There it is, observant Ben is back.

Should I tell him about my past? About my brother and the ski accident? 

It is dangerous because those events led up to my powers. But even then, can I share at least a little about Shawn?

I felt my core stir within me and I decided to keep things as they were. But a brief explanation should be fine.

"I thought I saw my brother across the street that day."

He raised an eyebrow, "You have a brother?"

I smiled and nodded at the thought of Shawn, "Well, I had a brother."

Ben's face went blank for a few seconds, "I'm sorry for your loss."

I shrugged and sighed, "It's um, it was in short an accident. I don't know, we never found his body so when I saw a resemblance of him that day I kind of snapped."

He kept silent as if waiting for me to continue, but that was all I was willing to share. My memories of my brother were mine to keep.

"I suppose he's your older brother?" He whispered and I gave him a slight nod.

"So it was just you, him and your parents?"

I nodded again, "After the accident, my parents went to travel the world. The loss was too much for them. They wanted me to go with them but I decided to move away with Roxy."

He chuckled, "Looks like we're all here to get away from our past."

I glanced at him, the way he said it sounded different, it had a double meaning to it. His voice was deeper, his eyes staring off into the distance. I wonder what he meant when he said that.

"I'm not here to get away, I'm here to start anew."

He shrugged and gazed back at me, "Sounds the same to me. Anyway, I want to propose to you."

My eyes widened, "WHAT?! Ben we've barely met for a month-"

He laughed and shook his head, "No no not that kind of proposal. I have an idea to propose to you."

Of course, how stupid of me. Well, he wasn't clear in the first place.

"Oh okay, about what?"

"The town is having their annual carnival tomorrow and when I talked to the organising committee about it, I realised there weren't any food stalls in place. So I asked them if it was possible for us to open a food cart or stall at the carnival itself and they agreed to it."

"So this involves me because?"

"I was wondering if you would like to open the food stall together," he watched me, trying to gauge my reaction.

Oh wow okay, he sounds very business-ish to me.

"Sounds interesting. But why would you want to work with us? We sell ice cream."

"Kids love ice cream Serena, and the adults can have savoury food from our side. And we'll split the profits. I'm sure Roxanne and Austin wouldn't mind."

That, he was right. Roxy will pounce at the idea of working with Austin. I looked out across the street and saw her ogling over Austin who was cooking something by the stove.

"It sounds alright, but your ingredients and food are way more expensive than our ice cream so I don't expect us to take half the profits. Maybe one-third?" I reasoned, I wanted to be fair here.

"Will that make you agree to work with us?"

I thought about it and nodded, "I'll still run it by Roxy though, I need her opinion about this."

He smiled his gorgeous smile, "By all means Serena."

***

Roxanne was squealing in delight when I talked to her about it. Even Ben who was back at his restaurant could see her reaction.

"It's going to be great Serena! It's like a double date kind of thing, I mean, it's really freaking awesome don't you think? Two couples working together, it's epic!"

I rolled my eyes, "FYI I'm not the one in a relationship. I'm not interested in Ben if that's what you're thinking."

She scoffed, "Please, you and Ben can't take your eyes off one another. He even took you out on a date, what else do you want?"

"Nothing really, I don't want anything from this."

"Uh huh, so are you telling me you are doing this for me?"

I shrugged, "Yeah kind of, I love you more than any other hot guy out there."

She pretended to gag and we laughed, "You'll pick a bag of chips over me any day Serena, you know that."

"Who ever rejects a bag of chips?"

The door opened and in strolled the mother and daughter. Their weekly visit here.

The mother looked especially exhausted and her eyebags were really dark. She wore a long-sleeved top but her daughter was bright and smiley as usual.

The daughter ordered her usual rainbow ice cream while the mother stood aside waiting to pay for it.

The mother's eyes were bloodshot red as if she'd undergone something horrible. I stood at the cashier, staring at her unknowingly. Her face was covered in powder and concealer, covering a few dark patches on her face. Were those bruises? I recognise the colour because I covered my marks like that too.

I was about to open my mouth to ask her if everything was okay until Roxanne handed the cup of ice cream to the girl and nudged me aside to collect the payment.

Roxy gave me a warning look to mind my own business and the mother wobbled away to a table that her daughter already happily plopped herself in.

Roxanne pulled me to a corner and whispered in my ear, "Don't get involved. We have gotten into enough trouble, I don't want you to get punched in the face again."

I sighed, "Roxy it's a mother and her child, what's the worst that can happen?"

She glanced back at the duo, "She looks horrible Serena, just let them have their ice cream and let them leave in peace."

My core stirred within me, something was wrong. But I really didn't want to get into any more problems than I already have.

I nodded and Roxy smiled, giving me a pat on the back. She went to the backroom to retrieve something while I stood around the counter arranging the glass ice cream cups.

The little girl was giggling and singing a song to her mother and I could see a small smile cross her tired face. She reached over to touch her daughter's face and her sleeve ran up her arm slightly, I gasped.

A huge bruise marked the exposed parts of her arm along with deep cuts and scrapes.

What in the world?

"Are you happy to be out with mummy today?" She mumbled to her daughter and the girl nodded, a chirpy laugh escaping her ice cream-stained lips.

"Mummy doesn't cry when mummy brings me out for ice cream, I like it when mummy doesn't cry," the daughter beamed at her exhausted mother and stuffed another scoop of ice cream into her mouth.

I blinked at the scene in front of me and turned to look across the street, seeing Ben catch my gaze. He seemed to see the panic in my eyes and started making his way over.

I made my way to the backroom quietly, pulling Roxanne up from where she was storing the ingredients.

"Roxy, I have something to tell you."

"What is it?" She hears the stress in my voice.

At that moment, we hear a blood-curling scream.