“Alright.” I spoke into my headset from the comfort of my office.

“We’ll get Austin out on a mission.”

“Sounds great. I think Elijah will be the one out for him.” I replied. I heard a muffled ‘yes ma’am’ from the other side and hung up.

“Ezekiel, can you call up Maeve and tell her to mark off another Zomji member? Aurielle van Husen.” I asked my brother, to which he nodded and grabbed his phone. For the past day or so he’d been acting oddly serious, like something was wrong. I’d yet to ask him about it, since we didn’t usually talk about emotional stuff. 

“Ez? You okay?” I whispered so it was barely audible, so he hopefully wouldn’t hear me. 

“No.” Was his response back, looking as if he were to cry. I took it as a sign to go away and let him… Emotion by himself. I got out of my office and went into my room, sitting at my desk in there and marking stuff off my calendar before setting my LED lights to a brighter pink. I could hear Ezekiel’s sniffles from my office and I tried to block them out. Something was really wrong but I didn’t know how to approach it. I myself had no moral compass. Sure, I felt emotions but not really empathy. Ezekiel was the same. Our parents were the same. But I felt bad for my brother. I didn’t know what he was going through but I could tell it was horrible.

He was family, so it was weird after I’d spiked Maverick’s drink and felt bad at how weak he’d become, bad for causing it. I wanted to help but I didn’t. 

I

felt

bad.

“Knock. Knock. It’s me, Li Li.” Just from the drop of tone at the end, I knew not to answer the door. Sure enough, Ezekiel bounded downstairs, bringing Elijah up with him and locking his bedroom door. I flopped onto my four poster bed and stared up at the ceiling, wondering what was wrong with him. 

A sob came from the room across the hall and I winced. I didn’t know what had happened but it was horrible. I grabbed my phone and headphones, connecting the bluetooth and just listening to the music that was already playing.

________________________________________________________

It was only when I felt my phone buzzing from where it lay on my stomach did I realise the time and the silence from around me. 

MKxx: Sorry about last time. When are you next free?

Ner14h09: Right now if that suits you. Otherwise the whole week.

MKxx: Yeah, I can meet up right now. Is the park good?

Ner14h09: The Reserve or like the actual playground?

MKxx: The playground.

Ner14h09: Ok…? Cya in 10.

MKxx: Cya.

I slipped a jacket over my outfit. Though it was slightly messy from my usual black on black, I was in something colourful, one of the many outfits Ezekiel had forced me to buy that day. Hot pink tracksuit pants with a white top and a jacket matching the tracksuit pants. I threw my wig on and then put my wig into a low bun with a claw clip before putting on runners before leaving. 

The playground wasn’t far. A ten minute walk tops, but I just had to take photos. So after taking a ten minute detour and extending my walk time to twenty minutes, I arrived at the park and waved at Maverick. He smiled and walked over, locking me in a hug. I fell into it, wrapping my arms around him in return. It felt weird hugging someone I barely knew. I say barely when I know every detail of his childhood. “Are you feeling better today?”

“Yeah, it was an allergic reaction apparently. I brought chips.” He waved a packet of chicken chips in front of me and I smiled before frowning, “Sorry, I didn’t bring any food. I didn’t think we’d be eating.”

“It’s fine, we can go drop by the shops and pick something up.” Maverick suggested, before adding on, “We could always just stay here and eat these for now.” 

“I like the second option better.” I replied, a smile on my face. 

“Anything is fine with me.” He opened the packet of chips and took a handful out. I stared at him in shock, my jaw wide open. He did not. 

“What?” He shrugged his shoulders like he had no idea what he’d done.

“You- you just shoved your whole hand in there! It’s like…Contaminated now!” I exclaimed before taking my own handful out of the bag, acting out how he did it.

“Sorry, your highness. I’ll just-” Maverick threw the chips at me and I flinched. 

“By royal decree, I demand you take that back!” I screamed, brushing the fragments of food off me.
“No thanks.” He kept eating whilst smirking. I glared, picking off the last of the chips. 

“I’ll get you back when you never see it coming.” I sneered and ate more chips. He chuckled and then started eating the chips daintily. 

“What are you allergic to?” 

“Cinnamon.” 

“Just cinnamon?”

“Yeah, kind of annoying.” 

“Right, okay.” 

“Why do you ask?” 

“I was just wondering, for future reference.” 

“Are you planning something, your highness?”

“I might be, but I won’t tell you.” I smirked. I took another few chips and ate them. “I’m going to go buy us a drink. Want anything?”

“A beer?”

“Okay.” I stood up and jogged to the corner store. I pulled out my phone and texted Ezekiel, hoping he was okay now. 

Neriah: You feeling better now? 

Brother Dearest 👹: i ges where r u

Neriah: Out.

Brother Dearest 👹: u wont giv me any context

Neriah: No.

Brother Dearest 👹: okay hav fun

Neriah: get well soon xx

Brother Dearest 👹: i gave u a hug in my mind

Neriah: Well I return that hug.

He sent a smiley face and I turned off my phone, purchasing the drinks required. I made my way back to the playground and held up the beverages. “Here you go.” I slid the beer across the table and he picked it up, raising it up in the air.

“Cheers to something.” He smirked.

“Cheers to something!” I copied clinking my soda can to his glass bottle. We sipped our drinks in unison and I smiled after taking my first sip.

“Thanks for coming out so randomly. I was just feeling so trapped in my house.” Maverick sighed, taking another sip.

“It’s fine. My brother needed some time alone anyways.” I assured, drinking more. 

“What’s your brother’s name?” My date asked, tilting his head slightly.

“Emery.” I made up on the spot. The man across from me nodded and drank some more.

Soon, both of our bottles were empty and we stood up. I looked at my phone to check the time.“I better get going.” 

“Oh. Okay. Bye.” Maverick pulled me into another hug and I hugged him back once again. Waving goodbye, I set off down the path and back to the mess of emotions my brother now was.