The flames flickered and crackled as they consumed the charred wood. The fire cast a golden glow across the room as their shadows swayed hazily along the walls while warmth settled over the furniture like a blanket. 

The air smelled faintly of smoke and burning cedar, mingling with the scent of old wood and worn leather. Beyond the wide windows, the night lay silent and dark. A distant roll of thunder echoed beyond the closed as if warning that rain was on its way. 

Liam was poking the ash-covered piled wood with a fire poker, sending a shower of sparks drifting up the chimney. He sat before the hearth with a wool blanket draped over his shoulders like a shawl, the firelight dancing across its folds. While Anton sat beside him, giving him the rock glass with a quarter of whiskey with ice. 

“Thank you,” Liam said softly. A cool draft brushed against their backs, but the warmth from the fire soon chased it away. Anton sat beside him, holding his glass, knees drawn up beneath the wool blanket wrapped around his shoulders. 

They had shared a good laugh earlier, exchanging stories about their childhood memories and the moments that had brought them the most happiness while growing up with friends and siblings. 

Perhaps that was what Liam had wanted to learn about Anton. His own childhood was so bleak that he could barely recall a single memory worth holding on to. There might have been one when he was five, but even that felt distant and uncertain. He wasn't sure anymore. 

Another crash of thunder shook the clouds. Anton kept his gaze fixed on the wide window, the curtains drawn back on either side to reveal the darkness beyond, where streaks of lightning and rolling thunder wove through the clouds. 

“You kept looking out the window. Do the sounds of the thunder amuse you?” Liam spoke calmly, breaking Anton’s silence. Anton’s brow flinched at Liam’s sudden soft tone. The rocks glass sat untouched, and beads of condensation slid down it as the ice slowly melted.

Anton looked back at him without saying a word, as though something strange was throbbing in his chest, something he could not explain. 

“Why are you looking at me like that as if you’ve seen a ghost?” Liam said sternly, raising a brow at Anton, who seemed to be spacing out. A feeling of thread snapped behind Anton’s head. 

“Ah,” Anton said, freezing for a second. “Hey… are you trying to scare me now?” Liam asked, feeling nervous, but also annoyed. Why is he acting so weird? he thought. The flames flickered in the hearth, casting restless light across the room. 

“Liam…don’t you find it strange?” Anton asked, his voice carrying an uneasy edge. He closed his palm into a fist, resting on his legs. 

“Strange… about what?” Liam asked, his brow knitting slightly.

Anton’s heart pounded restlessly, as if something unseen was pulling him away from Liam.

“I don’t know,” Anton said softly. He wasn’t sure either; his eyes wandered around as if a shadow had been staring at them since earlier. 

Liam fell silent. He stood, and the blanket slid from his shoulders.

“I think we drank too much that your mind’s starting to act strangely, Anton,” he said, his voice cold. They locked eyes. Silence filled the space between them as their shadows lingered on the wall, unmoving. 

Anton looked up at him—gentle, almost innocent—but there was something unsettled in his gaze, like a man afraid of being abandoned.

“It’s getting late. I’ll go back to my room now,” Liam said, a knot tightening in his chest. 

He turned his back on Anton, who stood quietly in place.

Balling his left fist, and canting his head slightly to the left. 

“I’m sorry,” Anton said, and that made Liam freeze; his eyes looked stunned. His heart thumped. Why is he apologizing? What for? As he thought, clenching his fist. We were talking just fine earlier, he told himself. He looked sideways. Why does he look heartbroken right now? Liam couldn’t comprehend what the problem was. 

What made Anton act so strange and distant? 

“Honestly, I couldn’t understand you at all. Let’s talk tomorrow, hmm?” Liam said. He pursed his lips before pulling the bell three times beside the door without looking back. 

He then left the room at midnight, leaving Anton speechless in the warm glow of the fire. 

Lightning split the sky above the Hawthornes' Estate in Suffolk. But Liam didn’t return to his room. He went to the lavatory. While washing his hands, the lights flickered as the peal of thunder rolled across the sky. 

His reflection in the mirror looked normal as he switched on the torch light from his phone before leaving the rest room.