Leilani.
"What are you hiding?" I asked calmly— to calmly, compared to the storm raging inside my heart, my brows cocking up to my hairline when Zevran shoved sothing behind his back, his face the complete epito of embarrassnt.
He looked to his brothers who for so reason seed as though they did not want to look at him and said quietly; "Nothing that should concern you, my love."
I frowned.
And goddess, even though deep down, all I wanted was to be away from them, their suspicious attitude made it quite impossible for to tear my eyes away.
I strolled down the stairs and as I did, I couldn’t help but notice how the sll of food was growing stronger and stronger with each step I took. Ignoring it, I made my way downstairs and...
I gasped.
Why?
Because right in front of was a feast. A complete feast!
There was a large apple pie in the centre, a bowl of chicken broth, so white rice, a kind of sauce that I do not seem to have seen before, so steak that looked like they’d just been dipped into the oven and brought out almost instantly... and dessert. Tons of dessert!
Oh did I forget to ntion the baked whole chicken close to the apple pie that looked as though it was sothing straight from a thanksgiving dinner.
I gulped. "Who made this?"
The triplets dropped their heads in embarrassnt, their voices ununiform as they drawled; "us."
I froze. I do not know if it was their response or the kind of food sitting in front of that made my mouth go dry in surprise, but I found myself blinking rapidly, my feet heavy as I made my way to the already set dining table.
"Why did you cook?" The words fell out of my mouth when I couldn’t think of anything better to say, and when I turned to look at them, I noticed to my surprise that they dropped their heads again, their faces coloring a bright shade of pink as they averted their eyes.
And when none of them answered, I tried again; "Which of you cooked?"
"Zevran." Caelum answered quickly— too quickly.
"It’s Kael!" Zevran spat.
"It’s Caelum. I cannot cook!" Kael hissed.
My eyes darted between these three powerful n who for so reason were acting like teenagers right now. And by the gods, I wanted to hate them. I wanted to throw them out of my house especially since I could vividly rember the last conversation I had with Kael.
But looking at them like this... so lost... so pitiful and shy, stirred at sothing in my chest.
"That ans you all cooked." I said dryly.
I turned away from them and made my way to the elaborate table. I didn’t even ask to sit— because co to think of it, this is my house— and then I sat down, playing with the tips of my hair as I waited for them to join .
But they did not.
I frowned. "Are these for show and are inedible?"
"No."
"So why are you three standing there after using literally everything in my kitchen to prepare this dish?"
At my words, they slowly turned to look at then dropped their heads quickly again. My suspicions grew as they dragged their feet to the table but none of them tried to sit.
No one even did as much as glance at the food for more than a second.
I hissed; "Is it poisoned?"
And that, that made Caelum lift his eyes to et mine. He shook his head quickly and sputtered; "It... it is not! But it is bad. It is bad bad. It would ruin your stomach."
His blunt words made my frown deepen. I turned to his brothers, half expecting them to debunk what he just said, and to ask them why he just said but to my utmost bewildernt, they didn’t say anything. I didn’t ask either because their silence was answer enough.
And the way they shied away even more told everything I ought to know.
It was bad. Bad bad.
A beat of silence passed between us before Kael finally spoke. He drawled; "We wanted to prepare your lunch slash dinner. We didn’t know that it would go this badly."
"We’re sorry."
"Whose idea was it?" I snapped, already getting irritated by it all. And yes, I was irritated because all this food may have just gone to waste. But at the sa ti, I was amused because... girlllll you need to look at them!
You need to see the embarrassnt on their faces and how jittery they literally were.
Kael and Zevran bounced from foot to foot while Caelum looked like he wanted to disappear. Like he would’ve dashed out of the house if given the chance.
My eyes darted from one brother to the other and when they still wouldn’t respond to my question, I asked again; "Who ca up with this idea?!"
Zevran swallowed.
"It’s Zevran!" Caelum answered,
That answers it!
I took one more glance at them again and turned away to pick up my fork. But as soon as I dug it into the Apple pie, Zevran yelled;
"Please don’t eat it!"
I ignored him, grabbed a forkful and pushed it into my mouth, and—
*Crack!*
I was chewing on an eggshell!
My eyes widened in shock and goddess, against my better judgnt, I burst into laughter. I laughed so much that my chest began to hurt and tears stread down my face.
And do you know what I found even funnier?
The looks on their faces. The expression that scread; ’Yes, we know we fucked up!’
Usually, I would’ve been so enraged by the food wastage but I wasn’t. I was excited. Goddess I was having too much fun!
Also, did I tell you guys that besides the egg shells in the apple pie, the taste was pretty decent? In fact, it was sweet! But I didn’t tell them that.
I tried the rice next and the grilled fish. Then I went on to try the strange broth which was surprisingly sweet as well.
However, just as I tried to reach out for the chicken broth, the three brothers turned away, their faces scrunched up in agony as I brought my spoon up to my mouth.
And—
"Yuck!" I cried,
By the gods, it was the foulest tasting substance I’ve ever eaten in my entire life!
I grimaced without knowing and picked up a small plastic bowl to spit out the contents of my mouth, goosebumps spreading across my skin as I spat; "What’s that?"
"Chicken broth."
"Chicken what?"
"More like chicken pox!" Caelum hissed under his breath.
I turned to look at him briefly then turned away, a smile that I didn’t want to let out forcing its way up my face.
"That will do," I said slowly, "I’ll have the apple pie and the rice. As for that steak..." I shuddered slightly at the thought of how bloody red it still was, and said; "...I won’t be touching that."
"Fair," Zevran drawled. "Does it an that the apple pie and the others are edible? That they’re not so bad?"
"Haven’t you guys tasted it?" I snapped back, rolling my eyes when he shook his head at .
"No."
No wonder.
"It isn’t bad. You can eat it." I said, and with that, dished myself so food and began to eat silently while the three watched quietly as I devoured my food.
They didn’t join in. They didn’t talk. All they did was watch while standing like they were my serving maidservants, if maidservants were burly looking males, and by the ti I was done, I picked up my plate and began to walk to the kitchen.
I, however, had just taken a step when Zevran snatched it from my hands, his fingers brushing over mine and his voice soft— too soft— as he said; "Let have it."
I frowned. "No."
"I want to... I want to help you clean it up."
"But I said no."
"Leilani, I’m not trying to be stubborn or anything. I don’t even— we don’t even have ulterior motives. We just want to help."
I looked at his face as soon as he said that, like really look at his face. And for the first ti in years, I felt my heart flip in my chest. I felt sothing snap and soften and I averted my eyes; "Okay."
He took a step back and walked away with my plate in hand, and goddess, he seed content.
They all did.
—
For the remaining hours of the evening, I spent it with three bodyguards I never asked for and just when the atmosphere was beginning to grow too tense and whatever that stupid voice inside of was— had started whispering jargons into my ears, the doorbell rang.
I rose quickly.
"Let’s get it for you!" Kael ordered, but I was done sitting around like so trophy. I shook my head and ignored him.
As soon as I pushed my door open, I froze. Because standing right there was Yvette and she was holding a very large bouquet of lilies, with the words; "From Jarek." written boldly on the note on top of it.
I glanced back to find the triplets standing behind , and as soon as their eyes landed on the note, the windows on their faces dropped. What I an is, their faces fell.
They turned to literal stone.
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