The waitress returned with their food, placed it on the table, and left. Without further ado, they started eating imdiately. June ate far more than even Aren, and Aren was already a lover of food.
"Did you starve yourself?" he asked jokingly, but her face darkened the next mont. She froze, her bite slowing as she dragged it out, her eyes focused on the burger.
Seeing this, Aren dropped his food on the plate, his eyes turning cold. "Let’s talk," he said. "What happened when I was gone?"
"I really don’t want to talk about it. It’s not really an issue," she stated.
"What happened, June? Tell ," he said in a low growl. She looked up at him, and she could tell he wasn’t joking at all. Dropping her head low, she started speaking.
"After both of you left, Dad and Mom beca more focused on , wanting to give up my ridiculous obsession with the trials.
"The first few days were fine, but soon after, it got too much. Dad started monitoring my spending, making sure I didn’t use it on sothing related to the trials.
"They locked inside, allowing to only leave for school. It got too much for , too heavy for , so I snapped." When she got to this point, she clenched the burger in her hands tightly. Aren watched as a tear dropped from her eye and hit the table with a small splatter.
He looked at that tear, his jaw clenching, but he didn’t say anything.
"After I snapped, I figured that would make them listen to , but it didn’t. Instead, it had the adverse effect. They beca more strict, threatening to take away everything, and they did.
"So I ran away, went to your place, and decided to stay there. They threatened after that, but I refused to listen. That’s how it went. I had to manage my savings so far to survive." June finished. She paused for a long mont before leaning in for another bite of her burger.
Aren watched her quietly for a few seconds, then picked up a fry and tossed it into his mouth. "I’ll kill them," he muttered, and imdiately she looked up, her eyes filled with shock.
"What?" she asked, wanting to be sure she heard right.
"I said I’ll speak to them. I want to have a one-on-one with them and see what they have to say," Aren said.
June stared at him. She felt that wasn’t what he said, but she wasn’t sure.
"What Mom and Dad have done is unforgivable," Aren stated. Then he pulled out a bundle of credits worth fifty thousand, placed it on the table, and slid it over to her.
"This is fifty thousand credits. I’ll be returning to the Domain in a day or so, but this should get you through, at the very least," Aren said.
Her eyes widened when she saw the money. "Bro, what the hell?" she asked, shocked to see her brother handing her such an enormous amount of money.
"I have more, don’t worry," he said.
"Bro, do all Awakened make this much?" she asked.
"Nope. Only special ones," Aren replied.
"Special?" she asked, then looked at him with a curious gaze. "How special are you?" she asked.
Aren took a fry and ate it. "You don’t tell anyone this, okay? I’m Shadow, the current first of the trials," Aren said.
He imdiately expected a shocked reaction, but she burst into laughter instead.
"Hahaha, bro, you joke too much," she said. "Shadow can’t be you," she said with certainty.
"Huh? What the hell do you an?" he asked, confused.
She imdiately pulled out her phone and opened a social dia app, TikGram, pulling up a profile with only three videos yet a million followers. The na was Shadow.
"This is Shadow’s account. He opened it after leaving the trials. He imdiately beca popular when he announced he was Shadow. He got over a million followers in a few days," June explained.
"What the hell?" Aren asked in full shock. He snatched the phone from her hands and opened one of the videos.
It was a tall young man around Aren’s age. He had white hair and very pale skin, looking beautiful and classy. The video showed him driving in a newly bought car.
"Hey everyone, I’ll be heading back to the Domain tomorrow, and I’ll be hunting there. Co to Raven City and you might get to join my party," he said, then sped off in the car.
Aren stared at the screen for a few seconds. June looked at him, genuinely confused by her brother’s expression.
"Haha... hahahaha... hahaha, haha," Aren burst into laughter, drawing the attention of everyone around them.
"This, this dude is Shadow? Hahahaha, you have to be kidding ," Aren said, wiping a tear from under his eyes. "I can’t believe this dude stole my identity and is flexing it for the world to see."
June saw that he wasn’t joking. She looked at him with wide eyes. "You aren’t joking, bro?" she asked.
"Well, duh. I wouldn’t tell you if it wasn’t true. The issue now is this person impersonating . I’d like to see him," Aren said, picking up his milkshake and taking a sip.
"Bro, if you are Shadow, why not tell everyone and stop this dude?" she asked.
"Oh no, no. I don’t want people knowing I am Shadow," Aren said.
"And why wouldn’t you want that?" she asked.
"Oh, because then people like would be able to see who he is and maybe want to hurt him," Aren said, then took another sip. "I like being safe. But then again, I don’t like the fact that he stole my identity, so I want to et him."
"I guess that kind of makes sense. But that aside, bro, how are you Shadow? Tell everything, down to the smallest detail. I want to know," June said eagerly.
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