Lily’s eyes narrowed with suspicion. She leaned slightly to the side, peering around her brother’s arm like she was trying to make sure she wasn’t seeing things.
"Oh! My brother took ho a girl?" she repeated, her voice a little louder this ti as if wanting to say sothing to Gray.
"It’s not what you think, Lily." Gray let out a short sigh, already dragging a hand down his face.
"She is Selina," he said as he turned to the side to point at her. "She’s my friend, okay? She lives in the next unit over. We just found out by accident, so I invited her for dinner."
At the ntion of her na, Selina stepped forward, just a little. She pressed her lips together and raised a hand in a small wave. She suddenly felt shy as she stood there.
"Hi, Lily. It’s nice to et you. I’ve heard... a lot about you," Selina’s voice was soft as she talked to Lily. She couldn’t help it. She wanted to run to Lily and hug her small fra, but she stopped herself.
On her mind, though, all she could think of was how cute and adorable Lily looked!
Lily blinked when she realized that the woman was the one who greeted her first. Her eyes brightened up in adoration. Now, she looked more excited.
"Hello, sister!" Lily’s smile widened even more. She quickly took her hug off Gray, leaving the man speechless. Instead of looking at her brother, Lily ran to Selina instead.
"You’re so pretty, Sister! You look like soone from a movie or sothing!" she exclaid in adoration.
Selina laughed at that, clearly taken off guard. Her cheeks reddened, gladdened by the complint. It was the best complint she received, and it was unexpected.
"That’s really sweet of you. Thank you," she said, placing a hand over her chest. "You’re really cute, too."
"Of course I am!" Lily said proudly as if she had no sha in her body.
"Co on in, Sister! Do you like juice? I can make so! I learned it from a YouTube video!" She was already reaching for Selina’s hand without hesitation.
Gray, who was still standing a few steps behind, blinked slowly.
"Lily is really quite unique, isn’t she?’ he muttered under his breath.
Lily just had her own way of connecting with people. She was also naturally enthusiastic and kind.
Gray knew that kids her age sotis started to pull away from the world, retreating into their own little spaces. But thankfully, that hadn’t happened to Lily.
"You two go do your thing first," he called out. "Just don’t bother while I cook, alright?" Gray exhaled as he watched Lily tug Selina toward the living room with all the energy in the world.
"Yes, Brother!" Lily turned back with her usual mischievous grin.
Beside her, Selina looked back as well. She smiled warmly, her arm now loosely linked with Lily’s like they’d known each other for longer than five minutes.
"We’ll stay out of trouble," she promised, though her tone wasn’t very convincing than they sounded.
Gray gave them both a look. ’I’m scared of these two...’ he shook his head and let out another sigh.
The two just laughed as they continued to walk into the rest of the house.
It was clear they clicked instantly. Maybe it was because Selina had longed for a sibling all her life, and Lily, who was now growing older, had quietly been yearning for an older female figure to look up to.
Gray finally turned away from the front door, the fading sound of their laughter still echoing in his ears as he walked into the kitchen.
The place had beco quieter with the occasional sound of laughter coming from the living room. He paused near the counter and exhaled. Afterward, he reached up to roll the sleeves of his shirt past his elbows.
He hadn’t expected the evening to turn out like this.
In fact, if soone told him earlier today that he’d spend the night cooking dinner while his sister and Selina laughed like old friends in the next room, he probably would’ve stared at them blankly.
Yet here they were.
Gray opened the fridge, pulling out whatever ingredients made sense. A pack of tofu. So leftover vegetables. A sealed container of pre-cut beef he bought last ti. He laid them out on the counter, then took a mont to think what to cook.
Behind him, laughter echoed again. Lily’s voice rang louder than Selina’s. She excited and full of uncontainable energy. He heard the shuffle of cushions being moved, sothing being dragged across the floor, and a sudden shriek that made him glance over his shoulder.
The two were arranging so things in the living room while talking about sothing he couldn’t understand.
Gray let out a soft snort under his breath. He turned back to the sink, washed his hands, and started cooking whatever.
He moved instinctively. Chopped the onions and garlic. Threw in the beef in the oiled pan. Poured a bit of soy sauce and tossed everything together in the pan. The scent of garlic and seared beef quickly filled the kitchen.
He listened as he worked.
"I want to be like you when I grow up, Sister!" Lily suddenly announced, loud enough that Gray could hear her clearly over the distance.
There was a small silence followed by a delighted laugh from Selina.
"You do?"
"Yes!" Lily said with certainty. "You’re pretty, and you dress nice, and you sound smart! You talk like you know stuff."
"Well... thank you?" Selina said, laughing again. "I think you’re already halfway there, honestly."
"Do you et a lot of people in your work?" Lily asked next, rapid-fire as always. "Do you have a boyfriend? Oh! What about your family? Do they live with you? Are you close with them? What do you do at work? Is it scary?"
"Whoa—slow down, Lily!" Selina’s laugh rang out again, clearly overwheld by the barrage of questions. "Let see if I can even rember all of that..."
Gray shook his head, amused, as he tossed the vegetables into the pan next. He didn’t know what he expected, but it wasn’t this.
Selina... she was surprisingly good with Lily.
She was patient, kind, and warm. She was also responsive to everything that Lily asked as if she was also having fun.
He heard Selina continue, her voice thoughtful now. "I do et a lot of people, yeah. It’s part of the job. Sotis it’s fun, other tis it’s exhausting."
"Do you get nervous, Sister?" Lily’s voice dropped slightly, curious.
"More than you think," Selina answered. "But I try not to let it show. You kind of learn how to be confident once you grow up."
"That’s cool..." Lily said, clearly impressed. "Wait, sister. You didn’t answer the boyfriend question!"
Selina chuckled.
"I don’t have one, Lily." Selina admitted with a sheepish laugh. "No boyfriend for this sister."
"Oooh." Lily drew out the sound like she had just uncovered a mystery. "That ans my brother still has a chance!
=====
A/N:
Just a few more Golden Tickets away from Top 150!
I also wanted to say thank you to everyone who has been dropping Golden Tickets and Gifts over the past few hours.
Yup. Just past few hours since there are a lot of you.
DaoistENVI, brendan_smith, Myah_1630, Waspire, Jose_Morales_9235, Johan_Vaeversted, Anubis, Johnrey_Arpon_Anor, DragoNlich, Ariel_Paor.
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