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As Evan turned around, a smile quirked his lips up.

Somehow, his baby sister had gotten prettier than before. And seeing how her friends doted on her, it made relief flood his system, soothing his nerves. She wasn’t lonely.

Evan disappeared into his bedroom, hung his coat, and decided to remain in his shirt and dress pants. Cat-printed pajama shorts and oversized hoodies wouldn’t make him look cool before his sister’s friends, would they?

When he reentered the living room, it was as if the house had come alive. Chatter and laughter filled every deserted corner of the room. Evan usually kept the lights dim for the sake of his sensitive eyes. But in that moment, as every light blazed, even though it was the middle of the day, he didn’t mind in the slightest.

Celie offered her friends water and now sat amidst them, chatting animatedly.

“And then we met Evan on the way,” Elysia explained to Celie. “What a splendid coincidence, right, guys?”

Wren hummed, typing something on his phone.

“Definitely,” Nick gave a thumbs-up.

He was clearly the father of the group. Elysia was the grown-up child in need of constant attendance. Wren, the unsociable kid, and Rumi—

Evan’s eyes traveled to the girl in a corner, glued to Wren’s side as she softly rocked back and forth on the couch. There was no malice on her. Or on any of the friends, really. That was the first thing Evan had confirmed. But Rumi was just…too alert, as if prepared for the worst to happen at any given moment.

Maybe she is just socially awkward.

“Who’s hungry? I’ll go buy us lunch,” Evan said, but Nick quickly interrupted.

“Oh, we already had lunch at a small bistro on the way here,” he said. “We were all kind of hungry, so…”

“Snacks,” Wren mumbled.

“We wouldn’t say no to some light snacks,” Elysia chimed in.

Evan nodded. “Snacks it is.”

As he turned to the kitchen, Celie stood up from the couch. “I’ll help.”

Evan’s gait faltered imperceptibly, but he didn’t turn back and cry in gratitude like he wanted to and headed straight to the kitchen, sister in tow.

“Could you get the glasses?” Without looking, he pointed towards a cabinet he barely ever touched, lined with brand-new tableware and cutlery. Aaron was the one who dusted and kept the place organized.

Evan’s brows furrowed as he took out cartons of juice from the fridge and laid them on the counter.

“When did Aaron leave?” he asked, pouring juice into the glasses Celie had washed and wiped before handing to Evan.

She glanced up, her voice as monotonous as his. “Almost immediately after dropping me here. He said his driver had called in sick, so he had to go pick up the others himself.”

“I see.”

That was really…unusual.

Aaron had forgotten to pick up the kids from the station, left Celie alone at home despite Evan’s explicit request not to, and he hadn’t contacted Evan once throughout the whole chaos. It was his nature to handle things on his own if he could, but when it involved Evan, he had always made sure to inform him.

Evan took out his phone as Celie laid out cookies and sweets, neatly arranging them on a tray, seeming intensely focused on the task.

So many questions were at the tip of his tongue, but Evan swallowed them up. He had to save them for a better time. He didn’t want to bombard her with his curiosity as soon as she was home and drive her away.

Dialing Aaron’s number, Evan placed the phone between his ear and shoulder as he placed the juice glasses onto another tray. Strangely enough, Aaron didn’t pick up, the call going straight to voicemail. With an annoyed click of his tongue, Evan pocketed his phone.

“I’ll take this,” Celie reached for the tray of juices.

“It’s alright. I’ll take it.”