We reach the living room, where Ma and Pa are looking at my cake, placed on the center table.
Pa looks at me. “This is a masterpiece.”
I purse my lips. “It’s not that bad.”
Pa nods seriously. Clearly making fun of me.
Ma chuckles. “It’s really a masterpiece for your first attempt.”
I grin and crouch down. I take one candle out of the box, place it in the center of the cake, and light it.
I look up, my eyes meeting Zoan’s. For a second, I just stare, then smile. “Blow the candle and cut the cake.”
He bends down and blows out the candle. I clap, grinning. He cuts the cake and extends the first piece toward me. I take it into my mouth. His finger brushes my lower lip, and my limbs freeze. I lick the place where his finger touched, trying to compose myself.
He feeds Ma and Pa small pieces. I then cut a small piece and extend it toward his mouth. His lips cover my fingers. His eyes bore into mine. My breathing becomes difficult, like I’m underwater. And it stops altogether when he licks my fingertips inside his mouth. I stand there, frozen, waves of heat running up and down my spine.
I don’t remove my hand. He moves his face back.
I drop my hand, taking all my willpower to stabilize myself, then ask him, forcing a smile, “How’s it?”
“Good.”
Ma says, “It’s really good. 10 out of 10 from my side.”
I look toward Pa, wiggling my brows and grinning.
“I told you it’s a masterpiece.” He says.
I glance at Zoan again, silently praying to the supreme lord that my face isn’t red. “Would you like to bring some of your birthday cake with you?”
He nods. “All of it.”
Ma calls for Ava. When she appears, Ma asks her to pack the cake for Zoan and prepare dinner.
“Will you stay here tonight?” I ask him, fingers crossed.
“I have an early morning meeting. I’ll have to leave after dinner,” he says, without much emotion, as if it’s not a big deal.
And it’s not—for him. He always does this. He doesn’t stay for more than two hours. He’s a busy man, who doesn’t have time to waste on his younger sister.
I smile, masking the hurt on my face.
It’s okay, Avira. What will it matter even if he spent the whole night here? You would feel the same way when he leaves tomorrow morning.
I decide to deal with all the ugly feelings after he’s gone.
I sit beside him at the dining table, deliberately so I could touch him accidentally. I guess I’m becoming a pervert slowly. It won’t be long before I’m a certified one.
I try to prolong dinner as much as I can, involving him in conversation. But the time still comes, the time when he will leave me standing there, without even looking back once.
He sits in his chopper, and it takes off. I stare at the sky until it’s no longer visible. Then I walk back into the house with Ma and Pa, straight to my room. I lower the temperature even further, then move under the sheets, covering my face.
All the events of the evening play in my head. A dull pain starts spreading in my chest. In no time, it becomes unbearable, choking me with every breath. I close my eyes. Tears fall onto my temples. I cover my mouth to keep the sobs inside, my body shaking from the suppressed cry.
Why does it have to be him? Why did I fall for my adopted brother?
Zloban (24 years old)
