“Don’t be.” Rae placed the pencil down to cup the hot chocolate, the phone still empty of notifications beside it. “I get to blame all my mental issues and poor personality traits on my upbringing, so it’s a silver lining.”
Hunter thought on her words for a moment. “My mum’s like that. Good, I mean.” His voice quietened to a whisper. “But she shouldn’t have been a parent.”
“Maybe, but at least you have something I wished I had growing up.” Rae leaned in as if it were a secret. “You have a family chosen.”
Hunter’s eyes glowed, changing from blue to green. He licked across his lips before pulling the hood further down his face, shadowing his features. When Rae cut her attention back to Eva, her smile was soft. Rae didn’t know Hunter’s history, or Eva’s for that matter, but she knew they cared for each other.
It caused her stomach to tighten, jealousy blossoming.
“How long are we to be here?” a voice echoed down the hall. “It’s been days, and he hasn’t bothered to even visit us. What type of son forces us from our home, and then disappears?”
Hunter perked at the new voices, turning towards the doorway just as Axel burst through, expression like thunder, followed by three adults.
“We were supposed to fly to Athens yesterday,” the woman whined, her jet-black hair a straight curtain across her shoulders. “Our friends are expecting us.”
“We had scuba diving booked,” the man snapped. His hair was a dark blonde, and between them both, she could make out Titus’s features. “Axel, you said it was an emergency, but this is ridiculous.”
“Itwasan emergency,” Axel said through gritted teeth.
The man scoffed. “Clearly everything was exaggerated, otherwise Titus would’ve shown his face.”
“He probably just wanted attention,” the woman added. “You know how he was when he was young.”
The older lady watched, her dark eyes narrowed. She burst into a barrage of Mandarin, her words sharp before the younger woman replied in the same language.
“Fates,” Axel muttered, dragging a hand through his hair. “Kill me now.”
Rae couldn’t help but stand from her stool. “So you’re Titus’s parents?” she asked, not understanding a word said between the two women. They both turned to look at her, their features identical even with the age difference. Titus had inherited the delicate angle of their eyes, but everything else was from his father, the sharp jaw, high cheekbones and blonde hair.
“I’m sorry, who are you?” he asked with a sneer. “This house is like a bloody circus. Why did you bring us here, Axel?”
“Oscar,” the older woman scolded before turning to the woman, clearly her daughter. Which made the woman Titus’s grandmother. “Mei, if you do not care. Leave.”
“We never said we didn’t care,” Mei snapped. “But we’re busy people, and whatever this is, it’s interrupting our plans.”
“Interrupting what plans?” Rae asked, meeting Titus’s mother’s eyes. She wondered if that was his original colour, before the beautiful red. “What plans are more important than helping your son?”
Oscar’s face darkened. “How dare you –”
“Tell me, when was the last time you asked how Titus was? Whether he was struggling? Or happy?” She noticed Oscar and Mei look at each other, foreheads furrowed. “When was the last time you even called him?”
“That’s none of your business,” Mei said with a regal tip of her head. “Our son put us in this situation in the first place, putting us in danger, and for what?”
“For a situation that he had no control over.” Rae could feel the anger bubbling. “Your heads are so far up your own arses, that you haven’t even bothered with your son.”
Oscar’s chest puffed out. “That’s enough. Axel, are you going to let this stranger talk to us like this?” he asked in a fittingly pompous tone. “This is ridiculous, we’re getting on the first flight out of here.”
Rae laughed, the sound hollow. “I honestly have no idea how such a strong, amazing man came from you two.”
The old woman chuckled, mumbling something beneath her breath.
“See what I mean, Hunter?” Rae asked, turning back to him. “Some people shouldn’t be parents.”
Mei gasped, Oscar grabbing her hand and dragging her back into the hall.
“Good riddance,” the older woman muttered, coming to pat Rae on the arm. She was small, her head only just over Rae’s shoulder. “Tell me, do you like dumplings?”
Axel groaned. “Laolao.”
