Ariya

"I don't know, Zion. I really don't know?" I leaned forward while chewing on my nail.

"I'm told you, let him confess his love for you without knowing first, if he says he doesn't care about Rylan being his or not then you'll know he really loves you."

"I just, what if he asks me if Rylan is his?"

"Deny, deny, deny. You gots to make sure he loves you. Like in the office! When Ang-"

"Yes I know." I nodded.

"That's my dearest advice to you young one."

We all knew I was the oldest, yet all three of them seemed to act like my three older protecters.

"Goodbye, Zion." I spoke sarcastically.

"Good bye young one! I wish you all the luck on y-" that was before I hung up before he could finish. I took a long sigh before looking down at the time on my phone.

4:31am

Zion was always the one to wake me up with his early phone calls. Both Khyson and Rylan were late risers. I didn't want to think about Rylans connected traits right now.

It was still dark outside and I knew the sun wouldn't rise for a good three hours. I laid back on my makeshift bed couch and sighed.

"I could clean?" I mumbled to myself.

I turned the lamp on and folded up the blankets on my makeshift bed couch. Walking over to the kitchen before putting some water in the kettle. I opened my phone, mindlessly scrolling through it before I heard some footsteps down the hall.

I lifted my head up and watched a shirtless Khyson walk into the kitchen, his morning issue prominent through his boxers. I watched him walk through the kitchen with his head down before lifting it up and jumping.

"Jesus! Ariya, like a god damn ghost." He shook his head before I pulled out two tea bags.

"Tea?"

"Yes please." He sighed.

"Could you put some pants on, please." I asked sweetly.

"What do y-" He glanced down at his evident issue before covering himself with his hands and nodding.

"I'll be back." He chuckled nervously.

A couple minutes later he came back with his lower half fully clothed before we both chuckled in the darkness.

"You just left my son alone, by himself?" I crossed my arms and eyed him. I watched as his eyes widened.

"No, no, no! He's fine, he's sleeping, I even made a barrier on the sides with pillows so he won't roll off, and a b-"

"I'm joking, Khyson. Why are you up anyways?" I shook my head with a small smile.

"I don't know, I knew you'd be up." He inched closer.

"How'd you know that?" I challenged.

"When aren't you an early riser... you know.. unless you're being fu-"

"No, we're not finishing that." I quickly cut him off before the kettle piped and I poured the steaming water into two cups.

Grabbing two spoons and mixing the liquid until it tinted green.

I handed him the hot cup and watched him lean against the counter while taking a sip.

"Were most likely gonna get sick from Rylan, you know that right." I told him.

"I don't get sick." He smiled evilly.

"Times change, immune systems grow.. old." I smirked.

"Yeah, like the time I spent one evening taking care of your grandmother and got the stomach flu laterally-not even twenty four hours later." We both chuckled softly, trying not to be too loud.

"How is your grandmother?" I smiled, the warm cup soothing my body.

"She's.. good." He shrugged. He was lying, the rapid blinking, adverted eye contact. It was bad, something was up.

"Is she?" Now I was the one taking a step forward.

"Yeah, She lives down here now." He nodded, something more gleaming in his eyes.

"What is it Khyson?"' I shook my head with a slight sigh and stared up at him mindlessly.

"Nothing." He shook his head.

"I'm not gonna say the junk about me being there if you need to talk.. but you know you can tell me.. right? You know I wouldn't judge. " I lifted my head to stare up at his before he nodded and ran a hand up to his neck, to the tip of his stubbly chin.

"You know a lot of shit about me already, anyways." He shook his head in disbelief.

"Yeah, I do." He breathed.

"She has dementia, they gave her a year."

"Oh.. I'm so sorry.. when was she diagnosed?" I shifted on my feet before he spoke.

"March."

"I'm sorry."

"I try to visit her whenever I can-I just-She's already so old I-it's inevitable." He shrugged, walking past me to set his mug down on the counter. I walked up to the his body as his back faced me, wrapping my arms around his bare torso, I had to go up on my tippy toes to rest my chin on his shoulder. I rubbed my palms over his chest as he looked down while biting the inside of his cheek.

"When are you going to visit her."

"Tomorrow."

"Let me come, Amara said she'd take care of Rylan since they're both sick." I spoke against his neck.

"You don't have to do that." He shook his head before placing his hands over mine.

"I want to."

"Okay." He nodded.

"Why are you really up.. Khyson?" I spoke.

"I wanted to see you, alone."

I chuckled lowly before slipping my hands from his chest and walking to the adjacent counter.

"Is that so?" I smirked.

"Mhm." He nodded.

"Well you've seen me." I teased him.

"Fuck." He cursed under his breath before turning around to face his back to me. I smiled to myself, knowing exactly what he was hiding.

I took a concentrated sip of my tea before setting it down and taking one step forward, then another and finally another, three full steps.

"You're Right." He spoke.

"What?"

"What are we doing, Ariya. You just broke up with William." He shook his head as I watched his back muscles flex while he stretched his biceps.

I took a calming breath out to evaluate my thoughts, think about what I was doing.

He spun around to reveal his hand fiddling with the black band on his wrist.

"How did you know it was mine?"

He instantly knew what I was talking about.

"Your signature strawberry shampoo never lies."

I smiled to myself before lifting his wrist up to my nose, it was faint, so very faint, the smell had faded.

"Here take this one." Rolled the grey one off my wrist and rolled it around his. He lifted his arm up and sniffed the fabric, smiling.

"I'm gonna go check on, Rylan." I lingered my hand on his shoulder before turning around and stepping down the hallway.