Chapter 37: Mr. Investigator

Duh da

Duh da, duh da, duh da, duh da, duh daaaa . . .

I jumped from behind the wall, spreading out my arms with a large grin.

“Da DA! Duh Da!” A few eyes were glued onto me as I continued to hum and sign down the halls. But, no one knew why I was singing the famous Pink Panther song as I went through the halls except for me. After the incident the previous day with Lani and Harvey, I was determined to get the inside scoop from my sister.

I had donned my dark jeans and my favourite black band t-shirt, paired the outfit with my all black sneakers and black beanie to leave my room. Before I could go, Warlo made the best comment.

“You look like you’re about to rob some shit,” He had said casually, his eyes back on his phone after looking up at me for only a second. “Like you’re going to be the Pink Panther’s alter ego. The Black Panther.”

“Isn’t that almost offensive?” Nick had then asked, looking adorably confused from his place at his dresser. “I mean that was like a huge symbol for the black community first being the name of that black rights group and then the name of that black superhero-”

“But it’s fine though,” The Filipino boy interrupted, waving Nick’s words away with his hand. “Sebastian’s Indian so it’s close enough.”

“Actually it’s not-” Nick tried to say but I cut him off.

“Nick, don’t even try.” I told him, giving him an understanding look. “We both know that you can never win an argument with Warlo because he never uses logic.”

Nick and I started to nod in agreement, causing Warlo’s face to slowly contort into a frown. He went to say something but I raised a hand, silencing him.

“Please, no more conversation. I already know what I want to do when I leave and I don’t want you to talk me out of it with your logic.” I explained to Warlo, waiting for him to be insulted. Warlo seemed to plan to do exactly that but suddenly stopped and instead gave me a curious look.

“What did you want to do?” He asked innocently. I thought over whether I really wanted to tell him or not, eventually deciding that I would.

“I am going to hype myself up by singing the Pink Panther song as I go to meet my sister.” I smirk proudly, not surprised at all when the two of them start laughing at me. “Laugh all you want, I’ll be the one living my best life.”

And that is exactly what I did, and I it felt awesome. I was going to the library to meet my sister after another one of her study sessions. I texted her that I wanted to talk and she had told me, and I quote, “Come to the library. I don’t want to waste time walking more than I have to”.

I would have told her that she probably would have had to walk to the same amount regardless but I didn’t feel like arguing with my sister over it so I just let it go and agreed. Besides, I wanted her in a good mood if I wanted the best tea from her. A boy has to use all of his resources right?

I arrived at the library, suddenly feeling awkward from my position outside of the room. I couldn’t see my sister from the doorway and worried that if I tried to look through the windows, I would look like a creep.

The large doors in front of me had detectors made to detect when a person left with a book or other material not yet checked out. The detectors were created magically so they were even more effective than the previous technical models that were popular.

I looked through the glass again, my cheeks warming when a library assistant stared back curiously. I took a few steps back, looking around as I thought.

What to do . . .

When the idea suddenly came to me, I smirked. I am a magic user for a reason, right?

I hummed under my breath to calm down and focused on my sister. Soon, I felt a pull in my finger and the single appendage suddenly rose and pointed forward.

I glanced around me, sighing in relief when I noticed that no one had seen the embarrassing display and lowered it back down. I remained aware of where it tried to point and walked into the library. Following my finger and finally arriving at the spot where my sister stood, I felt a prideful smile fall on my lips.

Dipi’s friends looked up first, their judgemental looks surprising me but not fazing me in the slightest. Go ahead, judge. If you dare say a word against me in front of my sister, she will be dropping you faster than you can say, “oops”.

I raised a brow at the dark brunette whose eyes were particularly annoying and placed a hand on my hip.

“Why are you here? If you want a seat, then you will have to go somewhere else. We are not offering.” The girl told me, crossing her arms under her large chest and scowling up at me. I took a moment to glance at the several free seats on the other side of the table.

This girl . . .

I was still standing while she sat down, so I used the height advantage to peer down at her threateningly.

I did not like the disrespect.

“Don’t bother them, Jan. They can sit if they want.” Dipi said, her eyes still focused down on her work.

“Dipi.” I called her, causing my sister to blink and finally look up. She smiled warmly before standing up and giving me a hug.

“Sebastian! I’m sorry I didn’t notice. This work is starting to get serious honestly.” Dipi explained, muttering bitterly at the end of her sentence. She pulled back, a smile now firmly plastered on her face. “Give me a second and I’ll pack everything up and we can go, okay?”

I nodded, smiling myself and let Dipika go to put her things away. Her friends now sat at the table clearly confused and a bit embarrassed. Possibly for being a bit rude to me but I couldn’t really be brought to care. If Dipi continued to hang out with them, it wasn’t any of my business.

Dipi went around the table, putting her things and humming as she went. She suddenly seemed to remember that her friends were still there and gasped before turning back to them with that same smile from before.

“Oh, right!” A loud “shush!” went through the room after Dipi spoke and my sister winced, saying a quiet sorry. A beat passed before Dipi smiled again. “That happens all the time. Anyway, guys, this is my brother Sebastian.”

Jan seemed to instantly pale and I held back my smirk. So Dipika obviously spoke about me and made it clear how protective she was. I almost didn’t need to get into fights with people, my older sister seemed to want to handle it all.

“Sebastian, these are my friends from advertisement.” The girls smiled hesitantly and waved. Because I didn’t feel like being a jerk, I smiled back and nodded. Dipi watched carefully, nodding in approval when she saw no issue with the exchange. “We had a project and a test after that so we have been studying and working together a lot lately.”

That comment suddenly brought back the memory of Thulani but I kept it back. I had to be tactful about it. I couldn’t just pop a question about him like-

“Is that why you rejected Thulani?” I asked her thoughtlessly, gasping and slapping my hands over my mouth when I realized what I had said.

Dipi’s eyes went wide and she blinked stupidly, shocked by my statement. Eventually, she seemed to collect herself and remember where she was because she closed her mouth and cleared her throat. She smiled at her friends, gathering the last of her things before walking up to me with an upset glare. I winced, knowing exactly what would happen in the next few seconds.

First, she would make up some nice excuse for her friends or say something like, “we really have to be going now” before pulling me out of the library in seconds. Then, before we are in private, she will be angrily drilling me with words through our mind-link before finally exploding out loud once we’re alone.

When those exact course of events happened, I almost wanted to laugh at how well I knew my sister. I couldn’t, though, because she was still upset and it would have just made it worse, but a man can dream.

Dipi finally sighed after her rant, cooling down tremendously much to my relief. She had dragged us to an area far from the center of the school. There were some benches and couches but the area was basically deserted except for the two of us. Dipi gracefully placed herself in one of the couches. Wanting to keep a safe distance between the two of us, I sat at a separate chair nearby.

“Why did you even mention that though, Sebastian?” She asked me, her eyes holding a kind of disappointment that I really didn’t like. “You do know that you just put Thulani out there like that in front of several girls that could start spreading it around. I may reject people but that doesn’t mean I want everyone to know about it.”

I frowned at her statement, hesitant to admit that she was right. I also couldn’t use the excuse of it just coming out, though I desperately wanted to.

“I know.” When Dipi raised a single perfectly plucked brow I changed my statement. “I get it. I was just really curious.”

Dipi scoffed loudly, cutting me off from my next words and I refrained from rolling my eyes in return. I was in the wrong, no point in making it worse for myself.

“Harvey and Thulani had a bit of a fight yesterday and Harvey mentioned that you rejected Lani’s invite to hang out.” I carefully watched Dipi’s reaction as I spoke. When she did not deny my statement, I continued on. “I just wanted to know what really happened from you.”

Dipi was no longer looking at me. Her eyes were distant, staring unfocused at the ground as her mind went. I was a bit surprised by her reaction. She is usually very, impersonal about any thing that happens between her and guys. The number of time she has laughed off someone’s feelings for her and changed the subject is high. So, seeing her so somber was odd.

I stayed silent to give her some time. I didn’t know what was actually happening but I was not going to be the person to stop it. Dipi suddenly let out a deep sigh and turned to me with a tired smile.

“This guy is different.” Dipi laughed, the sound not as joyous as it usually was coming out of her mouth. “I don’t even think that it was his approach but just . . . him.”

I did not know how to respond to that. Dipi had never been this vulnerable about anything as far as I could remember, but Lani was making her so . . . soft.

“Sebastian.” Dipi said, calling my attention again. She looked a bit hesitant to speak but did so anyway. “How did you know that you loved Dean?”

Though startled by the question, I found myself immediately smiling.

“I didn’t care as much about whether I got anything good out of it, I just wanted him to be happy.” The memory of that time in my life, only a couple of months prior, made my heart warm again.

“My mind was less focused on being his boyfriend and more about spending time with him. I wanted to date him because I could express what I felt fully, but if he said no, I would have stayed by his side anyway. That was when I fell in love.”

I turned to my sister, wondering if the information would be helpful.

Would she do the whole cliché thing of, “I must be in love!”

“Then I’m not there yet.” Dipi stated. I was wrong. She stood up, clapping her hands together and releasing a soft smile. She turned to me abruptly and smiled widely. “Thank you.”

My sister started to a quickly walk away and I was left scrambling trying to catch up. While I looked like a seven year old trying to ice skate at the local rink, my sister appeared to be gliding across the floor, despite her fast speed.

“Wait, Dipi!” I called, getting her to finally halt and give me a moment to catch up. “What is going on between you and Lani?”

Dipi rolled her eyes, throwing her left arm over my shoulder casually.

“None of your business.” She told me, now walking at a much slower pace. I drilled a dark glare into the side of Dipi’s head, waiting for her to finally break. It happened in three seconds. “I like him, alright. But I have to make sure that he is serious. I am not out here trying to mess with fools, you know.”

“I know.” I agreed, putting my right arm over her shoulder. We probably looked a bit dumb right now but I couldn’t really care. I believe that my ship is right at the dock, ready to sail. I just had to make sure the captain was ready to go.

“Oh, by the way.” Dipika started, looking at me from her peripheral. “Why are you wearing all black today?”

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Heyo!!

It feels so good to be updating another Chapter.

Not only is it hella long again but I feel like it is pretty good!

I just watched Avengers Endgame this tuesday and am in an extra good mood so that might be part of it. (FYI, if anyone tries to spoil even a bit of it in the comments, the comment will be deleted. No argument).

Anywho,

What are our thoughts on Sebastian and Dipi?

Do we like?

I do hope you like because for some reason I just really love Dipi and want her to have the best in the world so I better hear love the comments!

I kid, you guys can trash her if you want. I’ll get over it.

Anywhore,