【Re:Freezing】 | Gray Fullbuster x OC

27. Playing What-Ifs

Karissa awoke with a knock on her door. Whoever knocked didn't wait for her to open it and simply opened the door gently as they entered the room, and with squinted eyes she found Van coming inside dressed in a plain white t-shirt and red shorts. His naturally spiky black hair looked much more messier after waking up.

The older brother smiled at the sight of his little sister wrapped in her blanket with a drowsy look on her face, her black hair all messy from turning in her sleep. He approached the bed and brushed away the hair covering her face, watching how she blankly stared at him until he cleared her face from hair. He then held her head in his hands and planted a kiss on her forehead.

"Come on, wake up and let's eat." He told her and patted her head. In response, she only hummed rested her cheek against her soft pillow, eyes threatening to close, but Van wasn't done trying to wake her up. He booped her nose and then pinched it, causing her to squawk in surprise.

Eventually, she got up and went downstairs and found cup noodles waiting for her at her seat. An easy breakfast to prepare since Van was too lazy and sleepy to make some toast or anything else that required more effort than simply boiling water and pouring it into the food and letting it sit.

Van used his foot to push her chair for her sit. His dark brown eyes observed her plant herself in her seat while rubbing her eyes. She brushed her bangs away from her eyes and then carefully pulled off the paper cover to set it on the side. She used chopsticks to eat her noodles unlike Van and Pandora who couldn't seem to figure out the mechanics of a simple tool, they resorted to using forks. When was the last time he saw her eating noodles with a fork?

Van noted how his little sister didn't even ask about Pandora's whereabouts. The eldest daughter was usually the one to make them breakfast, she was like their mother in a way with everything she did for them.

"By the way, Pandora left early for the guild this morning. I saw her leave but I don't know what she's up to." He said before slurping some of his chicken flavored noodles.

Karissa swallowed her noodles and merely hummed in acknowledgement which made Van feel uneasy. He could tell she was still feeling a little down after what happened last night even though it wasn't written plainly on her face, it may not be obvious but he conditioned himself to pick up the subtle signs that gave away anything that meant that something was off with his sister.

"Hey, Karissa." Van called her and she looked at him curiously, she had the face of someone who didn't look bothered by anything at all though. He smiled at her gently. "Don't take Pandora's words to heart. No one knows the truth."

The youngest Sinclost placed her chopsticks across the cup and listened to him attentively.

"You know, I personally believe that mom and dad had a reason for suddenly leaving." He voiced with a soft expression as he remembered the love he received from his parents. "It's just frustrating to not know the reason and it makes them look bad. It makes you feel abandoned right?"

"Well... yeah." Karissa nodded and propped her legs up on the chair to sit cross legged on it. "Plus, we were really young back then. We were naïve compared to now."

"True." Van pointed his fork at her lazily. "But I don't doubt that mom and dad loved us. Do you love them?"

"Yeah." She answered without hesitation.

"Me too. And I believed they loved us too. I'm sure they loved Clavis just as much." Van propped his elbow on the table and rested his chin in his palm. "I'll never forget the way mom cuddled Clavis in her arms. She looked very happy."

"You were only four." Karissa deadpanned. "How could you remember that far?"

Van snickered and gave her a smirk. "You don't realize that your brain remembers things from that early on because you don't know how old you were at that time. But anyway, she held him when he was two after he didn't cry after scrapping his knee on the ground when he tripped."