Tetra Pact

Chapter 26

The following day, Asbjørn was worried.

He hadn't received any texts or calls from Eden throughout the night and the next morning, even though he had asked her if she ended class at the same time as usual. Just as he left class, she sent him a one-word reply.

Eden ♥: no [16:33]

Asbjørn's brows furrowed. Did that mean he didn't have to pick her up? He sent her another text asking just that, but didn't get any response. Sighing, he started the engine of the car and made his way to her school, just in case.

He stood outside the gate for about twenty minutes, only then noticing that her bike wasn't there. So she had gone home on her own.

He was about to turn back to the car when someone called out, "Hey, hey! You!" He swivelled around to see a petite, but athletic looking girl running towards him. She stopped right before him, clutching her school books to her chest. "You're..." Her eyes darted left and right as she tried to piece the words in her head together. "You know Eden, don't you?" she finally blurted out.

"Um...you are...?" he asked, completely baffled.

"I should be asking you that," the girl replied, a hint of finality in her voice. She breathed out sharply, realising he was too confused to give her an answer. "I'm Kay. I don't know if you'll know who I am even if I said that, but I'm Eden's mate. I also don't know who you are, but I've seen Eden get picked up by you and your car a few times now, and I'm not sure what to make of it since I'm pretty sure she hasn't gotten a new chauffeur."

Kay was chatty, but that didn't distract Asbjørn from the fact that he knew her - by name. He'd asked his girlfriend about her friends in school the day after she'd met Crisanto, and all she'd told him was, "I have one. Her name's Kay."

So this was Kay.

Fortunately for Asbjørn, who had no idea how to answer, Kay rattled on. "Anyway, I'll need your help, even though you're practically a stranger to me." She pushed the books in her arms to him. "These are Eden's. I can't get in her locker because I forgot the password, but her classmate passed them to me. She left these in the corner of the classroom again."

Asbjørn gingerly took the books and stared at them. The Art of Happiness. Finding Your Own North Star: Claiming the Life You Were Meant to Live. And her chemistry textbook.

Kay pressed her lips. "Yeah, she's having a life crisis again. But you're going to see her, right? You'll pass them to her, won't you? I would go but I have a match at six." She glanced at him hopefully.

"Wait, so... She wasn't in school today?" he finally caught on.

"Oh. Yeah." Kay's face fell. "I thought you were here because you knew."

Asbjørn didn't know how to feel. So Eden was unwell? She didn't say anything about it. Maybe she was too sick to.

"Anyway," Kay continued, "Tell her to call me when she's feeling better, alright? If there's nothing more, I'll make a move now."

Asbjørn blinked. "Hey - wait. Did she tell you that she's unwell?" he asked.

Kay looked at him, an unreadable expression on her face. Asbjørn cringed inside, wondering if he asked her that because he felt insecure as Eden's boyfriend and reprimanding himself for it.

"No, she didn't." Kay raised her eyebrows. "But Eden only skips school when she's under the weather. Whether it's here -" she gestured to her whole body, "- or here." She pointed to her head. "It was nice meeting you, by the way. Goodbye."

She sprinted off before he could say anything more.

***

Asbjørn stood at Eden's gate, staring up at the open rooftop. The doors to her room were closed, and the curtains were drawn. He made his way to the front door and took out the set of keys she'd given him, pushing the right one into the lock.

When he entered the living room, Erin called out to him in a whisper. "Asbjørn!"

The boys were sprawled on the sofa playing Minecraft again. But for some reason the house still seemed eerily quiet, even though it was as per normal. Asbjørn placed the books on the coffee table.

"Where's your sister?" he asked them.

They pointed to the ceiling in sync.

Erin leaned over and said in a low voice, "It's one of her days off today."

Asbjørn's face scrunched up in confusion. "Off days? ...From the salon?"

"From taking care of us," Erin supplied, his attention turning back to the game. "She has them every once in a while. She has to take a break from us too, you know? Lately she's been having them more often, but Evan and I can't do much besides speculate. And speculating isn't very good."

Asbjørn was starting to get anxious. "So... What happens?"

"What happens? Like on her days off?" Asbjørn nodded. "She just locks herself in her room. Doesn't help that her room is on the third floor - I can't make it up there. Evan tried sending a note under her door before, but nothing happened. The next day she comes out as if nothing had happened."

Asbjørn was hit with the thought that maybe he didn't understand his girlfriend at all. Everything he was experiencing today was so new, and they'd been dating for almost ten months already. "...You guys don't talk about it?"

"It's taboo. You know that? Taboo? Evan learned that off a website. But that's basically it about this matter." Erin's eyes widened and he flipped around to look Asbjørn in the eye. "Don't bring it up to her. Even if you do, you can't tell her you heard it from us. She'll worry about us worrying about her worrying."

Asbjørn's mind was muddled, but he simply nodded. "All right. Thanks for telling me." Then he headed up to Eden's room.

***

Author's note:

I am so sorry for basically ditching this story for... 3 months? I have literally no excuse because it wasn't even like I spent my time doing anything more useful (i.e. I was not studying for school). Anyway I'll try my best to finish this book by next week, crossing my fingers. Thank you all so much for still reading and waiting. <3