the Missing Light

CHAPTER 8

Cahaya was walking back to the kokotiam to study or, more so on trying to wrap his head on what's happening

Geez, it has only been one day and everything is already going down hill

Once he sat on the stool tok aba went and greet him

"Hello there cahaya, how was school?" Tok aba asked while making some hot cocoa

Cahaya looked at Petir who wouldn't meet his eyes before sighing and turning his head to his grandfather

"Great" he said and his grandfather smiled handing him his fresh hot cocoa but unknowingly to cahaya behind his back his other siblings shared a look

Great? That's all cahaya has to say? Normally when someone asked him how his day was, he'd gave a complain about the teacher's stupidity or lack of professionalism (which both tok aba and earth scold him about) or naturally report a whole essay on what he learned from the book he was reading while the teacher kept interrupting (teaching) him

"Did something happened?" Angin asked as he wiped the table, daun and api looked at each other

Flashback

"Will anyone explain?" Air said as everyone looked at him

"N-nothing" Cahaya said in shock and ashamed voice with a little bit of longing

Air didn't say anything before addressing the whole class

"Can everyone go back to what they were doing, I'll be having a talk with my brothers for a moment" and as air said that everyone looked away and starts to continue what they were doing, pretending (and failing) that nothing happened

As air,Cahaya,Petir,api and daun walked out of class, air looked at petir and Cahaya

"What happened?" Air said his voice was tired but a little stern, his brown chocolate eyes sharpened as he looked at them, there was a warning in them 

Once the two did not answer air just sighed with exhaustion, his brothers are really stubborn water doesn't get why can't everybody just set aside their pride for once

"Fine, don't tell me if you don't want to I'm not going to force you, but please whatever is happening work it out" air said his voice was comforting and gentle

"We won't tell this to the others but if this happens again, I'll let tanah deal with you" air said making daun and api look at him

"We won't tell tanah what happened?" Api asked bewildered making air sigh

"No, I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding let's not drag tanah in this mess, he already has his hands full" air said his voice coming back to his normal sleepy voice

Api wants to protest but he also don't want to trouble tanah since their brother has been working hard lately for an upcoming school event (that he won't even talk about since it was supposed to be a surprise)

Daun and api looked at each other and nodded as if coming to an agreement

End of flashback

"He's just probably tired" api said dismissively

"Yeah" daun said weakly lying to his brothers was not something he was keen on doing, api notice this and kick his foot below the table

"Ow!"daun said as he looked at api who was giving him a pointed look, angin watch this with a small frown, confusion set inside him as api kick daun and sadness crept in his heart when daun gave him a nod as if agreeing to api clearly lying

Angin has never like lying, he thinks it's better to just tell the truth rather then keeping it as it will only cause more fire, he can't help but feel an ache in his chest, why is api and daun lying to him? Did he do something wrong? What are they hiding from him? Do they not trust him?

But instead of dwelling in it Angin quickly dismiss the idea, surely daun and api won't lie to him if it was something big right? Maybe he's just over thinking it

The kokotiam fell in deep silence which took Tanah by surprise when he came, it was an unusual sight to see almost a miracle, api and daun weren't saying anything and was just passing the orders while as petir silently handle the orders, Angin was at the counter handling the bills while stealing glances at his brothers, while as for cahaya, he was alone at another table doing his home work

"Whaaa-?" Gopal and fang said as they take on the scene Infront of them, even the costumers notice the change of atmosphere, it truly was a strange sight to see

Tanah frowned and went to the counter with the gang following him, tok aba noticed him and smiled at him, but tanah notice the smile didn't quite reach his eyes as he (tok aba) was also troubled and confuse at his grandsons actions

"Hey Cahaya" yaya and ying said sitting besides their friend taking out their notebooks too also do their homeworks, Cahaya didn't say anything but gave them a nod showing them a response

"Hey what's up my man, api!" Gopal tried while as fang rolled his eyes at gopal's poor attempt of lifting the mood

"Hey" api gave a small response which made Gopal and fang raise their eyebrows

Tanah frown at his brothers unusual behavior

Geez, he has only been gone for half a day how did things end up like this