Aries || Calum Hood

ten

ARIES: If ever a city, they would be Rome, Italy.

"Rome is almost worn out by being looked at, a city collapsing under the weight of reference"- Graham Joyce

C A L U M

DIVERTING HIS ATTENTION to the inanimate object, Calum bit his lip, contemplating whether he should text again or not.  He was currently at his dinner table, the occasional sounds of utensils hitting against the ceramic plate was blocked out of Calum's attention.

"Will you be okay with us leaving for a few days?"  Mali cleared her throat, she had been trying to get Calum's attention for the longest time now.  Her fiancé, Henry, sat next to her, unable to utter out a word.  Henry didn't know Calum that well -mainly because Calum didn't let him- so he figured out that not intervening was the safest option.

"Yeah sure."  Calum cursed in his head, afraid that he might've said the wrong thing to Athena.  He knew she read the message, and she never replied.  However, she did speak about having a dinner with shitty people so under logical assumptions, she probably got into a fight.

"Calum, can you please get off your phone?" Mali secretly wished that her brother would just listen and reply with his honest opinion, she knew he wasn't fond that she was getting married. But she also knew that Henry wasn't the problem here; Calum would surely cuss him off if he was. "Just for a few minutes."

"You leave tonight?" Calum dropped his phone face down on the wooden table as he ruffled his quiff. Mali gave him a small smile while her hands cupped her coffee cup.

"That is if you are okay with it. We just have to get out of the city a little to hang out with Henry's parents before the marriage. His mom is really excited for the wedding." Mali and Henry chuckled amongst themselves as Calum crossed his arm and clenched his jaw. He knew that his opinion would never pivot their decisions. After all, who would care about the little brother's opinion?

"Then I guess you just answered your own question." Calum shrugged, debating whether he should get out or not, but he barely ate so he went for the latter. Mali sighed as she covered herself with an oatmeal-colored cardigan. Strands of hair fell onto her face while Henry stared at Calum, hoping that all of this would just stop already.

"Calum, your opinion matters greatly to us-"

"-and we don't want you to feel out of the loop here," Henry finished for her. His blonde hair that was combed back added a touch to the formality his family carried. He was a business man who ended his bachelor life once he fell in love with a new girl at his office. Same old shit. However in the stories, they never talked about the pessimistic little brother. No one did.

"Well sorry I am not Mr. Optimistic here. You do know that not everybody can be happy because you are," Calum sneered, almost jumping at the sound of his phone vibrating against the table. Shoving his phone in his back pocket, Calum glared at the couple as he crossed his arms. He never hated Henry, he just hated that Henry took his sister away from him. Calum didn't care that he was being selfish, that's just his perspective.

"Calum, that is not what I am trying to say." Calum internally rolled his eyes since he knew very well that Henry was trying the best he could to be on Calum's good side. Henry's green eyes were laced with nervousness, the strict businessman was plummeting his authority just to please his fiancé's brother.

"Whatever. I don't care about what you people do. It's not my place to say anything anyways." Calum huffed, this was the second day in a row that they've had this conversation. It usually ended the same way -Calum locks himself in his room until they all cool off.