Love And Betrayal | ✔️

42. My sister, my keeper

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K I A R A

ARIANA SNORES. The mattress rumbles.

With a groan I roll over, scrunching up my eyes as the blazing sunlight streams through the open windows. My sister's arm is draped across my chest, her legs splayed out like a drunk starfish. Her long, golden hair fans over the pillow.

I wipe the drool off my face and struggle to sit up. A couple of aspirins and a bottle of water stand on my bedside table. Under it, is a scribbled note.

Meeting at 1:00 PM. Conference room. Don't be late.

PS: Shower. You reek.

-Ash

Frowning, I fold the note and put it in the drawer. Wasn't our last meeting just yesterday or was that the day before? Anyway, the next meeting wasn't supposed to happen before Sunday. Something really dreadful must have happened to cause this huge change of plan.

Ariana snores again. Long and elephantine.

I roll my eyes in exasperation. "Wake up, lazy bones." I say, poking her butt. "It's almost midday."

She swats me off. "Psh.. pishoff.... kihuh."

A smile tugs at the corner of my lips, as I reminisce the last time this happened. Five years ago, back when we were still kids. "Pandaboo." I murmur, almost to myself. "You haven't changed one bit."

A bleary eye cracks open. "Whaddup?"

I shrug but the smirk on my face doesn't go away. "Do you remember the last time we did this?"

Ariana frowns. "Did what? It's the break of dawn, Ki. My brain is still in la la land so you need to be more specific."

"Woke up in the same bed." I reply, snorting. "We had such corny names for each other."

For a second she doesn't seem to remember. Then, "Dinoboo?" She recalls, as her eyes widen and she pushes the duvet off and sits up next to me. "Oh damn, it's been ages since we called each other that."

"We outgrew it." I say softly. "Somewhere between then and now, life happened."

"Yeah." She sniffles, shaking her head. "You would drown me in cold water every single time. God, I hated that."

"And now you miss it." I add knowingly.

"Pft, no I don't." When she feels my gaze on her, she lifts her eyes to meet mine. Pink tinges her cheeks as she blushes. "Alright yeah, you're right. I do. But don't you dare take that as encouragement to do it again. You know as well as I do, I would like hunt you down and kill you."

"With a broom." I suppress a smile.

We sit in silence for a few moments, enjoying the rare peace as we listen to the hustle and bustle downstairs. A flurry of footsteps sound across the hall, before they disappear into the silence again. Giggles and chuckles ensue as I hear the pack kids scampering towards the garden outside.

I get up from the bed and move towards the window. From here, I can see them playing in the snow.

Ariana clears her throat.

"What was it like?"

My head snaps in her direction. "What?"

"What was it like? Before I came back?" I hear the unspoken question behind the words. Where you happy?

For a moment, I see there's hesitance in her eyes, almost as if she's afraid of the answer. She's scared knowing whether I was better off without her.