Right When I Saw You | Lukadrien

Chapter 14 | Late Night Return

   As Luka opened the familiar wooden door, sweating from how fast he ran to get to his home, he was greeted with two people standing in the living room. One was an adult and the other was a teen a little younger than him. He knew who they were just by glancing at them. The girl with the ends of her hair dyed purple was obviously Juleka. The woman with blue eyes, red glasses, and grey hair was his mom. When they heard a noise from the front door they both turned their heads toward it, and they saw Luka standing there, out of breath. Both of their bodies and faces seemed to freeze the second they saw him. They were as still as stone. Juleka seemed to unfreeze first, as she walked up to him until she was standing right in front of him and stared up at him with a woeful expression. Her eyes seemed a bit glassy, and she seemed really upset. I'm so going to get it now... Luka thought cautiously. Instead of getting what he expected to get, the girl embraced him instead. She hugged him tightly. Luka was completely confused, but still accepted the hug. She pulled away and looked down at the ground as her true emotions became clearer.

"Where were you? Y-You said you would be okay going home by yourself. It's almost 9 p.m.! School ended hours ago. You didn't even answer your phone."

"I... I'm sorry. I was hanging out with a friend for most of the afternoon and my phone battery died as I was walking home in the evening. After that I got a little lost, but I asked for directions and I knew where to go. I'm really, really sorry Jul. I didn't mean for both of you to get worried," he tried to make up an excuse on the spot, but he didn't really feel like it was believable. He was truly sorry for making them feel worried about him though. He never knew that this would happen. Just like with Marinette, he was making people upset unconsciously just by acting or saying something wrong. This... isn't okay. I need to seriously think about others. I'm not the only one who will be affected by what I choose to do or say, Luka realized. It seemed like Juleka wasn't entirely satisfied by the answer. She sighed.

"Okay. But I don't like what you did. Charge your phone next time or something. If something happened to you... I don't know what I would do. I don't know what mom would do either."

"Yes. Which is why I'm going to ground ye for one day, Luka. I'm sorry but it's for the better. As Juleka said, we can't have anything happening to you. You won't be going to school tomorrow and you won't be allowed out either."

Luka felt a bit shocked to hear the word 'grounded' come out of his mother's mouth, since both siblings were often never grounded, and instead given long lectures about their wrong doings and were promised to never do it again and learn from their mistakes. However, he understood where she was coming from. He did come back later then he said he would without replying to any messages or calls from Juleka. I suppose it's fair, he frowned a little but quickly turned it into a small, stoical smile.

"Alright. I understand."

"Thank you. Now hurry to bed. There's a new day waiting for ye sailors tomorrow."

Both children nodded and quickly made their way through the house to their respectful rooms. Once Luka saw the doorway to his room, he started to feel a bit giddy. It had felt like forever since his feet had stepped into the familiar area. He still remembered the times when Juleka used to be here as well. She moved out of the space a while ago, trying to start anew and sleep by herself in another room. Luka honestly didn't mind, as it gave him more room to put his stuff and posters around. But if she ever felt like she wanted to come back, Luka wouldn't hesitate to clear her side of the room again just to make space for her. He entered his room, and immediately the feeling of fatigue spread in his mind. He yawned before lazily taking off his jacket, just wanting to get some rest. Generally, he usually goes to sleep quite early, since his body gets tired easily. After taking off his jacket he changed into his pajamas and practically fell onto the bed. He was quickly devoured by the comfort of the mattress and pillows. The warmness of the blankets helped warm him up after being outside in the cold weather. He relaxed. I don't know if today could be considered a good first day at school or bad, he thought. He set his phone on the side and plugged the charger in so it could charge. Even though the phone wasn't dead like he said, the phone was still on low battery, The lights were off already because he never turned them on, so his eyes were closing quickly in the dark. Soon he fell into a deep and peaceful sleep.