Leslie's Melody | Isabella x Leslie FF • The Promised Neverland

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐢𝐱 | Dinnertime Discussion

[Isabella's Perspective]

"Isabella, have you seen Leslie?" Axel asked me.

I looked up from the pot of soup that I was cooking.

"Why?" I asked. "Do you need him? He's setting up the plates."

"We can't find him anywhere right now. But you're usually with him so I  suppose you know his whereabouts." he said. "It's almost dinnertime."

"Huh. He's probably in the dormitory or in the bathroom? I don't know." I put the laddle down. "Fleo! Can you look for Leslie? Dinner's almost served."

"Okayyyyyyy!" The child turned to look for my friend.

"Isabella, what are you staring at?" Axel asked as he was collecting utensils.

"What? Staring?"

"You literally just stared at the ceiling after you turned the stove off." he cackled.

I sighed and admitted "Something's bothering me, Axel."

"What is it?"

I wanted to tell him about the wall, but I needed to be careful because he might tell Mama that we broke the rules. It's not tha I don't trust him, but since we're all very open to Mama, he might carelessly spill and tell her, even if he didn't mean to. So I left that detail out.

"Ever since after the game, Leslie has been acting, how do I say this, weird? Unresponsive? Like he was thinking about something thoroughly? Or worried about something?" I explained.

"What do you mean?"

"Look, I know most people don't really know Leslie, but I do. He usually has a calm composure. But he looked different after tag. His mind was somewhere else."

"Probably because he was just tired?" Axel suggested.

"Hmmm...maybe I'm just thinking too much." I sighed.

"But I can't ignore the possibility." he added.

I looked at him.

"We know you to be pretty good at reading people and you have proven that many times. If you think there's really something going on with him, I suppose you should talk to him."

"Right." I buried my face in my hand.

"Come on. Let's serve dinner." he said and carried the utensils he wiped clean.

I followed suit and carried the pot to the dining hall.

"Excuse me! Coming through! Hot surface! Hey be careful Quade! Stop running!" I made my way to the table.

"You're really strong aren't you?" Clara commented.

"Oh it's nothing." I smiled sheepishly. "Everyone! Please get your soup here!"

My siblings gathered around our table carrying their bowl and one by one, I served them some hot soup.

Aela and Morgan distributed the side dishes to every plate, while Rojan collected the kids and calmed them down.

"Sit down! We must respect our meal time." he said.

Leslie appeared on the doorway with Fleo. He waved at me.

"There you are!" I said.

Mama arrived a few minutes later carrying our baby sister, Niña, with her.

"I'm sorry my children." she said. "I had to organize some documents."

"Mama!" everyone cheered.

"Shall we eat?" Mama smiled.

Everyone sat down and began to pray. "Thanks for the meal!"

We began to dig into our dinner of tasty mushroom soup with corn, carrots, and broccoli and a small baguette side dish.

"Ooh did you make this, Isabella?" Clara asked me.

"Mmm. I was just doing my job. How's it?" I replied and bit down my baguette.

"It's delicious!" she said. "Approved!"

"Thanks!" I beamed.

"Isa?" Clara spoke.

I looked at her with a full mouth.

She was looking at our siblings a few seats away from us.

"How are you and Rojan?" she asked.

I scoffed and looked away. A few seats away from us were Rojan, Aela, Morgan, and Junie.

"I've never heard you swear." Axel commented, who was sitting beside Leslie across me.

"Sorry. I mean we're not supposed to but I just lost my cool." I said.

"It really took a lot of strength for Morgan, Carson, Clara, and Aela to separate you two. You have no idea how heated you both argued earlier." he said.

I sighed. "I'm really sorry guys."

"Nah it's no biggie." Clara clapped as if nothing happened.

"Good thing I had taken the children back to the House before I heard you swearing when I walked back." Axel cracked up. "If I didn't, Fleo and Cecilia would probably be swearing too."

"Shut up, Axel." Clara spat at him. "Not helping."

My eyes landed on Leslie. He wasn't paying attention to our conversation at all and was intently gazing at his food.

"Leslie?" I tried to get his attention.

He looked at me.

"Are you okay? You were staring at your food for quite a while." I asked.

"Sorry. Hehe Uhm... I'm just tired from playing tag." he looked away in embarrassment.

"Oh okay. Eat up, your food's getting cold." I reminded him.

"Yeah about Rojan," I began. "I don't know, I'll probably talk to him tomorrow."

" 'Probably'? " Axel replied. "You really aren't the type to back down and lower your pride from a fight."

"It's not really that. I know I did the right thing. I was just defending a friend. Rojan is a bully who thinks he's better than everyone and 'proves' that by bringing other people down. He's delusional, thinking that the world revolves around him and he needs to wake up." I shrugged my shoulders.

We looked at Leslie. He still wasn't paying attention at all, nor looking at us.

I sighed and we finished up.

"Let's call it a day." I told them.