Allea

fifty-nine

"How do I look?"

Placing my iPhone on the table, I took a step back to show my full image through the small screen, and raising my brows, I urged.

I noticed him putting his face right before the screen and giving me a full look from head to toe, "You're wearing a bright shade?" as he claimed, his voice held uncertainty.

I subconsciously smiled, as expected from my stupid brother, he too noticed that it's probably the first time in years that I have worn something of bright shade. Nodding my head, I looked down at the suit I was wearing (Sacramento state green) and shrugged, "Yeah, I thought, why not."

When the suits were sent to me, to chose from, this was also in between them. Although Nayla also knows that I don't wear bright colors, but I guess it somehow escaped from her eyes (maybe because of the change of the stylist or someone). I don't know why, but my eyes and fingers halted on it, I felt like wearing the bright colors I long ago left behind.

When I raised my eyes again toward Kai, he was still scrutinizing me with his narrowed eyes and then finally commented, "It looks...different."

With a smile, I nodded at his words, his hesitant words only mean he's finding it quite pleasant, otherwise, he would have been imitating the vomiting gestures.

"Where are you going?"

"An event," responding this, I again stepped ahead to pick my phone from the table.

"Wait...why are your hands like this?"

"Oh, these," my eyes moved toward my bandaged hands, which still haven't completed their healing procedure, with a subtle irritated sigh, looking back at Kai, I explained, "Some employee mistakenly dropped hot coffee, got burned slightly."

Now that I notice his face, his forehead creased, a line appeared between his and eyes which were fixed at me as he silently listened to my words, even after I finished he kept staring. I can feel his puerile tantrum coming, so I tried to placid him with my nonchalant tone, "It has been healed pretty much."

But it didn't work, because in the next second, he tossed the iPad aside and I only heard his voice, yelling, "What's with you not telling me about anything!"

At his words, shaking my head, I mumbled, "You're such a child," And walked toward the sofa, to sit and talk to him. I knew my words will trigger him because soon he picked the iPad again and reasoned with me.

Kai's furrowed face didn't change much, and only his tone got sharpers, "You got injured and you didn't tell, where am I child in this? In this case, every time I came home with a minor bruise, you were a child too, still a child."

He said everything so fast, that I only managed to catch the word 'minor', which he particularly put pressure on. Not intending to further flame this child, I proclaimed, "This was really such a trivial thing, that I forgot. Now leave this, okay?"

Giving me a side-way glance, and then trying to look toward my hands through the screen, after a pause, "How's it now?" Kai meekly muttered.

"Healed and better." 

Not wanting him to put his focus on any such things, I tried to divert his attention, "Now let's not stray away from the reason why I face-timed you, so, tell me about your trip, did you enjoy it?"

The moment my words ended, a smile bloomed on his face as if remembering how much he needed to tell me and exclaimed, "It was amazing!" Without waiting for me to ask more, he proceeded, "I met so many people, Jackson made me learn the basics of the language and it helped in greeting and all. It felt so good to meet them, all were so polite..." He continued to tell about the games he got to watch, which I had no idea about, and some names of the people he wanted to meet that were at the tournament and then concluded, "And after the events, instead of hotels Jackson took me to wander around the streets for food, he really knows a lot, about people, their language, their traditions of greetings and everything."