Rheostat

15.Chocolate Möcha

I was sitting on the garden swing. Watching as the trio of Diego, Noah and Eveline played badminton.

"Big brother, can I play too?" I asked for the fifth time. I wanted to play with them.

"I thought I told you to wait for your turn," Diego shot me an annoyed gaze.

"But I have been waiting for an hour already!" I whined. When would my turn come? It will be dark soon.

"Alright, you can join us if you have a racket of your own," Diego smirked at me.

"Really? Thank you!" I hopped down in excitement. Stephen bought me a new racket last week. He even taught me how to play in his free time.

"Am I in your team?" I asked Diego. Eveline and Noah had teamed up against Diego. I don't know why they made me wait when they were already short of a player.

"Yeah." Diego nodded. I went to his side at his signal.

But as soon as I reached his side, Diego snatched the racket from my hand.

I watched horrified as he threw it to the ground and started stomping on it. I tried to stop him but Noah held me back, laughing.

"Oops, you can't play anymore." Diego stopped only after making sure it couldn't be fixed anymore.

"I'll complain to Stephen," I cried, holding my broken racket.

"He's not going to believe you. It's your word against three of us." Noah spoke. They had already resumed playing again, ignoring me, like always.

I knew he was right.

No one would believe me. For them, I was only a liar portrayed by these three even though I never once had lied.

... ... ...

I woke up in a bad mood. I hated having flashbacks of memories I didn't want to remember.

I remember what happened after that. I went through my threat of complaining to Stephen despite knowing the consequences.

But as Noah had warned, it backfired on me. They told Stephen they let me play and when I couldn't hit the shots, I became angry and broke my racket. They had tried to stop me, but I didn't listen.

I'm sure Diego made up the story. The rest of them didn't have that much creativity. Stephen believed them obviously. So instead of scolding them, he grounded me for a week for lying and breaking things.

I stopped complaining to Stephen after that day. I had already learnt my lesson.

I had woken up later than usual. It was already time for breakfast.

Today's breakfast was pancakes. My eyes went to Kai who was sitting in the corner stool eating his portion.

Was he really detached from everyone like Eve said?

Feeling my stare, Kai stopped eating, "What?"

"Can you pass me the syrup?" I asked even though the syrup was far from him.

I didn't expect him to actually give me the syrup, but he quietly stood up, went to the other side of the kitchen aisle, grabbed the syrup and passed it to me.

"Thanks."

He didn't respond. I wanted to prolong the conversation and verify what Eve had said about him hurting from my absence.

But I wasn't brave enough to confront him about the past. I don't think I'll ever be.

... ... ...