Underground Witch (GB+SB ff.)

suspicious, suspicious, suspicious

this chapter is dedicated to:
AkShell
Sierra587011
Shud252
KCPipkin89
OceanneFrolon

he quirks his eyebrow once he had processed kota's words. confusion and worry instantly stitch to the skin of his face, “why? did something happen?”

“no. nothing at all.” kota watched as corey breath out a sigh of relief, the edges of his lips unconsciously quirk up into a barely seen but small smile, “i was just checking to see if you're doing fine.”

“i'm alright…” corey said before mumbling the last bit, “i suppose.”

he didn't believe him, especially when he spotted the huge noticeable eye bags underneath his eyes, dark and prominent like a solid bruise. a massive contrast to corey's white, healthy, pale skin.

“you should go to bed, you look exhausted.” kota said, taking mental notes to check if the rest of his brothers were having trouble sleeping as well. “come. i'll lead you to bed.”

before corey could let out a string of protest, he was instantly pulled by kota's iron-tight grip on his free arm. he followed kota through every step of the way. he tightens his grip on his laptop when he felt it slipping through his fingers.

the sound of their footsteps echo throughout the entire wing, it was the only sound he could hear. portraits, canvas, hieroglyphics, and landscapes filled the walls with the corridor, not an empty wall left unscathed.

they passed through door after door.

corey was counting on each door they passed; one, two, three, four, five, six, seven.

as they passed on the seventh door, he heard kota spoke from beside him, “you know, you've been spending a lot of time in the library.”

“i am…?” he wasn't sure. did he really spend an awful lot of time in the library?

“you skip dinner this evening.” kota pointed out.

so, he skipped one dinner, what's the big deal? most of his brothers skipped meals due to a mission that was impossible to finish on time, injury during tasks, or too busy to check the time (which happens to him all the time).

meals with a complete set of brothers were very rare, and he could count those few occasions with one hand.

as if sensing his thoughts, kota broke him out of his reverie as he spoke, “you were supposed to meet with victor this afternoon about the new program that you were planning to develop.” he could hear the silent accusation underneath kota's tone.

“i thought it was supposed to be this e-evening!” he tried to defend. even his voice sound meek and weak in his ears.

“do you even know what time it is, corey?” kota asked.

his mind immediately think back to the clock he had seen in passing as he walked out from the library. was it at 8 p.m. something? or somewhere between 9 and 10?

he heard kota sighed before watching him arch his wrist, revealing a wristwatch wrap around his wrist. “it's 3:17 in the early morning, corey.”

w-what?

he spluttered, “i-i didn't even k-know it was that l-late!”

“exactly. you've been holed up in the library to even notice the time. this usually happens when you're looking for important information that involves the mission.” kota was staring at him intently. there was that odd gleam in his eyes whenever he was getting on a case. “…but you aren't on a mission, are you, corey?”