House of Sherlock

III

"Why are there X and Y there? I hate math" Alyx looked at Nicole and nodded in agreement. Kiel remembers the riddle earlier.

"Hm, I think it's another chess related." They looked at Kiel in awe while the blonde just groaned in annoyance from their reaction.

"A is Knight, B is Bishop? Who is Brutus?" Troy answered, and the buzzer rang. Kyle suddenly jumped in excitement.

"A is Knight. B is Bishop, and Brutus is also Bishop!" He celebrated by dancing when he was right.

"HAH! WHO YOU" They just laughed at Kyle being stupid. But, when another spine-chilling sound played, he slumped on the couch, complaining.

"Where are the easy ones!?" Gia snickers and is about to read the case out loud when they hear knocks on the door.

"We should continue this next time. I think it's them" Alyx jumped and ran to the door to open it.

Honey-brown eyes stared at her. She immediately jumped on him.

"Finally!" The guy who catches Alyx has buzz-cut light blonde hair with two black stripes across the sides of his head.

"Zandro" The guy pursed his lips when he saw the people standing at the door looking at them. Zandro gently lowered Alyx to the ground before kissing her forehead.

"What's up" He greeted back. He saw Troy shaking his head before heading back to the living room.

"The fuck, I'm still shocked you're still on the volleyball team after what you did with your hair. Not to mention your piercings" He shrugged at Kyle's statement. It's not like he was enthusiastic about playing, so it doesn't matter if he couldn't. Fortunately with him, the coach still let him play, saying his appearance doesn't matter if he takes off the piercings every game.

"So, what am I here? Invisible?" The guy who was ignored complained.

"Shut up, rooster." Alyx pressed her lips tightly to hold her laughter. Aiden, the guy who was ignored, was always teased by calling him a rooster because of his hairstyle. His black hair is naturally messy and spikes upwards due to his bedhead, which they always tried to remind him.

"The fuck gangster?! My fans would disagree with you!" Alyx couldn't stop her laughing when Aiden called Zandro a gangster. The thing is, because of his appearance plus his sharp and fierce personality, Zandro appeared fearsome to the students while Aiden seemed less intimidating despite being tall and having a muscular body because he tends to smile at the public.

"Can you stop fighting in front of my condo?" Gia appeared at the door. She decided to go when their friends returned without the people who knocked on her door. She rolled her eyes when she caught them mocking each other.

"Honeybear!" Aiden pushed Zandro out of his way to hug Gia. Alyx laughed harder when she saw Gia's disgusting expression.

"Let's go" Alyx pulled Zandro inside and closed the door.

"So, what are you guys doing?" Zandro asked. He sat on the left side of Alyx, letting her play with his hands on her thigh while Kiel remained seated on her right side.

"Just playing with this some stupid game" Nicole said, drinking her beer.

"What the heck is this game?" Aiden asked when he read the screen. His forehead creased.

"Ah House of Sherlock? A detective sort of game" Kyle answered.

"We should just go out" They stared at Kiel, shocked. Well, maybe, except for someone, but no one noticed.

"What!" Nicole exclaimed.

"Are you okay? You're not sick?" Alyx placed her hand on Kiel's neck jokingly. Zandro smirked. This is somehow new to them. Kiel's not the type of person to initiate going out.

"Okay, let's go!" Kyle stood up, excited to go out.

Gia turned off the TV where the phone was connected. She returned Alyx's phone and put it in her pocket, not noticing how the screen flickered.

"So, what made you initiate going out?" Kiel looked at Nicole from the corner of his eyes before shrugging.

"You know you can talk to us, right?" He just nodded, still staring at the dance floor in front of them. His eyebrows shot up when he saw Aiden and Gia while Kyle and Troy were nowhere to be found, most likely looking for girls.

"Ugh stop flirting here" Nicole complained when Zandro kept kissing Alyx's head while it was resting on his shoulder.

"Bitter" Alyx muttered, which made Zandro grin.

"How's psychology?" Nicole's nose wrinkled with Alyx's question.

"Not good. How about shifting from engineering to multimedia?" Alyx smiled.

"Much better" Alyx took engineering at first because her family pressured her, telling her she had a brighter future in it. However, she was feeling miserable from the start. She couldn't excel in any subjects except the minor ones related to multimedia. She deliberately shifts without telling their parents when the second-semester rolls in, only her friends know.

"How about your parents?" Kiel looked at them when Nicole mentioned it. Alyx felt Zandro's hold tighten. She squeezed his thigh to let him know she was fine.

"Same old" When her parents learned about her course, they were mad to the point that they almost didn't let him study, but her grandparents threatened them. So, they were ignoring each other.

Nicole hummed before patting her head.

"Did you guys saw Kyle or Troy?" Gia popped in front of their table with Aiden on her tail. Nicole turned to them with 'duh' expression.

"Out there looking for girls." Alyx stated the obvious. They turned to look at Kiel when he suddenly stood up.

"Bathroom" he said before walking away.

"Bye guys!" Alyx waved to them. They are all walking in separate ways. Kyle and Nicole are in the same way. Kiel, Gia, and Aiden are even though Aiden is supposed to be with Alyx and Zandro, but he'll probably sleep at Gia's.

Alyx was swaying their holding hands while humming.

"What do you want to do this short break?" Zandro asked.

"Hmmmm I think we'll go out of town? Nicole was saying something like that earlier." They have a 4-day break after taking the midterms.

"You're excited?" Zandro supports Alyx back when she almost stumbled, climbing the stair to the entrance of their condo building.

"Super" Zandro laughed when he saw how sleepy she was. He suddenly carried her bridal style and kissed her forehead.

"Glad you enjoyed."

On the other hand, someone was seething. Their plan was sabotaged.

'WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED?'

'YOU'LL REGRET THIS IF YOU WOULDN'T PUSH THROUGH WITH THE PLAN'

'I'M TELLING YOU'

They were texting someone. They slammed their door and walked to their bedroom.

"Fuck" They throw their phone on the bed when they get no response.

Kiel inhaled the cigarettes, before exhaling. He was out on his balcony, staring at the sky when his phone rang.

"What"

"Yeah. I'll go"

Aiden searched for Gia beside him. He opened his eyes when he didn't feel her lying down beside him. He found her in front of the computer. His eyes squinted, blinded by the lights coming from the screen.

"What are you doing?" Gia looked at him for seconds before shutting down her computer.

"Nothing. Let's sleep" Gia pulled Aiden to her room, ignoring the confused look he was giving.

Secrets. Deep, dark secrets. Who's keeping them? Who knows about it? Who planned it?

Most importantly, who will suffer? Is it one of them? Or all of them?