Behind Those Eyes | Aonung (Enemies to Lovers)

8. assumptions

Katiya chewed her breakfast as the salty flavor of fish filled her mouth.

A leaf plate of berries would usually be her morning breakfast, but Neteyam, the caring older brother that he is, brought her a fish to eat.

"One... two... three..." Tuk murmured, counting the berries on her leaf plate as she stacked them to build a tower.

"Tuk, don't play with your food," Neteyam scolded her.

Choosing not to listen to him, the little girl began to sort the berries by color.

In an instant, a blue hand swiped one away from her.

"Hey!" Tuk cried, reaching for Loak's hand to retrieve her berry.

However, he quickly popped the berry into his mouth.

"Hmph! Kati!" Tuk called her older sister, who rolled her eyes and smacked Loak's head.

The impact of Katiya's slap sent the berry flying out of Loak's mouth and landing on Kiri's leaf plate.

"Ugh, gross!" Kiri scrunched her nose in disgust.

"That's what you get for being a thief," Tuk said, grabbing the berry and sticking her tongue out at Loak.

"Sharing is caring, Tuk," Loak mumbled as he rolled his eyes at her.

"You can have my berries since you blew your germs all over it already," Kiri said, sliding her leaf plate toward him.

"See?" Loak smiled at Tuk. "Kiri is the perfect role model."

Tuk ignored him and stuck her tongue out at him instead. A heavy sigh escaped Neteyam as he watched his siblings interact.

Seeing the others bickering and Katiya in her usual gloomy mood, he could tell it was going to be a long day.

From a distance, Loak caught a glimpse of Tsireya approaching them.

"Guys, Reya's coming. Be cool," he whispered, sweeping crumbs off his hands and fixing his hair.

Neteyam snickered at his little brother's cute crush on the reef girl as Kiri rolled her eyes.

Meanwhile, Katiya shook her head and continued to pick at the fish on her leaf plate. A pair of teal arms suddenly appeared in the corner of her eye holding a leaf plate.

"Morning, pretty face."

As soon as she heard the voice of a certain reef boy, her frown deepened.

Katiya looked up at Aonung with an annoyed scowl on her face.

"I thought your sister said you're not a breakfast person," she mumbled.

Aonung's lips curled into a smile as he set his leaf plate next to hers on the table.

"When did she say that?" He asked, forcing his way in next to her in the seat, prompting her to glare at him.

As a result, she moved closer to Loak to avoid having direct physical contact with Aonung.

Katiya concluded that Aonung's lack of manners was probably inherited from his mother.

"Oh, hey, bro," Neteyam greeted, noticing Aonung's presence at their table.

As the others also greeted him, Aonung returned the greeting. Then he turned his attention back to Katiya, who looked about to leave.

"Something so small, and you remembered. Why?" He asked playfully, continuing their conversation.

Katiya rolled her eyes.

"I can't swallow my food if I have to see your unpleasant face every morning," she said.