ONCE

5 - Hot Chocolate

We walked back to my house and I made hot chocolate with a dash of mentha fruit (it's minty and fruity at the same time). I grabbed 2 cups from one of the boxes in the kitchen, poured the minty hot chocolate into them, and tossed a few chunks of peppermint bark and marshmallows into them.

I walked over to Leo (who was sitting in the living room and cuddling horus while being wrapped up in a blanket)

"So do you want to talk about it?" I asked while handing him a cup and sitting down

Leo just shook his head

"If you don't talk about it, it's just going to bottle up inside of you and one day it's all going to burst" I stated

Leo thought about it for a second and started to whisper.

"I'm afraid it would burst regardless... Aera... can I not talk about it?"

I simply nod and say, "You don't need to if you don't want to... I won't force you. If you ever need someone to listen, I'm always here..."

Leo stays silent as he pets Horus gently.

***

A few hours later I woke up from the nap I had apparently taken while sitting on the couch when I felt something heavy on my shoulder.

"Horus get off," I say sleepily and turn my head to try to pry off whatever was resting on my shoulder, " Time to get off Horu-...Leo...? " My face went red when I saw Leo peacefully sleeping on my shoulder as I froze up. I didn't know what to do until I saw Horus giving me a look.

"Hey...I didn't ask for this!!" I whispered, "When did this even happen?"

Horus simply sat there wagging his tail - I guess he didn't want to tell me. I slightly shook Leo's shoulder a little to try and wake him up.

"Leo? Wake up" I whispered. "Leo! Get up"

He was fast asleep and there was nothing I could do about it.

Ugh ok, it's ok ill just lay him down on the couch

I grabbed the pillow that was by my side and placed it on the armrest. Then I slowly rested his head on the pillow and wrapped a blanket around him. What a weirdo I chuckled and walked upstairs to get horus to bed too.

"Sleep well ok? I'll come back I'll get to bed soon too" I told horus and walked back downstairs into the library. I shook my head at the sight of boxes and tried to unpack a bit more of my stuff when I found a strange little book, perhaps medieval or gothic, and looked at the seal on the book.

"Weird," I whispered to myself "I don't remember packing this book.... I don't remember owning this book at all"

I picked at the lock to open it when, suddenly, it flew open to a page about someone named _Hyun Dal_. The book says that he's the one living in the house that Leo told me about. I scoffed at the book's crypticness, closed it up, threw it onto a chair sitting in the corner of my room, and started unpacking my boxes.

By around midnight, I finished unpacking all my boxes except one. I sat on the floor against the wall, exhausted, and I was about to fall asleep there when Leo walked in fully energized and woke me up.

"AERAAA!" He called out walking into the library, I woke up with a start.

"LEO," I yell, irritated, while jerking and hitting my head against the wall, "can't you wake me up slowly? Why do you have to keep doing that!!!!"

"I uh.... Thought you were still awake.... Um let's get you to bed...." he walked over to help me get up and led me upstairs. As soon as we entered my room, I flopped onto my bed and fell fast asleep. Leo simply sat on an armchair sitting in the corner of my room.