Acceptance | ✓

Chapter 28

[ANDREW]

"Don't just stand there." I directed towards Devein, making her sigh loudly. We were in her room doing a complete cleanup. I'd been greatly horrified when I'd looked under her bed in search of Roxanne's lost ball only to meet a pile of garbage. Apparently, she'd just been hiding things about whenever I told her to clean, and there was no way I was going to trust her to do it by herself this time.

"I don't know what to do," Devien sighed, slumping down on her bed with a frown. Her face plastered with guilt anytime I moved something and found another hidden pile of garbage.

"You could start by sending that pile of clothes to the laundry basket," I said, turning from looking behind her drawer to gesture to the pile of clothes in the middle of the room.

"Oh, please get the vacuum cleaner after that, there's so much dust here," I pointed out, wrinkling my nose. Devien nodded, before leaving the room.

I slumped down, waiting patiently for her to get back with the vacuum cleaner. I couldn't do much because of my arm, but I could push a vacuum around and dust with my free hand.

When Devien hadn't gotten back in a few minutes I decided to continue looking around the room for any more garbage piles. So far I'd uncovered the one behind her drawer, the one beneath her bed and the one in her closet. I don't remember being this messy as a teenager but I could at least guess a few more places where she might have stuffed junk.

I sighed and shook my head in disappointment when I found empty snack wrappers inside the drawers of her side tables. I cleared it, deciding I better check within her main drawers. There were unfolded clothes, snack wrappers and paper balls on the top one. I decided to be careful while clearing this one since some of the papers might be important.

I put the clothes in a pile on the bed, while unwrapping the balls of paper one at a time before deciding if they were supposed to be thrown away. I was slow, and it was a little painful using the fingers of my injured hand to aid me in unwrapping.

Devien walked into the room with a vacuum cleaner some minutes later. She worked on getting her wardrobe in order while I continued to empty her drawers. We stayed like this for a while till I unwrapped a particular piece of paper. I frowned, realizing it was a letter.

Strange. Devein hadn't received a letter from anyone in my knowledge.

My eyes widened a little when I read who it was addressed to. I quickly skimped through the letter realizing what it was about and who had sent it.

"Is something wrong?" I heard Devien ask, pulling me out of my thoughts. It was then that I realized that I'd been standing and staring at the paper for too long.

"Oh, it's nothing," I muttered, stuffing the piece of paper into the pocket of my jeans.

"Do you think you can handle the rest by yourself?" I asked Devin all of a sudden. She looked up at me, clearly shocked that I was asking. I'd made it clear that I didn't trust her to clean the place by herself half an hour ago.

"I guess..." she trailed, earning a small smile from me. I walked up to her pulling her by the shoulder for a hug.

"Don't kick everything back under your bed," I warned, pulling away from the hug. Devein huffed, muttering a brief I know before turning back to the pile of clothes and snack wrappers on the floor.

I left the room soon after, fishing out the crumpled letter from my pocket. I understood the basics of its content, I expected something like this to happen sooner or later but it didn't do anything to soothe the panic at having Ethan gone.