H I S
T R I N K E T
"He’s your cousin, right?"
A lump formed on Mel’s throat. The air thinned and she felt herself catching her breath, chanting calming thoughts in her head.
It’s okay, it’s okay, Mel, just answer, she muttered mentally. At the moment, she didn’t really trust her voice. Clutching her gloves, she firmly answered.
"Yeah," she released the breath she was holding, "He is."
"You look so much alike!"
"Awfully so."
It was Tuesday night. Mel and her family was over at their grandfather’s house, for they were grieving for their grandmother's death anniversary. All of their relatives would be around, of course. And as usual, her aunts and uncles were discussing how alike Mel was and her male cousin; Yuya. She didn't quite understand why her relatives would still ask if they were cousins. She was sure they'd been informed plenty.
Yuya had the same gold eyes as she had — maybe even a tint of honey. His hair, however, was the shade of overcast cobalt. He was recently the age of six.
"Yuya! Come over here, Mel-nee’s around."
The said boy snapped away from his story book and stalked forward with such grace for a six year old as he carefully took one step at a time.
"Mel. You came." His voice was as bland as it could get. For some reason, the boy didn't use formalities. He called everyone their given name — be it his own mother or father.
"I didnt really have much choice on the matter, Yuya."
Mel understood why most people kept insisting their similarities. They both held nonchalant gazes — as many Shinatobe do, of course — but they were the only ones of the clan to have golden eyes. They gave Mel the odd place in the family when Yuya still wasn't born, thinking she was adopted and all that. She thought it was absurd. What if the golden eyes came from her mother? Her mother wasn't even a Shinatobe to begin with. Her father was the one who carried the genes.
"I don't get how you two could be so tense yet cozy at the same time."
It was her Father that spoke up. His eyes had narrowed between the two of them, as if perlustrating the pair. Mel tried not to wince under his gaze as she put a hand on Yuya’s shoulder, sensing him stiffen from his father’s ogling.
She and Yuya had only conversed formally ever since they've met, yet no one could tell how the boy was somewhat comfortable with Mel from the beginning.
"We just have the same preference."
Mel saw her uncle — Yuya’s father — enter the living room from the kitchen, and she immediately excused herself, not bothering with her relatives’ protests about leaving too early.
She recalled how Yuya’s irises glinted like honey — like her.
And she hated it for it reminded her of something she buried a long time ago.
- - -
19 minutes.
The time it took for Mel to prepare for school. She wasn’t a person to have a mini self evaluation at the bathroom, nor was she a person who steps out of it at almost the exact same time she entered. She didn’t eat breakfast daily, so it was excluded from the things she had to finish before leaving.
The events of yesterday didn’t bother playing with her mind this morning. And she wanted it to stay that way. Forget about the wretched family she ended up with, and just move forward without looking back at their scrutinizing, predatory gazes, waiting for you to slip up and make a mistake.
