Flame Inside ✿ Damien and Matthew

Chapter 3

Emma inhales the delicious scents as she steps into the dining room. "Oh, the girl's awake." A voice states. She looked in the direction to see Sam sitting there, causing her to furrow her brows in frustration and she almost replied before biting her tongue.

She looks at the ground before turning in the direction of a familiar voice stating, "Excuse you. She has a name, you know!" Thalia walked up beside her and she immediately grabbed the ginger's hand as she bit her lip nervously.

"Should we really care?" Sam asks indifferently, "And why do you always stand up for her? Why doesn't she stand up for herself?"

Emma looked down at her shoes as Thalia glared at him and was about to reply when the blonde squeezed her hand a little tighter, effectively preventing her from starting an argument. "Sam, I will roast that tongue for dinner if it doesn't stop flapping in that idiotic mouth of yours." James threatens as he steps out of the kitchen. Sam scoffs and rolls his eyes in reply. "I apologize for his attitude." James states sincerely.

"O-Oh, that's fine." Emma tells him softly and gives him a small smile.

"Good. I hope you'll enjoy the meal we prepared for you."

"O-Oh, you didn't have to." She stuttered softly, feeling bad that they had to cook for them.
"We insist. Besides, it's quite impossible to 'undo' our cooking, even if you command us to."

"Thank you, James," Thalia replies.

Matthew put down the last of the plates on the table and bowed a bit exaggeratedly to Emma, gesturing to the table with a sweeping motion and causing her to smile and giggle quietly, "Ahh, there we go! Dinner's all served!"

The table was filled with various foods from an eclectic selection of cuisines. And there were yet more and more plates than they could have possibly imagined. "Whoa!" Thalia exclaims, "That's a lot of food. And it all looks so good!"

"We hope you enjoy it, princess." Erik states flirtatiously and Emma could practically feel Thalia roll her eyes at him.

"That's enough, Erik." James chastises.

Erik made a sound of protest before smirking and saying teasingly, "You're no fun, James."

"I don't need to be fun, Erik. Miss, please follow me."

James offered her his arm and Emma blushed as she took it. She glanced back at Thalia to see her talking with Damien quietly while smiling. "Miss," She looked back to James as she heard him address her, "I have to ask, why do you two live here alone?"

"O-Oh, um, it's kind of a long story."

"I'm all ears if you wish to tell."

"To put it briefly, we just moved here today." She explained softly.

James nods in understanding, "That explains the luggage you two brought in when you came through the front doors. By the way, we put your belongings in the room you were sleeping in- that seems to be the master bedroom, I believe."

"Th-thanks." She bit her lip nervously, "This house is really big... I-I never really had the chance to explore it the past few times I was here."

"You lived here before?"

"Um... no. Truth be told this is my grandfather's house. I only was able to visit him a few times when I was younger. My cousin visited far more often than I ever did."

"...May I ask why you now live in your grandfather's house?"

"...He actually passed away last week. It was bequeathed to my cousin and I in his will, and, since she's still in high school and we needed a place to live anyways, Thalia and I decided to move in by ourselves."