Slumber Party

[21st December]

"Get to my house right now, if you can. It's urgent,"

I furrowed my brows and began to pack my bag, muttering to Ethel that I needed to go.

"Send me your address,"

"What? You came that day, did you not save it?" Nick clicked his tongue in slight irritation.

"Just send it to me, I don't have it saved," I rushed through my sentence, there was no time to make up an excuse. I seized the board and my bag before motioning Ethel goodbye. He looked upset but waved back nonetheless. Nick sighed.

"Fine, I'll send it to you in a minute," with that, the call ended.

-

"What's going on?" I immediately questioned when Silas unlocked the door to his penthouse, the escort behind me bowing ninety degrees before turning to flee. I had promptly put two and two together when I was brought up to the highest floor of the 45-floor apartment complex; the twins were the CEO's sons. It was a mystery how I didn't recognize it at first, the building was literally named Hwang's Palace.

Their penthouse was a zen interior and overall, very calming. It helped loosen some pressure as I walked along their corridor, tall bamboo canes embellishing the partitions.

Nearing the living hall, I was somewhat startled to notice Ethan and the others seated on the couch. They looked as perplexed as I was. I leaned my project on the side of a sofa and took a seat alongside Ethan, exchanging glances with him. I raised my eyebrow in inquisition to which he shrugged and mouthed that he didn't understand what was going on either.

"Now that all of you have gathered here," Nick cleared his throat as he sat on the loveseat in between the two couches. The twins exchanged apprehensive looks.

"This might sound terrifying but," Silas sighed shakily.

"A dead body was discovered in the carnival last night,"

"What?" Jay blurted out.

"As you all know, our father managed the fair this year," their father? My eyes grew but I spontaneously composed myself. They had probably mentioned this to Johnny before.

"At around two in the morning today, the park guard was just doing his round check when he spotted the body dangling on the carousel..." Nick rubbed his face with an exasperated sigh.

The carousel!

"This was supposed to remain confidential but I overheard everything when I was passing by our father's reading room," he tended to the room on his right.

"We thought we'd inform you guys about something like this-"

"Was it a suicide?" I blurted out, earning disoriented glimpses from most of them. "Sorry,"

"As far as we know, they're still making an investigation so, it's too soon to conclude anything yet," Silas responded, crossing his arms as he leaned against the wall behind Nick.

"Who hasn't finished their project yet?" Nick suddenly asked; we glanced around.

"I have pictures left," I replied, taking a glimpse at Rikki who was fiddling with his fingers in thought.

"You're getting that from Rikki, right? What about the others?" there was no response so Nick nodded and promptly came to a resolution.

"Everyone's done? So, I guess we don't need to go to the fair again today or the next for safety purposes," Nick paced around the hall. Some of the boys groaned and whined in protest.

"We've not gone on all the rides yet!"

"I wanted to try that cola-flavored cotton candy today!" cotton candy? Seriously...

"I know this is a yearly thing," Nick faced us, raising his voice in the slightest to grasp our attention.

"But we can't go, at least not until we know of the problem. I can't risk getting any of you hurt," he spoke with urgency in his tone, and we stayed quiet.

-

"Can you carry all of that?" I asked as I marched out of a popular ice cream shop near Hwang's Palace with Jay. He hummed, adjusting the cooler bags in his arms.

Silas suddenly insinuated a sleepover to alleviate the awkward tension to which all of us cheered, directly disregarding the carnival. Nick had glared at Silas for that.

So here we are, tasked to purchase ice creams since Jay and I were in charge of desserts tonight. I craved the mint chocolate, but Jay threatened to go to great lengths to persuade me not to get the flavor.

"I'll seriously get down on my knees to beg you if that's what it takes," Jay had remarked as we stood at the counter, preparing to pay.

"What? It's just mint chocolate, Jay,"

"It's toothpaste!" he whined as he swung his arms around, the cashier awkwardly watching back and forth at us.

"We're hogging the line, so are we getting it or not? Dylan and Rikki love mint chocolate too!"

"No!" Jay slammed his black card onto the counter, fixing a grin onto his face as he turned to the clerk, who was startled.

"Swap the mint chip with custard creamery will you?" the cashier hurriedly nodded before running to the back.

"Custard what?" I raised a brow.

"Silas relishes that flavor," Jay tapped his fingers on the bar as we waited.

"You've ordered the Custard Creamery, Black Diamond, Blue Skies, Dixie Pixie, Sundae Funday, and the Sunnyville ice cream," the cashier went down our list of orders. It was a fascination how she managed not to crack a smile with those unusual names.

"What was Black Diamond again?" I inquired as we rounded the corner into Hwang's Palace, handing over the packs to the securities for a safety check.

"Some charcoal sesame ice cream Rikki told me to look out for," Jay shrugged when I grimaced. "He said it tastes great."

"Sunnyville?"

"A citrus-flavored sherbet, it was a popular product,"

"Oh,"

-

"Ice cream delivery!" Jay and I called as we approached the penthouse. The door opened to reveal a gleaming Rikki. His eyes literally twinkled at the mention of ice cream.

"Black Diamond?" he questioned. Jay laughed as he patted Rikki's head.

"We got it," the youngest brightened, eagerly accompanying us to the snack zone.

"Where are the twins?" I asked Rikki as I piled up the freezer.

Jay basically raced to the restroom after he set the bags on a table nearby.

"Upstairs," Rikki hummed, nonchalantly fiddling with the mini plant on the countertop.

"Probably setting up rooms for us to stay in for the night. They have no maids after all," I shut the fridge door.

"Rikki, don't touch the plant!" said male recoiled, retreating his hands in an instant. Nick sped down the stairs and promptly rearranged the ceramic pot.

"You have a lot of plants in your house," no matter where you turn in their residence, there'll always be a plant in your view.

"They are mostly bonsais. Father always fancied it," Nick weakly smiled as he caressed the small flower in thought. Rikki and I exchanged glances but decided not to question it.

"So, what flavors did you buy?" Nick suddenly asked, taking the stool next to Rikki.

"Honestly, I don't even know. They had rather ghastly names," I scratched my forehead.

"That's ice cream for you-"

"You little shit!" someone howled from upstairs, followed by a loud thud. It echoed throughout the whole house.

"What on Earth-" down came Ethan and Silas giggling like little kids, a pair of trousers whirling in Ethan's hand. They sprinted towards us and hurriedly dumped the pants someplace around the kitchen.

"Y'all did not-"

"Bastards! Give me the slacks, Ethan! I know it's you-" Dylan tumbled down the stairs with a towel messily wrapped around his waist. He yelped when he almost slipped on the marble tiles.

"Hey! Don't get the floor wet!" Nick abruptly rose as he yelled. My smile wavered when I noticed his troubled appearance. He looked distraught.

"Well, tell these immature shits to give me the trousers, then!" Dylan barked back, seething with rage. Nick shifted to frown at the two, who stood behind the counter and out of sight from Dylan. They were stifling their laughs until they caught Nick's glare.

"Hand it over," Nick motioned for them to deliver it. Ethan brooded, hurling the pants to Nick who effortlessly caught it.

"Ugh, party pooper,"

"Isn't this mine?" he grumbled as he wandered over to Dylan. The boy resembled a wet dog as he shook in the middle of the living hall, ready to blow a fuse anytime soon.

"Are you sure you're the oldest amongst us, Ethan?" Nick returned to us after Dylan ran back upstairs. Ethan scoffed, holding his chest in fake hurt. Nick then faced Silas, who sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

"You are glad mother won't be back until tomorrow evening, get the mop," Nick poked his head towards the petite glass door behind Silas before rolling up his sleeves. Silas nimbly took the sweeper and tailgated Nick to where Dylan had stood before.

"Is their mother scary?" I whispered to Rikki as we watched the twins clean up the mess. For someone who resides in a big house, you'd never thought they had to do the house chores themselves. Rikki shrugged his shoulders.

"It seems so. I'm glad we don't have to meet her, though." I hummed in agreement.

-

Just like any other teenagers, I had anticipated them to order takeout, but now I sat on the bar stool with Jay and Dylan, regarding in amusement as the twins showed Rikki how to make balsamic-glazed steak rolls, professional-looking black aprons enveloped around their waists.

They insisted on having homemade and healthy dinners.

"I don't take beef," Rikki reminded Silas, who was prepping the red meat.

"You don't? Uhm..." Silas turned to Nick.

"Nick, did we defrost any chicken? Or pork?"

Nick tipped his head in thought as he paused slicing up the freshly rinsed cucumbers. "I don't think we have any more meat," he clicked his tongue as he turned towards the fridge.

"I can go get some chicken, if you'd like," Jay stood up and grabbed his shoulder bag, set to leave.

"I'll come along!" I raised my hand and got up from the stool.

"Awesome, buy some rosemary on your way too-oh and Jay," Jay hummed, adjusting his bucket hat.

"Get that red wine you like, I think we might need it for this recipe," Nick inspected the recipe on his phone again.

"Roger,"

"I wanna go too!" Rikki proceeded to remove his apron, an enthusiastic grin on his face.

"Nope," Nick stopped him, reaching behind the youngest to retie his bib. Rikki whined.

"You're staying here to help prepare dinner," Nick smiled, stroking Rikki's shoulders.

"You can help me cut the lemons," Rikki grumbled something under his breath as he tended to the citruses.

"Dylan, follow us!" I nudged the male who was slackly perched in his seat.

"Hmm..." he hummed in objection as he rested his head on the countertop. I patted his back with a sigh. At least he had calmed down from his pants incident earlier. I nearly laughed as I recalled. The face he made when he was raging was absolutely hilarious.

"Alright, we'll be back!"