So sick

I looked at the boy, whom I now know as Caleb, “Yes.” He answered, licking at his ice cream.

“Don’t do this next time. Aunt Anna is looking for you, she’s worried," he said coolly.

“You know each other?” I asked Eion, to which he ignored as he picked up the little kid in his arms. Now that they are both beside each other, I had a quick overlook. They have both green eyes, but their attitudes were miles apart. Now that I think about it, the little kid looks familiar.

Oh right! He was one of the kids playing with Nathan at Aunt Maggie's. Maybe he is Eion’s brother? Or cousin?

"Do you know each other? Is she your girlfriend? She's very pretty," Caleb asked Eion. I almost gagged at that. Him? My boyfriend? I would rather date a robot.

"No, he isn't.", "No, she isn't"

We both chorused, glaring at each other in sync.

Caleb laughed at both of us and somehow found this situation funny. "It's okay, I won't tell Uncle Adam," he said sheepishly, beaming at us.

Eion sighed, wiping Caleb’s now dirty lips filled with the strawberry ice cream he ordered with a tissue. "C'mon, enough with that nonsense, Caleb. Let's get you home," Eion said.

They walked away from the shop but not before I heard Caleb’s little voice speaking again, "She's pretty. If you're not her boyfriend, then can I be?"

I chuckled at his cute voice as he waved at me, "Bye, pretty lady!"

I waved back, catching Eion’s annoyed expression before they were out of sight.

****

“Achoo!”

A few days later, I felt my nose clogged due to colds and before I knew it, I was having trouble breathing. “I’m sorry but what did you order ma’am?” I asked the woman in front of me, who was glaring at me and saying something in a foreign language, before leaving without even ordering.!

Another customer entered after that and ordered something, but I couldn’t exactly hear him. “I’m sorry sir, can you repeat that?” The man just sighed and patiently repeated what he just said.

As the third customer came, I hadn’t noticed Eion returning from the door and looked at me in irritation as if I was a pest. “This is what I'm talking about…are you even working properly?” He asked. I could feel that he had been monitoring me lately as he did his work here and watched over his store. I would argue with him, but I don't have the energy to do so.

“I’m sorry.” I apologized to him, feeling my head aching now, “I was just…feeling sick.”

He looked at me for a moment, put his hand on my forehead to check for my temperature, and sighed, “Fine, rest in the office for now.” He said, asking me to scoot over as he got the orders of the customers.

I faced him, “But what about the-”

He glanced at me, “You can’t even take orders right...just rest there.” He said.

Not even fighting back anymore, I did as he told and rested at the office. Good thing that there was a sofa there for me to lie on. I sneezed for the hundredth time. My nose was so runny and red that I didn't have to glance at the mirror that looked like a clown.

I thought my throbbing head and aching muscles would vanish once I took an aspirin, but it still didn’t. Gosh, why did I even get sick? Was it from overworking or anything? If mom were to find this out, she would surely make me quit working. And I don’t want that.

Snow.

Summer.

Snow has a fever. I internally rolled my eyes.

How ironic.

Closing my eyes, I drifted to sleep. I’ll catch a quick nap and try to wake up when I’m feeling better then.

It didn't take long for me to fall asleep. There was a blanket when I woke up. When I felt that I somehow got a bit better, I tried to stand up but couldn’t.

The door opened and I saw Eion appearing, looking at me. “Awake now?” He asked me. I just nodded at him.

“Good.” He commented, before leaving again. Minutes later, Emma showed up with a paper bag. “He asked me to give this to you when you wake up.” Opening it, I saw there was a cup of soup and some medicine.

I looked at Emma, “Wait, why are you here? What time is it though? I thought it was just my shift earlier?”

She grinned at me, “It’s already 6 pm. Your shift is over, Snow. Our boss called me just to take care of you.” She said, “Isn’t he sweet? I knew he would be concerned for you!”

I stared at her deadpan, “Yeah yeah. Quit yelling, Emma, my head is hurting.”

She smiled sheepishly, helping me to get up, “Oops sorry, just eat this! Why did you even get sick, Snow?” She asked. Despite her question, she blew on the soup and fed it to me.

“I don’t know. I’m just probably tired. I just need to sleep this and it will go away tomorrow.” I replied, opening my mouth to eat it. We stayed quiet, with Emma continuing on feeding me until it was finished and we stood up, preparing to leave. “I’ll get you home now, come on.”

I looked around and found Eion was nowhere now. “But what about Eion?”

“He got home earlier now.”

Oh… I see. I wanted to thank him though. He was a bit…thoughtful I guess? Never mind, I’ll do that next time. I have to recover first. Good thing it will be the weekend tomorrow, my day off.

***

And I was right. All I really needed was to sleep and the fever was gone the next day. Now, it’s Saturday morning and we’re back at Aunt Maggie's mansion again. I'm almost sneaking everywhere to avoid being spotted when I heard a loud squeal.

"SNOW!!!"

"Oh my god! I'm so glad you came!" Hannah gushes.

"Of course." I chuckled at her reaction like we didn’t just call each other a few days ago.

We roamed around the house as she told me stories about her family and Aunt Maggie. Moving through the garden, we picked a shady spot beneath the tree before Hannah told me all about who's who.

Aunt Maggie was apparently the youngest among the four. Her eldest sister being Anna Cooper -Luke and Hannah's mother. The second sister is Lena Hudson -Eion's mother while Caleb's father, Max Stone, is the third.

Hannah soon started talking about her brother, talking of funny and embarrassing moments, I couldn't help laughing along.

"...and Luke's face slammed face-first to the mud!" We laughed yet again, both of us holding our sides at how hard we were laughing, "Oh, how I wish I could've taken a picture of that."

"What's so funny?" Just in time, Luke, Hannah's brother, suddenly walked from behind us.

Hannah's eyes widened before she composed herself, sending me a look while I tried to stifle my laughter.

"Hannah," He frowned, probably realizing what his sister was up to, "we had a deal."

Hannah stuck her tongue out at him childishly before he turned to me, "Believe me, everything she said was a lie. That certainly did not happen..."

I nodded, but it's too late to change my mind. We then excused ourselves saying we were thirsty and almost ran to the mansion, laughing after we were sure Luke was out of earshot.

"Hey, Snow!" I turned around, surprised at the familiar voice, and saw it was Leroy and Dax.

Oh.. What are they here?

"Oh, I forgot to mention, we're invited to the wedding too.." Dax grinned once she saw my confused expression.

I broke into a smile. Well, at least there are a few more people who are familiar around here. This is kind of nice though.

"Amazing, right?” It was Leroy’s turn to speak, patting me on the shoulders, “Eion requested it to Aunt Maggie,"

When Leroy saw Hannah beside me, he nodded his head at her in greeting, offering her a smile, "Oh hey there, Hannah!”

Hannah smiles back shyly, her cheeks turning red, “Hello Leroy, I’m glad you made it here.”

I narrowed my eyes at her, noticing something. Wait…Is she blushing?