I Didn't Know He Was This Crazy

The next few days were uneventful. We started to adapt on living with a new family member. Mom was behaving as usual, Evelyn was even more shy than usual. And Dad.. Dad looked like he was walking on eggshells around him.

There was a time Dad suggested on taking a trip to the beach when we were having our first lunch together. Dad even carefully listing the beaches closest and asking where he wanted to go. Anticipation and nervousness were evident in Dad's expression. He looked like a criminal waiting for his final sentence in the court.

"You can go, I won't." Arden said.

How devastated Dad looked after Arden rejected him coldly was enough to put viewers into tears, if it was a drama.

Sadly Dad didn't bring up taking a trip again . We all, especially Evelyn had been looking forward to it, because trip with Dad and Mom was always fun. Even for me.

I played with Evelyn most of the time. She didn't have much friends around here other than at school. So I took her wherever I went.

After a week, Arden slowly began to open up to Evelyn.  They even became chess best friends right now. Evelyn told me that Arden watched her play chess against herself from a far before sitting down and giving her pointers. Then after that he took over the losing side and had been on this ongoing match with Evelyn since yesterday apparently.

Now I was left with nothing to do other than watching them silently moving the chess pieces. I felt secretly happy inside. Watching her thinking hard, but a glint of happiness evident in her eyes. How adorable.

She always played chess alone because none of us were good at chess, so obviously playing with me or Dad and Mom was too boring for her. After all she was a chess player who had competed in tournaments.

At night when we were on our beds trying to sleep in this heat. For the first time Arden initiated a conversation with me.

"I have a question." he said.

Hearing  that I sat up straight facing him with a grin. "What is it? What is it? Do you need love advice?"

He threw a pillow to my face as a response. "It's about Evelyn."

"Is she.." He hesitated looking very troubled.

"Is she deaf?" I guessed the question.

He nodded.

It wasn't the first time people looked so complicated to ask about Evelyn's condition when they noticed.

"She is." I answered. "She doesn't have her hearing aid right now, so she can't hear anything."

"Why? she doesn't have one?"

"Well she said she lost it. But I found out it was this neighborhood kids' doing. Mom took her to order it again last week. It really cost a lot."

He was silent for a while before he speak again, "You don't tell your parents about that?

"About what?" I asked, mildly surprised that he would refer to Dad and my Mom as my parents. It sounded as if he didn't even want to acknowledge Dad as his father.

"The kids who took Evelyn's hearing aid. Did you tell them about that?"

I sat up facing him and nodded, "Of course. Mom flipped a shit but Dad calmed her down. So they took the peaceful route. They won't make them pay for it. Only an apology and a promise that they won't do it again."

I stopped talking to calm myself down.

Taking a deep breath I continued my rant, "Apology my ass. Even I think Evelyn is traumatized by that day."

I had to clenched my teeth whenever I remember that day.

"What happened?" he appeared genuinely concerned after hearing that.

"So Dad and Mom invited the kids' parents to dinner to make their kids apologize to Evelyn. After they explained what their kids did, they denied that it was impossible for their well behaved kids to do that. But those people would like to make donations as they took a pity on Evelyn. One parent did ask their kid if he and his friends did such thing to a.. a disabled kid. And of course his kid lied saying he and his friends didn't even know Evelyn that well. One of them started to question whether Evelyn lied to our parents and asking them for a proof. Soon everyone said that their poor kids were being wrongly accused. Evelyn didn't get an apology in the end."

Arden was silent after I finished my story. He took an almost finished water bottle from his bag and gulped it down. I turned my face away feeling a pang in my chest because I knew what he had drank.

"Do you know where is their house?" he suddenly asked.

"I do.. Why?"

"I think I saw some kids bothering Evelyn the other day. I heard them saying they will make Evelyn pay for snitching on them. Let's teach those kids lessons." He said it easily as if he asked me to accompany him to walk in the park.

"What? You're gonna beat those kids up?"

"Why? You don't think you'll win?" He asked.

So he could tease too. Before I had doubted this ice prince knew how to communicate let alone cracking a joke.

And in thirty minutes Arden and I were in matching all black from shoes to hoodie. He handed me a black mask and black leather and told me to put it on.

It was two in the morning. He explained his plans. When I heard what he was about to do I outrightly refused. What a crazy guy. I didn't know he was this crazy.

But he only laughed when he saw how terrified I was. He coaxed me saying that we should protect our little sister.

Deeply moved by how he started to care about Evelyn, eventually I relented.

I shouldn't have listened to him.