Stargazing

[27th December]

TW!: Slight mention of blood

"This is probably the first time I've heard Gordon Ramsay speak calmly if you get what I mean." I snorted at Ethan's comment.

We decided to make our own dinner from scratch because we were tired of takeout. We also came up with a theory that the murderer may assign the delivery man to check on Ethan and confirm his whereabouts.

Currently, I was peeling the potatoes while the twins did the more difficult tasks like chicken-cleaning and handling the fire. We assigned Ethan to just sit and manage the tablet that was playing one of Gordon Ramsay's home cooking episodes.

We grew paranoid and speculated that Ethan might injure himself when cooking and die from loss of blood. The three of us might even be arrested for murder! That was exaggerated but it was plausible!

"Wait pause it there." Nick squinted his eyes at the video, his hands paused. "Ah, so that's how..." he returned to his mixing bowl. "I've peeled the potatoes! What's next?" I stared at the two in anticipation. "Cut them up if you can!" Silas nudged his head towards a cabinet for the knives. "Alright!" I was a wee bit terrified since I've not cut anything up before. Let alone, a potato.

But before I knew it, I was already onto my third one! Silas approved of them all!! Three more potatoes to go! Halfway through my fifth one, my focus faltered for a split second and I ended up cutting myself.

"Ow!" I abruptly dropped the knife to hold onto my index finger, more blood oozed out of it. Oh my god, it hurt so bad. Silas dropped what he was doing to fetch me a plaster and antibiotic cream.

"Seriously?" he raised a brow at me as he helped apply the cream. "I zoned out a little,"

"Future Ethan..." I turned to Nick who looked rather horrified. "...have you ever thought about why you're in Johnny's body? What if he's the one that's going to die?" his eyes wandered to my freshly plastered wound and I stared at him, perplexed.

"Nick, it's just a cut!" he rushed over to examine the potatoes. "If these potatoes are green, it is poisonous. What if the knife you have cut yourself with is laced with the poison?" he turned the potatoes around. None of them even had a hint of green! They were completely yellow with hints of brown!

"Nick, I think you need to take a breather-"

"Both Ethans are now off-duty!" he announced loudly. "What!?"

"Hello," "Hello." I joined Ethan on the stool chairs near the counter and watched the twins work.

"Ever thought about what would happen to you if I ended up getting killed?" I gave him a look.

"Just a thought." he shrugged.

"I don't know. I'll probably roam around as a ghost or something." "Help me get Dylan's phone password if you will, he has blackmail images of me." I cackled at Silas' request. "Images like what?"

"We went on a camping trip last year and Dylan and I shared a tent. This dude was awake the entire time doodling on my face and taking photos of me!" Silas scoffed as he recalled the memory.

"Oh ho ho, I might just be the reincarnation of Picasso," Nick mimicked Dylan. We all laughed wholeheartedly.

"Speaking of Dylan, he said he was going to go on a trip to the mountains with his parents tomorrow morning. That sounds fun, not going to lie." Nick pursed his lips. "Why didn't he tell us?" "He knew I liked camping so, he asked if I wanted to come...ugh!" he suddenly slammed his hands into the bowl of sauce out of frustration.

"Are you that enraged? We can go camping next weekend!" Ethan waved his hands. "Unless I die-"

"It's not that! I just added too much lime juice into the sauce!" he put in about three times what he was supposed to.

"Uh, try not to scrunch up your face challenge?" Silas winced.

-

"Up for a round of game before bed?" Silas approached Ethan and my room, waving a controller in his hand. We nodded enthusiastically. None of us could go to bed anyway. We weren't looking forward to tomorrow at all.

"Why are you guys still up?" Nick suddenly emerged from the bathroom with a towel around his neck. "We were going to play some games..." he raised a brow. "It's twenty minutes past eleven."

"It's not midnight yet!" Silas abruptly grabbed our shoulders. "Let's go before this old man forces us to bed!" he blew raspberries at Nick before giving us little pushes and we sped towards the entertainment room. "Old man-!?"

The game failed to load and we found out it needed updating. "Updating can take up to two hours!" Silas mentally cursed himself for not checking sooner. He dropped to the carpeted floor dramatically and fake cried. "That's a bummer..." I joined him on the ground.

"I've been thinking..." Ethan laid down next to me, his eyes locked on the ceiling. "Hm?"

"What if there was a change in fate? What if I ended up being the one alive and someone else...dead?" I pursed my lips, turning to stare at the roof with him. "I don't know. It's...possible, unfortunately. But I hope it wouldn't be the case. Or else, our efforts would be in vain." Silas clicked his tongue in displeasure. "Ugh, this mission thingy is so bothersome!" he abruptly sat up, tossing the controller onto the beanbags.

"You guys wanna go to the rooftop?" we gawked at him in shock. "The rooftop??"

"Oh, wow..." my eyes twinkled as I ascended the stairs, billions of stars greeting me. It was freezing because of the snow but, I felt so warm inside. Music started playing and I glanced at Silas.

"What's stargazing without some tunes?" he wiggled his eyebrows before making his way to a hidden section. We followed him. He clicked on a switch and the expanse behind the walls brightened up. "What's behind the wall?" I became excited and rushed over. I gasped in delight.

On the veranda was a relatively huge tent enough for five, accompanied by a long wooden table and seven chairs. The floor was decorated with artificial grass.

This area was only private for the penthouse residents (in short, only to the Hwang family) since the only way to access it was through a password-coded room. "This is so, so amazing."

"What happened if it rains?" I asked. "Well," Silas fished for a remote in his pocket before gesturing to the wall. I just realized there was a rectangular void in it.

"Nick and I did some tweaking to the wall and installed automated roofs that open up with a click of a button." to prove it, he pressed onto the controller and the machine started humming. Soon after, the folded roof slowly opened up and it covered the entire patio. "Holy shit," Ethan was beyond amazed. "You and Nick did these all by yourselves?" Silas nodded proudly.

"Nick planned out the interior, I searched for the furniture and decorations online, then we arranged everything together. It took us months to achieve the look but it was worth it." I smiled. The twins were more than independent of themselves.

"Come!" Silas motioned us.

He patted the grass before shifting to lay down. "I figured you'd like to gaze at the stars so no tent for now," Silas turned off the fairy lights that illuminated the tent. I hummed in satisfaction as I stared at the sky while Silas' music played softly around the expanse.

The snow was relatively light so the skies were clear and bright tonight.

My grin wavered as my mind wandered back to the mission. "I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow but I'm going to act as if this is my last day on Earth because it might be..." Silas groaned exasperatingly.

"Man, be quiet. This mission thing is clouding up your thoughts." "Because that's why I'm even here to begin with! Tomorrow's literally the big day." Silas paused his music.

"We've been doing our best to keep Ethan safe. Nothing is going to happen. We will have a happy ending." Silas stared at me in determination. I've never seen that look on him before. With a sigh, I returned my gaze at the stars.

"It will be fine. Everything will be normal like always."