Faster Than Lightning

The bottle started spinning again for the nth time and I was starting to feel tired. But then it pointed at Craige which instantly woke me up.

'He managed to survive 10 rounds without getting picked. I guess his luck finally ran out.'

And the first person to raise their hand to ask a question was, none other than, Arthur.

For some reason, I felt anxious even though I was not the one in the hot seat. Probably because this was my crazy brother we're talking about. No one has ever known what goes on in that brilliant head of his.

"Assa!" Jake exclaimed as if he was the one asking the question. It made me suspect that he and Arthur had concocted some plan or questionnaire ahead of time.

Arthur grinned at Jake then stretched his arms and loosened up his shoulders as if preparing for a swim. And Craige just quietly waited for them without a fuss. He didn't even seem nervous at all.

Arthur narrowed his eyes at Craige with a smirk, "What was the reason why you broke up with your last girlfriend?"

"Woah! Noice!" Jake laughed and clapped his hands.

Katherine raised her eyebrow. "You're not even asking if he had a girlfriend first?"

"Why ask the obvious when you can ask something juicier?" Arthur answered.

Ameera shook her head. "You guys are really something. Didn't you consider that he might still be hurt from that break up? How can you be so insensitive?"

"Nope. If he's still hurting from hat break up I'll beat him up and not ask him questions." Arthur winked at Craige and the other just smiled at him with a shrug.

I was surprised with myself because I was actually eager to hear his answer to the question.

"I don't mind answering that. But it's not as juicy as you expected." He took the bottle from the floor and spun it. I frowned because he has not answered the question yet and looked up to see that he was smiling while watching the bottle spin. "She broke up with me because she said that I'm not capable of loving anyone."

The room was enveloped with silence and the only thing that we could hear was the sound of the spinning bottle and the ticking of the large pendulum clock behind me. The bottle looked like it would spin forever and my eyes were starting to lose focus. And when it stopped in front of me, I just stared at it blankly because I was still busy processing that last piece of information.

'Which beyatch dared to tell him that?'

"Haile~" Arthur called out to me which made me snap out of my musing. I looked at his raised hand then at his annoying face that looked like a hyena at the moment.

Taking a deep breath, I eyed him lazily. "What?"

He put down his hand and cleared his throat. Then with a very serious tone, he surprised me with his question. "If we were not what we are, would you have spared me a glance?"

I froze at his question.

But from the corner of my eyes, I saw Craige and Katherine turn their heads towards me with wide eyes.

I must have stared at Arthur for a while because the others started teasing me.

"Oh? Why can't you answer him?" Jake peered at me and that made me turn to him.

Then my head snapped towards Mia when she asked Arthur, "What do you mean by 'if you're not what you are'? What ARE you?"

"Could it be... you're dating?" Trixie smiled in disbelief.

Jake frowned. "But didn't he already say that he likes Katherine?"

Brian waved his hand then rested his chin on it. "Jake's right. Arthur did say that earlier. Besides, if they're already dating, why would he ask her to spare him a glance? The question would not make sense."

That made Mia repeat her question but this time, she looked at me. "What are you?"

I took a deep breath and raised my hand while looking around. "Who raised their hand first?"

Arthur grinned. "I did."

I nodded. "Then I'll answer your question. What was it?"

He narrowed his eyes at me but he still repeated the question without complaint. "If we were not what we are, would you have spared me a glance?"

"Ah…" I nodded and actually thought about it seriously.

I didn't really think much about why he would be asking such a question and just focused on finding out what my answer to it was.

'What if he was not my step-brother… would I have been attracted to him?'

I studied Arthur's face then I looked at Craige. Before returning my gaze to Arthur, my eyes met Katherine's and I smiled when I found my answer. I faced Arthur with a grin.

"Not in this lifetime."

If he was, in any way disappointed with my answer, he was able to masterfully conceal it with a grin. "Roger that."

We went for a few more rounds but most of the questions that we've done so far were not as heavy as the previous ones. Most probably because they want to quickly spin the bottle and hope that it points back at me or Arthur to ask their pending questions.

I stole a glance at Katherine who seemed to have lost her focus in the game. Then I moved closer to her and whispered. "Why are you spacing out?"

She lightly bumped her head against my forehead. "Nothing. It's just that, I feel bad for asking you that question earlier, in front of everyone. I'm sorry."

I giggled. "Silly. It's fine. It was actually better that you asked me in that kind of atmosphere. Had it been just the two of us, I would have been scared to talk in fear that I might fall into that memory. Having everyone else distract me was a huge help."

She hugged me tight and heaved a sigh. "I'm really sorry for not being there with you when you needed me the most."

"It's fine. I have you now, right?"

She squeezed me harder. "You sure do."

"YEEEEES!"

Katherine and I jumped from our seats when Arthur suddenly roared with delight.

I turned to him and saw that he was pointing his finger at Katherine. Then I looked down to see that the water bottle had its cap pointed at Katherine. And it was Arthur again who had his hand up first.

'Why the hell is he so fast?'

"What would you want to ask me? I'm a boring person." One corner of Katherine's lips lifted to conceal the fact that she was actually feeling anxious. The only reason why I knew she was feeling anxious was because her grip on my hand tightened as if trying to suck strength from me through it.

Arthur chuckled. "You're right. You are a boring person. You hate playing games. You don't like watching movies in cinemas because it's a waste of money. You turn down dates because you're afraid that they will make you pay--"

Arthur skillfully dodged to his left when Katherine swung a pillow towards him. She missed hitting his face but he hit his cheek on Ameera's shoulder while dodging. He winced in pain which satisfied Katherine nonetheless. But bruising his cheek did not stop Arthur from going on as if he's asking for a serious beating.

"You stick with an oddball so that you don't stand out. You don't try to make friends with others because you find it a waste of time."

"He's bad-mouthing you right?" I asked Katherine.

She nodded with her mouth slightly open, shocked by how accurate Arthur was with his assessment of her.

"Want me to break his arm for you?"

She quickly shook her head. "Let's see where he's planning to go with these first, then I'll tell you which part to break after."

"You don't show your emotions because you're afraid of being judged. You keep people at bay because you're afraid to trust. You don't think that you're pretty enough, that's why you wear makeup. You don't have confidence, that's why you try to dress up. You--"

"Get to the point." Katherine finally asked impatiently.

"My question is…" Arthur smiled at her affectionately and we all looked at him with anticipation. With the way that he was going, anybody would think that his words will lead to a confession. That's why my jaw dropped when he suddenly asked. "What's the color of your toothbrush?"

'Ah...it was not a confession but self-destruction. What the hell is wrong with him?'

I gave Katherine a side-glance, feeling nervous on behalf of my deranged brother. She cracked her neck from side to side then mumbled. "I'll break him myself."

'Oh dear.'

I was about to warn Arthur to run away if he still valued his life but it seemed that he had already foreseen his future because he sprang up and ran upstairs. Katherine ran after him with a grunt, obviously infuriated because Katherine doesn't usually run.

She never runs.

The rest of us looked at each other then laughed.

Brian stretched his legs and arms out, "I guess that's his way of telling us to go to sleep?"

"Probably." Jake nodded.