Akio and Nikolai stepped away from the kitchen and stared at him in disbelief while Manny and Akali were off their chairs and head cocked. Calis turned to Lee Seng who avoided the looks.
"I didn't want to do it, alright?" Lee Seng defended himself. "A-After the mishap with Abby, I wanted to make things right with anyone else who might be under the same influence so I…" he raised his hand to his head and made a swing motion at it, clicking his tongue.
"You harmed Nicole?" Akali asked. "Y-you didn't kill her like…" Lee Seng looked up. His older sister looked at him oddly. Her voice sounded like she didn't fully believe him.
"I told them what happened to Seven…" Manny quietly spoke. Lee Seng tensed up. He hadn't thought about Seven for months. Hearing it come out, again, didn't quite sit right with him.
Lee Seng stood up and fled the situation. He opened the front door and disappeared, leaving it wide open.
"Lee!" Akio called out. He sighed and rubbed his temples.
"We should go after him!" Manny suggested, starting his way to the door.
"No, that won't help at all right now." Akali sat down. "He feels guilty about all of it. There's no use in talking to him right now. Let him be."
"But he can't be alone with all of that. Especially since i haven't–"
"Akali's right. Leave him alone. He'll come back." Akio turned around and continued reheating the food.
Calis watched as Akali turned away letting herself go blank so she couldn't be read. He turned to look at Manny, who grumbled and walked off into another room. He licked his lips and stood up.
"I'll just…" Calis motioned.
"You should just give him time." Akali told Calis. "He's… processing. Just let my little brother do that. He'll come to his senses." Calis cocked his head.
"You sound sure that's the right thing to do here." Calis spoke back. Akali snapped out of it and looked at the Merman like he had said something wrong.
"Excuse me?"
"How do you know this time is the right choice for him to be alone?" Calis asked. Akio moved out of the kitchen and over to Calis. A dark energy swirled in his hands.
"Hey, I don't care if you have differing opinions but you do not get to talk to my sister like that!" Akio shouted. He raised the dark energy without even thinking towards Calis. Calis turned and watched the dark energy stop mere inches from his eye.
"You guys do not fully grasp what he's going through." Calis continued. Manny's door opened a bit as he stayed out of it, listening. Calis raised his finger and pointed at Akio. "If you're really his siblings, you should be comforting him, not letting him sort it out on his own."
"He isn't a child anymore. He's a man. Let him figure it out on his own." Akio motioned. "We know him better than you ever could, little merman. Don't butt into family matters."
"The Numbers are a family matter?" Calis smiled in disbelief. "Then tell me why you locked him up when he went through something so traumatic. Tell me why you had guards on every single floor of that apartment. And tell me why you let some crazy Deimon terrorist through?!?"
"You little–"
"Enough!" Akali's voice broke through the tension. A soft light moved between the two, separating them. Akali rose and stepped over to her brother, gently putting a hand on his chest and nudging him backwards. Manny hung his head low with his legs crossed. He looked down at his feet, hands intertwined. Akali let out a sigh and turned to Akio.
"We technically died. We technically don't - we shouldn't have to worry about the well-being of the Numbers. They can handle themselves. We should worry about Lee and Manny's friends right now. We should be finding them not bringing up unresolved feelings about what happened a couple months ago."
"But he–" Akio began to speak when Akali pressed her hand into his chest and pushed him backwards.
"No." Akali shook her head. "Not right now. Do not pull this bullshit right now."
"I–"
"If you want our little brother to be a man like you have just said, you need to follow that same advice." Akali pressed Akio against the wall as the microwave beeped. Her brother's eyes were filled with rage and sadness. "You do not get to pull that card, ever. We - you, me, Nikolai, and Manny - decided we would find his friends and if we found the Numbers, it would be a bonus. Our priority was always Lee Seng and he's here. Don't push it on Calis. Calis is just doing what he thinks is right."
Akali turned to look at Calis. His fist was bled up like he was going off pure instinct. His eyes glared at the twin Numbers. Manny opened the door and moved through it towards Calis.
"Let's find Lee, Cal." Manny tapped Calis' shoulder. Calis glared for a few seconds longer before turning and following Manny outside.
"I'm sorry if I stepped out of line." Calis broke the silence after walking a bit. "I couldn't stand that nonsense that was happening. I know these things are shaky and I don't want Lee Seng to be alone thinking everything is his fault."
"No need to apologize." Manny shook his head. "You're right. He barely came back and all of this drops. It's a crazy thing to have to say. It's all fucked up. Lee Seng was always told to figure it out on his own. The Creator was never around to be a parent and help him with anything. He had to learn how to cope with his own emotions. He had to learn how to be an adult when everyone else could be a teenager and learn about love, friendship, and only had to worry about school… You stood up for him and that says a lot."
"Even now, I don't really know how to act around him." Calis glanced at the sky. "I've learned everything from Keng, you and the others. What he's like, how powerful he is, and his personality. The image I had of him grew and seeing him in front of the destroyed lab, I couldn't help but wonder how he was… Learning what happened to him and what became of Keng…"
"Something happened to Keng?" Manny looked at Calis. Calis turned and sighed. He nodded, slowly. "W-what happened?" Calis licked his lips and thought for a moment.
'How should I tell him?' Calis wondered. Lee Seng's energy interrupted his thoughts, turning his attention away from the conversation and onto Lee Seng, who was sitting in a tree.
"Lee!" Manny called out as he came to a stop. Lee Seng's eyes were closed as he hummed a melody. Manny's voice had broken through his melody, stopping it. LeE Seng wiped his eyes and opened them. He sniffed the snot, wiping it and keeping his eyes to the sunset sky. Manny sighed and moved to lean against the tree.
Calis watched the two childhood friends not speak a word. Manny looked down and kicked the dirt while Lee Seng continued to look at the sunset sky. He was beginning to wonder if he did the right thing in standing up for Lee Seng. He thought Manny would say something to Lee Seng, but he didn't. He simply existed with Lee Seng.
Calis walked over to a nearby tree and climbed it with ease. He sat on a sturdy branch and took a peek at Lee Seng. Lee Seng was quietly sniffling and rubbing his eyes. He didn't look great even after a couple weeks of rest. There were bags under his eyes. His shoulders were slumped forward like the weight he put on himself and the expectations of everyone else was a bit too much.
"What're you doing here?" Lee Seng cleared his throat.
"No reason." Manny answered. "We didn't want you to be alone."
"Oh." Lee Seng nodded. He could feel Calis burning a hole through the side of his head. He turned and looked over to Calis. "Is that true?"
"Mmmhm." Calis nodded. "If you wanna talk about it, you can… Otherwise, we can just stay quiet." Manny's lips curled into a smile.
"You're awkward when it comes to comforting someone." Manny chuckled. Calis's eyes widened and watched Lee Seng turn his attention to look at the sky. "Calis, here, defended you and wanted to come see you."
pandasnovel.com "It's better than leaving him alone." Calis replied.
"Right, right." Manny nodded. "I'm not saying you're wrong. I just find it funny you don't know what to do at this stage."
"Well, I…" Calis turned away. His cheeks grew red in embarrassment. "I never really comforted people that well…"
"Didn't you spend all that time in the last two years trying to comfort Keng about Lee Seng? He was having the hardest time and you—"
"I didn't want him to feel lonely. I didn't want any of you to feel lonely!" Calis blurted out. Manny chuckled. He stood up and started to aimlessly walk around.
"Calis has good intentions." Manny told LeE Seng. "He helped all of us process the state you were in. He put himself out there in a village full of Foxes to get someone to check on your well-being when you were asleep. He was the one who noticed Keng was suffering the most and the rest is history."
"H-history?" Calis stuttered. He turned and looked at Manny. "H-he knows more?!?"
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