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“How come I’ve never met her?” I smile a little. “Does she also go to school abroad?
Her brows furrow as she closes the oven. “She…she passed away.”
My heart thunders in my throat and nausea assaults me. Asher lost a sister? “How? When?”
She opens her mouth to reply but then commotion barges into the kitchen. Asher, Sebastian, and Owen enter, in the middle of an animated conversation.
Asher and Sebastian smile at something Owen says.
I dig my fingers into the dough as my gaze gets lost in Asher’s face. The ease behind his features—it’s the type of smile he never shows me.
All I get are glares and the silent treatment.
Sure enough, when his eyes land on mine, his smile falls, replaced by a calculating streak.
I try not to think about how I look. Flour covers my hands and some of my face as I stand behind the counter, wearing an apron.
“Is this the apocalypse?” Owen slides onto a stool in front of me. “Are you…”
“Baking?” Sebastian finishes for him as he snatches a cookie from the plate. He smells it as if making sure it’s not plastic.
My attention remains on Asher. While Owen and Sebastian sit, flipping the cookies and goofing around, he stands there with a hand in his pocket.
His face is neutral, but I see something more now. I see someone who lost a sibling. For some reason, that type of loss rattles me more than it should.
I’m an only child so I shouldn’t feel the loss of a sibling, but somehow, I do.
I open my mouth even though I don’t even know what I want to tell him. I just want to say something…anything.
He swats Owen’s hand, making him drop the cookie before it’s halfway to his mouth.
“Dude! I was eating that.”
“I just saved your life.” Asher throws a menacing look my way. “It’s probably poisoned.”
“Ouch,” Sebastian drawls, eyes twinkling. “What’s it gonna be, Barbie?”
“What?” I smile to hide how much Asher’s words jab at me.
“The new dare, of course.” He waggles his brows. “Whose miserable soul are you going to slice and dice this time?”
“No one’s.” I wipe my hands on the apron more aggressively than necessary.
“Bored already?” Owen asks with a raised brow.
I level the wide receiver with a glare. “Or all of this is stupid?”
“Stupid?” Owen repeats. “You invented it, Rei-Rei.”
“You could’ve stopped me.” I meet their gazes before focusing back on Sebastian. “And you’re such a hypocrite, Bastian.”
He raises a hand, expression playful. “Don’t put your mistakes on me.”
“You could’ve said no instead of ruining Naomi’s life.”
“Ooh, someone’s in the know.” Owen crunches on a cookie, and for some reason, I feel grateful that he didn’t listen to Asher.
Sebastian cocks his head. “Maybe I did want to ruin her life.”
