Iryan Avery

(MATEO'S POV)

  Now, I am currently standing in front of Room 201. Or supposedly, the room of Iryan Avery, the son of my parents 'friends'.

  My mother knocked at the door and opened it slowly, and as quiet as she could. She got in and was followed by father and I. 

  As I stepped into the room. A sudden rush of strong antiseptic scent stungged my nose and went straight to my brain, making my eyes water a bit. So, instinctively, I close my eyes and pinched my nose to avoid further stinging.  Which proves to be quite… useless.

"Mateo come on, don't just stand there!" I felt my father's hand on my shoulder, pushing me forward... a bit too hard-- making me stumble forward for a bit.

  My father laugh for a bit before he went to my mother's side.  Helping her with something that I couldn't quite catch, since my vision was still a bit blurred from the sudden rush of light to my eyes.

  I squinted my eyes to get a better view of what their doing… Wow, it really is brighter than I thought it would be. But as soon as my vision came to me, my attention was quickly shifted to the room that I was in. 

  The room's walls were painted in a very pale beige paint, with a large rectangular glass window that showed the city outside-- placed at the opposite side of the entrance door me and my parents just came through. A small round table beside the bed and a marble vase on top of it, filled with hydrangeas and yellow roses. And of course, at the center of the room, there was a single size bed that was placed right beneath the glass window.

  At the bed, a young boy-- who was probably no older than me, was laying there. He had some bandages covering some parts of his face, while the remaining visible parts of his skin was slightly bruised, and him having pale skin just made those bruises stand out more, to me anyways. Some strands of his wavy honey colored hair was sipping through the bandages, making him really look like a poorly bandaged mummy.

  It was funny in a sense. Well, please excuse my strange sense of humor. But try imagining a five year old kid in halloween trying to be a spooky mummy. But failed miserably because the kid wrapped his body with toilet paper, messily and horribly…. 

Okay, okay I'll stop..., For now.

"Hey, kiddo," I felt a pat at my shoulder, "Guess what?" my father kneeled right next to me, his blue eyes were fixed on the sleeping figure in front of me. He was smiling. Well this was new, in a sense.

  He was sulking ever since he received the news, and this was the first time in… three days was it? That he smiled this happily. I'm happy that he finally smile again, but for some reason, I have a bad feeling about where this is going.

"He will be living with us!" He finally chimed to me

I thought so…

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"Eh?" 

(IRYAN'S POV)

Everything was dark. Sigh, Well that was a given, since I'm blind now. How I find out? Simple, the doctor told me yesterday.

  Welp, now… where am I right now? Judging from the change of the smell in the air, From a strong antiseptic smell to a fresh one, I'm guessing they moved me to another place when I was sleeping-- A guest room I suppose.

  From here, I could still hear the loud bustling sound of moving cars and the busy chattering of the capital city. There should be a window near then? But still, I guess, even with time passing by, there are always certain things that would never change, Huh? Busy busy London.

Click

I hear the sound of a door being opened at my left. I wonder who could it be? A nurse? Nah… The nurses here doesn't wear any perfume. A visitor? I don't think so, No one I know would wear that type of perfume,

But you know what? I'm too lazy. I'll find out later either way.

  I heard three pair of heels clicking on the floor tile, and a heavenly scent that smells like a sandwich. After a while, one of them stopped while the other two went forward to the side of my bed.

 "Hey, kiddo," I heard a soft husky voice from the side of me,  "Guess what?" he said softly to whoever it was next to him, "He would be living with us."

Huh?

  There are no one else here. The doctor did tell me that yesterday I would be moved to another place and it would only be me here,

So that means… 

  Oi, oi old man. Who the heck are you? I don't even know you and you suddenly came and claimed me? living with you?  I snorted in my mind. 

  But seriously, I don't know you. Who are you? A distant relative? Impossible, knowing them, they would kill me at first sight. A close friend of my parents? Probably, But why did I never hear their voice before?. A random person that barge into my room and start claiming that I would be living with them from now on? Yeah, I'll just take that as my answer for now. 

"Eh?" I heard a small gasp from my side,  judging from his voice, probably a kid. 

  Hello stranger, I'm Iryan Avery. Guess we will be stuck together, huh?' I chuckled at my own weird narrative mind. Now…, how do I make it less awkward? I've been awake all this time, wouldn't it be weird if I just sat up and shout "I'm Awake!!!" to all of them? 

Wait, You know what? I'll just be doing that--

Growl~ 

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Well thanks a lot stomach, you just ruined my big chance of surprising them.  Sigh~

"Oh?" I hear a small chuckle, "It seemed like a certain someone is hungry~" the voice cooed teasingly. Followed by the sound of small rustling and sudden rush of a heavenly aroma. I smelled baked chicken, and probably, marinade with thick honey and various spices, fresh scent of oven baked bread and sour aroma of the tomato and squashed lemon...

Growl~

  Well, this is embarrassing. I sat up and adjusted my position, tubing the back of my head with my right hand, which is the only one that is free from the constraning bandages.

  "I've been found out, huh?" I asked sheepishly, with all the strength I could muster to make my voice audible... and boy does it hurts. My throat feels dry, and my back and neck feels sore, maybe from my constant cooped up… and not moving much lately.

  I heard some shuffling from another direction, probably the owner of the soft husky voice or maybe the kid? I don't know. It's confusing.

  "You want some?" I heard the voice of the one who chuckled at me, she was probably holding a plastic like wrapping on something with all the sksksk noise. "It's my special chicken marinated sandwich," she said with such pride lacing over her voice, "hope you'll like it!"

  I may not be able to see her, but I could roughly guessed that she was smirking with pride just as she said it.

  She shoved a bundle of paper wrapped thingy to my right hand, which was still at mid air after I- strangely, left it hanging after scratching the back of my head. It was still warm, so she either reheated it or made it this morning. If it's the latter, than I applaud for her. Since I'm guessing… accounting the average time to make a sandwich like this… thirty… no, maybe fourth five…. Nope  I'm estimating… one hour and thirty minutes. That is, if she had already prepared the marinated chicken last night, already cooked, so she just have to stack the whole sandwich. But if she made it from scratch this morning, but already marinated the chicken just haven't cooked it maybe two hours, at the very least? Then if that's the case, judging from the sound outside, the estimated time--

"Are you going to eat it?" A voice asked me, curiously. His voice isn't the husky voice. So… the kid? "Well, are you?" He asked me again, a bit impatient. Ah, right. Bad habit, come on stop spacing out, Iryan.

"Mateo, don't be rude!" The woman scolded him, I also heard a small thwack sound after that, "I'm sorry about him. He could be impatient at times"

Someone chuckled

"Ah, it's okay" I breathe out, tilting my head to the side to the woman's general direction then tilted it back to where the sandwich that's in my hand was at.

"Well, come on try it!" She encourages me,

     Well I am kinda hungry so…

I took a bite out of it, and felt a rush of blishful delight that came rushing into my throat. With just this one bite, I could taste the tenderness of the meat and the mix taste of exploding spices which burns like a tattoo to my tongue. The tenderness of the bread, probably just got steamed before. The crunchiness of the slightly burnt skin of the meat, and The sourness from the Lemon and the tomato was just a savory plus to the whole thing. It was like heaven to my poor tongue who only taste hospital food ever since I woke up.

"Enjoying it?" The woman asked me, which I responded with a nod. It was truly delicious, and I can't think of anyone else that could make something like--My Mom…

  I stopped chewing and swollowed the food in one big gulp. Yeah, it taste nice.

"Mateo, Is it okay if you…?" I heard her said it softly. Mateo? Who's he? 

"I'll be going then" I heard a Curt respond from 'Mateo' not long after. His voice sound rather 

(Mateo's Pov)

  She sighed, her face contorted into a pained one. Reluctance, probably. Well, judging from how she is then there's a high chance she will--"Mateo, Is it okay if you…?" Thought so, and I don't have to be told twice for this,

I sighed,

"I'll be going then" I curtly nodded my head and excused myself out.

  While I was opening the door for a bit, I look back to where the other was at. My mother and father who was muttering something to themselves, and the boy who had a blissful look on his face while munching at the sandwich that mother made this morning.

 Huff… either way, did you think I'm just gonna leave you guys alone without a fight? No way! Besides, I knew it was going to come to this~

  I took out two small paper cups with both of its ends with holes and covered with strings. A mini elementary hello hello phone! With this I could listen to their conversation!!!

  I put one of it near the gap between the door frame and the door, while holding the other end in my hand. With this, the string should be pulled tight enough for the vibration to move in between the two cups. While not expecting any suspicion~!!!

  I closed the door with the other end of the Mini elementary hello hello phone in tow, and stretched it so the string was straight and tight. I look left and right and saw no one. Okay! This is perfect!!! Now to just listen...

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There's no sound??? Wait! What did I did wrong? I'm pretty sure the sound wave should be… send to… me…

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Idiot!!!! The sound wave would be muffled by the thick wooden door!!! How could I make such a mistake??? Huff~…. Guess waiting for me it is then???

"..I… know it….sorry… sudden news…"

Hoo~ what's this??? Guess it wasn't a complete miscalculation after all!!

"...me…. Yeah… no..w to...I--"

But I still can't hear a single sentence clearly, maybe I should've used a thicker string? Wider cup? 

"Hey! What are you doing???" I heard the shrieking voice of the all so familiar person I grew accustomed to a few days ago.

I sighed

  Slowly, I turn my head back and saw her crossing her arms in front of her chest. She was scowling, though, for some reason, I knew she was just joking around.

"You know eavesdropping isn't a good thing, right?"

I stared at her before telling her, "yeah, and 'You' are aware that spying on someone is not a good thing either, right? Ms. Frey"

"Hey hey, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Frey. Just Frey, no need the Miss" her nose twitched above her crooked mouth, then she cracked a smile on her face and loosening her tense shoulders and let it dropped, "You are hopelessly hard headed, huh?"

"Yep," I answered curtly moving my attention back to the mini elementary hello hello phone.

"So, what are you going to do now?"

"Listening"

"Of course" she snorted, before walking to my side and slide down propping her ear to the door.

"What are you doing?" 

"Listening"

"Oh,"

×××

  All in all, it was pretty much a waste of time. I could barely hear a single thing and I gave up after, I think it was around ten minutes of waiting. 

  I dropped myself to the nearest couch that was, luckily, in front of the room my parents are at. I stared at the ceiling of the hospital and groaned.

  Ms. Frey had given up as well and already went to her own merry way. Meaning, leaving me here all alone…

...so...

..Boring...

..Ughh….

  What are they even talking about? An entire story of the hero's journey or something??? If I knew it was going to be this boring, I should have brought a book or something. 

(Iryan's pov)

"...so, what do you think Chap?" The old man asked me, his voice softens "The choice is yours"

  I dropped my head down and breathed out a sigh. In all honesty, it wasn't that hard of a choice. At one point, if I stay here, there's a 98% chance I'll get killed immediately after I stepped out of this hospital and at the other point, I will live with these people who claimed to be my parents 'friends', who are 'definitely' not suspicious, but has a higher probability of living. So yeah, obvious, 

I raised my head and faced their general direction, "I'll take the offer," until I have any reason to run away.

  There was a soft hum before the woman laughed heartily, "I see," the sound of her heels clicked across the room, towards the door "Glad to hear that" then the door clicked closed, leaving just me, the old man, and my empty dirty hands from the sandwich.

"...umm," he started awkwardly, coughing a few times "It seems like we'll be seeing you later, Chap. I also hope that you'll get along with Mateo" he muttered nervously-- and with that, he shuffled away to the door and left me here alone in this place. Hmm...

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Mateo, huh? This will be interesting

(OMAKE)

"Achoo!!!"

I covered my mouth and nose with my hand just in time before the bacteria spread.

"Are you alright, dear?" Mother asked me, "You didn't catch a cold, did you?"

"Yeah…-- I mean No, I don't think I caught a cold, mother" I stuttered, wiping my hands with a handkerchief when the car finally stopped in front of our house. Mother went out and took the basket, now empty from the initial sandwiches, with her in her cradled hands. Meanwhile Father reached out for the back door and opened it, helping me get out of the car 

"Well, my Pops always said that when you sneezed, someone must've been talking about you" He put me down to the concert floor "maybe a man with nobody and nose"

"A what?" I looked at him, confused at his literation, and then He smiled

Oohhh… Sssshoot 

"Nobody nose"

Sigh 

Why? Father. Why?