Coolest And Greatest Aunt

"Damien, why are you sulking?" Rhea asked.

Damien puckered his lips and looked away.

If anything, Rhea should be the damaged and sulking one who had to be sandwiched between the twins like that. She shuddered just remembering it. Remembering how their hotdogs pressed against her like that and...She violently ran her hands through her hair to dispel thoughts of them away.

Damien had walked in on the awkward scene, thankfully too innocent to notice the indecent truth to the situation. In his eyes, they were having 'a fun time'. It was fun and games until THAT pressed against Rhea.

"...Because, you guys had all the fun without me. I want to get doused in flour too."

She lightly chuckled and smeared the remains of white powder onto her fingers. Then, Rhea slid some onto his cheek.

"There. You've been doused by powder!"

Damien giggled in return. "Doused? That was barely anything dramatic Rhea."

Seeing his smile lifted her spirits. But no sooner that her spirit lifted, did it fall and get crushed to the ground again. Their footsteps echoed from behind and Rhea tried her best to convince herself to remain a normal creature of a neighbor. Not bolt out the door and leave dear Damien behind although it was damn tempting at this point.

"Hey neighbor girl, wash up."

Aziel threw the towel at her face so she didn't see their 'fresh out the shower look' until after the towel slid down to her arms. And man, was the look illegal and deadly. The man didn't even bother to wear a shirt. Just dark blue jeans as he casually showed off his assets. She blushed at Aziel's half naked self, with droplets of water still dripping down his skin. And then suddenly, she remembered the feel of his chest pressing up against her back.

"Ah! Do you know what a shirt is? It's something you wear. Why aren't you wearing a shirt..." her gaze flew over to Zeven and he was even worse off!

Aziel smirked to irk Rhea even more. "It's a free country and my condo. And I say, free the chests."

Her nose threatened to bleed as Zeven was worse off and only clad with a towel at his waist. Why were they so intent on having her die young goddamnit? It was too much fan service she didn't want although she was sure their real fans would be delighted.

"It's a little embarrassing but...Aziel and I forgot to do laundry. We've been so piled with work that we didn't realize we ran out of clean clothes," was all Zeven could come up with as a proper response.

Seriously? Who forgets to do their laundry? Rhea was sure they just wanted to blind her.

"You know what? I-I'll go back home and shower," she said because she couldn't stop thinking about earlier.

Damien shook his head at her. "Rhea, you're going to dirty everything. You might as well shower here so there's less of a cleanup, yeah?"

The little boy was too reasonable and smart for his own good. Yet, he was right. She would be dirtying the halls if she stepped out like this. Or even worse, frighten a random neighbor into thinking there truly was a dumpling monster roaming out in the halls.

"...Fine."

And that was how Rhea found herself inside the twin's bathroom. But seriously, even their bathroom was stylish and furnished to look like it came out of someone's mansion. She could only gawk at it as she finished her most rich and satisfying shower. The toilet even had the fancy seat warmer and butt spray! Being porn stars sure made more money than an average shut in writer.

When she finished, Rhea creeped out into the hallway. She couldn't help but overhear a harsh and low whisper coming from one of the rooms.

"...We told Julie already...Aziel and I won't be attending."

Rhea was a lot of things and eavesdropper was added to the list as she crept closer to Zeven's voice. Was this about that letter and Julian? Zeven heaved a long sigh.

"...Boss, we're grateful but if it's the award you can just ship it to our place...Seriously? You miss us...Hah, you could always visit or video chat us, I don't see why we have to attend...Hell, I knew it. It's always money with you isn't it? The event isn't gonna suffer without us...Fine, we'll consider it..."

She couldn't fully understand the conversation but made a run for it as she figured it was soon coming to an end. Rhea had already been mistaken for a trespasser so she didn't want another crime added to the list.

Another thing caught her attention. The sound of the piano filled her ears. Who could it be? Damien? Aziel? She followed the music to one of the rooms down the hall. It was Aziel's room, with the grand piano just like what she saw in the video. Rhea slowly paused as she glanced at Damien sitting inside Aziel's lap. Aziel had his arms extended over the piano's wide left and right keys while Damien played with the middle piano keys.

Damien had one of the biggest smiles plastered onto his faces. The brightest one Rhea's seen in a long time. They were playing a high pitched and cheery tune, that made even Rhea want to tap her feet and swing around to the beat. Damien's eyes further lit up as he spotted Rhea.

"Rhea! Aren't I cool?"

She ignored Aziel but walked over and nodded. "You're the coolest little guy in the room!"

"Heh. Does that mean Aziel is the coolest man in the room too?"

A stupid grin surfaced on Aziel's face as he ran his hand across Damien's head. "Damn right I'm the coolest man in the room."

Rhea resisted the urge to snort, a little distracted that he was still only clad in his blue jeans. She made sure to correct Damien. "...Damien, cool men wear shirts and don't boast about how cool they are."

"Don't be jealous. I mean, your works are cool..."

Now, Aziel looked at her seriously which made her a bit uncomfortable. "But honestly speaking, shutting yourself away isn't cool. You should make the effort to go out more often and in turn, take the little guy to places. Hell, he told me he hasn't gone to the park in ages or ever stepped foot inside the amusement park...What kind of kid should be deprived of that? Listen I don't mean to sound like an ass but I don't think you're doing a great job as an aunt."

Rhea was at a loss for words. That was because everything Aziel was saying, was true. She knew he didn't mean bad but often times, Rhea didn't like to hear the truth. It gave her a pang of pain to hear someone else recite her weaknesses. She was a terrible aunt. Rhea knew the most out of everyone that Damien was trying to become an adult too soon.

Most of all, she didn't think Aziel had a right to critique her because he was an outsider. And he didn't know her situation. Before she could lash out at him, Damien moved away from Aziel. He lightly bumped his fist against Aziel's shoulder, as if to warn him.

"...E-Even if you're the coolest guy ever, if you hurt Rhea's feelings then I won't tolerate it! Rhea might not be able to take me out or do cool things but deep down in my eyes, she's the coolest aunt and is doing the greatest job that she can...So, don't say mean things about her...Hey Rhea, I think I'm ready to go home now."

Dear little Damien was too sweet for words. She wasn't all that angry because Aziel's words were true. But hearing Damien stick up for her made Aziel's words all worth it. She wanted to squeeze him at this very moment.

"Nice going Aziel, you became the ass," came Zeven's voice as he whistled low.

"Ugh. You're enjoying my misery too much."

Rhea didn't even realize Zeven was standing by the door until he spoke. Nevertheless, Damien grabbed Rhea's hand and led her out of the room past the twins.

"...Bye Aziel. Bye Zeven. Thank you for having us over."