FROM THE FRYING PAN INTO FIRE

I cried on my mother embrace. My loud cry seemed to have alarmed my father and our family butler who were in the study room next to us.

The door of my room that had closed from the installed mechanism is pushed open in a hurry, exposing my father with his face showing worry and the butler with panic face behind my father.

Weird. I can see my father and the butler near the door. I lower my sight and I can see my body embrace by my mother. 'Am I dead? But, I can still feel the warm of my mother. What happened?'

While I am still confused, mother, who is smiling toward my sleeping body, turn her head toward the two men near the door with her index finger on the center of her lips signing them to calm down in order to not wake me up. The men only can give their head nod as an answer.

My father walks toward us, leaving the butler who was behind him take a few steps toward the door and stop right on the door to hold the door from closing. My father who now is next to us kneel one of his leg to lower his height around the sleeping raise his hand reaching toward the sleeping me. His big palm on my head is cold yet it feels warm, warmness that different from mother's. He starts stroking my hair and patting me for a few times while whispering in low voice that nearly inaudible to my mother, who is still hugging me who is also hugging her with face toward my father, while still facing my small face, "Why did Vein cry that loud?"

Another foreign but nostalgic feeling is filling me up again. 'I think these nostalgia feeling I have been having is the feel I felt before I was eleven years old. Will I lose the memories again when I am eleven?' The thought interrupted as I feel my right cheek feels cold. This cold feeling can only mean a liquid wet my right cheek since the air condition is running, cooling the room's temperature. The liquid is none other of my tear that flow from the edge of my right eye which I am watching from an amazing view with this ghost form of mine.

The tear on my cheek freeze my father action while my mother only smile toward it then wipe the tear trail off my cheek with her left mother finger before answering my father in low voice "I don't know why myself. It should be nightmare, but what nightmare can scare a child like this? Furthermore, he was shedding tears after he saw me for a while which leading me to think that he was having a nightmare. Seeing our son crying a river, I walk toward him and give him a hug to calm him down which instead give the opposite result of him crying out loud while hugging me really tight, tighter than any hug he ever gave me, before he fell asleep."

My parents giving each other confused looks before diverting it toward the me who sleep while hugging my mother around her stomach. The watching me can only feel my cheeks heating up from the embarrassment while thinking 'First thing I did right after I somehow reincarnated to this young body of mine is making them worry instead of happy or proud. Oh… Boy'

I do my magical routine of taking a deep breath to calm my raging emotion that is now subsiding. The magical routine that I always do when I am trying calm my self down or concentrate on something. The storm finally subsided.

Never in my wildest imagination would I expect that my calm is a joke, an illusion.

The storm was not finished its rage, it was not done subsiding and letting the sun shine through the dark storm. IT was the famous calm before storm.

A cute voice of a girl asking the butler is the storm's first wave, "Sebastian, Sebastian, what just happened? Papa and you were like an earthquake just shook the world." "Ah, lady Viena. It was young master. He suddenly cried really loud that even master and I who were on the room next door shocked and alarmed. The master directly dropped all matters and discussion then ran to the master room after the cry could be heard no more. I followed the master in panic as his face only had worry written on it. Master open the door then all ended as you can see right now, young master Vein seems to have fallen asleep." the butler that seemed to be Sebastian explained to the young lady.

The young lady only give a remark of "Vain was crying out loud? Nightmare? Could it be…?"

The owner of the girl voice, of course, is none other than the young lady of my family, my sister. 'This is the first time I heard her name. So, her name is Viena Welts? The butler wouldn't call her in intimate way, right? But, with him discussing in the study room along with my father then that mean at least Sebastian is trusted by father. But, why do I also had no recollection of him in our family? He is trusted by father and yet he wasn't there from my memory from eleven to forty? He didn't show up even on my parents funeral when I was thirty. He didn't seem to have visited their graves as well. Did he die before I reach eleven years old to remember his existence or after that but just never show up because he died later on or he betrayed us?'

My imagination had gone wild for a second there. My sister has walked over when my imagination gone wild just now. Sebastian gave the family a private family time by closing the master room door. 'He can be standing right outside to overhear us. But seeing the conversation between my sister and the butler, the room seems to have good sound insulator. The proof is that my sister is not affected and even asked Sebastian about what had happened because she saw father and him panicked. It even possible that important rooms are well insulated to prevent eavesdropping.'

"Papa, mama, did Vain had a nightmare? Sebastian said he heard his cry from the study room. Why Vain cried that loud over a nightmare?"

"Oh Viena. You have always been this caring toward Vein since he is born. He even attached to you since he is baby." Mother pat her and stroke her flawless face and stop right below her face.

'Did my sister just blush? Isn't she supposed to be smiling then pat my sleeping head?' I can feel an imaginary cold sweats running pouring down. 'We are related by blood, right? Do I even allowed to ask that question to anyone? Definitely not my sister, scary outcome will be the only result if I did. I can only slowly confirm it myself. We are still children, she can't eat me, can she?'

The blushing little lady is lowering her hands covered face while saying "Yes, Vain really does love me."

'Doing that while still a child is cheating. She making me fallen. I am being purified.' My sister made my mind go blank like a restarting computer.

As my mind is now clear, I suddenly realize something. Something that somehow terrified me for a second, the real storm. Fifth clause of the contract, hidden guest. I try to remember the contract to ensure that and the contract appear in front of me the capital words on top, ABSOLUTE CONTRACT, make me dumbstruck before recalling that the contract is an attachment to this one and is special to me. I check the contract and, 'I didn't mistake it for quest, it is guest. She called me, Vain not Vein. I should be called Vein Welts now, how could she? I can only take it as her being the hidden guest mentioned on the clause. Vain and Vein are nearly homophone, but if one is focused enough then that one can notice the difference. She had been calling me Vein from the first time she showed up until now? Then, my own sister had to be the key and reason of why my memory before eleven unknown to me? Hidden guest….. She should be an ally, right? Having a family member as an enemy is too cruel. I should get closer to her. But, how? I have no recollection about her. The only thing I got is she loves me and she thinks I am the same since I had been feeling attached to her since baby.'

They had a little chit chat with me still sleeping while mother release my hug and father help her putting me back to a sleeping position under the blanket. 'I couldn't be staying like the whole time like the time when I had a fever, right? I hope I wont be'

As I notice my eyes start moving, I am feeling I am being sucked toward my body. As I start to feel the weight of my legs, a pair of small eyes that have been peeking through a small gap of a set of small palms met mine before my sight is now blank. This blank scene is like the black sight I always had when waking up on a dark room, but the current blank scene upon me is when a good amount of light that is bright enough to light up the surrounding of the sleeping me. Yes, it means I am now awake.

I do a rapid eyelids movement before opening them while grunting from trying to voice out. The first thing I see is a pair of black eyes. The very same eyes that met my eyes before I wake up. Knowing who is the owner of the eyes, I can only calmly blink my eyes a few times. The eyes are now covered by her eyelids before it somehow get bigger.

A soft feeling is felt on my lips for a full second and then gone leaving me shocked with eyes wide open. My sister unexpectedly had given me a kiss on my lips with her own lips before she is pulled away by father to the air.

I turn my head toward my sister who is now currently on air as my father is still holding her, only to find another surprise from my sister that I finally met. A silky white panties, a white underwear from silk under her light green one piece dress can be seen from my sleeping position since her dress only as long as her knees.

Viena, my sister, who somehow noticed me looking at her underwear starting to struggle on father's holding making him hastily trying to put my sister down. Viena who now is standing on her own feet again put both of her petite hands on the middle of her body as if holding her skirt part of dress with a blushing face facing the bed before glare toward me. She takes a little step and put her face on my ears and whisper "Naughty little Vain." before blowing a cold air inside my ears and run toward the door, open it and leave it automatically closing. The cold air of hers makes me twitch as I see her smile before she leaves, not a mischievous one but flirtatious one.

She beats me to it. I was many steps behind her. 'I AM THE CONQUERED ONE INSTEAD OF THE CONQUERING?' the three of us are looking at the her escaping figure, starting from her running toward the door in a quick manner, opening the door, vanishing from our sight once and her peeking toward us for the last time then escape again and then finally the scene of the door she left open closing itself.

A short live drama action we just witness left me dumbstruck, mother giggle and father laughing.

"HAHAHAHAHAA…. My little adorable daughter really has grown to a fine lady." Laugh my father with eyes covered on his right hand while facing upward toward the ceiling.

"Your sister really loves you so much, right? Vain, the beloved brother." Tease my mother who is facing toward me giggling before and after teasing his only son, me who are still lying on bed.

The now helpless dumbstruck me can only react by giving my back toward her, cover myself with the big heavy blanket and close my eyes while thinking 'A real life X2 experience. I was already dumbstruck X2 and now I am helpless X2.'

My mother pulls the blanket off which I let her to without any resistance in order to fool her that I already asleep. The blanket pulled down to my neck, then a soft whisper of my mother on my ears is heard, "My little prince get a kiss from his loving princess become a pouting prince." A chill run through my bones and my heart skipped a jump before watching from my ghostly third person view again.

My mother who finds out I am asleep can only give me a smile before give me a goodnight kiss on my forehead. She moves away from me standing with crossed arm, "He must be still tired and now exhausted after all that." which I response with nods, even though she can't see me. 'I am really exhausted mentally'.

My father who has been standing after lifting my sister to the air, hugged my mother from behind while giving a light kiss behind her ear. A whisper of his enter my ears "Our children had their share of fun, let's we have ours." this whisper made me thinking 'My sister and I had a fun.' I start recalling what we did just now before finding and connecting the similarity between the events just now and his whisper and, 'You can't be serious! He means that FUN?'

Nonetheless, I am already in no position on preventing them, as mother start undressing and enter the bath room who not long after followed by my father.