2nd Pathway

I can barely remember how it happened but I really upset RJ. He hasn't kicked me out but he barely speaks and when I enter the room he leaves... it hurts. It's impossible to apologize because I don't know what I did and he won't talk to me. When Zai left it got even worse. He and his brother seem close so whenever things were tense Zai would break the ice but he left after a week, RJ said he never stays around long, because he travels a lot. That's the last conversation we had and it's been over a month. I tried going back home, but things were worse there. All my friends have moved on without me, and my family is a broken mess... plus Qon is being released from prison soon and I don't want to be there when that happens.

I was eating breakfast alone, after finishing my morning cleaning when RJ surprised me by sitting next to me.

"We're having guests again." He announced. I was so shocked he spoke to me that I didn't reply right away. He only waited a few seconds before groaning and going back to his room. Guests... plural? I wish he had given me more information. The doorbell rang, seconds passed and it rang again so I decided to answer. It's probably RJ's guests. At the door were 2 new guys. One with Teal hair and cerulean eyes, his skin was much fairer than RJ's, it was hard to believe this was his brother as well... at least Zai had an otherworldly air around him that resembled RJ's. The other man was shorter, his brownish red hair was buzz cut and he had golden eyes, tawny-brown skin with a young delicate-looking face.

"Who are you?" The teal one asked, wrinkling his nose, the other looked me up and down and then said,

"Hello there... what's your name?" before I could answer RJ was behind me and said,

"This is Snowe... don't get too close to her, she's an Infaniyan." The teal-haired person looked even more turned off by this new information.

"An Infaniyan?" The boy with Rusty Red hair walked closer to me and studied my face. "It's been years since I've seen one up close."

"It's nice to meet you." Once I spoke he took a step back and blushed. "What are your names?" I asked politely but the one with Teal hair brushed past me and said,

"Where's Zai?" Then he walked off while having a conversation with RJ.

"I'm Valin." The Red boy revealed as he walked inside and then he asked "Why are you staying in our house? You do know what we are right?" He flopped down on the living room couch after that.

"Of course... I'm looking for work but it's going to take a while to save up and move out... I've only had my Earth Identity ID for a week now." I answered.

"I see... are you sleeping with Raijian?" His bluntness shocked me.

"No...?" He then turned on the TV and added,

"What about Zai?"

"They both... just tolerate me... they're just being kind by letting me stay here." He scoffed and said,

"My brothers aren't kind. You just don't know what they want yet. Come sit... let's watch something!" I closed the front door and sat on the couch next to him. He turned to a baking competition. I feel like I've been alone for so long... just getting hit with bad news over and over, so this is nice. "That idiot! The gelatin is never going to set in time, now!... What's wrong with you?! Everyone is making chocolate cake, bake something else!" Valin yelled at the TV, and then he started muttering to himself. "You didn't oil your pan?! Are you an amateur?!" He's really into this... I giggled a bit that's when he turned to me and said,

"What's so funny?" There was clear animosity in his voice but I couldn't stop laughing at this point,

"I just think it's cute how enthusiastic you are... Do you like baking?" His anger deflated at my question and he smiled back at me and then said,

"Not really... but I like math..." I didn't understand the relation at first but then he went on a rant about how cooking and baking involve math, watching the contestants organize their tasks on such a tight time schedule is math. Then he went on about how the universe is composed of numbers and began speaking so fast that I was having trouble keeping up. "What do you think?" He asked, after completing his speech,

"Uh... I think that's really interesting." His eyes lit up and his smile reached his eyes. My heart fluttered... why did it flutter? Maybe it's because he looks sweet like a puppy... a math-loving puppy.

"Do you like math too?" He asked me directly so I decided to come clean and say,

"I... have never been very good with numbers." I know that's going to disappoint him... he might even stop talking to me. I never thought I'd meet a math fanboy from Afaria...

"Oh?... That's fine, I can teach you." He then paused the TV pulled out his phone and showed me a Sudoku app. "This is just a puzzle, you don't need to be good at math to solve it and it gets really relaxing once you get the hang of it." He noted, then he moved closer to me and our shoulders pressed together. "Each row must contain the numbers 1-9 only once. Same with each column and each 3x3 square." He pointed as he spoke and patiently helped me complete a few puzzles. I had expected to be bored but I actually felt accomplished each time we finished one and when I finally did one without any help I cheered gleefully,

"I did it!" He laughed.

"It's not that hard... you can download it on your phone. If you want to play by yourself, I can go over other stuff with you too. Maybe we can solve some word problems..." I frowned and said,

"I... don't have a phone..." He tapped his chin

"Oh?... I'll get you one, but there's a condition." Valin offered.

"What condition?" I asked, being sure to keep my guard up.

"We have to be friends." Once again my heart started acting weird. I must be more lonely than I realized.

"Deal!"

Valin took me to the garage, there were four cars Valin had the key for the red sportscar. He drove us to the mall, so I could purchase a cell phone.

"What kind should I get?" I inquired while browsing the selection.

"Get whatever you want." He responded apathetically, and then one of the workers walked our way and asked,

"Do you need any assistance?"

"I don't need anything!" Valin replied to the man in a dismissive, condescending voice.

"How about this one?" I asked, pointing to the least expensive phone, it looked nice enough but Valin frowned and yelled,

"That phone barely has enough memory to run a weather application and it looks like it'd break if I dropped it once. Plus the camera quality is low, the screen is small, and the picture clarity is terrible. And based on the information written here it can't even be relied on to make calls... it's a failure of a phone... And, more importantly, you don't like it." He noticed. "Don't pick out garbage. Pick something you like." He said that but I chose one phone, based solely on looks and he explained how frail the design was and that the features were lacking, the price was inflated because of looks, and it wasn't worth purchasing. The next one I chose he refused because it was last year's model and the newest one fixed a lot of bugs the old one had. After that, we agreed to get the newest model of that phone with a light pink shell. He had the phone engraved with my name in gold, then brought a clear protective casing. This whole trip took 5 hours, I expected it to only be 1 at the most. "The mall is closing soon, let's go." He stated after handing me my new phone... it's so cute... He really got this for me just so I can play Sudoku?

"Have a nice day!" The cashier called as we headed out the door,

"F**k you!" Valin yelled back, flicking him off in the same instance. I dragged him out of the store.

"Why are you picking a fight?!" I asked, kneeling over panting after our struggle.

"It's just that... Talking to strangers is hard." He replied bashfully... he cusses at people when he's shy?

"I'm a stranger and you never yelled at me." I reasoned. Then his blushing worsened.

"I can't yell at someone as pretty as you." It's true his compliment caught me off guard but should I be flattered?

"You can't cuss out people who are just doing their job!" I chastened. He pouted and folded his arms.

"Fine!" Spending time with Valin makes me so tired. "I hate crowded places, let's hurry up and go."

"You were the one who said we should go to the mall!" I argued,

"Yeah, because it's better if you pick out your phone, and ordering it online would take too long..." Okay... that's kind of sweet. "Give me your phone." He commanded, after I did he put his number in and handed it back to me. "Friends talk to each other every day," Then he walked ahead of me, heading back to the car, and I trailed not far behind.

Four days passed. It was often just me and Valin left home. Since RJ and Cera, the Teal bro, have a life. He sent me a math-related joke each morning on the phone he gave me. Valin also taught me how to play mine sweeper and different card games, I was surprised how little luck was involved when someone like Valin was the opponent. No matter what hand I got, he always found a way to win. On the fifth day when I woke up, he was sitting criss-cross on the couch hunched over his laptop.

"What are you doing?" I asked. He had his headset on so he must not have heard me, and his fingers were typing so quickly, that watching him seemed unreal. A second later he yelled,

"Finished!" Then he cracked his knuckles and looked up at me, "I will send over the data after confirming that the money has been wired to my account... yes...bye." He then took off his headset and closed his computer. "Hey!"

"Hi..." I replied, taking a seat next to him. "What are you doing?"

"... Helping a company find the breach in their cyber security, it turns out that... Actually, no, I rather not talk about it." He put his laptop aside and said, "I ordered food, it's in the kitchen." He'd gotten meals for both of us, I guess we'd spent enough time together that he already knew what I liked. After he finished his meal he turned to me and said, "Snowe, we should start having sex." I almost choked.

"Wh-what? Valin, are you feeling okay?" He checked his forehead and said,

"My temperature is normal."

"Then what are you saying?" I asked while drinking some water,

"I want to have sex with you... been thinking about it a lot." I almost spit out my water and choked again. I had mistaken his baby face and love of math for innocence, it seems. That was my mistake.

"No!" He puffed out his cheek and gave me puppy eyes,

"Why not?"

"Because you don't even like me that way! Tell me do you even want to kiss me?" That look is not going to work on me this time!

"...Kiss you? No." He answered fairly quickly, I already knew it but hearing him say that out loud still hurt.

"How about holding hands... or cuddling me?" He laughed at my question,

"Why would I want to do that?" I sighed and looked down at my hands folded together in my lap.

"Before I came here... I was in the middle of getting raped... That was my first sexual experience. I want my next one to be with someone who at least likes me... and someone I want to touch me..."

"Oh." He replied, I waited several seconds for him to say more but when no more words came I stood up, with tears in my eyes,

"Oh?! How can you be so heartless?! I just told you I got raped! I opened up to you on something traumatic for me and all you can say is oh?!" His eyes got big and he stared up at me in shock.

"I... I'm sorry." I shook my head and began walking away in a huff. I should've known not to open up to an Afarian. Why did I expect anything from him?! I'm so stupid.

"You don't even care about me! I don't want to hear it!" I went to my room and slammed the door, laying down on my bed and crying into my pillow. It was 5 minutes later when someone entered my room and sat beside me on the bed.

"I... do care about you, Snowe... I'm sorry... I shouldn't have brushed off what you said... I can be stupid when it comes to understanding people but I want to understand you..." Valin's voice was full of remorse, but it was too late for that. I sat up, ready to tell him to go away but then I saw his eyes were filled up with blood, his skin had turned grey and his body was shaking.

"You're... you are sick! Oh my god!" He wiped his eyes but only smeared the blood across his face.

"I'll do better, I promise." Then he passed out on my bed and I screamed. The house was empty as always so I had no choice but to use Valin's phone to call RJ, after I explained the situation he rushed home. There was a girl I didn't recognize with him but he commanded her to wait on the porch. After forcing Valin to drink water and giving him an herb I didn't recognize, RJ pulled me aside and explained some things to me. Apparently, when they were young they each gave up a right in exchange for power, RJ gave up lying and Valin gave up empathy, and he was sick now because he had fought against that, in order to understand my pain... I was wrong, about his feelings... and now he's in pain because of me...