Anita trudged into the living room, tying her hair into a bun and yawning like she'd just woken up from a century-long nap.
She looked up, rubbed her eyes, and scanned the place.
No one.
But then, she heard the clinking of utensils in the kitchen.
She spun toward the sound, only to find Mdachi there — fully dressed and ready, as if he were heading somewhere.
"Hm. Someone's an early bird today," Anita teased as she walked toward the kitchen.
Mdachi smirked, placed the dishes into the dishwasher, closed it, then straightened up to face her.
"You and sarcasm…" he began, "are typical siblings."
Anita shrugged and leaned on the island.
"Where are you off to?" she interrogated, reaching for an apple from the fruit basket. She grabbed one and took a huge bite.
"Hm?" She stuck to her interrogation, brows raised teasingly. "Or is there a future-to-be Mrs. Viteso somewhere that you're going to visit?"
"Ha-ha, so funny," Mdachi countered sarcastically. "But no. I mean, I wish I was — but no. There are more pressing issues at hand than trying to find myself a future wife… much more pressing."
Anita swallowed her bite. She was about to speak when the realization hit her. She jolted upright.
"Where's Edward?" she asked, looking around.
"He's already gone," Mdachi replied. "Left some time earlier, after your mom."
Anita set the apple down. "Wait, why? I thought he was going with you to his house — to retrieve the camera?"
"He had something else to do."
"What could be more important than getting that damn camera back? Imagine someone, somehow, by some miraculous way, running into it and seeing the video. Don't you think we'll need Edward with us to at least try and explain?"
"We?" Mdachi echoed. "Explain?"
"Yes, Mdachi. We. I'm coming with you. And yes — explain. What do you think we'll do if that situation happens? We've already hidden the truth from his parents long enough. And now that we also know they aren't his biological parents, I think that's even more reason to tell them the truth."
"It will be catastrophic."
"Yeah, but better. Think about it, Dachi. Don't you think they might know something that can help us? Something about his real parents? Because, I can almost bet they do."
She picked the apple up and took one last huge bite.
"Don't you think you're jumping to conclusions, Anita?" Mdachi asked while Anita was throwing away the aaple core. "What if the leaves were faulty somehow? Do you really believe they aren't his parents?"
"I know I might be coming off cold, Mdachi." She swallowed the bolus. "But things are just the way they are, Dachi. The leaves weren't faulty. Trust me — Edward and I confirmed that before bringing them out. And I double-checked by myself."
Mdachi's confusion at the last part was plain.
Anita sighed. "The leaves work on me too… even if I don't use my powers."
Mdachi wanted to ask more on the subject, but he remembered Edward had cautioned him not to. He swallowed his questions.
"Trust me, Dachi," Anita continued, her voice softening, "I'm just as surprised. I mean, Jarold and auntma… they seem so undeniably like Edward's parents. But you know just as well as I do that it's possible for someone to resemble people they aren't related to. In this case, Edward and his parents."
"But what if somehow Edward is still related to one of them, huh? Like Elena in Vampire Diaries. And his dad's vague family history leaves an open slot for that—"
"Dachi…" Anita looked exasperated. "This isn't a movie, okay? It's reality. And Jarold's family history isn't vague; he's an orphan who was raised in an orphanage with his sister. Period."
"But—"
"Ba-ba-ba." She cut him short. "Enough already, okay? We don't have time for this. Like you said the day we had to tell Edward about Hallington: we don't have time to sugarcoat anything."
The recollection hit Mdachi like a punch to the gut. He looked down in shame.
Thinking about it now, he had been blunt with the news. Sure, he had been confused, overwhelmed, and didn't know how else to say it — but still, that was no way to tell someone that their friend had died… worse, had been murdered.
Though he didn't fully understand why he had behaved the way he did, the guilt weighed heavy on him.
"And I'm going to add this," Anita continued. "We also don't have time to dally and try to find a loophole in this. Jarold and Miridald aren't his real parents—"
"What if Edward didn't get powers from them, hmm? What if he's one of the few your mom said get powers out of nowhere, huh?"
"We don't have time for this, Dachi."
"I just find it impossible to accept, okay? It's too much — even for me," Mdachi said, heartbreak dripping from his voice. "Now imagine what Edward is going through, huh? He just discovered he has powers, his friend was murdered, his memories of the supernatural erased - by someone we don't know, and for reasons that aren't sure of-"
"But we do know who, and we have an inkling as to why?"
No we don't, Anita!" Mdachi shot back. "Because you have to have considered it too — Edward's memory erasure and Hallington's death could be two separate cases entirely, and we might have been walking on the wrong ice this entire time."
Anita stayed quiet. She saw the sense in what he was saying.
"So now tell me, Anita," Mdachi pressed, "how do you think Edward feels with all this weighing on him? Not to mention what he discovered most recently — that his parents aren't actually his. Didn't you see the despair in his eyes yesterday, Anita? Didn't you?"
"I did, Dachi!" Anita's voice scraped her throat with raw, heart-piercing pain. "I fucking did." She held back tears.
"But if Edward's powers fell under the category you're proposing, trust me, we would have known—"
"But how exactly?!" Mdachi retorted, neck veins visible. "How could you be so sure?!"
"Enough!" Anita snapped. "Things are just the way they are! Accept it! I'm sure Edward is trying to do the same."
Mdachi felt indignant, but he had no more arguments left.
"Do you know why I'm trying to be strong and state the facts no one else will, Dachi?" Her voice softened, frustration still clear. "Because I just realised I have to… because if I don't, I don't know who else will. It's just like you said — we don't know Beatrice's real motive in all this. And if we're looking at this the wrong way, then we're no better than the Titanic passengers before it sank. And trust me, buddy, we won't just crash into an iceberg and drown in ice-cold water — there will be sharks waiting to tear us apart the moment we touch surface."
Mdachi sighed.
"If you're so worried about us being sitting ducks, why don't you tell your mom to at least let the two of us carry on part of the investigation in our own way?" He gave in. "Three of us did more in one morning than her three investigators have done in days."
"That's exactly what I told her," Anita said, grabbing a stool and sitting. "But I know my mom — insisting won't help. She says it's not safe, and that we still have school and such things to think about."
"Seriously? She thinks sitting out assures our safety? And that school is important when a supernatural pandemonium is unravelling? You know, when I first learned all this, I didn't think too much about it. I was shocked, sure, but not as much as you might imagine. I don't know why, but I just accepted you and Edward as you are. Because to me, it doesn't change how I see you."
Anita felt guilty.
"You remained same in my eyes, though just a bit leveled up."
She smiled.
"I also didn't think so much about this," Mdachi carried on. "About this supernatural mystery. I thought that we'd only have to find a few answers and case solved. But… I'm starting to think that things are bigger than they seem—"
"But they are," Anita seconded.
"I mean much bigger," Mdachi clarified. "Much much bigger," his tone was a terrifying chill.
Anita felt a cold fear settle in her chest.
"And if they are…" Mdachi added, "Then we aren't safe. Not even close."
Anita tried to speak. "M-my… my mom has that covered,"she stammered. What Mdachi said really scared her.
"What do you mean she has that covered?"
"She has her ways."
Mdachi raised a brow.
"Ones she wouldn't disclose even to me," Anita clarified, her voice sounding a bit disappointed.
"Why would she-"
"Good morning, people," Tola greeted as she stepped into the kitchen.
Attention snapped to her.
Mdachi immediately halted what he was about to ask.
"Oh hi, Tola," he greeted back, walking toward her. He scooped his arms and lifted her up. "How was your night?"
"It was okay," Tola replied. "My head doesn't hurt anymore." She placed a hand on the back of her head — the exact spot where she had hit the ground the previous night.
"That's good to hear, toto," Mdachi said warmly. "But you should really watch where you step."
"Brother… I already told you I was sleepy and I just wanted to pee and go back to sleep. How was I supposed to know there was a gari there?"
Anita found herself smiling at the interaction.
Tola had always had a strong personality, just like her sister, but hers carried a cheeky fierceness. In some ways she was similar to Jesse — but not too similar, which made it hard for Anita to understand how those two managed to clash from time to time.
"Okay, fine, I heard you. But are you sure your head doesn't hurt anymore?"
"Yeah. It's like magic. I don't even have a bump."
Mdachi and Anita froze.
Their eyes locked in a terrified, silent exchange.
"Put me down, brother," Tola demanded suddenly.
Mdachi blinked out of his daze. "Of course." He gently lowered her to the floor.
"I'm hungry," Tola complained, tapping her stomach. "Can I please get breakfast?"
"Coming right up, toto."
But just as he was about to turn, Mdachi spotted Tini standing at the kitchen entrance.
"Ahhh," he gasped in a cute, playful manner. "Kamama?" He walked to her. "Habari ya asubuhi?" He picked her up.
"Dachiii," Tini protested, pushing at him. "I already told you—"
"A we wacha," Mdachi cut her off with a grin. "You like pretending to be a biiiiig girl when you're really just a smaaaall girl." He flicked her nose.
She chuckled.
"Okay," Tini surrendered. "I'm a small girl. But can you put me down already? Please?"
"Fine," Mdachi said dramatically, setting her on her feet. "As you wish, milady."
"Mdachiii," Tola called again. "Hungry." She rubbed her belly.
"Right," Mdachi said, hopping into action. "Copy that."
He grabbed an apron and slipped it on.
He turned to the kids. "What would you guys like to eat?"
"Eggs!" Jesse shouted from the back.
"Bread," Tini added.
"And some cereal," Tola concluded.
But as soon as Tola finished speaking, the realization finally struck everyone.
They all turned sharply toward Jesse.
"Good morning, everyone," Jesse greeted happily. "I just woke up."
"Good morning, Jesse," they replied in unison.
But Jesse didn't join them. Instead, he strolled to the living room, turned on the 65-inch screen, and threw himself onto the sofa, remote in hand.
Mdachi pouted dramatically and shrugged.
He turned back to the twins.
"So eggs, bread, and cereal it is?"
"M-hm," Tola nodded.
"Coming right up, customers," Mdachi said, getting into chef mode.
He looked at Tini. "Just to clarify — do you want toasted bread, or—"
"Obviously," Tola answered in her place. "Just like how milk tea is obviously part of breakfast." She was such a boss.
Mdachi rolled his eyes at her.
"I'll take some milk-cocoa!" Jesse shouted from the living room.
"Hmm," Anita scoffed, amused. "So he can still hear us with all that cartoon ruckus?"
"More like eavesdrop," Mdachi whispered.
"I heard that!" Jesse called back.
"Yeah," Mdachi whispered even quieter. "Eavesdrop."
"Still heard that!"
Anita frowned.
Mdachi let it go and turned to Tini.
"Yeah, milk tea is fine," Tini said before he even asked.
"Okay." Mdachi took out the skillet from the cabinet.
He went to the fridge and opened it. "Anita?" he called suddenly.
"Hmm?" she responded.
"You should go bathe while I whip up these guys' breakfast." He took out five eggs. Tini didn't like much, so one would be enough for her.
"Okay," Anita agreed.
"Where are you guys going?" Tola asked before she could move. Anita paused.
"To Edward's house," Anita replied before Mdachi could. "We just need to do something real quick then come back."
"Okay," Tola accepted. She looked at Mdachi, resting her chin on the cold island counter. "I guess that's why you're already dressed up?"
"Yeah."
"But where's Edward?" Tini asked suddenly.
"He had to go somewhere," Mdachi answered.
"You guys are being extremely vague with your responses. No?" Tini pressed, eyes narrowing.
Mdachi made a casual, unfazed expression. "You think too much, kamama. You guys just go to the living room and watch TV with Jesse. I'll call you when breakfast is ready."
Tini shot him a suspicious look before walking away. Tola followed behind without protest.
Mdachi let out a breath once they were gone.
"Such snoopy kids, aren't they?" he whispered to Anita.
Anita waited until the kids were fully out of sight before nodding. "Yeah."
"I'm going to shower now," she said, turning. "Add me to breakfast."
"Oh— yeah," Mdachi said, slapping his forehead lightly. "I forgot you hadn't eaten yet."
---
A few kilometers away — at an apartment building, door number 6 on the first floor suddenly creaked open.
"You're early, Temara," Beatrice's joyful voice floated from the kitchen. Judging from the sounds and the warm aroma, she was already cooking something.
The door closed.
The lock clicked.
Beatrice walked into the living room, beaming.
She wore a long flowery house dress, warm flip-flops, and a hair bonnet.
She stopped in front of the foyer and looked.
No one.
She glanced around the living room.
Still no one.
"Ai. Kwani was I hearing my own things?" she murmured, moving toward the door.
But when she noticed the lock was engaged, her eyes widened sharply in alarm.
Before she could react, something pierced her back — quick and precise.
She tried to scream, but felt a hand clamped over her mouth.
Instantly, drowsiness washed over her. Strength drained from her limbs.
She collapsed to the floor and blacked out.
Edward appeared into view.
He pulled the syringe from her back and crouched beside her, studying her unconscious face.
"Let's see what you'll do now," he muttered, pure contempt twisting his voice, his eyes burning with terrifying rage.