Lucas settled comfortably into a chair at the kitchen table, as he was accustomed to doing.
Nearby, Francis used a spoon to scoop a portion of black tea leaves from a packet and place them in a teapot. He then added an appropriate amount of water to the container, enough for two people, and placed the teapot on the stove to begin brewing.
"Our tea is brewing," he announced.
"Ours?" Lucas raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to drink it too?"
"Of course," Francis replied calmly. "The drink tastes much better when you're in good company."
Lucas smiled in response, but then asked, "And does that even apply to a simple black tea?"
"Whether tea is simple or not is a matter of opinion, but what matters is the company, not the drink."
For a moment, Lucas even felt like arguing about it, but he quickly realized that he would lose this discussion, as it was a fact that, with the right company, even something that could be considered worthless to some, and even unpleasant to others, would become something interesting.
"Yeah, I think you're right." Lucas admitted with a slight smile.
The faint sound of steam escaping from the kettle could be heard, while the room began to fill with a rich, full-bodied aroma with notes of wood and cocoa, typical of black tea herbs.
Then, a very specific noise reached Lucas and Francis' ears. Lucas knew that sound well; it was the sound of a notification from his cell phone, and more specifically, a message notification.
"Hm?" Francis tilted his head. "Is it Rose?"
"I'll check," Lucas replied, grabbing his phone from the table and turning it on, opening the notifications.
He studied the message for a few moments before saying, "It is Rose, but... she sent me a good morning message."
Francis was a little surprised. "A good morning message? You mean she just woke up? Is that normal?"
"I don't know if she just woke up, but that's not normal."
"Why do you think that?"
"Well, she and I have an agreement to always take turns saying good morning, so one day I send it when I wake up, and the next day she sends it when she wakes up, so... you know, things couples do." He explained with a certain enthusiasm, as if he were proud of it.
"Man, it's impressive how you can say that so easily, but anyway, it looks like someone stayed up late today and... that is a little strange, isn't today Monday?"
"No... I mean, today is Monday, but even if it were the weekend, it would still be strange. She's very organized, always sleeping and waking up at the right times, even on holidays."
"Yeah, that sounds like the Rose I know," Francis admitted with a slight smile. "So you think something happened?"
"Well, if we assume she just woke up because she stayed up late, then I think something did happen."
"Well, she has exams this week, so maybe she stayed up late... studying...?" Suddenly, an idea crossed Francis's mind that left him with doubts. "Although... she always follows a study routine, so that wouldn't make sense."
"See? Even you think it's strange."
"Hey, hey, calm down." Francis waved his hands. "Don't you think you're overthinking this?"
"Do you think I'm being paranoid?" Lucas asked genuinely.
"If you're thinking what I think you're thinking, then yes."
"And what do you think I'm thinking?" Lucas raised an eyebrow.
"That she might be cheating on you."
"Hey, I don't think she's cheating on me." Lucas looked offended, then worried. "Wait... do you think she might be cheating on me?"
"No, you idiot." Francis slapped his forehead. "I meant that... look, I'm her brother, she confides in me things you can't even imagine, so I can guarantee you she would never do that. Besides, if something serious had happened, don't you think she would tell you or something?"
Lucas, surprised, stared at Francis for a few moments before sighing, "Yeah, you're right. Maybe I'm overthinking it."
"Yes, but of course, I'd be a hypocrite if I said she didn't stay up late for a reason, if that's the case."
"So, as her brother, what do you suggest?"
"What do I suggest?" Francis raised an eyebrow, laughing slightly. "I suggest you stop wasting time with this conversation and just... ask her if everything is okay."
Lucas let out an amused laugh in response. "Okay, okay, you win."
As Lucas appeared to type a reply to Rose, the kettle whistled on the stove, signaling that the tea was ready.
Francis then turned off the heat and poured the tea into two separate cups, returning to the table and serving Lucas his cup.
"It's hot," Francis warned politely.
"Thanks," Lucas muttered in response, but his somewhat confused expression suggested that his mind was elsewhere.
"So..." Francis began, feeling curious. "Did she answer?"
The question snapped Lucas out of his slight stupor.
"Well, I returned her good morning, and then asked if everything was okay," he replied.
"And what did she say?" Francis asked, as he calmly blew on his tea.
"She said she was fine, but that something had happened yesterday that she couldn't explain right now, but that she would explain it to me later."
Francis, who was sipping his tea, placed his cup on the table. "Okay... so I guess your paranoia wasn't so unfounded after all."
"Are we talking about cheating again?" Lucas raised an eyebrow.
"No, no, forget that," Francis replied firmly, while Lucas took a sip of tea.
"Ouch, it's hot!" Lucas complained, fanning his tongue.
"I warned you the tea was hot," Francis said. "But anyway, what else did you say to her?"
"Well..." Lucas sighed. "I said it was okay if she didn't tell me now, but if I needed to worry about it."
"And what did she say?"
"Nothing yet." Lucas shook his head. "I'm waiting for her to respond."
"Okay, then we'll wait together," Francis said, bringing the cup to his mouth once more.
Lucas also blew on his tea and sipped it while a slight tension shared between him and Francis permeated the air. Both were intrigued by what his girlfriend and sister—respectively—might have gotten herself into.
Then, snapping them both out of their stupor, the sound of a message notification reached their ears.
Without wasting any time, Lucas grabbed his cell phone. Francis watched with curiosity.
After reading the message, Lucas gave Francis an indecipherable look.
"What did she say?" Francis asked, intrigued.
"She said, for now, no."
"For now... no?"
Lucas nodded.
"Damn, huh?" Francis muttered.
"Don't even mention it." Lucas sighed. "If she wanted to reassure me, she's not doing a good job."
Francis was silent for a few moments, pondering something, then he began, "Okay, let's take it step by step."
Lucas stared at Francis curiously.
"You woke up at six in the morning today as usual, right?" Francis asked.
"Right," Lucas nodded, and as if he were already following his best friend's reasoning, he continued: "And Rose always wakes up at the same time. It was my influence on her, after all," he said proudly.
"I'm pretty sure it was her influence on you." Francis smiled slightly. "But that doesn't matter. The important thing is that today was her day to send you a good morning message, but when you woke up, and a little later, she didn't send you anything, right?"
"That's right."
"And you didn't find the silence strange?"
"Of course I did," Lucas replied. "But I wasn't going to bother her over a good morning."
"Yeah, that makes sense," Francis admitted. "So you went about your routine as usual, came to meet me here at my apartment, and she only sent you a good morning message just now, correct?"
"Exactly, and since it was specifically a good morning, we assumed she had just woken up at that moment." Lucas added.
"That's what was implied, yes." Francis agreed. "And for her to have just woken up now, she probably stayed up late, but that's just a theory."
"I agree, but then she said that something really happened yesterday, but that she couldn't explain it to me yet."
"So we can assume that it's a complicated matter, at least a little."
"It seems so." Lucas nodded. "And in the end, she said that, for now, I didn't need to worry about it."
Francis was thoughtful for a few moments as he took more sips of his tea. Lucas did the same.
"Okay, I think... if she said you don't need to worry about it now, then it must not be something urgent, nor something that will become urgent," said Francis. "What do you think?"
Lucas sighed and replied, "The same as you, and also, even if we want to know what's going on and are worried about it, we'll have to wait for her to explain it to us."
"And what do we do?" Francis asked.
"We?" Lucas got up from his chair and downed the rest of the tea in his cup, then smiled at Francis. "We're going to the gym."
Francis snorted amusedly and replied, "That's a great idea."
After all, that was why Lucas had come to Francis's house so early in the morning, and that was exactly why Lucas did this every morning.
"Come on, I'll give you five minutes to get dressed," said Lucas.
It was then that Francis realized that, in fact, he hadn't put on appropriate clothes for the gym.
Yeah, I guess I got too distracted by that news about Raven earlier.
"Five minutes?" Francis looked comically indignant. "Fuck you, bro."