Sold?

"Things were weird between us." I told Arius as the cruise came to the shore, "Aunt would get mad and kick me out of the house and-"

"Let me guess." Arius looked at me, "You would go to Matthew." He interrupted me.

"Yes." I smirked, "I'm glad I at least had him and his mom." There's no doubt there. He and his mom were my true support. When I was kicked out or had trouble, I'd just crash over their place. They always kept the doors open for me.

"Say." He asked as we made our way out of the cruise, "Are you very attached to Matthew's mother?"

"Yea. Why?"

He scratched his neck, " No reason. Just asking."

"I see…" It was a bit weird because he would have normally asked about Matthew but he chose to ask about aunt. Strange, "Oh well. Time passed." We both walked hand in hand towards out hotel, "Oh! There was this one time I got lost when I was like 4?"

"Got lost?"

"Yeah. Really there are just some things burned in my memory. Like that incident when aunt and uncle took me, Lia and Claire to another city with them. They had some business there."

"The night's gone." Arius looked at the sky.

"Yeah.." I saw the sky get lighter. The Cruise ride lasted almost all night.

"Okay, continue." He got back on track.

I chuckled, "I think I got lost when we were in a crowded park and from there I ended up following some kids to the slums. It was a lot later I realized that those kids were quite dirty" I smiled to myself, "Still. The people who have the least tend to give out more huh? I was starving and had already cried once because I knew no one and had no idea where I was or where I was supposed to go."

"Kids are so stupid."

"Hey!" I elbowed him but he dodged it and chuckled, "Well, at that time there was this girl." She had short blonde hair till her ears I think. I scratched the back of my ears but remembering small details was a bit hard, "There was a dark haired boy with her, he barely talked but they both stuck together. She gave me a banana when I was starving. She probably came to me because I was crying and looked hella pitiful." I chuckled, "And I'm pretty sure she stole it from someone or somewhere too."

I remember how pretty she was, like a doll.

Arius agreed with me, "People who have gone through suffering are the only ones who truly understand the value of life."

We reached the hotel and Arius decided to sleep for a few hours before we headed to the airport.

There was nothing much to pack since all the things I took out of the bag I placed them back immediately after use instead of having it lay around in the room. Same for the clothes, when I wore a new one I put the previous one back in the bag.

***

Arius slept for two hours and then woke up. He decided he'd catch up on his sleep on the plane and I decided to do the same.

As I stared out of the window from the plane I smiled to myself.

This trip was nothing like I expected. I glanced at Arius sleeping on the bed and then looked out again.

But I'm still glad it turned out this way.

I feel a lot lighter now.

We reached the city around 4 pm and took a taxi to a cafe and then got some sandwiches. From there we both decided to walk back to the mansion.

The sun was soon about to sink, it had colored the sky orange and pink as we walked by the school where Arius loves staring at girls.

I noticed that the students were still leaving, maybe because they had clubs or extracurricular activities.

I glanced back when I noticed Arius had slowed down, his eyes on the students leaving the place.

He was searching for someone. Someone he always looks for from the bench across the street.

I looked back at the girls leaving the building and someone caught my eye.

That specific someone had been catching my eye for quite some time. Not because I find something special in her but because Arius always had his eyes on her.

"Who is she?" I asked as I turned my face to Arius.

He looked at me and feigned ignorance, "Who?"

"The girl you always search for when you come here."

He smirked, "What are you saying. I never look at just one-"

"Don't try lying to me." I cut his words, "I've been watching you for quite some time. In the beginning I thought you were just a pervert but then I noticed it."

"..." He didn't answer, he refused to say anything at all so I continued.

"I noticed how your eyes were always restless, till the time you spotted her." I pointed at the girl who was now about to vanish from sight since she had walked quite far, "That girl with blonde hair."

He sighed, walked to the bench and sat down. The same bench across the road where you get a pretty nice view of the school, "I've been caught." He seemed a bit disappointed.

I followed him and sat down next to him. The sun had pretty much set, dark purple hue remained in the sky which was eaten by the darkness just a few minutes later.

"Honestly, at first thought you might have had an interest in her but now that things have changed, I'm really curious."

"It's a secret." He looked across the street, at the almost empty school building, "It's a secret no one knows except me."

"No one?" He nodded.

"No one."

"Not even Huang-fei?" I just had to ask this, I mean Huang-fei knows everything about him.

He chuckled sadly and shook his head, "Not even Huang-fei."

His answer made me all the more curious. Just what was her relation with him?

"What if I use my deal question?" I asked and he looked a bit surprised. Maybe he really wanted to keep it a secret. This was something he wanted to desperately keep hidden from the rest of the world.

"Then…" He started after thinking about it for a while, "I guess I'll answer."

I was feeling a bit guilty about it yet I wanted to know.

So I thought about it.

"I'll say it like this." I gulped, "I want to know everything about you too. All the highlights, like I told you mine. A secret no one knows now except you." I hinted about how I told him about Claire's death, "But only if you want to. If you decide to tell me then it'll count as the deal question but if you decide not to. I won't force you to answer me." Because I can understand that telling a secret about a person who's alive and about a person who's dead can be very different.

"That's a creative way of putting it." I smirked and he grinned back, "I'm not proud of the things I've gone through in the past." He started, "But I don't regret them either. It may have hurt me. But it helped me save someone very important."

I stayed quiet and listened to him attentively. I had all my body facing him as I sat on the bench.

"It's a long story but I guess we can skim it." He turned his body to face me and lifted one of his legs to rest them on the bench while the other one stayed on the ground, "I'll tell you." He said, "You'll be first and last person to ever know about this." I nodded at him, affirming that I won't ever tell this to anyone.

He took a deep breath, "That girl is mute."

Oh…

"She is the reason I know how to communicate with signs even though I've never met her." A rather sorrowful expression began to show on his face, "More like I can't meet her. For her own good, I can only watch her from afar."

I stared into his eyes under the illumination of the street lights. The city was now filled with artificial lighting but that was more than enough to brighten everything.

"She's my little sister. Canaria."

I couldn't believe it.

His little sister? But how?

He's the last living blood of the Alucard family.