“I’m going to rehearse with the my friends this afternoon, you wanna come?” Luhan asked.

Sehun lifted his eyes from the breakfast pancakes and gazed at him, trying to figure out if he was inviting out of obligation or really wanting him to come. He saw only what he had already guessed. Luhan was looking back at him, raising his brows high over his doe eyes, clearly hoping for a “yes”.

“You should go, you need to go out more,” their mother said, before he had the time to answer himself. “You spent the whole week at home”

“I don’t need to go out, I have my books,” Sehun said, a bit annoyed. He still wasn’t comfortable with Lan's behavior towards him, though he was not comfortable telling her so, either. She was pretty nice, and he was sure she loved him the way only a mother can. But she seemed to be trying all the time to force the sadness out of him when he felt perfectly ok with his quiet moments reading. In the first few days after his father died he couldn’t even concentrate enough to read, which was pretty uncommon in him, so him staying at home reading just meant he was getting better.

“Aw, come on, it will be fun,” Luhan insisted, mistaking his brother's words for a refusal.

“I’ll go, I’d like to hear you guys play.”

“That’s great, dear,” Lan said, delighted.

“If you think your friends won’t mind me there…” Sehun added.

“Oh, they won’t,” Luhan said, with a dismissive gesture, just before getting up to put his plate in the dishwasher. “I have to tell Krystal to get some extra snacks for us, though.”

As he watched his brother lean near the sink holding his cellphone to his hear, Sehun thought how oddly close he felt to this boy, closer than he felt to his mother or her husband, being the three of them the only people he really knew in this new town so far. Maybe it was because their ages were closer, he thought, or maybe it’s something that happens after you shamelessly soak some one's shirt with snot.

“…’cause my brother is coming,” Luhan said to his friend Krystal through the phone.

“Aw, we’re finally going to meet him!” Her excitement dropped into a conspiratorial tone. “Is he cute? And don’t you dare I-can’t-say-‘cause-I’m-a-man!”

Luhan rolled his eyes and peeked at Sehun, who as looking him back with an amused face. His deep brown eyes shined brightly now, contrasting with his alabaster skin, and his smile even showed a breathtaking glow.

“Hmm… yeah, he's really- I mean kinda is,” Luhan answered, blushing a slight pink.

Krystal rejoiced and Luhan decided to hang up before she got too excited and asked any more embarrassing questions.

Sehun wondered what could be making Luhan so self-conscious. A little more than a week had passed since they met each other, yet he could already tell embarrassment was not common for his brother.

“We’re leaving at three, is that ok?” Luhan asked.

Sehun nodded. “It’s not like I have a full schedule, or anything,” he pointed out. “The attic is already clean and all.”

“You might prefer to spend a little more time with your books,” Luhan said, with a mocking tone. Not being much of a reader himself, he couldn’t really understand his brother’s little obsession.

“Well, you should try it sometime,” Sehun said, disregarding his brother’s tone. “I’m reading an awesome Agatha Christie’s thriller right now, called 'And Then They Were None'. It’s about ten people who don’t know each other and are invited to a house in an island by some mysterious person, who they can’t find anywhere when they arrive, and then they start dying one by one…”

“Sehun, do you think you should be doing that kind of reading right know?” Lan admonished.

“Lan, just leave him alone for a while, would you? He’s a grown man,” Zhoumi intervened, sounding a little harsh. His wife stared at him, confused and hurt.

“I’m going to walk the dog, wanna come with?” the man asked her, in a softer tone.

She just nodded, and walked along with him outside of the kitchen. It was clear that 'a conversation' was about to come up between them. Sehun felt a little guilty about being the subject of all the fuss. Maybe it was time for him to move, get his own house and job… though he didn’t felt much like being alone, he thought, glancing at his older brother.

                                                                                         ~~~

“Don't be mad at her, she just worries too much,” Luhan apologized, feeling a little embarrassed by his mother's behaviour.

“I know…”

“She might have a point there, though. Doesn't it bother you, reading about people dying and suffer? After…you know.” Luhan asked.

“Doesn't bother me at all. I mean, at least in the thrillers there's a reason for people to die. They stepped into someone else's way, they had hurt someone, or they love someone they shouldn't….Not strong enough reasons for someone to die, I know, but at least there are some. Not just… being in the wrong restaurant on the wrong way,” Sehun said, feeling gloomy now.

Luhan raised his brows. “Would you feel better if instead of food poisoned, dad had been assassinated by… I don't know, some mysterious inheritor looking forward for his fortune?”

“No, but…” Sehun gave him an odd look. “Funny you say that. There was actually a mysterious inheritor” 

“No kidding! Who?”

Sehun rolled his eyes. “What exactly do you think 'mysterious' means? I don't know who, I was only allowed to read the part of the testament referring to me and you. According to father's will only the other heir had access to the rest of it. All that I know is there actually someone else.”

“Don't you even have a hint? A girlfriend, a very close friend?” Luhan asked, fascinated.

“Didn't know any girlfriends of his, and I don't really know if he saw his gambling partners as friends,” Sehun answered. “When he won that prize… he was so happy when he finally paid all his debts… they bugged him a lot about that, not friendly at all.”

As Luhan sensed the gloomy mood growing further, he grabbed Sehun's shoulder and shook him a little. “Hey, I guess the whole thing just means he had someone who he really cared about, and who probably cared for him too, enough to make him favour him or her in his will. It's a good thing, right?”

“I suppose so,” Sehun said, Luhan's contact making him feel not sad at all. And then he jumped away from it, startled at the sight of a ghostly face peeking through the kitchen's window.

“What the…!”

Luhan turned around, but the face was gone by then. Sehun ran towards the window and opened it wide, searching around for the intruder, but found no one.

“What is it?” Luhan asked.

“There was someone here. Looking inside.”

The weird figure in a hoodie Luhan had seen the other day popped into his mind.

“What was he like?” he asked, joining is brother at the window. The only people he saw outside were his own mother, Zhoumi and Lan, coming back from their walk.

“Creepy. I guess it was a she, though. Really pale skin, dark circled around her eyes, a bit wrinkled, though not that old, more like she was sick or something.” 

“Hey, mom” Luhan waved at Lan, now entering the front yard. “Did you guys see someone out here?”

“No, were you excepting someone?”

Luhan shook his head. He drew back inside, raising his eyebrows at Sehun.

“There was definitely someone there, ok? I'm not crazy,” Sehun stated. somewhat amused by the look on his brother's face.

”I said nothing.”  Luhan grimaced and then admitted “I also saw a strange person last week who was standing across the street staring at the house. Could be the same woman”

“What does she want?”

”She's probably ed up in the head. Who would come and peek at houses like that in full daylight?” Luhan shrugged.

Sehun closed the window, still felling uneasy. If only he knew this was just the beginning...

~