I sighed loudly so that everyone could hear. I don’t know if I wasn’t loud enough or people were just ignoring me, cause everyone in the living room just smiled at me.

      So I crossed my arms and pouted my lips. “What do you want, Serpethion?”

      His grin finally faded and Chirpy, who was sitting right next to him, sighed.

      This was not the first time that he had come to see me. Chirpy came all the time, Serpethion joined him once in a while.

      But every time he came, we would always fight, and he would storm out saying that he was never coming back.

      “You know, you’re being a real bitch.”

      I rolled my eyes and walked towards my aunty’s kitchen. “Don’t start with me, Serpethion.”

      Serpethion surprised me by getting up and following me, but I pretended I didn’t care. I took out an orange and started to peel it.

      “Come back, Aathiray.” He said.

      “Why do I need to come back?” I asked. “This is my home.”

      He rolled his eyes. “Can’t you-”

      “Stop it, Serpethion. I don’t want to talk about it.” I said, continuing to peel my orange.

      “Well we need to talk-”

      “Oh, hello Aathiray!” My aunty Seretha said as she walked into the kitchen. “You just got here?”

      I smiled at her, a little relieved that she came. “Yup.” I said. “Just gonna check on the girls before I leave.”

      She nodded. “And your timing is perfect. Tharaniray is here too!”

      “Perfect!”

      Suddenly, I felt Serpethion step a little too close to me. I then heard sniffing noises.

      “What are you doing?” I asked as I stepped away.

      He looked at me for a moment. “Were you with a Raakshyan just now?”

      I narrowed my eyes. “No I was-”

      “I smell a Raakshyan.”

      “I was not…” My voice trailed off as Jason’s face popped into my head. I placed my hand on my forehead and sighed. “You have got to be kidding me.” Though the more I thought about it, the more it didn’t surprise me.

      Serpethion seemed a little confused with what I had said, but I shook it off. I stepped past him and ate my piece of my orange.

      “You can’t act like this forever.” He said, following me.

      “I said I don’t want to talk about this.” I noticed Chirpy sitting quietly on a couch, obviously not wanting to upset me.

      “But we have to-”

      I turned around and looked at him. “Serpethion! Every time we talk about this we always start fighting. I do not want to fight again. So stop.”

      I saw my cousins run into the living room right there. “Hey Aathy!” All but Veenaray said together. She just smiled.

      I smiled at them. “Hey guys!” I was going to take them upstairs, so that I could get as far away from Serpethion as possible, but he grabbed my arm.

      “Aathiray! Listen to me, god damn it.”

      I pulled my arm away. “Okay fine!” I said, loosing my patience. “Talk.”

      “I’ve been thinking, and I realized that you probably think that this is easy for Keroshan.”

      I saw my aunty walk into the living room from the kitchen. She had a concerned look on her face.

      “But it isn’t.” He said. “He’s just as upset as you are.”

      “I don’t see why he has a reason to be upset.” I said bluntly. “He’s got Jasmine after all.”

      “Aathiray. I’ve told you already. That was just a fucking act.”

      My aunty frowned. “Serpethion. Language.”

      He rolled his eyes, but I knew that he would try to listen.

      “None of that was real.”

      I shrugged my shoulders. “That doesn’t change anything.”

      “Why the… Why not?”

      “Actually, that just makes everything worse.”

      “Why Aathiray?”

      “Serpethion! You’re biased because you’re trying to defend your best friend! Have you at all thought about me?”

      He hesitated.

      “He hurt me. And since it was all an act, it wasn’t just me he hurt, he’s going to hurt Jasmine… and his father.”

      “He’s not going to hurt Jasmine.”

      I rolled my eyes. “Is that all you can say?”

      “Aathiray, you’re being an ignorant bitch.”

      My eyebrows shot up.

      “This is why you humans are so… annoying!” Serpethion hissed. “All you fools think about is yourself.”

      “I’m not just thinking about myself! I just told you that he hasn’t-”

      “And this is exactly why Raakshyans and humans should never mix!” He said, ignoring me.

      I bit my lip, offended.

      “The idiot is in love with you.”

      “No he’s not.”

      “Shut the hell up.” Serpethion said. “He does. He loves you. And do you know what that means to him?”

      I didn’t say anything.

      “You… human… may be able to move on without a problem, but he can’t.” Serpethion said. “Because he’s in love with you. He’s fucking linked to you like that until he dies.”

      I pressed my lips into a thin line. I had thought about that, and just assumed that I wasn’t the one for him.

      “So just listen to me and forgive him.”

      I swallowed hard and forced myself to hold back the tears that I hated to admit were coming. “Then why the hell hasn’t he come to speak to me yet?”

      Serpethion hesitated.

      “If he loved me,” I started, “he would have came himself.”

      He took a deep breath. “He’s…”

      “He’s what? Scared? Of me?” I asked. “Serpethion, four months passed and he didn’t have the heart to even come and check on me?”

      “You didn’t do the same.”

      “You think that I can come there on my own?”

      “You could have asked one of us.”

      “Serpethion, who’s the victim here?” I asked, raising my voice. “Who should be the one who apologizes?”

      He frowned.

      “You think that I should be the one for coming there at the wrong time?”

      He stayed silent.

      “And if I wasn’t there… what exactly would he have said to me? Was he stupid enough to think that I would be okay with him lying to Jasmine?”

      My aunty walked over to me.

      “Seretha! Tell her to-”

      “I’m sorry Serpethion.” My aunty said. “I’m on Aathiray’s side.”

      Serpethion scoffed. “Seretha!”

      “Though I’m not happy that Aathy is mad at Keroshan… Kero made a mistake.” She said. “And he needs to apologize.”

      Serpethion glared.

      “There. She’s on my side.” I said.

      “That doesn’t change anything.” He said, stubbornly.

      I rolled my eyes and walked away.

      “Aathiray!” Serpethion yelled as he blocked my way.

      I glared at Serpethion. “Listen!” I yelled back. “If he had chased after me the moment it happened, I may have forgiven him. But right now… I really don’t know, Serpethion.”

      He softened his glare. “Just talk to him.”

      “No, Serpethion. I can’t do that.” I said. “I’m not going to chase after a guy who clearly doesn’t want to be with me.”

      “Aathy-”

      I turned around and ran out of the house before he could say anything else.

      I heard him shout something, but I didn’t try to listen.

      I bit my lip hard as I rushed home, but was startled by my cousins calling me.

      Turning my head, I sighed. “What are you guys doing?” I asked as I watched them run towards me with no shoes on.

      “Aathy.” Veenaray called. “I think you’re being really harsh.”

      I rolled my eyes. “Not you too.”

      “We all think that.” Lakshmiray said.

      I frowned. “I don’t want to hear it.”

      “Wait!” Saumiray shouted, stepping in front of me. “Listen to us for a second!”

      “We were talking about the way you’ve been acting the other day.” Vishniray said.

      “And you haven’t been acting like yourself.” Tharaniray added.

      I raised an eyebrow. But for some reason, that made me think.

      “Aathy… you’ve been upset with Kero for not forgiving his father.” Lakshmiray said.

      Veena nodded. “And you’re being a hypocrite.” She said. "Cause you're doing exactly what he was doing."

      I raised my eyebrow, insulted. I couldn’t believe that my cousins were taking his side.

      “Go home guys.” I said.

      Tharaniray grabbed my arm. “Aathy! Listen!”

      “We’re not telling you to forgive him or anything.” Saumiray said.

      "We think you have a right to be mad." Vishniray added.

      “We’re just saying that you need to remember that you’re being a hypocrite.” Veenaray said.

      All of them nodded. “You’re not being yourself.” Lakshmiray said.

      I watched them carefully and suddenly couldn’t hold back my tears. “You guys are jerks.” I said as I threw my hands onto my face, trying to cover my crying.

      “Aww!” They all said together. All of them suddenly pulled me into a tight hug. Veenaray however, had to think for a moment before she joined, probably realizing that now was not the time to act like she didn’t love me.

      Of course, I didn’t really think they were jerks. I was actually a little happy.

      I was happy to know that I wasn’t acting like myself. Because a part of me knew that it was true.

      To be honest, after they said that, I started to wonder why I was acting like that.

      I mean, how could I let myself lose someone who I had known for so long… even if he hurt me?

      Knowing me, I would at least want to stay friends.

      As my cousins hugged me and told me not to cry, I started to wonder what the possibility was that Darius was controlling my emotions. Maybe he was making me angrier than I would normally be?

      I mean, he could control people’s emotions. He had done it to me once before.

      Then that lead me to another thought… what if Darius was making Kero feel the utter hatred he felt for his father.

      Maybe I should talk to Kero. Not to sort the things between us out… but to let him know that this Darius thing was a possibility.

      But suddenly, the thought of Darius brought forward a weird negative feeling in me.

      I started to take deep breaths, not liking this feeling.