I walked out of the bedroom, back into the living room, still brimming with questions. My ears were graced once again to the sound of Rian and Lilac arguing. 

"Pluto is indeed a planet! I don't care what you say! I don't care what the royal astronomers say! Pluto will always be a planet in my heart!" Lilac shouted while covering her ears.

"It's literally not though! Do you not agree with science?" Rian tried to reason with her. 

I sighed. This was the problem with being literate: you got into useless arguments. "Does it even matter? Neither of you are ever leaving this  planet!" I sat down between them on the couch and shushed both of them. 

They both crossed their arms leaned back into the couch, sulking. I swear the two of them have already taken several years of my life span. "Rian, are you staying for dinner?" I asked, desperate to divert their short attention spans. 

Rian got to his feet and shook his head. "No, sorry. I better get going." He started to walk to the door, but then turned around. "Bye Lilac. Bye, Van" He gave both of us a tight hug. 

Lilac and I turned to each other in confusion. Rian hated hugs, and I mean hated them. There must be something going on. 

"Is everything alright?" I asked Rian. 

"Yep. Yep. Everything is great!" He said with a forced smile. He was being way too chipper. What had changed in the past five minutes? 

"So, we'll see you tomorrow? At the Demonstration?" Lilac inquired. 

"What? Oh yeah, right, maybe. Hopefully not though" Rian seemed very distracted. 

"What do you mean 'hopefully not'? You do remember that the Demonstration is mandatory, right?" I asked.

"Right, yeah. Well see you guys later I guess," Rian replied. With that, he turned and walked out for real this time. 

I turned to Lilac. "What is going on with him?" I asked

"I have no idea. I thought you knew?" 

I sat back down on the couch and ran through Rian's strange behavior in my head. "Wait Lilac! You know the parcels that Mom receives?" 

"No?" 

Oh right, I forgot to tell her about them. "Well, ever since Dad died, there have been these packages that Mom has been getting from someone. They contain clothes, money, and sometimes even food. Whatever we need, the packages always send it. I have no idea where they come from or why someone would send them to us, of all people." I paused to let her digest this new information. "But now, seeing the way Rian acted tonight, I'm thinking that it might be Rian who's been sending us these packages." 

"That's ridiculous." Lilac countered. "Rian doesn't have the means to support both his family and ours. And besides why would he keep it a secret? It just doesn't make sense."

"Maybe. But then who else could be sending them, Lilac? Our family doesn't really have any other close friends. And we live in the middle of the woods, so no neighbors. So who else could it possibly be?" I asked, desperate to find the answer. 

"I don't know, Van. I really don't know. I guess we have to wait until we see Rian tomorrow. We can ask him then." Lilac replied. 

I nodded, but I was still convinced. It was definitely Rian sending us these gifts.