● AUTHOR'S POV

"Carefully." Mr. Gibbs directed, as two of the maids gently laid Ava down on the bed, covering her with sheets.

Xanthos had been standing silently in one corner of the room, his hair sticking out from the sides as if they had been through the terrible of times, being used, abused and then left to shrivel up and die on the road, facing oncoming traffic.

"So this is what happens.... The medication along with cancelling out sedation also makes the body go into hyperactivity, increasing the neuron firing and thus the person acts like this, wild and abnoxious. Eventually, all this leading to tiring out of the body at a faster rate than normal and forcing the person to dwell into a deep slumber. Hmmmmm, I need to do more work on it but this has proven to be a valuable experience." Tokyo mumbled to himself; standing infront of Xanthos at a little distance from him, as he pondered over the whole situation of Ava going berserk from the moment she woke up, after being injected by his miracle juice.

She had been giving the cottage's staff a rough time, but nobody expected that her final target, before hopelessly falling asleep, would be Xanthos, specifically his sleek and neatly styled hair.

Xanthos bore holes into Tokyo's skull as unfortunately his mumbling was loud enough for Xanthos to hear.
"She'll be absolutely fine after some rest. So, I'll be taking my leave then!" spitting out these words Tokyo bolted out of the room and disappeared.

Heaving a deep sigh, Xanthos rested his head against the wall he was standing by. "I'll deal with him later. Mr. Gibbs, have a maid---- have two maids stay beside Ava till she's up." Xanthos directed, and raggedly dragged his feet out of the room.

---

Scent of camomile tea permeated the air, the soft clinking of fine porcelain cup with the saucer felt soothing to Xanthos' ears, as he took the last sip finishing his tea.

Setting the tea cup and saucer aside, Xanthos tilted his head resting it against his shoulder, as he adjusted himself into a more comfortable position on his white sofa; which added a sheek calmness to his lounge decor.

His hair, was smoothed down back into place, and through his half-opened eyes, he focused on the now empty tea cup placed infront of him, the fresh spring flower pattern on its white porcelain skin felt nostalgic, as his mind wandered off to some past memories. Whilst his eyes remained on the cup, steadily the vision started to blur as he zoned out.

Soon the trance he was put in by his old days was broken, when he heard the door to his cottage click opening, followed by the sound of clicking heels, which got clearer as the owner approached him.

"I thought you were still mad?" Xanthos questioned, as his eyes shifted from the tea cup to the tall feminine figure, who came to stand at a little distance from him, but still within his vision.

The woman was dressed in; a fitted black turtle neck with wide-leg black pants hiding her heels, her black hair tidily styled into a tight bun, and minimalistic accessory; only a pair of gold hoops and gold rings with a delicate gold bracelet adorning her left wrist.

Shifting her black cloud-clutch shoulder bag; with a thick golden chain, from her shoulder to her hand, she took a few steps further closer to Xanthos.

"Have some manners and greet your sister properly." the woman demanded, as she crossed her arms whilst holding her leather purse.

Xanthos practically dragged himself up, and went in for a hug, almost dropping half of his weight onto his sister.

Hugging him back with a warm smile, his sister tried balancing herself with the sudden addition of 90 pounds to her comparably petite stature.

"Xinnie you're spent! What happened?" she asked worriedly, as she realized, how tired her brother was, by his ragged movements and worn out pace.

"It's just been a long day." Xanthos replied after leaving a quick peck on his sister's cheek, and went back to plopping himself down on the sofa.
"A very long day." Xanthos added, as he stretched his arms and let them loosely fall down beside him.

"Hopefully, you have been well Miss Kiara? It has been quite a few days you visited us." Mr. Gibbs greeted Kiara as he entered the lounge accompanied by a maid; holding a small serving tray with a glass of ice water on it.

"I've been well Mr. Gibbs, how have you been? Everything running smoothly over here?" Kiara returned the courtesy, as she went to seat herself infront of Xanthos; who had his eyes shut and head fallen back.

The maid came upto Kiara offering her the ice water. "Thank you." taking the glass of water Kiara replied and sipped it down, after finishing the water in a few sips Kiara mumbled as she handed back the empty glass to the maid, "Didn't realize I was this thirsty."

Kiara shifted her attention back to Mr. Gibbs; who had been waiting for the lady to finish drinking, so he could reply to her previously asked question.

"I have been fairly well myself Miss, and everything is going just fine here, you need not worry yourself regarding us." Mr. Gibbs assured with his same nostalgic smile that Kiara and Xanthos had been witnessing for a long time now. Being the family butler, he had seen the two of them through several stages of their lives; good and bad, he was almost like a trusted family member, which was the only reason Xanthos had this man going about and taking care of his affairs over here at his cottage, and have no doubts about his loyalty.

"Good to hear." Kiara replied, occompained with a polite smile.

"Anything else Miss Kiara?" Mr. Gibbs asked as he pushed back up his glasses, which had come to rest on his nose.

"Oh no no, nothing at all Mr. Gibbs. I'm just here for a quick visit, thank you." Kiara replied and Mr. Gibbs took his leave along with the maid.

After a moment's silence, Kiara crossed her legs putting one over the other, her emerald eyes; which matched that of her brother's, had gone to become darker and narrower, the sharp shift in her polite aura from earlier was evident of the fact that she was indeed Xanthos' sister.

"To answer your earlier question brother; Yes, I am mad at you." Kiara spoke, and her voice sounded nothing like the warm honey tone she had been opting to earlier.

"I had sent a trusted man to escort you, but you sent the him back." Xanthos retorted in a sigh, his eyes still shut and head lazily fallen back.

"I am your sister Xanthos, and when I say 'You' it means 'You', and not that one of your men comes to escort me. I could have gone with Theo, but I asked you 'specifically'." Kiara replied as her eyes darted at Xanthos, her demeanour equally commanding as her brother's.

"I'm very well aware of that, and also, dearly love my sister, but you know well, I'll never be setting foot in that place. Come live with me, and I'll be escorting you to your heart's content." Xanthos said opening his eyes, and raised his head to look at his sister.

"It's been years." Kiara replied, the air around her shifting to a much more cold and muted down one.

"And she's still as arrogant and cruel as she was then, to think that time would change her." Xanthos let out a sarcastic laugh, but there was a certain discomfort that lingered behind.

"This is a conversation for some other time sister. So, what brings you here?" Xanthos asked shifting the topic of their conversation.

"Well, one to visit you, and second to invite you." Kiara replied with a dazzling smile.

"To that woman's funeral?" Xanthos said as he sat up straight, whilst stretching his arms and massaging the back of his neck with his fingers.

"God Xanthos! To my engagement! I'm getting engaged!" Kiara revealed and a warmth spread across Xanthos' face, despite being the younger sibling, Xanthos often felt this fatherly love for his sister, that would sometimes show too evidently.

"And who is the lucky guy if I may ask?" Xanthos questioned teasingly, as he waited for his sister to respond.

"Well, Matthew Perry would have been nice, but I decided to give my longterm boyfriend Theo a chance." Kiara replied mimicking his brother's little act, as he very well knew who the man was, and also knew that this day would soon be coming.

But, not seeing a ring was what surprised him a little, when he heard his sister's engagement news. "So, what did the man propose with?" Xanthos questioned with a sinister grin as he had realized there was something fishy about that part.

"His mouth, I'll be off then." saying that Kiara stood up, picking up her purse with her, that she had placed beside her at some point along the conversation.

Author's Note
Wow I wrote alot today, introducing an already mentioned character, Kiara Aldine, our lead's sister.
Man, how will I manage all these characters, I keep putting a new one like every other chapter.
Anyway, enjoy and hope you like it.
Vote and comment if you have the time to.
Thankyou.