Hope was no poet but she could damn well be one with the amount of excitement coating her insides. It must have not shown while she was chatting with Dylan but it was there. Been there for about three days now, simmering out like a beautiful fireworks show.

It was finally Friday and she might as well have put up a banner on her head, saying that. Today, Dylan and her were going out. However, she tried to tone it down in front of her customers. It wouldn't be too ideal for her to keep grinning like she was onto something. So, she resorted back to typing on her computer.

As cliché as it may sound, she was looking forward to today's evening. Wait a minute! Hold on! she screamed internally, a panic stricken expression marring her face.

"You okay there, Hope-Sticks?"

She glanced up with wide eyes to see her big sister, Nacreous, staring back at her. "I thought we had agreed to never call me that," Hope muttered.

Nacreous leaned her elbows on the desk and shrugged. "And I thought that I'd never see you seem so… psychotic but here we are."

"Psychotic?!" Hope exclaimed, patting her hair consciously. "I don't seem psychotic."

"Sure," Nacreous drawled out with a lazy smile. "You've been smiling creepily into space and then suddenly there's this 'deer-caught-in-a-headlight' look on your face. One can't help but imagine that you were extremely happy to kill someone but then that plan backfired."

Hope threw her sister a dry look. "Shut up. You have such a wild imagination. What are you doing here though?"

"Rude. And I'm making sure that that stupid dude didn't actually bomb your house," Nacreous answered jokingly.

"His name is Dylan and I hope you seriously don't think that. Sometimes, I wonder if you care about me or just love annoying me." Hope scowled but there was not an ounce of seriousness in her voice.

"Both." Nacreous beamed.

"No, but seriously, what are you doing here? Because apparently, he would "bomb my house" not this bookstore."

"Well… can't your awesome sister come to your bookstore to actually buy books plus I wanted to make sure you were safe."

Hole rolled her eyes and sighed. "You have some way of showing it, Nac. Also, for the last time, Dylan is not dangerous."

Nacreous chortled and rounded the table to stand next to Hope. "I know. I just love pulling your leg." She made a move to sit down but paused and whispered. "And I hope that he stays that way. Innocuous." With that, she sprinted off toward the huge aisle of murder mystery genre.

"Nac!" Hope shouted behind her hopelessly but a small smile blossomed on her face. If Nacreous' personality could be defined in one word, then it would be Rainbow. Her emotions and behavior changed according to her moods but none of them could ever mean to hurt anybody.

And the best thing about her? She could make you forget about all your worries. The reason why she couldn't figure out why she had panicked before her sister's arrival.

"What was it? What was it? What was it? What was it?" She whispered, biting her lip anxiously. "It seemed important."

She was, however, brought out of her reverie when she heard two knocks on her desk, startling her once again in a span of just a few minutes. Hope looked up and gasped softly.

"Worry looks adorable on you, Collins."

And just like that, she remembered what she had forgotten about. The very same reason was standing right in front of her. "Dylan?"

■

This chapter here is for my big sis lmao! Nacreous is actually derived because of her. Sometimes, I feel that if ever I meet my own Dylan, she's gonna go all protective for me hehehe. Shoutout to all our elder and younger siblings! ❤️