Chapter 14
LUNA
So, it’s safe to say I wasn’t destined to be a detective, given every attempt I’ve made this week, trying to find out what is in that room that Oliver keeps to himself, failed miserably.
But trying to look after an active six-year-old, complete the house chores on time, and still have the energy for a stakeout is hard work.
I love little Theo to bits, but he tires me out to no end.
The good news is I have one more attempt left since I’ll be out all Saturday and Sunday, and my family group chat has been going off nonstop to make sure I have juicy news to deliver come Sunday dinner.
I honestly can’t tell if I’m doing this for my family’s sake or mine; either way, I want to get to the bottom of this.
Especially since Oliver hasn’t seemed to have caught on to what I’m doing; at least I don’t think he has. I’ve barely seen him all week. He’s been putting in a few late nights, and as soon as he’s home, he reverts straight behind that mystery door.
I always seem to crash around eleven or twelve PM, so I never actually see him come out of the room. Thanks to Gran’s absurd suggestion of what he keeps in there, it isn’t enough to keep me awake at night, but I do wonder when he sleeps.
Every day this week, he’s looked more exhausted than the last. I have no idea how the law industry works, but does everyone work this hard? Does everyone look as tired yet still incredibly attractive as he does when he stumbles home?
Ignore that last one.
Something is clearly happening that, although I’ve already gotten very used to us saying no more than three words to each other, last night after coming home, he dished himself some dinner and even asked for seconds.
Yes, it’s something that doesn’t seem odd, but for Surly Bastard, it is.
I’ve never even seen him eat, let alone ask me if he can have more.
He went back and forth from his hidden room, and he looked as if he hadn’t eaten anything apart from his vomit green smoothie, which he has in the mornings, so it felt nice to see him appreciating my cooking.
But something weird is definitely going on, and I have a feeling it starts with whatever is in that room, so even if I have to glue my eyes open. Tonight will be the night I finally find out what goes on in there.
OLIVER
As my keys turn in the front door, the sound of belly laughter echoes through the walls and reaches me in the hallway. I’m home an hour early because I need to go over the plan for this weekend with Luna.
I step into the threshold of my home, and it’s safe to say they didn’t hear me come in, given how loud Theo is laughing.
Instead of greeting me at the door and as for Luna, Luna is laughing in an octave opposite to her snores, high-pitched and heaving.
Much like how a Hyena laughs, yet the sound doesn’t make me want to rip my eardrums out.
I close the door, put my briefcase down and follow the sound of laughter coming from the kitchen.
I stop and lean against the door frame to see Luna and Theo with matching flour stains on their cheek and my kitchen looking as if it snowed in here while I was gone.
It takes them both a minute to become aware of my presence.
“OLLIE!!” Theo squeals, jumping off the kitchen stool, running towards me with sticky red sauce and flour all over him, when Luna darts around the counter and grabs him before he can touch my navy-blue suit.
“O-Oliver. W-we weren’t expecting you home so soon,” she breathes out in surprise, looking at me with an apologetic look.
“I have other business to attend to, so I’ve come home to settle it,” I explain, but keep my eyes on my little brother and run my fingers through his mop of a head.
“I see,” she nods, locking her arms under Theo’s armpits and waddling him over to the sink, explaining he needed to wash his messy hands so he won’t get my clothes dirty.
“We’re making pizza for dinner tonight,” she says, making sure Theo’s hands are properly washed.
“I wasn’t sure what you liked, but since you’re here, would you like to make yours and we could put them in the oven together?” she asks, looking over her shoulder at me, then back to the sink to turn the tap off.
May I remind you, you’re meant to be spending as little time as possible around this woman; just say no and order food once they’ve gone to bed.
“Sure,” I respond, ignoring that voice in my head and heading upstairs to change my clothes, with Theo right behind me as he gives me the speed version of how his day was and that he’s happy I’m home early.
He goes on to tell me about the quiz Mr Stevens gave them today and how he got all the answers right.
Not that I’m surprised; Theo was the smartest six-year-old I knew, although I have never been a fan of his teacher.
There was just something about Mr Stevens that rubbed me the wrong way.
But it’s never something I’d needed to act on since Theo seems to adore him.
When we’re making our way back downstairs, he tells me about the funny joke Joseph told him today, but he forgot halfway through.
Now back in the kitchen, I can see most of the flour bomb I witnessed earlier had been cleared away, and Luna had set out some pizza dough and a variety of toppings on the counter for me.
I notice Luna staring at me for a few moments.
As I head over to the counter and take a seat, her gaze is first filled with confusion, probably to do with the fact she doesn’t usually see me outside of a suit, although if she wanted to, I wouldn’t object.
That, of course, is a thought I push down as far as possible because inappropriate thoughts such as those cannot be acted on.
But, I swear, for a split second, I do see her looking at me as though she is thinking the same thing before she snaps out of it and places a fresh bowl of tomato sauce out for my pizza.
I try not to think about the way she just looked at me earlier, where she was undressing me with her eyes, and let Theo help me decorate my pizza.
We decided to re-create Theo’s face by using bell peppers for the eyebrows, two pieces of pepperoni and olives for the eyes, a cocktail sausage for his nose, two round pieces of ham for his cheeks, a few pieces of chicken for his smile and lastly extra cheddar cheese for his hair.
It’s far from what I usually have on my pizza, but it made Theo happy, and I was hungry enough to devour it as soon as possible.
Theo and I played two rounds of Mario Kart, whilst Luna cleaned up the mess and waited for the pizzas to cook. Theo had gotten a little better at the drifting trick he was determined to master, but he still had a long way to go.
About fifteen minutes later, Theo ran off to wash his hands, and I headed to the dining room to start setting the table. Luna took the pizzas out of the oven and came in to see the table almost set.
“O-oh…” she jumps. I turn around to see her holding two plates and two sets of cutlery.
“I-I didn’t know you wanted to eat with us.” She mumbles, but she has no reason to be. I have never eaten with them before and only felt like it tonight because I wasn’t going to see Theo for the next two days.
Not because I craved to inhale her addictive strawberry scent.
“If it makes you uncomfortable, I can eat elsewhere.” I raise my brows; she shakes her head far too quickly and places the two plastic cups down on the table.
“No, not at all. Let me just grab you a cup,” she smiles, spinning around only to bump her hip against the table. Looking over her shoulder, flustered and curious to know if I saw that, which I did. Then she scurries off back to the kitchen.
Moments later, Theo races in and we all sit down to eat, Luna and Theo sitting on one side of the table and me on the other. Usually, Theo sits next to me, but tonight it was as if he’d forgotten I was here when he jumped into the seat next to Luna.
I ignore the small sting of rejection and decide to dig straight into my pizza when I see Theo and Luna clapping their hands together and saying “jal meokkesseumnida”, the Korean expression of gratitude you say before a meal; then suddenly they both start giggling with each other.
“What’s so funny?” I ask, taking the first bite of my pizza.
“Nothing.” Luna quickly deflects, but thanks to Theo, I get my answer.
“We’re laughing because Luna’s pizza is your face,” Theo giggles until he earns a look from her, informing him that it was meant to be a secret, but what six-year-old understood facial cues?
She and I then look at each other, then down at her pizza, and I make sure to pull it towards me before she can dismantle it.
I watch her press her lips together and awkwardly turn her body away from me, as I glance down at a very detailed grumpy face made out of pizza toppings.
With Bacon as the hair, olives and pepperoni as the eyes, rather thin slices of bell peppers as eyebrows and stripes of chicken as the frown.
“Isn’t it good, Ollie? It looks just like you!” Theo laughs. Luna, on the other hand, still can’t look at me, so I use that opportunity to snap a photo of it for later, then slide it back towards her.
“And who’s your pizza face of bud?” I asked Theo to avoid answering him, but it was rendered useless since he’s already halfway through his.
“I made mine pretty. It’s Luna. See?” he states, only to look down and realise half of the face is missing. He starts to get upset until Luna reaches up to stroke his hair.
“Don’t worry, sweetie, I took a picture of them when they came out so you can show Oliver after dinner,” she says softly. Theo is now satisfied enough to start eating, and again, she and I share eye contact accidentally prior to us both focusing on Theo.