Chapter 15

Seb's pov

" What's your favorite color? "

That question brings a laugh out of me before I can stop myself from doing so.

“What?” He raises his eyebrow in amusement.

“ Nothing. I just… you seemed so deep in thought in order to come up with that question.” I answer, holding in my laugh.

his brows furrow at that before he catches up on my sarcasm. He raises his arm to  touch the back of his neck in embarrassment before saying “ it’s a genuine question.”

His tone does sound very genuine when he asked,  suddenly making me feel like an asshole.

“alright. Its- uhm, blue? “ I answer like a fool because honestly I don’t even know it myself but he seems content with the answer as he hums his approval.

“ whats yours?”

“ I like grey.”

" Oh! But technically, grey is not a color."

" It is. " he deadpans.

"No it's not, I think it's a shade of black."

" Well, if that's the case. Black isn't even a color to begin with. It's just nothingness. "

And that's how we spent the next one hour, arguing whether grey is a color or not and that might be the best conversation we ever had.

Our banter ends with a companionable silence and that's when a brilliant thought come to me, atleast I think it is.

" Let's do twenty questions." I say out acquiring his attention.

" Okay? How do we...do it? "

" So we ask eachother twenty one questions, which are supposed to help us get to know better and we need to answer them honestly, like very honestly. " I emphasis on the 'honesty' because that might be my chance to get some answers out of him.

Thankfully he nods with no hesitation " Sounds good. You go first? "

"Me? No! I mean, we already did one with the ' favorite color one' so it's your turn again now. "

He listens intently to my blabbering as if I made any sense but I guess I did. He lets out an exasperated sigh before saying " Right. So, I can ask you anything. " he asks.

"Mm " I answer mindlessly.

" Anything? " he repeats his question.

Now I'm sweating, did I get myself into I can't back out from. Not my first time.

" Go- Go ahead. "

I close my eyes as that would avoid me from hearing it.

" Why do you go to university? "

" Huh? "

" It's rare among us,most of us stop with high school, so I am just curious as to why you continued your education? It's not a bad thing ofcourse, it is great that you do. Don't get me wrong..." his panic becomes evident as he speaks more.

" Um, no specific reason. I just loved learning new things I suppose. " I come up with a reply.

Liar! - Venus calls me out but he too knows that's the main reason.

" I'm glad to hear that, you always seemed so passionate about it."

" I try. "

He asked me more questions about my course, the kind of projects related to it on our way back home.

_______________

I got to ask my questions the next day when the sun was setting as we gazed at it."Roger said, you used to keep to yourself in academy except for few friends. Why? " I pose as my question number fourteen.

He laughs as a response to that, the setting sun casting subtle shadows on his face look blithe. I can't help but just stare at him.

" Sorry! " he says once his laughter dies down. " I heard so many things about me when I was there and 'kept to myself'  is the only nice one. "

" So it was true? "

" Close enough. " he clarifies. " While it was true that I wasn't exactly sociable, I did have some close friends. "

Close friends

The words make my stomach turn in uncomfortable circles because it suggested only one thing. Just when I was about to ask about his 'Close friends'.

" I will take you to meet them someday. The guys are really fun, not at all boring like me. " he adds pointing at himself.

Guys?

Oh! Then the person I was waiting to hear about is not included.

You are getting ahead of yourself, pay attention!!! Venus shouts in my head making me wince.

"Sebastian? "

"Hmm?"

" You seem distracted. "

" Just wondering about what kind of place was that like. " I lie.

" Academy is cool. You get to learn a lot, try new things and you get to meet various kinds, but you should also be cautious of everyone you meet. Seb! One thing you should know about such social settings, you get approached by many people with various motives, especially when you have name of certain reputation attached to yours, those motives are scarcely genuine. So I always had my guard up. "

His words about his experience there made me reminisce a forgotten chapter of my life, the familiar need to always being wary of people around you, the paranoia of ever so getting involved with the wrong ones, everything felt like a scab from the old wound. Maybe being previliged doesn't help you much from going through the same thing. I feel shit about believing everything that's said about him, without listening it from himself all this while. Goddess, I am a terrible person.

Congrats on that realisation - My abomination of a wolf interjects.

Ignoring him, I decide on one thing. From now onwards my approach with the questions I am asking needs to change. I am not going anywhere with this. So for the next hour I listened to him talk about all the things he did at the academy, with my full attention.

" Is that where you also learnt 'how to cook' ? " I asked him in jest.

" Mostly, the training for alphas doesn't exactly cover the ' culinary part ', so it's just that I got the chance to cook for myself there more." He answers earnestly. He closes his eyes for a moment before speaking again.

" Mom taught me the basics of cooking when I was very young. I used to love watching her cook, she used to let me help her in the kitchen even though I just made a bigger mess. She would also take me to her classes and all the other ladies would praise me saying 'Liona's pup cooks so well' " he says laughing roughly, attempting to mimic a female voice but it just ended sounding manly and rough as he talked about his mother with the fondest smile in his eyes.

Suddenly images of little Leo mixing the floor with his mom watching him floods my mind, making a similar smile creep up to my face.

"Do you miss her a lot? "

" Not as much as I should. This might sound weird but... but I always feel her presence with me, like she never left me at all. Especially when I am cooking, I feel her presence the most, like she's - standing beside me and judging my skills. " he says trying to laugh.

I don't think if he has realised yet but there are tears in his eyes. They glistened as he spoke about his mother and about those memories as if they have happened yesterday.

" Excuse me- " he turns his face away from me to wipe his tears as if he is embarassed about them.

I pull him into a hug before he could do so and he completely breaks in my embrace, the tears stream down his cheeks and falls on my shirt, dampening it. I just let him cry because I sat there, not with the eighteen year old guy in my embrace but with the ten year old boy, who never got to cry.

I only dare to speak when his breathing finally evens and lulls into silence. " Cook me something. " I ask him.

He adjusts his head to look me in the eyes. " Like right now? " he questions with an adorable frown.

" Yes. Right now ? "

" Okay? What do you want to eat? " he enquires, with a smirk.

"Anything."

"Anything? " His smirk turns into a smile.