(Amaia)
"Not bad, big boy." I offer him a tight smile and he beams at in return.
"See, you haters. Amaia likes my drawing." Alnitak raises the paper and proudly shows it to everyone, like a child who has gained the highest praise from their teacher.
"Pretty sure she is just keeping your heart, big bud," Mintaka plays on my words with a snicker.
"Yeah! No one in their right mind will call this monstrosity a drawing," Rahria roars in laughter and Alnitak sticks his tongue out at her.
"Don’t be jealous of my masterpiece, Rahria." He gently places the drawing on the table as if it’s so precious to him.
I shake my head at their banter.
It’s truly heartwarming to see everyone smiling and trying to get along. Four of them have been friends all their lives and I just hope they can stay like this.
The ga continues but it’s a disaster. Kacir takes forever to even draw two lines, while Alnitak’s drawings are incomprehensible.
And they both can guess mine quickly.
"Co, guys, let’s do sothing else," Rahria finally calls out, ending my misery.
"Yes!" Alnitak gets up gathering his drawings and mine. I help Kacir put away the Pictionary.
Mintaka leaves his seat and heads towards the musical instrunts. Alnitak settles in a one-seater. Putting away the ga, I grab so snacks and a bottle of wine. I have to be careful, my tabolism is not like these werewolves.
"Here." Alnitak pats his thick thigh with a naughty wink. Heat rises to my face, as I slowly move and perch myself on his right thigh.
His large hands grab my waist and make comfortable, helping to lean back against his chest.
Sensations birth inside , climbing every pore of my skin and setting my own thigh on fire. Needles prick in the cursed mark but I don’t care.
Even with all those hard muscles, he is comfy to sit on.
"You comfortable?" He murmurs against the shell of my ear.
"Mhm!" I answer, taking a small sip of the red wine.
Rahria sits comfortably on the other sofa with her legs perched up. Kacir remains on the ground, near the table and munches on so snacks but my eyes waver to Mintaka.
He is leaning against the opposite wall where nurous instrunts are kept in a cabinet.
Elegant fingers of his left hand curve with a natural grace around the guitar’s neck, the pad of his index finger presses down a string just behind the third fret.
Across the sleek body of the red and black instrunt, his right hand hovers with poise. His fingers splay out loosely for balance.
Intensely I watch and wait for the first note to drop. His head tilts downwards. So of those carmine strands let loose and create a curtain. His gold-flooded eyes narrow in intense focus on the precise eting point of his left-hand fingers and the steel frets.
"He is amazing," Alnitak murmurs to again and I forget to breathe when Mintaka strums out those beautiful first notes.
The sound that erupts is not rely a chord, but a raw, resonant wave that seems to vibrate in my chest.
The music is so natural. He produces the song he had promised to earlier.
The lody and the tone sink into my soul and speak deeper than words, finding caught in the current.
Alnitak’s breath cos heavy into my ear, tangling with my thoughts and the music his brother is creating.
I refuse to blink or look away. My mate has cast a spell, woven from wood and wire, and in its captivating grip, the only thing that matters is the next note and the next.
The feeling makes my heart rush while Alnitak’s fingers create their own music on my skin, freely roaming my arms.
Mintaka is completely lost in his world of music and appears oblivious to us. His fingers effortlessly move.
Finally, I blink and watch the others. Rahria has her head on the side of the sofa, the almost empty bottle hangs loosely from her hand.
Kacir has arms looping his coiled legs as his body sways to the music. He has everyone enthralled.
I take a small sip of the wine, letting my parched throat get wet with the red liquor. Alnitak places a tiny feathery kiss on the side of my forehead.
The music finally stops and no one speaks for a while. We just watch him as he slowly raises his srising eyes and focuses on .
"How was it?" He asks with a tiny smile.
So handso he appears in that posture, his hair still falling in his eyes like red streaks a painter has painted on the background of gold.
I snatch in so oxygen before speaking.
"You took my breath away. I have never heard anyone play guitar so soulfully."
He just smiles. "Don’t exaggerate, Amaia."
"She is not. Min, you are amazing my bro." Alnitak raises his fist at his brother and he does the sa in return.
"I missed hearing you play. Glad I could," Kacir emotionally says and Mintaka turns his head to watch him.
Emotions make his eyes glow as he nods at his friend.
"Superb as always, Min." Rahria raises her bottle at him and he just awkwardly smiles.
I don’t know how both of them will get past their tainted past but I can see they are trying.
"Any requests?" He asks and Kacia says in a small voice.
"Play: Tears in Heaven."
The smile on Mintaka’s face slowly fades and I can feel a tension through the bond, a suffering, a lancholic sadness.
But he nods at his friend and lowers his face. The grimness coats his facial features as he begins to play the guitar again. Only this ti, the music is not vibrant and soulful, it’s soul-wrecking and heart-wrenching. Like it’s being emitted from sowhere deep inside of him, sowhere he has stored all his sorrows and lants.
The bond floods with nostalgia and sadness and I wonder what has made him low and broken like this?
I am going to have him open up to one of these days.
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