Mistakenly Eaten

62. A Brothering Moment

Nicholas stood stunned, watching from afar, as it heart might still be in turmoil but his mind and eyes couldn’t betray him. it was clear as a day to him that Salva perhaps and indeed, did have feeling for Althea and he was afraid that those feelings may not be platonic and even if not feelings, Nicholas felt horrified to his core, that knowing Salva and knowing the kind of the playboy that he was, he only feared that Salva might be after just one thing.

A pang of jealousy shrouded Nicholas’s heart as he couldn’t even bring himself to the point to even imagine someone else, let alone his own best friend and cousin touch Althea.

He immediately shook his head and decided to jump in the situation before things got out of hands.

He was about to take a step when the guard who had taken the box from his earlier, came to him, speaking out loud.

“I have placed the box, as you suggested.”

His loud voice, not only startled Nicholas but it did surprised Althea and Salva as well, who were both broken out of their trances and brought back to reality.

As Salva stood surprised to find Nicholas in the gardens, Althea on the other hand, had a huge smile plastered on her face, as she saw Nicholas standing right in front of her.

Althea jumped up on her feet and walked to stand in front of Nicholas and Salva also followed her.

“You’re up till this hour?” Salva inquired, stunned to find Nicholas up at that late hour, who usually slept at the time, that would be an hour before the one, at which they were all standing in the garden.

“I had asked Peter to get something, so I decided to collect it from him myself.” He said, in a very plain and monotonous tone, all the while his mind processing and observing Salva, noticing his body language and tone around Althea and he noticed that it was quite molten and soft, compared to his usually tough and strengthened one that he always possessed around other girls.

“Oh! You could’ve asked me or someone else to get it, I stay up late anyways.” Salva shrugged and Nicholas didn’t say much, his gaze sifted towards Althea, wondering if she had any idea about Salva’s intentions towards her or if she was simply naïve, just like he believed that she was, when it came to her understanding Nicholas’s feelings.

“Really? You stay up late as well? So do I.” she chimed, making Salva snort a small laughter.

Nicholas’s eyes immediately went to Salva’s face, as he once again made a striking observation that Salva was quite silly around Althea as well.

Nicholas felt going insane, shifting his gaze between Althea and Salva, whereby his head rotated and his mind felt splitting in to many molecules due to the confusion that he felt at the moment.

He saw how Althea had turned to Salva and feeling jealous, he immediately broke the conversation between the two.

“I also stay up late at times.” He stated, making Althea turn to look back at him.

“Really?”

“Yeah! And I also like taking a stroll around the island. It’s more beautiful at night time.” He suggested, making sure to keep the conversation hot and on going.

“Really? It’s been four weeks, since I came to the island and I really want to go out and take a stroll and explore the island but Fiona and Serena told me that we weren’t allowed…”

“I can take you.” Salva suggested and Nicholas’s eyes bulged out.

“No!”

Both Althea and Salva looked at Nicholas with bewilderment, wondering what provoked the abrupt reaction out of him.

“I mean, there’s been some restrictions put due to a reason.” Nicholas stated, making Althea node in agreement whilst Salva only looked at Nicholas with confusion, wondering what the guy was going on about for.

“I mean, we will plan a contestant’s trip where we will take every contestant for an island hop and then we will all go, all together.”

“Oh! That sounds fun.” Althea chimed, “Right?”

She once again looked at Salva, yet flaring anger and jealousy in Nicholas.

Why does she have to look at him, all the time.

He grunted mentally as Salva nodded and smiled back at her.

“Well, I am feeling quite tired. So, I’ll call it a night. See, you tomorrow.”

She waved at both Salva and Nicholas and made her way inside the mansion.

Salva sighed, after being left alone with Nicholas.

“Well, I’ll call it a night as well.”

He was about to step away, when Nicholas held his arm and stopped Salva from stepping away.

“Wait! Tell me one thing before you leave.”

“What?” Salva asked and turned towards his cousin.

“Do you like Althea?”

“What?”

He repeated himself, ascertain of the fact that Nicholas had asked him such an absurdly bewildering question.

“Do you like Althea? Are you attracted towards her? do you have any sort of feelings for her?”

Nicholas elaborated his question, making Salva cringe in sheer response.

He had never had, such a question asked to him ever, even by his parents, so Nicholas asking him that question, hit him even more hard.

“Are you out of your mind?” he yelled out loud at Nicholas, making him squirm a little.

“Why would you even ask that?” Salva asked, his tone louder and more offended by every passing second.

“Well because I just felt so and also because you lied to me about getting ice cream for Althea.”

“What?” Salva’s eyes widened with shock, as his lie got caught in a cross fire.

“Yeah! Peter told me that you didn’t get the ice cream for Althea and instead got an ice cream machine and then made the ice cream for her. the latter part, is what I assumed.”

Salva knew that there was no escaping his lie anymore. He was caught and it was only about time that he turned the whole thing around.

He cleared his throat and straightened up, “Well, you don’t realize, do you? All you think of me as an asshole, right? Who is there, chasing pussies.”

Nicholas’s eyes widened, as his eyebrows rose, hearing Salva’s words.

“Whoa! That’s some strong words, dude!”

“No, seriously. You think, I am an asshole, right? Who only wants to have things floating over his d**k, when you don’t even realize, how selfless, I have been throughout this whole time and I have done all of this for you.”

“For me? You made ice cream for Althea, how can you possible benefit me with that?”

Salva pretended to gasp dramatically as he shock his head, “How can you even say that?”

He rose his hands up in the air, taking Nicholas by sheer surprise.

“What do you mean?”

“I made ice cream for Althea because she said that she only liked home made ice cream and yes, I lied to you and everybody else because, I know you guys! you guys just get on my nerves and then all of you would’ve started demanding from me to make ice cream for you guys as well and you know why I even cared for Althea to begin with. Because of you! Because how her presence at the island is important for you and how her food is healing you. All I care about is you getting better, so that we can get out of this hellhole and finally go back to our lives in the real world. I did all of this, pretending to be the stupid secret chef cult, so that she would agree to stay here. You have no idea, how stubborn and annoying she could get at times. I am doing all of this for you and all you are doing is judging me.”

Nicholas fell entirely silent as he heard Salva’s word, that hit him close.

He couldn’t help but feel remorseful of judging Salva. But he couldn’t blame himself either, he did tend to get a bit possessive or worried about both Althea and his best friend.

“Gosh! I can not believe, how you ended up judging me for trying to help you. Do you even realize, how much I care for you? No! you are an ass.”

With that Salva turned to leave but Nicholas immediately placed his hand on Salva’s shoulder, forcing him to turn back.

As Salva did, Nicholas took him by surprise as he leapt forward and pulled Salva in, hugging him and bracing him tightly.

Salva stood stunned and shocked, gently patting Nicholas on the back, as Nicholas kept on hugging him longingly.

“I am sorry, I didn’t appreciate you enough earlier.”

Nicholas straightened up and patted Salva’s shoulder.

“Thank you for everything that you have done for me. Even my parents felt agitated by me, you stood by my side and held me firmly and believed that I could get better. I knew that mom and dad were irritated and honestly sad by seeing me living in that situation and that’s why they sent me to the island, thinking that cutting me off from the world might help me forget Cheryl but nothing could, unless you brought Althea here. You realized that her food could heal me and honestly, it did work a little. Sooner, you might actually be free and you might get to go wherever you want. I’ll talk to mom and let her know that I am doing better. I guess, seeing me without a beard might help me.”

Salva shrugged, sheepishly, saddened yet happy at the same time. He couldn’t quite place a finger to the feeling that he was having. It was like a mixture of uncertain and unattained emotions, that he felt being devoured by his own mind, which couldn’t yet postulate a name of what he truly felt.

“You don’t have to ask Aunt Rachel to let me go anywhere. I knew it from day one, ever since, I came on this island that if I left you wouldn’t have told Aunt a thing. I mean come on, we have been hiding each other’s mishaps more than our own siblings did. We’ve had each other’s back ever since, we learned how to walk and break things and always hid each other’s mistakes and mischiefs. I am more closer to you, even than I am to my own parents, so don’t worry about it at all. I stayed here because I wanted to, not because Aunt Rachel forced me to. Yeah, it is good at times to think that I am stuck at an deserted island, which is so not my forte but that is only to feign my own mind and to comfort my own heart that I am not here willingly but even deep down, I knew that even if Aunt Rachel wouldn’t have asked me to, I would’ve still come down here with you, because you are important to me Nicholas. You are not just my cousin or a best friend, you are my brother.”

Salva held back Nicholas’s shoulder, placing his hand on top of the shoulder, opposite to his that Nicholas held.

As the two stood smiling at each other, sharing a peculiarly beautiful brothermen and brothering moment, Althea stood watching the two from the window of her room, smiling to her own self and realizing how strong their bond was and how close the two were to each other. She only wished them well and wished them all the love.

Because no one in the world other than her own self, knew how important friendships were, oblivious of the fact that Nicholas and Salva were actually maternally related.

She had found a friend like Lur, quite later in her life and yet she always remained grateful of her presence and just like she wished that nothing ever came between her and Lur and disturbed and broke their bond. She wished the same upon Nicholas and Salva, knowing very little that if one would see from the very beautiful flowing fountain of the mansion, they were to find Althea standing at an angular moment, that was just slightly atop but right in the middle of the two brothers and maybe, that would act as a foreshadowing of what was about to come for the two brother.

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