Heartbreak hotel

Chapter 15

The car ride back home was an interesting experience. Ash kept nagging at Sebastian to tell him why they had to come home, but Sebastian kept repeating the same sentence whenever the man asked. ‘You were there too, I don’t know anything.’ And he repeated it over five times, without a hint of annoyance at all. As they got out of the car, the calm wind brushed past, causing Soren to shiver a little. He gritted his teeth, regretting not bringing a jacket, but he knew he wouldn't be in the cold for long. As they walked up the porch, the light having been left on, Ash sighed, turning to face his husband. “Bubbles, I really don’t like the implications of you holding my hand,” he muttered. “What’s so bad that you have to restrain me essentially?”

Sebastian leaned down and kissed his husband to quiet him down. As they unlocked the front door, Soren frowned. Even from outside, he could hear the chaos ensuing inside, the screams of people yelling at one another, and the many voices yelling at each other. As Sebastian unlocked the door, his grip on his husband tightened, and Sebastian ushered him and Thea in first, with Ash and him following behind.

As Soren walked through the sliding doors, the room's heat hit him like a truck. He knew no one would be stupid enough to have the central heating on, but with the number of people packed into one space, body heat and sweat were bound to waft off everyone, and with no airflow, it was abysmal. They had the windows open, and Sebastian had left the front door open, which might not have been the best decision, as it meant the neighbours could all have heard someone crying, Lucky possibly screaming, and Oivia yelling at someone. When he got a good look, Dai was restrained by Scar, Olivia by Erza, and Lucky by Luca.

Ash walked into the room, and Soren turned to look at his father. His eyes scanned everyone and noted that the majority of his siblings were restrained. A frown appeared on his face, but when he spotted the two unknown people standing near the kitchen archway, the frown changed to a scowl, and he tried to lunge at them. Instead, Bubbles, who had already been holding his hand, changed his tactics and grabbed his husband by his shoulders. He stood behind him and kept him close to him, his arms thrown over his shoulders and crossed his hands on Ash’s chest.

“You could have warned me,” Sebastian muttered, looking at Luca. The man, in response, looked away innocently.

Soren was confused. He stared at the man and woman near the deep green wall. They looked like ordinary people you would come across on the street. The woman had long black hair, although her roots were showing, and her grey hair was beginning to peek through. She was in a tight black dress, and her arms crossed over her chest as she stared blankly at his father’s. The man beside her looked so much more uncomfortable, seeming to flinch at all the eyes on him, often shifting the weight of his legs from right to left. With blonde hair and blue eyes, Soren tried to remember if he had met either of these people before, but he couldn’t place them. But then again, apparently, he knew Ravi somehow, and he didn’t remember him, so maybe he wasn’t the best person to guess if he knew them. However, from everyone’s reactions in the room, they weren’t very happy to see them.

Though Alex seemed to know one or both of them, they continued spilling as he stood with Nathaniel, holding onto his arm and silently crying, wiping his tears now and then. Soren always thought that Alex could cry without making a sound was confusing, but when he asked the man about it once, he laughed it off and walked away.

A long silence drowned everyone out. Some of the cousins were glaring at the duo. Okay, so some of them knew the two of them, but from their reactions, it was clear that there had to be some deep-rooted negativity associated with them. “What the f**k are you doing here?” Ash hissed after a moment. He tried to twist his position and look up at his husband. “Bubbles, let me go.” The man silently shook his head. Ash sighed and turned to look at them again, a glare appearing once more.

Soren waited for someone to explain what was going on. All the parents and some cousins seemed to be on the same page, but the rest were confused. Then, Sebastian, who was still holding his husband tight, explained to everyone else who the two were and what that meant.

“That’s Lillian, and the one next to her is Seth, Alex’s sort of brother. The paperwork had never been filed. But they were presumed dead seven years ago,” he finished, staring at the duo.

Lillian sighed, running a hand through her long, dark hair. “Look,” she said, staring at them all. “I know the timing is s**t, really s**t. But you needed to know something, and there was no safer way for us to contact you without it being linked back to us and putting ourselves in danger. And also, this one wanted to see Alex.” Seth scowled as he turned to Lillian and elbowed her. She ignored it and continued speaking as if nothing had happened. “The Cleaners.”

Erza frowned, tilting her head a little as she readjusted her grip on Olivia. “What about The Cleaners?”

Thea snorted as she looked around the room with a smile. “Okay, so, we’re all going to ignore a ridiculous name like The Cleaners?” she asked, her voice lathered with mockery. When she realised no one else, but the stoners found it amusing, she sighed, waving her hand.

Lillian pinned Thea with a stare, eyeing her from head to toe. She forced a smile as she walked over to her and held out her hand, adorned with silver jewellery. Thea, confused, shook her hand as Lillian said blankly. “You must be one of Sebastian and Ash’s children.”

Thea’s frown turned into a grin. “I’m Thea, nice to meet you, Lillian.”

“Thea,” Ashton warned.

She rolled her eyes but sighed. “Sorry,” she muttered.

~*~