Chapter 22: Happy Hornet Breakfast with the Doll (and your Brother)
Evan woke up groggily, like he usually did.
He was never a morning person but was an early riser—two traits that seemed contradictory, but he both had them anyway.
Evan glanced at his wrist where his smartwatch was strapped, indicating that it was still 7 in the morning and it was a Saturday.
Even though Evan was a workaholic, he did admit that he enjoyed weekends just like a regular person.
Yes, another contradiction.
Anyway, he realized that he might enjoy the weekends even more now that he had a doll to nurture and teach about the mechanisms of how the world works.
Speaking of Eternity, last night's midnight talk ended rather awkwardly.
Evan didn't even get to finish his story about his two families since he was too upset to do so.
Eternity, who was already building a routine of arguing with him during the night because she wanted to sleep beside him, decided to sleep in her room without even saying a word.
Even if she was a doll, Eternity was aware of social cues when she poked at a rather sensitive topic last night.
Evan sighed.
He probably should apologize to her later.
Once Evan was decent enough to look presentable for a person who had just woken up, he headed to the kitchen and took the Happy Hornets from the refrigerator.
He should probably wake up Freiheit and Eternity to microwave the food delivery and have breakfast together.
As mentioned, Eternity didn't eat, but Evan found it rude not to invite her to the table. Or perhaps it was disrespectful to ask her to the table, knowing that she didn't eat?
'What a dilemma,' Evan thought to himself.
"Good morning." Freiheit appeared at the kitchen-dining room's entrance, stretching his arms up as he yawned ungracefully.
"At least gargle first." Evan looked at him in disgust, fanning Freiheit's morning breath away from him.
Freiheit belatedly covered his mouth, embarrassed.
"Sorry." His voice was slightly muffled.
"Can you microwave the Happy Hornets?" Evan gave him the paper bag containing the fast food.
Although his sentence was interrogative, it was more of an order.
Freiheit earnestly saluted and took the Happy Hornets from Evan's hand. Evan rolled his eyes at him and muttered that he'd wake up Eternity before heading out to the hallway to Eternity's room.
Once he was in front of Eternity's room, he gave it a knock.
"Eternity?" he called. "Freiheit is heating the food. Do you want to join us?"
In a matter of seconds, the door opened and revealed a petite woman who looked beautiful even if she had just woken up.
Technically, her 'sleep' isn't the same as a human's, but you knew what Evan meant.
"Good morning," Eternity said softly.
"Good morning," he greeted back. He almost leaned down to kiss her on the forehead, but he stopped himself before he acted too out-of-character
"How kind of you to invite me to breakfast." 'Even if I don't eat,' Evan knew Eternity wanted to add.
"I don't want to eat breakfast with Freiheit," Evan huffed. "He chews on his food loudly."
"Oh, I thought you just wanted to spend your mornings with me." Eternity chuckled. "A doll could dream," she said absentmindedly to herself.
But that was true, though.
Evan wanted to spend his every waking moment with Eternity, where she would greet him a good morning and watch him eat breakfast with a comforting smile on her lips.
But he'd rather drop dead than be caught admitting something so cringe-worthy as that.
"Let's go," he said instead, turning his back on her and proceeding to walk to the kitchen-dining room.
Eternity's door behind him clicked shut, and then he heard the gentle tap of her plush slippers on the floor as she followed him.
The microwave made a 'ting!' sound when the two set afoot at the kitchen dining room, signaling that the food was reheated entirely.
Freiheit turned around to meet them, a grin plastered on his face as if he were proud of 'cooking' their breakfast.
"Shall we eat?" Freiheit asked.
The couple nodded, though the other one merely nodded out of politeness.
***
Their breakfast merely consisted of cheeseburgers, french fries, and soda.
It was an unbreakfast-y breakfast, but it was meant for last night's dinner anyway. Even more so, who was there to judge them for starting their day with a greasy and unhealthy meal?
"Ahy havfenth thold yhou abfout mhy–" Freiheit spoke incoherently, chewing on his burger as bits of food flew from his mouth as he did so.
"Freiheit Royall, you are one hell of a disgusting, mannerless piece of shit." Evan glared, taking a piece of tissue from the tissue holder and wiping off the pieces of beef and bread that flew across his face. "Hasn't your father taught you not to talk when your mouth is full?!"
"No, he didn't," Freiheit replied. "He was mostly absent when I was growing up as a kid."
"I know," Evan said, rolling his eyes. "I was there with you."
"Don't you think it's funny?" Freiheit said, not chewing anymore this time and taking Evan's reprimands seriously. "How did he adopt two more children when he couldn't even spare five minutes of his time for his only child?"
Evan shrugged and continued eating. Freiheit followed his example.
Eternity frowned, wondering how in the world the air remained lighthearted, as if this was a running joke between the brothers, even when their conversation was depressing.
"As I was saying," Freiheit drawled as soon as he finished his food. "I haven't told you about my latest travels, have I?"
"To Manika?" Evan asked as he was done with his.
Freiheit nodded.
"How did you even get there?" Evan took the paper bag and the food packaging from the Happy Hornets and stood up before heading to the kitchen trashcan. "I've never heard of such a country before."
"To be honest," Freiheit cleared his throat. "I'm not sure myself!"
Evan rolled his eyes and was about to say something degrading, but Freiheit continued.
"I remember being drunk on the pier and hopping on a ship to go home. But apparently, I got into the wrong one!"
Evan facepalmed.
"Then, ta-dah!" Freiheit gestured at Eternity. "I was already in Manika."
"How was Manika?" Eternity asked, hoping to get positive words out of her home country.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
kasurindusk
kasurindusk Finally, Freiheit will help bring a bit of background to the mysterious island of Manika!
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