she said was true. She felt that those three were really kind. And she doesn't even have to think twice, those three were surely good people.
"What else have we not watched yet?"
"How about horror, Sis?"
"All right!" Aki immediately agreed with Mharc's idea.
When Mharc finished setting up the movie, she immediately sat down next to Aki and snuggled into her left arm.
"What is a horror story, Sis?" Aki asked hesitantly.
"A scary story, Sis."
"Oh! I want that!" the Archein beamed.
'Just like those in Hardivez,' she read in a book that Mortals feared the Hariaqs. It was just that Mortals call them something else—demons. Another thing was that there were too many stories about demons that the Hariaqs were not.
'If they find out I'm half Hariaq, will they be afraid of me too?'
"Aaaaah!" Aki immediately cried out in shock and fear when she saw the doll that didn't look pleasant.
"Sis! Waaaaaah!" Mharc cried while shaking Aki's left shoulder. "I don't want to watch it anymore! I don't want to watch it anymore! Aaaah! Turn it ofd! Turn it off!"
"Aaaaaah! Aaaah!" This was not what Aki expected from what Mharc said was a horror movie. It was more terrifying for her compared to the Hariaqs she usually interacted with in Hardivez.
"Sis! Turn it off!" Mharc ordered Aki in panic.
When the grinning doll appeared once more, the two young women immediately turned back towards the back of the sofa to hide.
"I don't want it! Turn it off! Aaaah!" Aki shouted. She couldn't even get close to the small center table where the remote control rested.
The two young ladies just continued shouting while still watching. They were very scared but they couldn't stop watching either. Apart from the fact that none of them have the will and courage to approach and turn off the television, they can't really move where they were seated. They both hugged and huddled together. When there was an opportunity, they gently pushed each other to see who would turn off the television.
"Sis, the remote control! Get it! Waaaaah!"
"Don't command me! I'm older than you! Aaaaah! Aaaah!"
After several times of them shouting, and pushing each other repeatedly, all the lights around suddenly went out.
"Aaaaaaaah!"
Louder screams from Mharc and Aki soared through the entire household. The pace of the two running young ladies was fast. Frightened, they were racing to where M and the others were.
"Waaaaah! Brother!" Mharc cried while clinging to her brother's left arm and sitting on his left thigh. She couldn't stop the tears from escaping her beautiful eyes.
"Riri!" Aki, who was on M's right lap, also screamed his name in fear.
"Why are you two crying?" M asked while the two girls couldn't even utter a word because they were crying so much. They trembled and forced themselves to his embrace.
"Don't be silly! Our chair will fall!" M scolded them. He wanted to feel sorry for the two women in his arms but every time he remembered that they themselves were the ones who made them afraid like that, the pity that grows for them recedes.
'You have the audacity of choosing a horror movie. But you can't even stand watching that.'
When Aki looked up at M, the latter could clearly see the fear in her eyes. That fear was contagious. It was as if M's entire being was also gradually afraid of those moments.
"That's enough. Hush now," he said in the most soothing voice he could muster to stop Aki from crying. Mharc on the other hand had already stop whining but was still sobbing.
They were now all inside the house. Only the flame of the candle illuminated the five of them in the middle of the dark hall.
They immediately went inside the house when it started to rain heavily shortly after the power went out in the area. The heavy rain was accompanied by furious thunder and sharp lightning.
"Hush now, Aki," M said gently to the girl while caressing her back. He tried to calm the girl down. He has a hunch that she was the reason for the sudden change in weather.
M couldn't help but worry about what was happening. He also couldn't help but wonder if Aki was really the one responsible for the heavy rain, loud thunder and sharp lightning? Or were those her parents' doing?
'Can they see us now? Are they watching us? Are they angry with me? Aki, stop crying. I can't imagine what else your parents would do, if these were really their doings.'
M slightly lifted the girl from her seat and hugged her tightly again. "Stop crying, Aki. It's ok. Shsss. Don't cry."
On the other hand, Mario can't do anything but stare at Aki and how she hugged M. Envy, jealousy, self-pity, and holding back the pain and tears were the only things that surrounded Mario.
"Aaaah!" Mharc sometimes screeched in shock and fear by the sharp flashes of lightning and the deafening roars of thunder.
M leaned his head closer to Aki's ear. "Stop it, Aki. The rain is so heavy. Are you the one who did these? Mharc is afraid of loud thunder and sharp lightning," the young man softly whispered to the girl that he was hugging. He also held her back and caressed the small of her back.
"Riri," the young woman said almost inaudibly as her voice and her whole body trembled from so much crying.
"Hush, now. I'm just here," M comforted Aki again and hugged her even tighter.
M was worried about what Aki might do at that time. He was also worried about his scared sister who was now sitting next to him.
M continued to calm Aki down. Unknowingly he was now doing things that he never used to do with other women. Things he laughed at whenever Mario did those to his girls—wooing a girl. M doesn't realize that that was what he was currently doing to Aki.
There was also no certainty of what was on M's mind. Was he really afraid for the safety of his friends and his sister if Aki kept on doing this? Or was he worried about Aki herself?