The Dinner

We returned to the apartment in silence. My brother wanted us to stay and not show up for dinner with our parents, but I thought that would be too suspicious of us. Despite his anger, he preferred to put my health first. We finally agreed not to cancel our visit, so Victor locked himself in his room telling me to be ready in three hours, and if there is any sign of malaise, then we'll stay home.

I hated those moments when we were offended enough not to talk to each other. I also went to myself and tried not to fall into too much remorse. Victor should understand that as close as we are, there are things I don't necessarily want to discuss with him. And one of them was that dream. He felt so real, probably because some of the things had actually happened that night. I sighed heavily why he wanted to talk about it right now? Because we were going to meet Ginny? Something happened that he didn't tell me? My head started to crack, I shouldn't be so worried about everything, right?

To keep my mind busy before getting ready for dinner, I searched the Internet for cake decorating inspiration that I was going to prepare for my first day in my new job. I found interesting ideas, but I knew that I did not have the right forms, I reached for the calendar as part of the to-do list for this week, and wrote down making them. I also watched an episode of a culinary show and then I started getting ready. I took a quick shower and put on light, elegant trousers with a paired light-colored short-sleeved shirt. I combed my long, slightly wavy auburn hair and pulled it up in a loose bun. I put on my makeup, although I didn't like doing it. I did not feel that it gave me any special spirit, I saw it as a kind of social compulsion. At the same time, I didn't feel confident enough not to wear it at all and to resist this strange feeling that a girl must wear makeup.

It didn't take long to get ready, so I waited for Victor, who had a haircut similar to mine but with a less elegant style. He put on jeans and sneakers with a regular T-shirt. He didn't even glance at me, which meant that he would be whining, and I was to choose how I deal with it. Even though we knew each other so well, there were times when his emotions were so complex they were hard to read. I stared at his mind and the mixed colors of concern, anger, resignation, and discouragement.

Lulu has no idea what I went through when I saw she was gone. I'm sure it was a mini heart attack. I couldn't even write because my hands were shaking so much, I was afraid that something had happened to her. And she just plays it down and doesn't want to talk about it. How can I help her in that case? If nothing is forced out of her, there is no whip for her to say something of herself. She's so stubborn sometimes… and now we still have to go to that stupid dinner.

I smiled slightly, walked over to him, and hugged him. He hugged me back despite his anger.

“You know that I love you, don't you, big brother?” I said. “Don't be angry with me anymore, we have to join forces at least for lunch.”

Usually calling him big brother worked, and it did in this case. Victor always wanted younger siblings to look after. We were only a few months apart, so emphasizing that he was older has always worked. Then he felt the pride that someone relied on him and saw him as an authority.

“Yes.” He clenched his fist. “Us versus our perfect brother.”

I nodded and we began to prepare to travel across town. Victor led the way with concentration because even though it was a Sunday morning, traffic in the city was quite heavy. Maybe it wasn't huge traffic jams, but the ride wasn't very smooth. We were wondering what this Ginny thing is like. Overall, we had little information about her, except that she also makes a name for herself in the fashion world and is a huge Martha's work fan.

Even though Victor was mute, he didn't have to use sign language to talk to me. Thanks to the fact that I could read people's minds, I was able to communicate with him directly when he wanted to. My powers had their rules and limitations, but we managed to develop our own system.

Due to the accident that happened that night, I had free access to Victor's mind, as was the case with David, who exposed himself to it on my first birthday. It's like getting the key to someone's mind that they can freely use. I never wanted to use it for both, but Victor asked me to do it himself. His curiosity forced me to use my power, detach new secrets from it, and push my boundaries. It was my brother who wanted me to test all possibilities on it and try out new ones. How many times, when we were kids, he would come running to me asking, "How about you, for example, read the minds of animals?" To which I usually replied that I don't know and I don't want to know. However, after much persuasion, I usually agreed in the end to test his theories.

Usually, in the company of other people, we talked by Victor's signing, while I was speaking normally or also using sign language. It depended on the situation, but most of the time we communicated by reading his mind and my answers. But sometimes, when we didn't want someone to know what we were talking about, I, too, would respond through my thoughts. It also happened that Victor would sign one thing and think another, which also worked well in our children's jokes or plans.

All of this together also made our relationship special and that is why I valued it especially strongly. Not only because Victor was one of the few people who knew my secret and did not hate me for it. On the contrary, he thought it was amazing and wanted to convince me that it was really great, sometimes without knowing how much pain and trouble it was causing me. Even though I sometimes wondered how to explain it to him, I never found the right way or the words, but I was glad that he was present in my life as my best friend.

We finally drove to the house where we grew up. Hyacinth and Ginny were already there, but the first person to greet us was David with a cat in his arms. The reddish Meow was holding up well, glad to be carried like the king that the spoiled tomcat was. Parents took it after we went to college to somehow kill the void caused by our absence. My father happily hugged us, he probably also came back home not so long ago because of an urgent departure, which made him unable to help us with the move. I don't know if he missed the pet more or for us. Meow did us a great grace by allowing him to be petted, considering us to be insignificant beings in his world. He probably only saw us as some kind of extra service for a while. I liked him even though he was too spoiled.

We went inside, where we went to the kitchen to greet our mother, who had already made coffee for us.

"You're trying to look like twins again," she said, looking at our hairstyles and greeting us with kisses on the cheeks.

"It turned out like that," I said. "Besides, Victor usually parrots me."

"You just don't want to admit to me that I look better," he replied, signing.

"Even," Martha muttered. "And I guess I'll start getting used to your long hair."

Victor smiled triumphantly, finally, after many years of struggle, the scales of victory began to tilt to his side. We heard footsteps behind us and turned to Hyacinth and his girlfriend. The brothers shook hands, and I walked over to Ginny and introduced myself. She had short black hair the shade of which did not indicate its natural color. Her features were strong, but her face was still delicate, perhaps because of the forced, fake smile she had put on. Her green eyes studied me curiously. I looked a little higher and noticed the aggression taking a more pronounced color after Hyacinth greeted me. He did it instinctively with a peck on the cheek.

"How do you feel?" he asked me in a whisper, staying very close to me.

"Fine," I replied, feeling his gaze on me as he tried to see if I was lying.

"I'm glad," he muttered. "But don't do that anymore, I got scared too when Victor contacted me."

"Easy, it won't happen again."

"You two are not alike at all," Ginny interrupted, hugging her boyfriend. "Hyacinth and Victor yes, you can see obviously, that they are brothers, but seeing you I wouldn't say you are related," she said with a smile, adjusting her lovely ankle-length floral dress.

"I'm adopted," I said right away, watching her reaction.

She was very surprised, which she did not hide, but at the same time, she considered me a competition to Hyacinth's heart. It made me laugh because even if I wanted to do something about my feelings for my brother, I would not do it out of respect for him and his family, who took me in.

"Adopted?"

"Ginny, I don't know if Lulu wants to talk about it," Hyacinth said, his voice a bit sharper.

"Lulu, how cute," his girlfriend said sarcastically.

"Yes, the Parkers took me in at my father's request. He asked for it in his last will," I replied.

Martha didn't like the tone of our conversation, so she quickly changed the subject, announcing that the coffee was ready and that dinner would be ready in about an hour.

"I baked a cake myself, I know it will not be as good as your Lucretia, but since you two came back, I found that I can try," she added.

"But I could have brought something," I said. "You know I have no problem with that, I would try a new oven right away."

"You've been busy moving. Why would I bother you with it?"

"Baking is never a problem for me." I smiled. "I have recipes for undemanding cakes."

"Now now. Just don't judge your mother too harshly." She laughed sincerely.

I was feeling some warmth in my heart, we rarely had such nice interactions. Usually, Martha treated me cooler. Even if it was just a show of a happy family for Ginny, it was still nice. After coffee, we sat down to dinner, Meow did not lower David's lap, eyeing the new person suspiciously, as if he did not fully trust her enough to consider her worthy of his surroundings. The father was listening to the conversation rather than participating in it, he just wanted to know what was happening with his children and enjoy their presence.

With little gestures, mostly made for me, Ginny was trying to mark her Hyacinth possession. She held his hand as he put it on the table, trying to put her hand on his shoulder or back from time to time. She emphasized how close they were, etc. Hyacinth was tiring, seeing his not-so-pleased expression, and Victor we laughed at it quietly. It reminded us of the older brother's earlier relationships.

Martha, on the other hand, was delighted with her, hearing about her latest ideas and shows, and seeing her as her successor in terms of creativity and style. I saw how in her head she saw her future daughter-in-law as a perfect partner for Hyacinth. She thought that with Ginny's help he would take care of her company even better.

Despite everything, we had a pleasant time at home. As we got back, I asked Victor what he thought about Ginny.

"It can be fun when she's around," he said and laughed as he recalled the expressions Hyacinth was making when she grabbed his hand again.

"As long as Hyacinth is happy, so she can be," I said, and smiled sadly.

Victor then suddenly came up with an idea that I didn't necessarily want to pursue and unfortunately I couldn't dissuade him.