"A safe but sometimes chilly way of recalling the past is to force open a crammed drawer. If you are searching for anything, in particular, you don't find it, but something falls out at the back that is often more interesting."

- James M. Barrie

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A week had passed. But, the twins couldn't get an opportunity to get their "revenge".

Ivan and Max had been sending wary glances towards the twins almost every day, probably waiting for their next move. But, there wasn't any.

The week had been mostly filled with loads of school work, tests, and concentration. Apart from the regular studying part, Sarah had grown close to the twins, well one of the twins.

Elena and Sarah had almost become inseparable. Turned out the latter had a good knowledge of fashion trends and clothes, which had surprised the elder twin. They had bonded well in the Textiles class and Kate felt a bit left out due to this.

Well, a bit would be an understatement. Guess both the twins had a jealous streak in their nature.

"El, don't spend so much time with Sarah," Kate said, a bit hesitantly.

"What? Why?" Elena asked, looking up from the collection settled on her lap. A mini leather jacket piece had been added to it recently, and she had squealed about it the whole day.

"I don't know... something about her seems off."

"Don't be ridiculous, you got to stop thinking negatively about everyone."

"All that girl yaps about is 'I don't like that girl, she did this, she did that.'"

"So what? We all have our faults," Elena replied. "For instance, you can't even switch on the gas."

"That's not a bad quality!" Kate scoffed, raising her palms in the air. "Anyway, what's that got to do with the main topic?"

"The main topic, for now, is checking our supplies," Elena commented and scooted closer to her younger twin.

"Neon paint?"

"Check."

"Stickers?"

"Check."

"Masks?"

"Check."

"Full black clothes?"

"Check."

"Inspect victim's room?"

"Nah, not checked," the twins said simultaneously and shook their heads, their faces adorned with grins.

"Let's go then," Kate called out as she reached the door.

"No! Wait," Elena replied, her disembodied voice reaching her twin. "Excuse ready."

She strolled towards the door and showed Kate her Astronomy textbook, the latter nodded with a thumbs up.

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The door of Ivan's house opened to reveal Cloe, Ivan's mom. She looked at the twins standing there questioningly.

"Hey, Co! Remember us?" Elena greeted with a wide grin.

"Excuse me?" Cloe asked with a frown.

"We used to call you Co," Kate replied with a smile. "We couldn't grab your name when we were kids."

"I don't recognize you," Cloe replied curtly, her voice almost bitter.

"We're the Russo twins, we are your neighbors."

"We're Kel," Elena stressed with a sigh. "Don't you remember us?"

"Right," Cloe hesitated, ushering them inside.

"Where's Ivan?" Elena asked, tapping her Astronomy textbook in rhythm.

"Why?" Cloe asked, her lips never tugged into a smile since the twins knocked.

"We need help with Astronomy," Kate answered and then sneezed loudly.

This was followed by four more loud sneezes. Cloe frowned at this, her face alarmed at an instant.

"Are you ill?" Cloe asked. "If so you can't--"

"No, I'm not, this happens to me at times."

"Can you please call Ivan?" Elena asked once again.

"And why do you think he'll help you?" Cloe asked and folded her arms. Her blue eyes seemed to pierce the twins.

"We are his friends," Kate answered with a frown. "He'll help us."

"Were," Cloe corrected, her voice now at the same level of bitterness as raw coffee beans.

The twins looked at each other and at the woman in front of them in disbelief.

"Friends don't leave friends behind," she added and rubbed the corner of her eye.

"We had no choice. Our dad had his job shifted. We didn't mean--"

Elena's stopped her sentence abruptly as Ivan sauntered towards the group.
He looked at them suspiciously.

"Elena, Kate, what brings you guys here?" he asked with a small smile.

"We need your help with Astronomy, but..." Elena left her sentence hanging and glanced at Ivan's mom briefly.

Ivan understood and turned to face his mother. "They're my friends, they can come here whenever they want to."

"I didn't know..."

"You know now," Ivan continued. "Don't stop them, mother."

He strolled towards the staircase which led to his bedroom. The twins followed behind in silence, still shocked about Cloe's words.

They didn't know what had made her bitter, but they surely wanted to know the reason.

A person leaves behind so many people, memories and moments and after his/her return expects things to be the same way as they were before. But things can change, even in a millisecond.

One thing the twins were forced to face was that nothing of the past stayed permanent.

Things had changed. People had changed, all because of their leaving.

"Why are you here?" Ivan asked them once they reached his room. His icy glare focused on the twins and he folded his arms.

"We need your help with Astronomy," Elena replied irritatedly.

"And why do you think I'll help you?" Ivan asked, his voice laced with a challenge.

"We're your friends, that's why," Kate replied with a frown.

"You're not."

"But you had told--"

"That's because I wanted to challenge her. I always do things opposite to what she says," Ivan explained and pursed his lips.

When the twins remained silent, he added, "Why am I telling you this?"

"Because we're your friends," Elena replied with a smirk.

"Shut up! I said no."

"Then we should tell Co we aren't," Elena said with a nod and made her way downstairs.

Ivan held her wrist to stop her. "What did you say?"

"Then we should tell Co we aren't," Kate stated with an eye roll. "You're a bad listener, Van."

"Co?" Ivan whispered. Why does that sound familiar?

"If your chit-chat is over, tell me what you do want?" Ivan asked quickly.

Elena opened her Astronomy textbook and flipped to a particular page. She had made up an extremely tough question and wanted his answer for it.

While Ivan was busy reading the text with furrowed eyebrows, Elena locked eyes with Kate, gesturing towards the water jar and the walls. The latter nodded in understanding.

Kate chugged down the water, emptying the whole jar in the process. Ivan looked at her, his baby blue eyes widened.

"Thirsty," Kate replied with a sheepish grin and glanced towards Elena.

"El, my tummy hurts," Kate whispered to her with a groan.

"Can I have some water?" Elena asked Ivan a minute later and touched her neck.

"Sure."

"My throat feels dry."

"Okay."

"Coldwater, please," Elena added.

"Alright," Ivan said, making his way towards the door.

"But, not ice cold," she instructed and resisted the urge to add a "like you" at the end of her sentence.

"Okay."

"Add a little hot water to that too," she added, making him irritated.

"Why not add bananas, apples, and oranges too?" Ivan retorted sarcastically, noticing her mischievous smile. With a huff, he ran a hand through his dark locks and left the room.

Kate had taken this time to her advantage and examined the walls quickly. Now when the twins were alone, she shook her head towards Elena. "Not even one childhood picture," she said seriously.

What the heart refuses to believe, the mind determines to search for. Same was the case with the twins who couldn't believe that there was nothing to remind Ivan of his childhood with them. Not even a picture.

Kate opened all the drawers of the small cupboard and searched in haste. Elena strode towards the window and examined the pipe going down from it. She then noticed the distance of Ivan's bed from the window.

Hurriedly she came beside Kate, gestured towards the window and showed her a thumbs up. She started looking through the drawers as well.
Those two minutes of searching were in vain.

"No alien ring either!" the twins said to each other in disbelief. "That was the token of our friendship," they whispered.

"Here's your water," Ivan's voice from behind startled them.

Elena grabbed the glass from his hand and chugged it down immediately.

"Thanks," she said. "We'll be leaving now."

With that, the twins almost bolted out from his room, in the hope that he hadn't seen what they were doing or heard them talking either.

But, he had.

"What alien ring?" he whispered to himself.

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Hey, people! How are you all? 💖 I'm back with a new update. I know I'm late, but trust me, I needed time to gather titbits for this chapter. Somehow I got most of the details about this chapter yesterday night.

There was supposedly a lot more to this chapter, but the theme was different and this one is already enough, I guess.

The part about the twins' "supplies" will be continued in the next update. :D What do you think about that? Any guesses what they're up to?

For me, this was a pretty simple chapter. Or is it that simple altogether? What do you think?

Sneak-Peek of Episode 19:

Any idea what's going to happen next? Comment in your thoughts! :D

Keep smiling! 💕
Lots of love❤💙
Sakina

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