"The empty, the angry, the lonely, the tricked, we are all museums of fear."

-Charles Bukowski

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"Great! Now because of you, my only best friend is mad at me," Ivan spat, his eyes seemed to burn in blue flames as he glared at Kate.

His cheeks reddened, his breathing quickened and his nostrils flared. His eyes turned stone-like-exactly the way they were when the twins had hugged him on the first day.

"Great job, Russos."

"Van, stop it."

Elena had a glare of her own, one that felt and looked like hot coffee. She grabbed Ivan's jaw in between her thumb and index finger, turning his warm face towards her.

"You--"

"That's enough! You started this, Van. You can't blame my sister without knowing the reason. Do you--"

"I don't care," Ivan interrupted her with a clipped tone. He removed her fingers from his clenched jaw. "I just need my play to be perfect. That's it."

"Do you have any idea what you're talking about?" Elena asked incredulously, his words like piercing needles, pricked her harshly.

She caught a glimpse of Kate who stood there quietly, listening to their argument with a pained expression on her pale face.

Kate was like a glass doll that needed to be handled with care. If broken, the shards would definitely hurt those who wanted to fix her... deeper each time.

Elena felt hurt. Ivan's lashing out at her little twin wasn't what she wanted.

She thought of Max who today, for the first time, was seen in anger... because of Kate. Who knew, he probably would be hurt too.

Why did he fight with his best friend just to defend her sister? She had no answer to that, but she surely wanted to know.

"The caring part or the play part?" Ivan repeated, snapping his fingers in her face to bring her out of her thoughts.

"The caring part."

"Why should I?" he asked bitterly, his eyes shifting to Kate. "You tell me, why should I?"

"Van--"

"Ever since you both have come into my life, it has been a mess. I don't need storms in it."

"Especially since it's rocky already," he whispered, but the twins heard him perfectly.

"What do--"

"You have done enough already and now you drive Max away," he said with an angry sigh.

"Great, just great," he whispered and walked away with a shake of his head.

Kate after giving Elena a brief unhappy glance, sauntered towards the small steps, her feet moving at the pace of a snail.

Perhaps their movement was slowed down by all the turmoil in her mind. Her ears echoed with what Ivan, their childhood bestie, said about them now.

Elena strode towards her but was stopped when Sarah held her arm.

"Elena," she whispered, "I feel bad for you."

"It's okay, Sarah. Can we talk later?"

Elena resumed walking in an attempt to reach Kate's side, but Sarah walked beside, eager to say what she had in mind.

"What Kate did wasn't right, she shouldn't have stopped you from speaking. You were just looking out for her--"

"Sarah, stop it."

"She shouldn't have--"

"She's my sister, I won't--"

"Did you just see the way Max held her hand? She--"

Elena stopped walking and gave Sarah an icy glare. The ice king's company had definitely taught her a thing or two.

"When I say stop, it means that I don't want to hear what you're saying," she stressed and resumed walking, turning her back to the once-spectacled girl.

Giving her a final look, Elena warned, "You're my friend, but Kate's my sister. I'll not hear anything bad about her even if she's mad at me. I hope you remember that."

She reached Kate and crushed her into a hug, finding both her twin's arms tightly wrapped around her waist. It looked exactly like a child clinging to a mother in times of distress.

Watching them walk away hand-in-hand was Ashley with a soft smile on her face contrasting to the sullen look Sarah had.

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Max sat on a bench outside the auditorium. Upon noticing Ivan coming out, he got up and started texting. A minute later, he got a call.

"Love you too, mom," he finished with a smile as he cut the call. He turned to find Ivan standing behind him. His smile dropped and he turned his face away.

He turned to rest his green eyes on the blue ones for a second and then his glance flickered again as he turned his back to him.

"What are you doing?" Ivan asked confusedly.

Max turned fully to face him and licked his lips. While scratching his neck, he slowly said, "I'm sorry."

"What?"

"I'm apologizing."

"Shouldn't it be me?"

"Doesn't make a difference. My ego isn't worth more than the relationships that I value."

"I'm sorry for being aggressive, but what you did--"

"Do you like her?" Ivan cut him off, staring right into his calm, green eyes.

"What?" Max chuckled and paused. "No, I don't."

"Then why?"

"Coz I see myself in her... I know what it feels like to be terrified. She wasn't lying. Something has happened... something bad."

"What are you scared of?" Ivan questioned, trying hard to keep his tone nonchalant. The fact that he never tried knowing more about his bestie rendered him guilty.

To find out that the one person who always smiled harbored fears of his own, felt suffocating to him.

How could he not know what was behind that happy face?

The one who brings brightness to other's dark worlds needs to burn himself first.

For we know that everything which is bright like the Sun or stars, needs to burn to give light to others.

And Max was the sun in their lives.

"Loneliness," Max answered slowly, trying to keep his small smile steady.

"You'll never be lonely, you have us," Elena said as she cheered from behind and clapped his back.

She looked at Ivan through narrowed eyes, finding his eyes mirroring the look. They gazed at each other defiantly for a second before looking away.

"All is well now," Max said with a grin after the twins walked away.

"Not yet..." Ivan answered.

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It was almost evening when Elena opened the door of her home, surprised to find both Ivan and Max there.

"Where's Kate?" Max asked as he entered inside with Ivan.

"She's not here."

"El! Where is my..." Kate's muffled voice echoed from somewhere near their bedroom.

Elena chuckled sheepishly and cleared her throat, pointing at the staircase. "I meant she's not here, she's there."

"Right," Ivan said, stretching the "I" sound.

When the boys stepped towards the staircase, Elena rushed to block their way.

"Look, I'll bring her here, you can talk to her then."

"Why? What's so bad about going upstairs?" Ivan asked with narrowed eyes.

"My house, my rules," Elena quipped back, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Neighbors should be treated with respect," Ivan clicked his tongue and exclaimed, "How can you be so ignorant, Snarky?"

"Snarky?" Elena questioned with a smirk, jabbing a finger in his chest. "I see that you keep giving me new nicknames."

"Can I--"

"How thoughtful of you!" she squealed and batted her eyelashes, faking a giggle or two, but dropped the honeyed expression with a grumble.

Max pursed his lips exasperatedly as he was ignored. Seeing Elena's antics, Ivan gazed at her with an amused smile.

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Kate sat in her lab or the secret room which no one except her family knew about. It was situated behind a wall of the twins' bedroom.

It was her secret haven: a place consisting of potted saplings, assorted soil, flowering plants and an alien-themed wallpaper.

Her hands were colored in brown, some of the mud streaked on her forehead too. She heard footsteps approaching and scoffed.

Without looking up, she chided, "El, where in the name of Astronomy have you been? I had asked you to bring me some water..."

She smiled at the sapling in her hand and planted it in an empty pot, patting the soil evenly.

"Why are you quiet? Van got your tongue?"

She looked up to find Max giving her a mischievous smile.

"How did you--"

"There you are!" Elena exclaimed. "I told you I'd have called Kate downstairs." She looked at Max and rolled her eyes. "Bad, Maxy."

"Guess your secret room isn't a secret anymore, Kate," Ivan spoke hesitantly. He came forward so that the four of them were now crammed into the small space.

"So, what brings you here?" Elena questioned Ivan, trying to keep her tone free from bitterness.

"Why don't you tell her?" Max prodded, noticing him stare at the wallpaper curiously. A nudge from Mr. Billionare Pants brought him back to reality.

"I'm so..." Ivan coughed deliberately, making the others raise their eyebrows simultaneously.

"I'm so..." he spoke words in a twisted manner and then paused.

"I'm so?" Elena questioned with a smirk.

"You're making this hard," he stated exasperatedly and huffed.

He glanced at the twins and spoke sincerely, "I'm sorry for overreacting. I'm sorry."

Kate was the first to break the silence. "I'm sorry for making you angry, I should have told you about it."

"You can do that now too," Max encouraged her with a smile, scooting closer to her. He held her hand and gave her a small nod.

Kate inhaled a deep breath and started telling her story. "This happened last year. I had taken part in a singing competition. It was a big day for me."

There was a pause as she scratched her head and continued in her low voice, "As I made my way towards the stage, people had already started cheering, El the loudest."

She smiled towards her sister and then dropped it. "I was so excited about it as I was the school's representative. The whole school was there, kids from other schools as well."

"I held the mic, trying to bring it near, but it didn't budge. I was the first person to sing and everyone was looking at me expectantly."

She took a deep sigh, closing her eyes briefly. She opened them again and found herself pulled into Max's chest, his palm rubbing her back soothingly.

"I pulled the mic hard and was about to begin my performance... before I could, wet soil, worms, and muddy water fell upon me in thuds... along with a bucket that hit me."

She inhaled sharply and Max held her more closely, so close that his chin rested upon the crown of her head.

Her voice now seemingly cracked, broke in between as she continued, "I was shattered... that humiliation was so profound that I wanted to hide somewhere... somehow. I forgot that in front of thousands, there wasn't any hiding spot."

"I ran away from there, leaving my performance, leaving my singing..."

"Leaving my old self..."

Her head was now buried in Max's chest as he wrapped both his arms around her waist. He held her tighter, possibly trying to take away all her pain.

His head was rested upon hers and he heard her uneven breathing. Ivan and Elena scooted closer to them simultaneously.

"My singing was snatched away from me. They thought they could break me, but I proved that I can embrace the very things that caused me utter humiliation."

"Who were they?"

She didn't answer Ivan as she scooped some soil in her palms, her eyes burning with determination.

"I developed love towards nature so that I would never be humiliated by 'dirt' again. It isn't the dirt that's humiliating, it's what happens to you in front of thousands of eyes."

"No, they cannot break me... they cannot," she mumbled into Max's chest.

"Will you become Aurora's voice?" Ivan asked, lightly putting his palm over her hand.

"Singing was my passion--"

"It is," Max corrected, his green eyes sparkling with hope as he looked directly into her fiery, amber ones. "It's never too late to start over."

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Hey, people! 😙 How are you all doing? I'm back with a new update.

So, what do you think of the revelations? I think you all must have figured out what had happened to Kate. This was a little more elaboration.

What was the best part of this chapter? Is there anything that made you smile? I'd love to know what it was. Please comment and let me know all your theories/thoughts.

What do you think about Ivan and Max?

What about Ashley and Sarah? Any words for their current behavior?

Lastly, I wanted to thank you all so, so and so much because TAM has reached 3K reads! We did it! You guys are the best, and your support always overwhelms me. Please do keep supporting as without it, I doubt any writer can write to their highest potential.

Haha and before you leave...

Fun fact: this is TAM's longest chapter till date. I tried cutting it short, but all the details are very important to include at this point of time. Word count: 2233.

Sneak-Peek of Episode 24:

Anyone up for some Elena and Ivan moments? Hoped that perked you up. :D

Keep smiling! 💕
Lots of love ❤💙
Sakina

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