twisted bond

o2 . reconstruction

I sneezed as another wave of dust hit me.

"God damn." I muttered in annoyance. I was currently cleaning Xylon's bedroom, which was the storeroom before. Well, a rarely used storeroom that was. And well, it was originally a bedroom anyway, but since we had extra rooms . . . in the long run, it became a room for junk keeping.

Oh, and we're officially a five-member family starting from today. Leonard and Xavier had already moved their stuff in during the last two days, and all that's left was Xylon. And well, since I've been assigned to clean Xylon's room, I decided that I'll take my own sweet time in doing so.

A gasp broke me out of my reverie. I turned around to see Mum standing in the doorway. "Hey Mum." I greeted monotonously. "Look at me. I'm having fun." I offered a half-smile and swung the rag in my hand halfheartedly.

"Shannon! What the hell are you doing?! Xylon will be arriving with his stuff in an hour's time!"

"Oh. Time passes quite fast, eh?" I looked around the room. "Well, all that's left to do is to clean off all the dust, mop the floor, spread the bed sheet, and put up a banner that says welcome to your room?"

"Argh!" Mum signed in frustration and clenched a fist in her honey brown hair. "What have you been doing all this time? You can't finish all this in an hour! And I don't appreciate your dry humor, young lady."

I sighed in disappointment. "Ah, that's too bad then. I need to brush up on my skills."

"That's not the problem!" Mum exploded. "How did I ever give birth to a daughter like you?" I detected a note of exasperation in her voice.

I regarded her expectantly.

"Oh fine! I'll help! Will that do?" Mum threw up her hands in surrender.

A grin broke out on my face as I made a victory sign. "Should have done so earlier, Mum. It would have spared you all the unnecessary mental torture."

So, sue me. I'm a lazy bone.

•••

"Shelly!"

Before I could react, two arms threw themselves around me and hugged me tightly. I immediately stiffened.

"Let me guess, you had bacon and egg for breakfast, and it's your favorite too."

I frowned and removed myself from Xylon's embrace. "I was right. You were stalking me." I accused. "And that wasn't the right way to greet your stepsister. Besides, the first person to greet when you stepped into my house should be my mother."

"Correction." Xylon said in a singsong voice. "This is not your house. It's our house. Besides, our parents are busy."

Smooching, in other words.

A grin lit up Xylon's face. "You like me, don't you?"

I sighed, baffled. Where did that come from? Xylon, I decided, is officially a cranky guy. Well, no normal guy would suddenly hug his stepsister whom he has met for only two times and then asked her if she likes him. Moreover, what is it with his attitude? It's like a three hundred and sixty degrees change from the last time I saw him.

Well, if he's going to jump on me every time he saw me, then it's going to be hard to avoid him.

Xylon slung an arm over me. I looked at it in irritation.

"Well well? Don't you like me?" He persisted.

I stared at him dully. "Please remove your arm."

Xylon chortled. "You're funny!" His turquoise eyes twinkled playfully. "And interesting. I like you."

He looked at me.

I looked at him.

"Well?"

"... Please remove your arm."

Xylon smirked. "You were supposed to say 'I like you too' to me, you know."

"I don't like you. Stop bothering me."

Xylon placed a hand over his heart. "You've hurt me, my dear sister."

I looked pointedly down at the arm that was still attached to my shoulder. Before I could say or do anything though, his arm was suddenly off my shoulder. I looked up to see Xavier holding Xylon's arm, his expression guarded.

"Xylon." That one word was said with such precision that Xylon looked solemn for a second. Then he sighed and shook his arm away from Xavier's hold.

"I know, I know. Stop being such a wet blanket, Xavier. I was just playing around."

Xavier stared at me darkly. I guess he was directing his anger towards me. Why was he angry, anyway?

I slowly raised an eyebrow. I'm not scared. I mean, I didn't even do anything wrong.

"Don't touch her." Xavier said harshly.

I frowned. Xavier was looking- no, glaring at me all this while, but his words were directed towards Xylon. And whatever does he mean? Don't touch me? Yes, I didn't like Xylon touching me too much, but nevertheless, I was insulted. Excuse me, did he think I'm dirty or something?

Xylon stared at the floor, and I thought I glimpsed a small smile making its way onto his lips. I wasn't too sure though.

"Aw, Xavier . . . "

In an unexpected movement, Xylon leapt onto Xavier's back. "Xavier, you can say so if you wanted me to touch you so much, yeah?" He laughed loudly. "Man, trust you to get so jealous over these little things! Don't worry, Shelly ain't gonna snatch your little brother away!"

"What?" Xavier spluttered. "Get down, Xy! You're heavy! And don't say such disgusting things!"

And to his credit, Xavier did indeed look repulsed.

I frowned. My new stepbrothers were giving me more trouble than I thought. Half the time, I didn't even know the reason behind their actions. It was . . . well, interesting, to an extent.

But that didn't mean that I wanted a part in it.

•••

I was sitting on the couch, resting. This afternoon had been a bit exhausting for me. Mum and Leonard were preparing dinner in the kitchen. Apparently, Leonard could whip out some wicked dishes. I would have offered my help, but I didn't want to disrupt their newlyweds' mood.

Ok, well.

I was lying.

I'm just plain lazy.

Too lazy to even offer my help.

That doesn't mean I'm in the wrong though.

A shadow fell over me. I found myself contemplating whether it would be Xavier or Xylon. I settled with Xavier. The reason was obvious enough. No doubt if it was Xylon, he wouldn't be standing there silently waiting for me to notice him.

Then, I found myself wondering if I should pretend not to notice him. Ignoring him might not be nice, but I don't feel like talking to him right now.

Xavier cleared his throat.

Should I close my eyes and pretended that I've fallen asleep?

"Shannon."

I kept still.

"Do you want me to call Xylon here?"

Aw. Well then, time to face the music. Dealing with one is better than dealing with two.

I peered up at Xavier with my golden brown orbs. Uh oh, he looked impatient.

"Look, I'm not stupid. I know you don't like me nor Xylon, but I still have to tell you this." He looked at me sharply, as if to confirm if I was listening or not.

"Get on with it, brother." I drawled monotonously.

Xavier looked slightly irked at the fact that I have just mocked him, but otherwise, he didn't say anything.

He took in a deep breath.

Did he need that much courage to say something? It wouldn't be anything important anyway. I rolled my eyes inwardly.

"Stay away from Xylon, you hear?" He barked out. "It's for your own good. Stay away from him, even if he tries to get close to you."

There. It wasn't anything important at all.

Did he have nothing better to do?

"Aye aye. I'm hungry." I yawned. "And tired."

I glanced at Xavier from under my lashes briefly, before making a move to get away, but Xavier grabbed my arm to stop me from leaving.

"Don't take my warning lightly." He hissed feverishly beside my ear before stalking through the door.

I looked at his retreating back and sighed. "Xavier Ferial is not normal. Xylon Ferial is not normal. Leonard Ferial is still under observation . . . "

•••

A/N: I just have to say, updates for this will be really irregular. Thanks for the reviews, my beloved readers~

. Luv-TU: Thank you.

. Jugglingbearperformer: Well, you'll just have to read on. Thanks for adding this to your favorites! Love you.

. svmgeleta: Well, it's updated slower than Foxified, so be satisfied, haha. Yup, Xylon is the younger one . . . and it did seem kinda confusing that their names look alike . . .

. alaskan airlines: Thanks for pointing out my mistakes. I know, I always have this problem between switching tenses. It's killing me. Anyway, if you spot any more mistakes, please point them out to me, thanks ;)

. miss-blackhair: Thanks :)

. TwEeTztheBiZaRrE: Haha, thanks. It seems so long since you last updated too! Where's Tru? He's dead, honey? No, bring him back please -puppy dog eyes-

. Emmms: Thanks. Haha, no, Xylon's name doesn't have a purpose.

. Nara Occult: Thanks! I love that line too, and oh, that's another mistake I made, haha.

. SolisLuna: Thank you, dear.

. anne: Thanks for reading all my stories. Love you :D

. bookworm3338: Thanks!

Please review, dah-lings!