Siblings (2)

I went into the kitchen as my mom gave me a tray of drinks to serve to my friends.

"Thanks mom," I grabbed the tray from her.

"It's the least that I could do. I was making beverages for your younger brother's friends anyways," My mom revealed another tray that sat on the countertop.

I had a younger brother? Why was it that I couldn't remember anything about him?

Whenever I visited my house in the third district, the house was mostly empty.

"Adrian you're here! Did my son make you pick up the tray again?" My mom faced the familiar boy that I recognized.

"Rika?" Adrian appeared shocked as he stared at me.

"Do you know Rika?" My mom asked as if she was surprised that we even knew each other.

"She was my math teacher for a several days over a year ago," Adrian recalled as he brightly greeted me again.

"I never knew Rika came to the third district to teach at a school," My mom knew that I rarely came to the third district.

"It was for a practical assignment. I couldn't go home as the school made me stay in a hotel," I sulked as I remembered begging Luke if I could go back home instead of staying in the hotel.

My mom seemed dejected that I didn't visit her when I was in the third district. Any parent would become depressed if they could only see their child once every three to four years.

I forgot about this aspect of staying in the dorms as everyone in school lived separately from their parents in the first district.

It was strange to visit your parents every week as it was abnormal when there was so much work to do and not enough time to accomplish all the course material assigned.

Everyone struggled to survive as they tried to earn enough points to live in decent room and eat regular meals.

I brought the drinks to my friends as they curiously drank the beverage that was handmade.

"This is amazing," Ellen commented as she hungrily drank the carbonated orange juice with a lemon hanging off the cup.

"You never had this kind of drink before?" I was surprised.

Both Shelly and Ellen nodded as they helped themselves to second servings.

Since I was a commoner in my past life, something like this wasn't something new. I still considered myself to be a commoner in this life as well. I was never going to admit my name to actually be 'Rika de Roselia' until I married Luke.

Luke didn't join the conversation as he read one of his usual books on my bed.

"It's still hard to believe you didn't come from the first district," Shelly admitted as she sat on the cold floor.

It did make sense that both Shelly and Ellen didn't consider me to be from the third district. The amount of time I spent in the first district didn't even compare to the minuscule time I spent in the third district.

I grew up with Shelly and Ellen as I hung out with them ever since kindergarten. I guess we were childhood friends as we always stuck together no matter what situation we ran into.

"Rika is a person from the first district," Luke joined our conservation.

Both Ellen and Shelly could not disagree as they tried to switch to another subject.

"We should enjoy the rest of our day here," Shelly carefully asked Luke if he was fine with it.

Luke nodded his head as he focused his attention back on the book he brought with him.

"Then we could also try cooking too!" I excitedly suggested.

I would definitely show Shelly and Ellen how to cook today.

I couldn't purchase the items in our secret hideout because I didn't know how to use the tools in the first district. However, if either Ellen or Shelly knew if there were any similar tools that were similar to the ones we used today, then we could fill up our kitchen that was there was decoration for now.

"You did tell us that you cooked in the third district," Ellen chuckled from recalling one of her fond memories.

"But Rika never cooked before?" Luke stared at us in confusion as he placed his book down.

"I did, remember the strawberry dessert," I reminded Luke of the time I made sugared strawberries for dessert.

Luke sighed as if he was getting a sudden headache from my response.

He helplessly waved his hand like he didn't want to continue to recall the sugary delight that I stuffed into my mouth before he snatched it away from my hands.

"Then we can try making cookies or cakes today!" Ellen suggested as she started to search up how people cooked in the third district with her marble that was filled with notes from class.

We all turned towards the door when we heard footsteps heading near my room.

The person momentarily stopped as he coughed before gently knocking on the door.

As the host of this house, I opened the door to find a boy around the same age as me who hesitantly looked at the guests in my room.

He possessed the same red wavy hair as me, but had mellow teal eyes that he inherited from my mother.

Instead of wearing a formal attire like the rest of us in the room, he wore relatively casual clothes that made him seem underdressed.

"You can come in," I let my younger brother inside my room.