Chapter 5: Una

Rounding up quickly with their lunch; Livingstone escorted Yue to her last class, before making it back on time to his. His next destination landed him at the train terminal, after his lectures came to an end. Not knowing the exact time, the next train would be arriving; he confirmed it with his ontel. The feedback received was that, the next available train was expected to arrive at the terminal in the next twenty seconds.

In less than fifteen seconds, he was on the next train to his district. Making payments successfully with the device wrapped around his wrist; he keyed in the route to his final destination on the destination detector attached to where a driver would've sat, and silently joined the few passengers who were on the train. Casting a glance at every passenger he walked by, he found it easy identifying their professions. Their work uniforms always gave them away, obviously, but in general, not everyone on the train was in their uniform, just a few who felt the need to flaunt it like a badge on the chest of a high ranked general.

"I honestly do not agree with The Council's decision to use enforcers to quell the sudden revolt among civilians in the Justice Unit," he heard a man say to his colleague, as he walked past them.

"The little I can say is, we should trust The Council to handle this situation well. After all, The Council knows best," the other man shared his opinion.

Walking past a slender middle-aged woman, he spotted a seat ready to be taken by him. He plopped down nonchalantly in the seat, and fixed his music ear-play buds in his ears. Leaning his head on the windowpane, he got lost in his many thoughts.

On arriving at the doorsteps of his home, he raised his right wrist towards the mini screen of the automatic home-lock device. The device scanned the lines on my wrist and beeped. In less than a minute, the heavy doors opened, granting him access to his home. Dropping his bag in the first seat he came across; he halted in his steps, when a sudden noise made its way to his eardrums. It was coming from somewhere within the house.

Is dad in? No, that's impossible. Today's a Monday and not Sunday He thought.

Following the direction of where the noise came from with footsteps as light as a feather, he took notice of the fact that it was coming from the kitchen. Upon entering the well furbished modern kitchen, he was met with the back of a feminine figure. Judging by her height of five feet - seven inches, he immediately recognized who exactly it was. She was clad in a black and ash knee-length coat and pants. Her straight blonde hair was held up in a high ponytail. The streaks of orange, the colour of sunset --- at the edges of her hair, failed to go unnoticed by him. He had always known her as someone with a natural artistic flair of her own.

"Aunt Una." She turned around so quickly with eyes the size of saucers, placed a hand on her chest and looked heavenward.

Livingstone fixed his eyes on her actions. She shifted awkwardly in her spot, as she subtly kept a much firmer grip on the mug she had in her hand, as though it was bound to fall anytime soon.

"Sto--"

"I see you decided to go blonde with a streak of orange." he cut in, referring to her new look. She was someone who stuck to her old routines and hardly adapted to changes, so seeing this new look on her took him by surprise.

"It’s good to see that somebody sees the beauty of the colour," she chuckled, "Novera, on the other hand, hates the blend of these colours. She claims they make me look...different," she voiced, gaining some composure, as she began to head toward the main living room. Livingstone trailed behind her steps. "According to her, my natural hair colour suits me better."

"Maybe you should listen to her more often. She is your daughter after all, and I'm quite positive that she knows which colour suits you better."

"Are you indirectly saying that I look ugly with these colours on?" she asked, sounding offended but looked nowhere near it.

"No. All am I saying is you should listen to Novera's opinions sometimes, and maybe reflect on them," he remarked, "anyway, what are you doing here?" he asked, changing the topic as soon as possible. "Dad never informed me of your visit."

She chuckled slightly, as she took a sip of whatever content she had in the mug.

"About that, I told him not to, and it seems he kept his word by not informing you," she stated simply. "Well...let's just say that District A7 has been a bit boring lately, and with Novera now out of the house and working in District B9, I can't stand the thought of going back to an empty house each day after work. And don't even question me about Victor," she said, referring to her husband. "Just like your father, I'm always met with his absence at home. So, I thought to myself, why don't I save myself from sheer loneliness and visit my only nephew? And that's how I landed here, in District B2."

He watched her bring the mug to her lips. She took long sip of its content and finished it this time around.

"You won't be staying for long, right?" he couldn’t help but ask.

He did not hide his displeasure at the prospect of her staying in his voice, as he walked over to the centre table to pick up the weather remote control. After the sudden disappearance of his mother, all he wanted to do was cut ties with all her relations, and Aunt Una was one of them.

"I will," she stated.

Livingstone froze in his spot.

"Oh! And let me add this before it slips off my mind," she exclaimed, tapping her chin as she looked in the direction of the hi-fi system as though she was reminiscing an old forgotten memory. "Ah, yes! I finally found what I was looking for," she voiced suddenly. "I would be staying here, for the next four days and four nights."

She watched him keenly for any signs of outbursts, or maybe she expected an out-of-worldly reaction from him. Either way, she didn’t care to hide the smirk that stretched on her face at the look on his face. She tilted her head to the side, and inhaled deeply as she admired the interior décor of their home. Everything she cast her eyes on wasn’t there the last time she made her presence known --- the renovations had clearly been done to match the curvature of the house.

“You planned all this, didn't you? Because I honestly disagree with the fact that you came all the way here to visit me, just because you have no one to go back home to," he accused.

She scoffed at his remark, then rolled her eyes.

Making her way to the centre table; she set the mug on it, then turned to face him. "When did you become this dramatic?" she began, crossing her arms together as she leaned against the round sofa, which was positioned close to the centre table she placed the mug on. "Because the last time I checked; you and Drama were two worlds apart."

She was mocking him without doubt.

"Of course, I'm here because I wanted to see you again, know how you were doing and check up on how you are coping with life in the University. I couldn't wait for another day to pass by without seeing you and congratulating you on your entry, especially after Elijah shared the news with me. With all these in place, I see no reason why you should see any fault with my presence here, being it a simple visit, or a stay for some days."

Her earnest dark-brown eyes met his. A faint smile tugged at her lips.

"Sounds very much unlike you." Sarcasm laced his voice. "All the same, it's relieving to know that your visiting was not a way to ensure that I still kept your secret intact."

She moved away from the sofa, and her feet took a step forward toward his direction without her knowledge.

"And you still do, right?" she asked out of the blue, in a voice which came out as a whisper. Regaining her composure effortlessly once again, she spoke a bit boldly this time around. "I want to believe that you still haven't uttered a word to Elijah."

"I promised you I wouldn't, and I still haven't," he assured her, just as calmly as she spoke. She let out a breath she had no idea she was holding in.

"However, you promised me you would tell him yourself, but it seems you have no intention of doing that anytime soon," he voiced. This time, concern tinged his tone.

"That's because I'm still undergoing my treatments and they are helping,” she assured. Realizing that she now stood directly in front of him; she turned around and moved back to the sofa.

"Treatments are not the same as a cure," he stated firmly, watching her back. "I'm positive dad's profession as a research scientist could help him come up with a cure or something close to that. You informing him about this would--"

"Enough," she interjected curtly.

She was becoming exasperated. Goaded beyond endurance, she said, "I would only inform Elijah, alongside the rest of the family about my condition when I am, and feel ready to do so. For now, as I said earlier, my treatments are working and I wish to keep things the way they are. So, no more questions or conversations about this topic again."

"Fine," he said with a sense of finality, hinting at the fact that he was never going to bring the subject up again and marched off in the direction of the stairs, seething with frustration.

Taking the first step, it suddenly dawned on him that he still had his bag in the seat he dropped it in when he came in. Turning around and stomping towards the chair; he grabbed the bag from the seat. Her eyes were trained on him the entire time.

Ignoring her, he headed toward the stairs.

"Livingstone," she called out in a bare voice, making him halt in my tracks. He tilted his head to the right, so his cheek faced her instead. "Thank you."

Assuming that that was all she wanted to say to him, he shifted his eyes back on the stairs and began to walk up the stairs. That was when she continued, "Thank you for keeping your promise by not mentioning anything to your father and most importantly...thank you for your genuine concern."

After a minute of awkward silence, he tilted his head to the right once again so his cheek faced her for the second time. "I think blonde with a touch of orange, the colour of sunset, looks great on you."

Realizing that he’d shifted the conversation back to her hair, she chuckled lightly, and felt the tension from earlier dissipate into thin air.

"That is in my opinion," he added, and left her standing with a ghost smile on her face.

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"You mean to say that your aunt, Una is around. Like in your home?" Yue asked, the moment they sat down together behind their table at the cafeteria.

"She is," he said simply.

"And why do I feel as though you're not too enthused about it? I mean, this is your only aunt we're talking about," she voiced, "Just because you two have opposite personalities doesn't mean that you two can't get along well."

She began to unwrap the packet of almond chips on the tray. His eyes studied the movements of her fingers around the packet. They were tearing it the wrong, yet he chose not to utter a word about it.

Stifling a laugh, he countered, "Trust me, we will get along when the need arises.”

"Is this seat taken?" A male voice chimed in.

They looked toward the same direction and found a tawny brown skinned guy, who carried an air of nerdiness around him. He was of average height, had less muscles compared to him and a mob of frizzy brown hair. As he stood before them, Livingstone couldn't resist the strong urge of scrutiny that followed from his end. The third wheel stood with his tray in his grip and passed them an animated smile. Livingstone was about to get rid of him without a second thought, when Yue spoke first.

"Of course not, Emre. This seat isn't taken. Join us," she said cheerily.

He nodded and smiled lightly before taking the seat opposite Livingstone. Lifting his eyes to meet his, he realized that the crepuscular rays streaming through the cafeteria made the third wheel’s gentle, light brown eyes look almost crystal clear.

"Stone, meet Emre and Emre, meet Stone." Yue introduced them. Livingstone cast a glance at her, and noticed that she still had that 'too happy' smile settled on her delicate features, as she continued to spare the nerd a look in his direction.

"Stone?" the nerd asked, baffled by the sound of his name.

"He's Livingstone actually, but Stone for short," His spokesperson for the day explained, making the nerd nod in understanding as he threw a 'nerdy' smile his way. The nerd made eye contact with Yue before casting his eyes down to his lunch tray.

"So, would any of you care to share with me --- how you two met, because I'm confused," Stone blurted. "It seems you two are pretty much more than acquaintances."

"Emre and I, are actually in the same grouping. Hence, we have the same lectures together. Aside from that, he's also my partner in Mrs Irani's Linguistics class," Yue explained, not even caring to cast a glance his way the entire time.

"I see," he said dryly. He pulled his tray towards him, and watched them intently from his peripheral vision.

"So… how do you see the University, Stone?" the nerd asked, looking at him from across his side of the table. He was obviously trying to spark a conversation with him.

"Large, serene and breathtaking," he replied dryly.

He spared him one last look before casting down his eyes on his lunch.