The other side of the moon

“Everyone is a moon and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.”

—Mark Twain

…

When her little brother suddenly waltzed right into her study room with an overly bright grin on his face much, much later that night... Cassandra Lunamor was almost tempted to actually tell Cyan to get out.

Don’t get her wrong, Cassandra loved her little brother with all that is left of her heart, she really, really did… which is why she often let him do as he pleases or always let him get away from the repercussions of his unfavorable actions (something that she’s seriously beginning to regret to do these days) but she also knew what that grin Cyan had on his face right now means.

It meant hours of pointless teasing and loud chattering that promised to make her ears and head throb painfully for the entire night and the next day.

Any other time, she can tune Cyan out while he babbled on and on about his cute little ramblings but after her not-so-little… spat with one of the professors this afternoon... Professor Akihiro was obviously still annoyed at her for that, and it’s beginning to annoy her.... and then after suffering from incompetency after incompetency thanks to some of her employees (which means more paperwork. For real, chi ha assunto questi idioti?!)

And not to mention, Dante also reported that he noticed a trail of nosy journalists tailing after her car here and there, added by the hassle of schoolwork, the suffocating pressure without Colorado’s presence in the newly created branch of their company and Cyan’s sudden appearance…

In short, Cassandra was so done and definitely not in the mood for this.

Still, she didn’t want to trigger the automatic water works response from her little brother, so she decided to brace herself for the expected nonsense as she mentally decided to let him stay.

Cyan, on his part, seemed to have the slightest sense to stop and look around a bit inside his sister’s study room for a moment (probably looking for built-in hidden cameras, courtesy of their older brother... none, her shadow made sure of that already) before doing anything remarkably stupid… or anything to embarrass her that has the slightest possibility to be recorded and used against her because Colorado can be that childish… at the worst moment of times.

When satisfied, Cyan continued walking towards her, still wearing that unnerving grin. Until he stopped exactly right in front of her table.

...only to sing in an obnoxious and very loud voice:

“Cass and her teacher, sitting in a tree!”

Cassandra, who was in the middle of composing an essay for an English assignment, quietly sighed as she continued to type, not bothering to tear her gaze away from her laptop’s too-bright screen.

“K-I-S-S–”

“Cyan…”

“…I-N-G!”

“Cyan,” she very nearly hissed.

“Si?” he simpered.

“You're giving me a headache.”

He pouted, “You always have a headache.”

Her eyebrow twitched, “Whose fault do you think that is?”

“Non lo so,” he shrugs, “…Your boyfriend, maybe?”

“Get out, Cyan.”

“Hm, how about… no?”

She gritted her teeth, “I’ll get you a PS5 tomorrow.”

He snorted, “Nice try, sis.”

“I’m serious.”

“Hi serious, I’m Cyan!”

“It’s already way past your bedtime, young man. Aren’t you supposed to be sleeping already?” Cassandra’s voice was barely above a growl.

He hums, “I can’t sleep…”

“Then count sheep.”

“But I already did!”

Cassandra almost groaned out loud at that.

She had always assumed insomnia was something that runs in their family. Grandfather has insomnia, Colorado has insomnia, Cassandra has insomnia... now even the little gremlin has it!

“Esci dalla mia stanza,” she grumbled, squinting as the words on her essay suddenly started to blur for one good moment… Cassandra bit back a curse, rubbing at her tired eye with the heel of her palm before blinking at the screen again. Unlike the little brat, she really, really wanted–and needed–to go to sleep… like, right now.

She hasn't been sleeping properly since last month,

“...ha! Nope.”

“Go away.”

“No.”

“I will throw you out.”

Cyan pointedly ignored the clear warning in his sister’s voice as he leaned closer to her swivel chair, sitting on the arm rest. His big sister wouldn’t actually throw him out of the room, she fussed over him like a mother hen, after all.

And Cassandra knows he calls her bluff too.

“You like him, you like him!” he said in a sing-song, loud voice as he began to swing her ponytail this way and that, “I think you really, really like him~”

Cassandra’s eyebrow twitched again.

She had just literally spent the past two hours this morning protesting and trying to explain to her little brother that no, she didn’t even like her professor that way–Akihiro Zen is literally seven years older than her and as her professor, he was definitely off-limits (not that the rules ever stopped them from getting what they want) besides, he wasn’t even interested in her, that much is very clear to her… especially after she tore apart that stupida altra donna–

Bullshit.

This isn't working.

…not that Cassandra actually expected any of this to work in the first place. So, she immediately changed tactics: without a word, she abruptly stopped typing… and slammed the laptop shut, causing her little brother to flinch at the sudden loud noise it made.

“Uh, Cass?” Cyan regarded the laptop, then her nervously as the lock of her hair slipped from his hand, “…did you even save your essay?”

Cassandra glared at him.

...no.

And quite frankly, she no longer cared.

Cyan looked a bit scared.

Good, let him be scared.

Without a word, Cassandra suddenly stood up from her desk, scooped and tossed her little brother from his perch on the arm rest and over her shoulder with remarkable ease despite his surprised squealing and squirming.

“Hey, wait! Wait a minute!”

To halt her brother's very loud protests, Cassandra began to mercilessly tickle his sides with one hand, keeping in mind to focus on the ribs (Cyan's not-so-secret weakness) as she carried him easily and swiftly out of the room like the eight year old was a mere sack of potatoes.

Cyan practically broke out into a fit of wild laughter in her grasp, barely able to speak, much less tease his sister about her so-called 'crush' as her gloved fingers continued to poke and tickle him mercilessly.

“Cass no, stop–!”

As Cassandra gently set her little brother down on the hallway, a bit farther away from her study room, she continued to tickle her younger brother, completely unaffected by his wriggling, gripping him firmly by the arm so he wouldn’t be able to escape her wrath.

He really brought this on himself.

“S-Stop,” he wheezed, “… I SURRENDER!”

With a very satisfied smirk on her face, Cassandra abruptly turned away from her brother who was still gasping for breath and unable to stop her as she hurriedly marched back the way she came and locked the double doors of her study room behind her with a firm, clicking sound.

That’ll keep him out.

As she returned to her swivel chair and opened her laptop (not caring about the faintly visible crack on the screen, she'll ask her secretary to get a new one then)... she noticed an unread email from Akihiro.

After quickly reading it, Cassandra suddenly felt like slamming her head against something–preferably something hard or concrete, anything that can cause a mild concussion or temporary amnesia for the time being, any reasonable excuse to get her away from all of this idiocy because she is literally running out of reasons why she should continue to give a single fuck about her studies.

Seriously, fuck college.

“Hey! Hey wait, I’m still talking to you! Open the door! Cass? Cass, want me to go see if Professor Zen likes you too?!” The doorknob suddenly rattled, loudly, “I can go ask him for you if you're so scared of rejection!”

Cassandra can only stare blankly at the door.

…didn't her brother have anything better to do other than bothering her and being a general pest? Where the hell is Dante when you needed him the most?!

As if in answer, Cyan began pounding on the door with both of his fists, so much so that the door were actually rattling. She was almost impressed by his tenacity, if only it weren't so annoying. In fact, Cassandra wouldn’t be even that surprised if the doors falls off of its hinges any moment now.

“Do you want to kiss him? Do you? Do you?”

She rolled her eyes at the very loud mock-kissing sounds Cyan was making behind the doors, “I bet you imagine kissing your teacher in class… oh! Unless you guys already kissed! Wait. Have you…? Cass, have you guys kissed?! Have you?! JUST YOU WAIT TILL I TELL COLOR ABOUT THIS!”

“…”

Cassandra began to seriously weigh the pros and cons of sending Cyan back to Italy… or if she should just play Russian roulette and risk their older brother’s wrath by dropping out of college.