Malachi and Celeste spent the better portion of an hour in silence.
This wasn't by design mind you, but somehow they had settled into a bit of an awkward air.
Eventually, Malachi simply went back to leaning against the wall and brooding silently with his eyes closed.
Just as it seemed he was on the verge of falling asleep, he felt a pair of hands grab him.
Or, a part of him technically.
Opening one eye, he found Celeste holding a very babyish Gwiya as she fed him jerky from her pocket.
Manda soon became jealous, and he also went over to her side to demand treats.
"...Is this how it's always going to be between us now?" she asked quietly.
"What do you mean?"
"You've barely said ten words to me ever since that day that you left our quarters. I thought we had established a better friendship than that."
"..." All of the serpent heads on Malachi's back turned around to face him like they too were waiting for an answer.
Embarrassed, Malachi scratched his cheek. "I... didn't really think you would want to see me if I'm honest."
"Why? Because you and Melanie didn't work out?"
"..."
Celeste sighed in disappointment.
"I do think it would have been nice if the two of you had've patched things up, but I won't penalize you, or her, because that didn't happen. You should know me better than that."
"You're right... I'm sorry." He admitted.
Celeste didn't actually say whether she accepted or rejected Mal's apology, but he knew for a fact that she wasn't completely past it.
It appeared as though his attempt to keep the peace had hurt her a lot more than he'd first thought.
"...How is she?" he suddenly asked.
At first, Celeste was going to lie, but she decided that it would be unkind of her to do so and elected for the truth.
"Well... she had a hard couple of days. She sat with me and cried a lot, but she's getting better. She has even apologized to Bianca, Nadine, and Anna."
This new bit of information admittedly took Malachi by surprise, because he hadn't heard anything about this.
"I see... I'm glad. I hope that she keeps getting better."
Celeste opened and closed her mouth several times as if she was fighting to say something, and eventually she decided to plead her daughter's case.
"Malachi... she truly is sorry for what she did to you. I really think that if you gave her another chance then you would see that-"
"Celeste, please don't go there..."
"I beg you, just hear me out. She's a sweet girl, and she really-"
"I can't. Too much has already happened, and it would in no way be fair for me to go back to her since I.." Malachi's words started to trail off and he looked away to save face. "It just... wouldn't work."
-
It was 2. A.M. when Malachi finally stoped pretending to be asleep.
His frightening violet eyes flashed open and he sat up without disturbing Nadine or Sei.
Ever so gently, he kissed all six women in his bed before slipping out from underneath the covers.
In the dark, he pulled on a pair of sweatpants, a simple black tank top that couldn't hide the lean muscles lurking underneath.
Slipping on a pair of slides, he had his cover and was all set to leave.
Discreetly opening his bedroom door, he ran into his home's extra occupants.
Since the revelation of Ryo's betrayal, Serana hadn't set foot back in her quarters.
It was just far too hard for her.
She had been crashing at Malachi's place on his couch; crying silently every night and gorging herself on every Japanese desert Sei knew how to make.
Last night, Aubrey and her girlfriends stayed over on accident.
They spent the night watching some terrible show that focused on the overall theme of 'men ain't shit'.
Malachi tried to come out here a few times and join them, but everyone just glared at him when he tried, so he hid inside of his bedroom.
Malachi walked over to Serana and checked on her.
As he expected, she was still crying in her sleep.
He wiped her face as gently as he could without waking her, and gave her a kiss on the top of her head; siphoning a bit of her negativity in the process.
'I hope you heal from this soon... You have no idea how much I hate seeing you like this.'
"Are you going somewhere?"
Malachi hadn't realized that his sister Aubrey was awake and paying attention to everything that he was doing.
But it was okay because he had planned for this.
"Yea, I just wanted to check on her before I left... I couldn't sleep so I was just going to take a walk."
Aubrey stared at her brother for a moment without saying anything.
Eventually, she just nodded and pulled the spare blanket further over her body.
"Alright then... Don't stay out too long, yea?"
"I make no promises.. got a lot on my mind, you know?"
"Mhm."
Malachi gave his sister a kiss on top of the head just like he did for Serana, and he began heading towards the elevator.
Once the metal doors closed, he sank into the shadows on the floor and his entire demeanor changed.
'Alright... let's try to make it back in time to make breakfast for everyone."