Page 89 of Phantom Flower

I narrowed my eyes playfully. “You notice way too much.”

“I notice everything about you,” he said. “The way you scrunch your nose when something is too salty. The way you hum quietly when you really like a dish. The way your eyes light up when I get the rice consistency right. I notice it all.”

My cheeks warmed. I looked down at my plate, pushing a piece of broccoli around.

“You’re being sweet again,” I muttered.

“Can’t help it,” he said, reaching over to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear, fingers brushing the purple flower he had placed there that morning. “You make it too easy.”

Chapter 25

Rei Kurosaki

I sat on the edge of Dimitri’s bed, knees pulled up to my chest, staring at my phone. The screen was lit up with notifications I had been ignoring for days. Missed calls from Kento. Several of them. Texts too.

I did not open any of them.

My thumb hovered over the screen, then dropped back to my knee. My heart was beating too fast, the same way it always did when Kento decided to remember I existed. He was my older brother, but he had never felt like one.

Kento was ruthless.

He killed without blinking if it suited him. I knew that. Everyone in our world knew that. But he had never hurt me. Not physically. Still, there was this power he had over me. Like if he told me to jump, some broken part of me would ask how high before my brain caught up.

I did not know how to explain it. Not even to myself.

I was scared to open the messages. Scared of what they would say. Scared of what they would not say. Kento always found out everything he wanted to know.

Always.

Even when Alexei had smashed every phone in that hallway and made sure nothing about the locker incident got posted online, I knew Kento had heard about it anyway. He had eyes everywhere.

And he knew about Dimitri too. I was sure of it. Dimitri had been around me constantly lately. I could already imagine the disapproval in his eyes.

My phone started ringing. It was Marco.

I answered fast, grateful for the distraction.

“Hey,” I said, trying to sound normal. “You feeling any better?”

There was a short pause on the other end. Then Marco’s voice came through, a little rough. “Yeah… yeah, the cold’s mostly gone. Still kinda tired but I’m okay.” He sounded off though. Not his usual easy tone. “How are you? I… I heard what happened at school.”

I sat up straighter. “How do you know? There isn’t any video, right? Alexei made sure—”

“No, no video,” Marco said quickly. “Mia told me.”

Mia was another scholarship student. She had also been filming that day, and she liked running her mouth. I was not surprised she told him. They were not even friends, but she probably yapped about it to anyone she talked to now. “She kept saying there was blood everywhere and fingers and—” He stopped himself. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have brought it up like that. Are you okay?”

I forced a laugh, even though nothing about this felt funny. “I’m fine. It was just a really bad prank.”

He did not sound convinced. “A prank? Mia said you were on the floor hyperventilating. She said you looked like you were having a panic attack. And the blood— she said it was real. And the fingers…” His voice dropped. “Who the hell would do something like that to you?”

I rubbed my forehead. “I don’t know. Some psycho with too much time on their hands. It’s over now. I’m fine. Really.”

There was silence on the line for a moment. I could hear him breathing. “You don’t sound fine.”

I closed my eyes. Marco had always been too good at reading me. Even through a phone.

“I’m… getting there,” I admitted. “It shook me up. But I’m dealing with it. Dimitri’s been helping. A lot.”