Lily POV:
As I continued to drift along the sea of memories, a faint voice spoke to me from above. "h—wa—u—Li—"
Who… is it? I slowly opened my eyes. In this endless sea of darkness, there was a small flicker of light ahead. I don't know why, but my body began moving closer to it instinctively. As I did, the voice grew clearer and louder, and a bright light enveloped my whole world.
I let out a gasp.
***
"Goddammit, Lily, wake up!"
Before I could process anything, my body shot up from bed. My forehead collided with something sharp and hard. A dull ache throbbed in my skull, abruptly waking me back into reality.
"Owowow!"
I brought my hands to my head, rubbing the spot lightly as tears formed in the corners of my eyes. What the hell was that?! I heard a pained groan to my side and whipped my head around. There sat my Brother, crouched down and holding his chin with a pained expression on his face. When he noticed that I was staring at him, his eyes narrowed.
"What was that for?" he cried. "I let you sleep on my bed, and this is how you repay me?"
His words hung in the air for a bit as I struggled to find my voice. The transition from the 'Lily' of the memory to the 'Lily' of the present felt like trying to drag my soul across the years that had passed.
"Well… I don't know—maybe just don't try waking me up," I replied, already deftly twisting the situation to shift the blame onto him. "You know I get scared easily. You basically asked for this."
My Brother's eye twitched as he stared at me incredulously, but I just ignored him and hopped out of bed.
"Well, thanks for letting me sleep here. I'm gonna go get ready for school now. Toodles~"
I gave him a playful wave before skipping out of his room and into mine. Once inside, I closed the door softly. I stood completely still until I heard the sound of Brother leaving his room for the washroom. I waited just a couple more seconds before I finally allowed myself to collapse against the door and let out a deep, shuddering sigh.
"Hah, hah… See? It isn't so hard, right?"
A hollow chuckle echoed through the room. My face ached from that single minute of playfulness.
"As long as… I don't do anything stupid… it should be fineee."
The sound of the tap in the washroom cutting off snapped me out of my thoughts. My body immediately tensed.
"Yo, the washroom's free," my Brother said from outside my door.
I hurriedly opened the door and made my way to the washroom in performative, irritated stomps.
"Jeez, you take longer than Mom, y'know that?"
I turned on the faucet and began rinsing my hands in the warm water. My Brother let out an offended scoff. "Uh, excuse me? I'm the second quickest in this damn house."
I turned my head and stared directly at him with a smug grin. "Nah, I don't think so."
Before he could say anything else, I kicked the door closed, blocking out the world. Yet, I swear I managed to hear an annoyed sigh from outside, but maybe that was just the sound of the water running.
Now that I had the washroom all to myself, I quickly brushed my teeth. Then, I returned to my room, sat down at my desk, and pulled out my skincare products along with my cosmetics.
I applied the skincare first, then light touches of makeup—painting the doll back to life. Once I finished, I exited my room and barged into my Brother's room. An annoyed sigh leaked from his lips the moment he saw me.
"What do you want? Can't you see I'm still changing?"
I ignored his wails of protest as I briskly passed him and hopped onto his bed. "Oh, please—you're fully clothed, stop being so overdramatic–"
The words caught in my throat. I stared at my Brother with wide eyes. He shifted his body so his back was turned towards me. It was almost like he was… embarrassed.
"Hey—are you… wearing your uniform?"
It was something that should have been normal. Except, my Brother hasn't worn his uniform since his first year of high school. He was wearing the black blazer, the red tie, the whole 'Perfect Student' look.
"I just thought it'd be a nice change of pace, don't overthink it," he said, his voice as cold as ever.
I shrugged nonchalantly. "Sheeeesh, you don't have to be so defensive about it. But since you're done, can you do my hair?"
My Brother froze, but only for a second. "I don't care. But can't you do it yourself?" he replied as he adjusted his blazer. "And are you sure? The last time I did it, you said you looked bad."
I wagged my hand in the air, brushing off his negativity. "For the first part, just spoil me a bit here! I'm not asking for much, you know. And for the second thing—well, it was true, you sucked. But it was fun too. So shut up and hurry up."
He spent a few extra moments adjusting his uniform until he sat next to me on the bed and started doing my hair. His fingers were careful, perfectly precise. It was completely different compared to how his fingers awkwardly scrambled around my scalp the first time. Before I could even take my time and enjoy the moment, his hands stopped.
"K, I'm done."
"...Huh?"
My Brother got up and walked towards the front door. I launched myself at him, but just as I was about to reach him, he stepped to the side and opened the door, sending me flying out of his room.
"Hey, are you just gonna ignore me or something?!"
He tried walking away, but I stepped in front of him and spread my arms wide, blocking his path. "What do you mean, 'you're done'?! You didn't even spend a whole two minutes on me! At least try!"
My Brother let out a quiet sigh before pulling out his phone and taking a picture. He tapped the screen a few times until I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I pulled it out and gasped.
It was the one he just took. My hair looked almost exactly how I usually did it. I looked up at him. There was no proud smirk or anything like that; he just continued to act like everything was normal.
"Y-you… how? When did you learn this?"
He shrugged his shoulders and walked past me. "I've seen you do that same style God knows how many times since elementary school. If I couldn't somewhat figure it out in all those years, then I'm a lost cause," he said as he walked past me.
I felt a pang in my chest—not of pain, but of a terrifying realization. He had been watching me all this time. Even when I thought he stopped caring, even though he stopped calling me 'lil sis,' he continued to pay attention to the way I did my hair—to me.
I felt my lips curl up into a giddy smile. Jeez, would it kill you to say that you've just been paying attention? I shook my head and quickly caught up to him until we were walking side-by-side.
Together, we both proceeded our way downstairs—to where Mom was waiting. The stage was set.