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Rem’s eye twitched as Leik opened his mouth again. Her anger issues itched to make him shut his mouth before he could even speak, but her therapist would not likely approve of that.
“Rem,” Leik’s grating, upbeat voice nagged.
“Remmy,”
Rem’s hand was moving before she could even think, the sound of a slap ringing out before Leik’s brain caught up to what happened.
“Wow,” Leik’s voice was laced with mockery. “I thought you could get better.”
Rem’s eyes began to water at the implications of his words. Through the fog of betrayal at Leik’s mockery, she failed to hear the genuine hurt underneath his voice.
When Atlas brought Rem into the house, Her and Leik did not get along. They were at each other's throats constantly, their verbal banter creating a tension through the entire household.
The two of them lived in a state of venom and retaliation with no respite. That was until the two were sent out on a shopping trip.
~
It was late in the evening, but the house was missing some of the essentials required for the meal that was planned for that evening. Rem resented being paired with the snowflake kid, who was babied by the rest of the group.
Leik had gone off to grab the dairy aisle items from the list, while Rem took the cart to get bread. The store was relatively empty, but one of the few people in the store happened to be in the dairy aisle. That person in the dairy aisle happened to recognize Leik.
“Hey kid,” the stranger called out to Leik.
Leik ignored the stranger, obviously not recognizing them, and opted to pretend he didn’t hear them.
“HEY! You still owe me…” the stranger grabbed Leik’s shoulder and forced him to face the voice.
Leik couldn’t find the muscles in his throat to activate his voice box in time. The stranger shoved Leik into the shelves in the dairy aisle, dropping the milk he was carrying, just as Rem turned the corner to meet Leik.
“Leik!,” Rem called out.
The stranger immediately backed off, disappearing into the next aisle. Leik dropped to the floor, his breathing picking up. Rem picked up the milk and placed it in the cart before turning to Leik. “C’mon,” Rem said, standing over Leik’s crouching form, arms crossed. “Let’s get home.”
When Leik made no attempts to stand up, Rem crouched down next to him.
“Hey, I don’t know what’s going on, but I’d really like to get home, and I’m pretty sure you’d be better off having this mental breakdown at home,” Rem said evenly.
No response.
“Look, I know you hate me, but can we please just go?” Rem was starting to get annoyed at this point.
“What even happened??” Rem questioned.
“I don’t even know…” Leik's voice was quiet and shaky.
“What?” Rem was confused now. “What are you even saying?”
“I DON’T EVEN KNOW.” Leik shouted in frustration. “I don’t know who that was or what he wanted with me, or why I knew him, why I supposedly owe him now, what I did, how it happened, who I even am!!!”
Rem stayed still for a moment, until she saw tears in Leik’s eyes. Not the wails of an attention seeker, but the silent tears of someone who was truly suffering. Rem pulled Leik into a bone crushing hug before she spoke.
“I’m so sorry,”
As she continued to embrace Leik, she hoped he understood. She was sorry. For everything. For making assumptions. For the fact that he has to deal with this even now.
After a few minutes, Leik gently pulled away.
“Lets go home,” He said, his voice shaking.
~
From that point on, their relationship maintained its playful banter, but it was all in good fun. Rem never pushed her insults too far, and Leik in return allowed Rem space when she needed it.
The therapy their father-not-father paid for helped too, as the two realized they could grow together rather than in spite of each other.
Since that day, the two of them had always avoided triggering each other. Leik had stooped low with his comment, questioning Rem’s recovery. But Rem had deserved it right? Even though Leik had intentionally bothered her? That didn’t mean she had the right to hit him at all.
Maybe she could never get better.