"I'm bored," Liv groaned, flopping face first onto the couch.

"How about–" Her head shot up and interrupted me before I could finish.

"I refuse to play video games with you," she announced before pressing her face back into a pillow.

I sighed and crossed my arms. "Fine... What d'you wanna do then?" She mumbled incoherently into the pillow and I rolled my eyes. "Well if you hadn't gotten rid of my Nerf gun we could've had a shooting contest!" Liv groaned.

"Oh god, get over it," she grumbled, lifting her head to shoot me a bewildered, unimpressed glare. I stuck my tongue out at her childishly. Olivia returned the gesture.

I perked up with a sudden, brilliant thought and immediately darted back into the kitchen.

"What are you doing?" She called after me.

"I want a milkshake!" I yelled, opening the freezer and grabbing the vanilla ice cream.

"How are you not fat?" She demanded.

I rolled my eyes and yanked the refrigerator door open. "Do you want one?"

"Yes please!"

I smirked and grabbed all my desired ingredients.

"Put in a movie!" I suggested.

"Like what?" Liv gasped audibly. "Can we watch Saving Private Ryan?"

Ugh. Why do I ever trust her with picking movies?

"Raiya." Olivia stood in the kitchen doorway with big, begging puppy-dog eyes. "Pleeeeeease?" Having no effect on me, she resorted to pushing her lips out in a pout. "There's some action in it," she added in the hopes of swaying my opinion. "It's supposed to be really good."

I sighed. "It better be good." A grin broke out on her face and she nodded.

"Oh it will be, Vin Diesel and Matt Damon are in it."

I raised my eyebrows and nodded appreciatively at the mention of the cast. "I'm officially interested." Olivia laughed and hurried back to the TV to find it on Netflix.

"You know, for someone who hates dramas and sappy shows, you sure do love anything with a hot lead character," she pointed out.

I snorted and pulled the blender out from a cupboard. "Who doesn't?"

"True... does that make this a popcorn worthy movie?"

"Considering Vin Diesel is a part of it, I'd say so," I began tossing eye-balled measurements of ingredients into the blender. Olivia appeared beside me to grab the popcorn maker from the same cupboard.

"Do you know what you're doing?" She asked, eying my milkshake's current state doubtfully.

"Are you doubting my abilities?" I demanded. "This bad boy has ice cream in it. I know exactly what I'm doing."

"Okay," she held her hands up in surrender. "Just making sure you won't kill me."

"I won't." I dumped frozen strawberries into the blender and switched it on, watching as the red and white swirled into pink.

After a taste test and evening out the ingredients to fix the flavour, I deemed my masterpiece ready. Liv then finished with the popcorn and we settled on the couch to watch her chosen movie. At some point, Raphael snuck out of my room and into the kitchen to grab the milkshake I had left out for him and probably watched the movie as well from a hiding spot. I never saw or heard him, but I felt his presence in the air.

And I wished more than ever that he could've been sitting right beside me as opposed to the shadows.

••• 影の秘密 •••

"So tell me more about this Raphael," Olivia suggested excitedly once the movie had ended.

Uh-oh. In an attempt to play off my angst, I lifted an eyebrow at her and appeared as bored as I could manage.

"Don't give me that look!" Liv shoved me with a force that just about had me rolling onto my side.

"What look?" I asked innocently.

She rolled her eyes. "That stupid I-don't-know-what-you're-talking-about look that makes me feel like an idiot." My jaw dropped.

"I am not stupid!"

"What?" Her eyebrows drew together in confusion. "I never said you were!" I lifted a brow, quite aware that she did in fact call my 'I-don't-know-what-you're-talking-about' look stupid, which equated to calling me stupid.

"Stop giving me that look!" She shoved me again, and this time I did roll over onto the couch's mattress in partially suppressed laughter. I thought I'd succeeded in switching the topic of the conversation and was about to congratulate myself on my wonderful act but I was far from successful.

"Seriously, I wanna know more about him," she insisted earnestly.

"How?" I asked, desperate to deter her interest.

She sighed irritatedly and rolled her eyes. "What does he look like!?"

"Uh," I ran my fingers through the roots of my hair anxiously. "Well he's really tall–"

"Niiice, tall guys are hot as hell," Liv butted in with an excited gleam in her blue eyes. She grinned and shifted on the couch. "Continue," she prompted.

"Well he's crazy buff," I laughed. "Like crazy." Liv nodded along to my description approvingly. "And has a big, weird scar on his shoulder. But it's pretty cool, I like it… and his eyes are this really nice, intense green like I've never seen before. Oh, and he has another scar on his lip. And a weird one on the inside of his arm. He has a lot of scars," I laughed.

"Yeah no kidding. What does he do?"

"Uh…martial arts." Her eyes narrowed in confusion and I waited nervously for her reaction. Finally, Liv blew out her breath in a rush and shook her head amusedly.

"Jeez, he sounds as violent as you," she muttered. "You guys sound perfect for each other in a scary kinda way," she leaned forward. "What about hair?" Panic flared through my veins.

"Uh," I racked my brain, trying to imagine Raphael as a human. "Really messy, kinda spiky reddish-brown."

"He sounds hot," she yawned. "Has he made a move yet?"

What? "A move?" I repeated. "No… We're just friends." Olivia rolled her eyes and stretched her arms as she got to her feet.

"Sometimes Raiy, you're obliviousness amazes me."

What the hell is she talking about? I regarded her in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Liv sighed and gathered the dirty dishes to bring them to the kitchen. "I'm gonna have a shower." Still mulling over my sister's words, I made my way to my room. I was still trying to understand what I could be so oblivious towards when my eyes landed on an empty glass that had once contained a milkshake now sitting on my desk.

Shit. I scanned my room hurriedly, but found no sign of the mutant. My heart rated kicked up another notch. He heard us. He heard me talking about him, there's no way he didn't.

"Raph?" I hissed as loudly as I dared. Blood pounded through my ears as I darted into my bathroom, then my closet.

And nothing.

He was gone.

Because I'd done something I'd promised I wouldn't. I'd told Olivia about him without thinking, I'd exposed his family without meaning to and now I couldn't take it back.

I'd betrayed him when he'd been so afraid to trust me and for this very reason.

I'd betrayed Raphael.

I betrayed him…I betrayed my friend.

And the only thought that ran through my mind was what he was thinking right now. And I could just about hear his thoughts in my mind.

I trusted her.

I opened up to her and I trusted her and she betrayed me. Just like I thought she would.

She betrayed me.

I ran my hands though my wild hair and bit back the tears I had no right to spill.

He'd been so afraid. So, so afraid.

And I'd convinced him to trust me.

And then I confirmed his fears.

I sat on the edge of my bed, holding my face in my hands and breathing raggedly.

I betrayed him. I betrayed him. I betrayed him.

A light breeze drifted across my skin and I looked up at my window—wide open to the darkening sky above New York city. And I felt like a monster.

He was right all along. Humans are the real monsters.

I am.

AN: Oooooh dramaaaaa lol sorry for the past few shitty chapters and the late update. I've been busy with holiday prep and trying to keep up with my teachers cramming in the last of the units we have to learn before semester ends. Aaaaand I'm already stressing over finals lol kill me.

Anyways, my plan as to jump into all the action real soon, so be prepared! It's gonna be a bumpy ride with this sudden drama!

Please review! :)