Older Brother

"Hello Nuru." He kept his distance and then his blue eyes darted edgily toward Roman. "Isaac is the name. I'm his older brother."
I noticed the purplish spots of fading bruises on his face and arms. He looked horrible. "Hello Isaac," I said shyly, and smiled a tight smile at him.
"What are you doing here, Isaac?'" Roman growled. "And I'm the oldest by 10 seconds."
Isaac took a hesitant step forward and I felt Roman stiffened next to me. I noticed the changes immediately: the open, friendly smile he'd graced Ruth with gave way to a sneer, the warmth in his complicated eyes altered to a brooding resentment that was instantly disturbing. There was a dangerous edge to Roman now.
"Roman?" I whispered in blank astonishment.
A feeling of unease spread through the room and instinctively I moved back to hold Roman's shaking hand.
He just stared at Isaac, his eyes tense and large with hostility, the growing resentment rolling off him. His glare was vicious.
He cringed at my touch and then relaxed and a second later the shaking stopped.
"Hmm..." Kate frowned and looked back and forth between Roman and me with naked disbelief. "Did you see that Julius?"
Julius' eyes were scrutinizing the hold I had on Roman and he nodded, a look of bewilderment on his face. "I've never seen anything like that before, not where Roman is concerned."
There was a long, awkward silence and then I dropped Roman's arm. I was afraid the electrical shock was messing with my thoughts.
Isaac sighed. "Ramon, bro, since you're here and you don't answer my calls or the thousand text I send, I was hoping we could talk."
Roman's resentment rippled. "The fact that I'm ignoring your calls should clue you in that I don't want to talk to you," he hissed through his teeth.
Isaac looked bitterly disappointed. "I'm sorry man. I think I handled this the wrong way. I —" He cut short, his voice was weak.
Julius stared at Isaac raising one eyebrow, his eyes narrowed, his face serene. "Isaac, maybe this isn't the best time, huh?"
I saw Kate swallow loudly, I couldn't be sure of the hollow emotion in her face.
Isaac and Julius stared at each other for a prolonged moment.
Isaac hesitated for a second, it looked like he wanted to say more, but he sighed and left the room.
"Nice to meet you, Nuru," Julius said, making no effort to shake my hand. He placed an arm around his wife's shoulder instead.
“Likewise,” I mumbled, confused.
"Will you stay for dinner, Nuru?" Kate asked me, still looking shocked.
"I wouldn't want to impose," I whispered, still shocked.
She waved a hand dismissively. "Nonsense. We'd love to host you."
"Actually, I'm here for a few paintings," Roman interrupted my answer. I came to the conclusion that if Isaac wasn't at home, he'd have let me accept his mother's offer.
Roman pulled me swiftly along beside him.
“An art enthusiast?” Kate asked me the second we'd stepped into a room resembling an art gallery. I could still see the lounge.
I shook my head. “My drawing expertise is limited to circles, somehow my squares manage to look like triangles with ears.”
Roman snickered.
I shot him a glare.
“That’s Roman’s collection,” Julius said.
“Oh. You collect art?” I asked, looking at him with awe.
Kate was smug when she answered — the gratification of a proud mother. “Actually, Roman painted those himself.”
“Really?” I asked, fighting to hide my fascination, walking towards the wall, Roman was half a step behind me.
In the top corner was a three-dimensional pencil drawing of Julius but in the picture he had wings, a tail and horns.
"Come on, Kate, let's give the kids some privacy."
Kate hesitated.
I smiled, my heart warming, noticing that Kate was the typical mother, lingering around her kids when they needed a break from adults. Total opposite of Jennie.
"Kate?" Julius' voice was stern as he tugged her towards the door.
"Your father is such a kill buzz," Kate hedged before Julius could fully manage to drag her out of the room.
Roman shook his head and turned to look at me, he was still smiling with warmth at his parents. “You like it?”
It was hard to look away from him, to the painting. “Your father approved of this?”
He laughed. “He loves it actually, what a strange family, huh?”
I sighed, sad. They were a normal family actually. The same couldn't be said for Jennie, Bill and I. We were fucked up.
A mess of every shade of red caught my eye, it looked like he'd just spilled paint everywhere, and yet it was the most beautiful, complicated thing I'd ever seen — just like his eyes. It had a bizarre, unique sort of charm about it.
I ran my hand over it, marvelling at the velvety feel of it.
"You know what it reminds me of?" Roman's voice interrupted my tears.
"What?" I could barely look away from the streak of orange, brown, red, yellow.
"The uncertainty of the color of your hair."
I chuckled, and then scoffed.
He just stared at me. "That's funny?"
"I was thinking the same thing about its close resemblance to the complicated shade of your eyes."
He closed his eyes, and when he opened them a haunted look tormented them.
He scoffed too. "You're biased."
My eyes met his, narrowing to a glare as I took in the icy blue his had turned. It was still the safest place I could look and yet the most dangerous.
I sighed, raising my hand to smooth the annoying frown from his forehead, but then I stopped, suddenly afraid his mother might have sneaked away from her husband. I whirled, in a state of approaching panic, it was just the two of us.
I raised an eyebrow questioningly.
He subtly pointed to the dark glass that was suddenly separating the two rooms.
"Can they see us?"
"Don't be silly, Nuru."