"Silas!."
"Hi Kim. It's been a while.
Kim was very shocked when she saw Silas. She knew that she definitely have recognized him if she didn't hear his familiar voice, because the Silas now, is so unrecognizable from his previous self.
"Kim?," Silas called out her when he saw her spacing out.
Kim was so shocked that she forgot that Silas was still standing at the door.
"Ohh... I'm sorry," She said and moved to the side.
As Silas walked, she finally couldn't hold on her curiosity and asked, "How? What happened?"
"Ah... This? It's a result of my new skincare routine," Silas said, giving Kim an extremely flimsy excuse.
Kim felt like tearing her hair from her head when she heard what he said.
'What fucking skincare routine can bring about such drastic change in less than 3 months? Do you really think I'm that stupid?'
Silas fully aware of Kim's dilemma didn't bother to explain further and was about to walk to the stairs to check on Alex, when he saw Alex standing at the stairs, looking at him strangely, before rushing towards him the next moment.
With a bright smile on his face, Silas spread his arms open to catch him.
"Brother!!!," Alex screamed in excitement as he collided into Silas' open arm.
"Hehe. How are you? How have you been?," Silas asked with a smile as he caressed his hair.
"Fine.. I really missed you, brother? You said that you will visit me every weekend but you didn't. I thought you wouldn't come back again," Alex said the last part with a sad voice, and a face full of hurt.
When Silas heard what Alex said, he felt like extremely sharp arrows were piercing through his heart.
Silas definitely remembered what he said that day when they were eating, he promised to come back every weekend to come check up on Alex, but he never did except for once, except when he came back home due to his meeting with the board members of Stanford University.
Though, Silas could not be blamed as he has been very busy, from creating the quantum computer for more than a month, to his travel to Venezuela some days later. There was no way he would have gotten time to visit Alex, but still, he owes him an apology.
"Sorry Alex, brother has been so busy for the past few weeks. I'm sorry that I couldn't keep my words, and that's why I'm here now. I'm going to spend the rest of the week and the next with you.
What do you think about that? I also bought you something nice. I'm sure you will definitely like it," Silas said with a smile, as he tried to sooth the little kid.
Hearing what his big brother said, how could Alex continue to remain angry at him.
"Promise?" He asked with a faint smile as he hugged Silas tighter.
"Yes Alex, I promise," Silas said.
"Mmmh," Alex nodded in satisfaction and hugged Silas again.
Silas carried Alex from the ground and went to take a seat on a sofa.
While this was happening, Kim stood at the door looking at the two of them with a smile on her face.
"You must be hungry. I will get you something to eat," Kim said and walked into the kitchen.
"Thank you."
After Kim walked into the kitchen to prepare something for him to eat, Silas decided to show Alex what he bought for him.
After Kim left, Alex looked at Silas asked curiously, "Brother, what happened to you?"
"Nothing Alex, come. Follow me," Silas said, as he stood up from the sofa and went outside to where his car was parked, with Alex following behind.
Silas knew that something like this was bound to happen but what can he do. He can try to gloss over it and hope they don't probe further.
When they got outside, Silas opened the passenger door of the car and grabbed a white box that was resting comfortably on the car seat, and gave it to Alex.
"Do you like it?," Silas asked as Alex collected the box from him.
Silas didn't even need to ask as the excitement and happiness in Alex's eyes gave him all the answers he needed.
"Yes, brother, I love it! Thank you!," Alex replied with a face full of smile and excitement, as he held the PlayStation 5 in his hand
"I'm glad you do," Silas said in satisfaction.
Seeing his little brother's face full of smiles and happiness also made him happy.
"Come on, let's go in and set it up," Silas said and Alex eagerly nodded, and the two of them made their way back inside.
Alex happily ran to his room with the box in hand and Silas followed behind.
When they got to Alex's room, Silas immediately got to setting up the PlayStation. It didn't take long for him to finish setting it up and start loading a game on it.
The game was still loading when he heard Kim's voice indicating that food was ready.
"Wait for me, ok?," Silas said as he stood up from the bed.
"Yes."
As Silas made his way downstairs to the dining, he thought of how busy he had been these past two months and how much stress he had accumulated mentally, and he plans to use his time at home to relieve those stress.
As he got closer to the dining, he could smell the aroma wafting from the food and he smiled. Even though he doesn't feel hungry anymore, he will not give up eating.
Silas took his seat at the dining table, picked up his spoon and dug in. The food disappeared quickly into Silas' stomach, leaving the previously filled plates empty.
After he was done eating, Silas thanked Kim for the food and cleared the empty plates off the table. He took them to the kitchen to wash them and after washing, he went back upstairs to Alex's room.
When he got to Alex's room, Silas saw that everything had already been prepped and what was remaining was for him to select his team, and start the match.
"Little champ, are you ready to lose?," He asked teasingly, as he took his seat beside Alex on the bed.
"You can't beat me, brother. You're older than me but it doesn't mean you're better than me at the game," Alex replied with a confident smile.
"Really? Why don't we check that out?," Silas asked with a raised eyebrow as he grabbed the pad.
"Choose your team brother, I will show you," Alex said.
Silas saw that the little boy was very confident in himself and smiled. He will definitely go easy on Alex but first, he has to be humbled.
Silas decided to pick a random team. He went down to the bottom and chose a random country team with trashy stats.
After that was done, he pressed the start button and the game started loading. After a few seconds of loading, the game started as Alex made the first pass.
The first half was used by Silas to frustrate the little boy and the second half was utter decimation.
The duo spent the rest of the day gaming, and they continued till late into the night before Alex started feeling sleepy and Silas had to stop the game,and freshen him up before taking him to bed.
After Alex fell asleep, Silas switched off the lights and left the room. He walked down the corridor to his own room and opened the door.
Looking inside his room, he saw that it was just as he left it.
"Home sweet home," Silas said as he slumped on the bed