The house was quiet and to an extent, it unnerved Eniola. It was a rare occurrence and she missed the chaos.

Badly.

The children were at school and Alvaro had finally convinced Tobias to attend one of his meetings so she was home alone. She would have kept herself busy by looking over some projects and vetting drawings but she was too sick for that.

"Achu!" she loudly sneezed into a tissue, blowing her nose before balling it up and throwing it in the waste bin.

She hated being sick but it seemed like she had caught a bug from visiting the kids at the estate. Being around a lot of children that rolled around in dirt and built mud houses did that to you.

Eniola paused the show on the television and reached for her phone.

She unlocked it and opened her message app, texting the pinned contact at the top of her inbox.

Hey, baby!

His message came a minute later.

My Queen. Do you feel better?🙂

She pressed her hand against the side of her neck. Still warm.

Nope.

Ah... I'll be home in about half an hour. Do you need me to call the hospital?

No. No. Don't leave Varo hanging. I just wanted to ask you to buy me some Sushi oyw home.

I will, darling. Are you sure you'll be fine?

I'll survive. Sergie is here and Clara should be here any moment from now.

Okay, my love. Take care and call me if you need anything?

I will, my King. Love you!

I love you more.🙂❤️

She stared at the phone for a few more seconds, feeling bored out of her mind before resuming the show.

At least it was a good show.

Hannibal had just served a man a piece of his own leg when Eniola heard a knock on the door.

She frowned.

The guards hadn't alerted her of a visitor and definitely not one that had easy access to her bedroom.

"Hey, mom?" It was Yin's voice and she was instantly relieved. "Can I come in? I'm coming in."

He turned the door handle but waited a few moments before pushing it open.

"Yin? Aren't you supposed to be in school?" she asked as he dropped a plastic bag by the door and walked towards the bed.

"I snuck out during lunch."

Eniola only sent him a disapproving look as he fell into the bed, looking at the screen.

"Didn't you already finish this?"

She did. Twice. She was just obsessed with it.

"It has a high rewatch value," she said half-heartedly. "Why did you leave school? Didn't your teachers see you?"

"They did."

They couldn't stop him. The most they could do was inform his parents.

"Yin..." Eniola's voice was firm and he finally looked at her through his curly hair that he had failed to get braided over the weekend. "Why are you home early?"

He shrugged, brushing his hair back. He had not cut it since he was a child.

"You weren't feeling too well when you dropped us off in the morning and dad went to Jerez. I didn't want you to feel lonely."

Her annoyance quickly dissipated.

"Aww, baby..." she pulled him into a hug, squeezing him until he grumbled. "Thank you for wanting to keep me company but I don't want you missing school and then coming home on your own. It could be dangerous."

"I came home fine. I took a cab from the school gate and it brought me home."

She finally let him go. "Well, people can be kidnapped that way."

"Well, I wasn't," he said in the exact same tone. "And I miss you so..."

"You can't be mean and cute. It doesn't work that way," she said and he tilted his head.

"You guys want me to be honest. It's not my fault I come off as blunt, is it?"

She could only watch him as he sat up against the headboard and fished out his phone. He seemed like he was done with the conversation so she just kissed her teeth and threw an extra blanket over his legs so he wouldn't get cold.

"Oh!" Yin exclaimed, tossing his phone and leaping off the bed towards the bag.

Eniola stole a glance at his screen.

It was on the Kindle app and a message with a ''thumbs up' had just popped up.

"I bought you some spicy chips," he said, going through the bag before picking up the entire thing. "And a yogurt drink. I would have gotten pop but I got to the cafeteria late so they were already out."

No matter how much she was used to his very passive warm antics, she melted anyway.

He didn't wait for a reply as he tore the bag open and handed it to her. "I got some popcorn too. Sweet not salty. But it's for me so don't touch it."

He got back on the bed and tapped his screen, trying to hide how flustered he was when Eniola kept staring at him.

"What?"

"Thank you, grumpy."

He frowned but nodded and looked back at his phone. "Welcome, mom."

"So... what are you doing?" she asked, nudging her head in the direction of his phone.

"I'm reading a book. Chase. Just started."

He briefly showed her the screen, stuffing some popcorn in his mouth.

She didn't worry much about the type of books he read since he shared a Kindle account with his dad. He was monitored and almost didn't read anything that wasn't a thriller.

"What's it about?"

He shrugged. "I don't know yet. Going in blind."

He read for a few more minutes while she snacked on the chips and drink that was a bit too sweet. She couldn't tell him that though.

"Casi has a crush."

It was out of nowhere and she froze mid bite before turning to Yin who kept his eyes on the ebook.

"Eh?"

He nodded. "Her name's Angela. She's in our class."

Eniola paused the show for the hundredth time and crossed her legs. "Tell me everything."

Yin finally looked at her, amused by her reaction before he put his phone down.

"I don't know much of the details but he says she's very pretty but that's not important. Okay, so today during pottery, I think, he made Angela a mug. She thought it was pretty cute but honestly, I didn't see it. It was mushy, deformed and ugly but yeah, she liked it and wanted to put it in the kiln," he said dully. "Then Rory stuck a leg out and Angela tripped and fell on the mug. Completely ruining it this time.

"Angela had mud over her uniform and started crying while Casi tried to make her feel better. Rory says she didn't do it on purpose but I don't believe her."

Eniola frowned. "Why do you think she would intentionally do that?"

"She likes Casi, duh and doesn't like that he's giving someone else attention."

"Hurting someone because your crush likes them is psychopathic behavior."

"That's what I told her during lunch but she started crying too. That's one of the reasons I left," he said. "I don't like pretenders or people that tell lies."

Eniola bit her lip in thought. "Neither do I. I think I have to call Clara about this."

"I think the teacher already did. But they're going down the 'it was an accident' route. I don't blame them. Rory nailed the sincere look and Angela looked too pitiful to notice a fake face."

"You pitied her?" That is new.

He shook his head. "Why would I? I didn't trip her. I just didn't like seeing Casi's mug destroyed."

Nevermind. Yin didn't know what it meant to be emphatic.

"You felt bad?" she pressed but he shook his head again.

"More like annoyed. He spent time in it."

Eniola eventually gave up.

Discussing emotions with the boy was like rocket science. He was never able to comprehend what she said.

"What about you?"

He picked his phone back up again. "What about me?"

"No crushes? No drama?" she asked, noting that he had gotten into much less trouble since the talk with his dad a few months back.

"I don't like drama."

"Uh huh, but you like gossiping about drama."

"I don't- whatever, mom," he grumbled and she snickered.

All he did was police his brother's crushes and never mentioned anything about his. Ole had mentioned that he might be too self absorbed to consider anybody else.

It was another one of his symptoms.

"Can I have some chips?" he asked and she stuffed her hand in and handed him a few. "You could have just said no."

He ate it anyway, his free hand swiping to the next page.

She got back into the show, disappointed in herself for still being on the same episode.

"Dad doesn't like us watching things like this. Too much blood."

Eniola spared him a glance.

They knew nothing about the amount of blood their father worked with. She and Tobias agreed to keep them unaware for the longest time.

"You won't tell him would you?" she teased and he just sighed.

"No. I really like Will. He's losing his mind." Alejandro replied, seemingly interested.

"You like him because he's losing his mind?"

Alejandro only nodded. As soon as the part with Will Graham passed and the head of the FBI was on again, he lost interest.

He read for a few more minutes, his snacks now exhausted while Eniola watched him.

He was different.

She didn't know how, but she could feel it. He was smart, strong, faster and taller than most kids his age and just different.

He saw and felt things as well. He disregarded everyone that wasn't a family member, cared less about rules and didn't bother to lie in defense but instead for the fun of it. Eniola did not know what to think about it.

Her best bet was to see if Tobias could get Olegario to talk to him about it.

"Mom?" he asked out of nowhere, his voice thoughtful. "Is there something wrong with m-"

A knock on her door interrupted him and the door opened to reveal Clara with a flask in her hand.

"Enny, baby! I heard you were sick and I brought soup. We should binge watch Love Island- Yin, back from school already?" She stopped in her tracks as she saw the boy, her red lips parting in surprise.

Eniola quickly covered for him. "He's not feeling too good either. We're both having a sick day."

Yin seemed annoyed at the interference but smiled. "Hey, aunt."

"Oh no, my poor baby." She was fussing over him and pinching his cheek. "Thankfully I brought enough soup. Varo made some before he left. I'll just dish some out."

"Can we eat in the dinning? I've been in bed all day and I want to walk around a bit," Eniola suggested.

"Ah, okay okay. I'll be waiting for you both downstairs."

Yin was out of the bed but not the room as his mother called him back. "What were you trying to ask before she came in?"

He thought about it for a moment but shook his head.

"It's nothing. I'll be in my room."

"Yin?" she said and he slowly walked back to her. She took his smaller hands in hers.

He paused again. "Yes, mom?"

"We'll talk later, okay?"

Alejandro nodded.

"Okay."

She sent him a small smile. "I love you."

He managed to return the smile as she pulled him down to kiss his forehead.

"I love you too, mom."