Life goes on, just uneventfully.

The rest of the week is spent in recovery for you and Scarlet, but you still squeeze in some personal time with Flora. You didn’t want to play off your relationship as anything more special than the ones you had with Kenji or Scarlet.

But, despite your effort to remain balanced between the three members, you steadily find yourself spending more and more with Kenji. You go shooting on the weekends and cook with him a few times.

Scarlet lounges around the house, usually staying busy by sometimes tagging along with you and Kenji or by keeping the house organized and dust-free. Amara remains busy too, but from what you can gather, it’s on a more official business. You notice that, without Alexandra pulling the weight around, she’s tasked with doing more of the paperwork and even some of the meet-ups.

…After the New Year, you’re introduced to a bitterly cold and heavy snowfall, successfully closing out all plans for work. The morning after the snowstorm brings little conversation over breakfast, but you feel well-rested and not as sore as usual.

Flora brought the remaining pot of coffee to the table. “We shouldn’t waste any of this,” she says, pouring you a cup first. She then gets Kenji, Amara, and Scarlet. Scarlet grumbles about not having creamer.

A brief argument breaks between the two, and Kenji catches you staring at Flora. He nudges you, and before looking back at him, you break your staring and start drinking the coffee. “We should talk,” he says when your eyes meet, his gaze flickering the Flora and then the others as Amara snaps at them for bickering.

“About what?” You say, and he shrugs.

“Away from the girls,” he says, already pushing away from the table. “Come on.”

The sun hadn’t graced this area with its face in almost seven full days. The air gnawed at your exposed skin, and all the light reflected off the snow. You squint but hide your discomfort by shuffling behind Kenji as he kicks the clumps of shoveled snow piles over the edge of the deck. Kenji took his coat outside with him, and he produced a pack of cigarettes from his breast pocket. He sticks one in his mouth and looks at you. “You smoke, don’t you?”