Corbin finishes his soup as Maebell walks back into the kitchen, an annoyed Donovan behind her. “Maebell, please. I’m fine,” Donovan says, walking quickly behind her. “You’re lucky I’m here, Don, or you would starve yourself without ever realising it. Sit,” Maebell argues, pointing to the table with a hand on her hip. Donovan sighs, but sits down anyway. “Thank you. I’ll get you some food, but then I’m going to leave it up to you to take care of yourself for the rest of the night, okay?” Maebell asks, filling a bowl with soup. Donovan nods, looking at Corbin. “Yes, yes. Fine,” he says, trying to set a good example for the child as Maebell gives him to bowl. “Good. Now, I’m going to go talk to Pip for a little while. Corbin, darling, I’ll come find you later to help you get situated,” she says, walking off in the same direction as Pip had gone. Donovan looks around, before doing the same thing Pip had done with her soup. He saw Corbin staring at him with a raised eyebrow. “What?” he snapped. “I’m an adult, I can do whatever I want.”
Corbin nods, standing up. “Maybe you’d be less grumpy if you ate something,” he mutters, looking around the room. “Excuse me?” Donovan asks, appalled. “What did you just say to me?” He stands up sharply, nearly making the chair tip over. Corbin’s eyes widen, and he all but cowers away from Donovan. “Nothing. Sorry. I-I’m sorry,” he says quickly. “Um, I shouldn’t have… shouldn’t have said that. I’m… I’m sorry.” He stumbled backwards, trying to get away from Donovan. Donovan’s icy grey eyes flick over Corbin, watching his every move. The slight glow that had been building around him disappeared. “Don’t apologise, Corbin. You’re probably right, honestly,” he says, a small smile barely visible on his face. He slowly approaches Corbin. “You’re safe here. I don’t know what you were running from, but it can’t get you here. Inside this house, you are safe,” he says softly, placing a hand on Corbin's shoulder lightly. Corbin tenses up, flinching at the sudden touch. “Please, p-please move your hand,” he says suddenly. Without asking any questions, Donovan pulls his hand away, letting it drop by his side. He’s a bit uncomfortable after Corbins strange reaction.
“Er… do you… uh, know how to play chess?” he asks, scrambling for something, anything to say. Corbin shrugs, not complaining about the sudden change in topic. “I guess. I mean, I know how the pieces move, kind of, but nothing else. Like, I have absolutely zero skill in it whatsoever.” Donovan relaxes slightly. “Perfect. Brilliant, yeah. Uh, want to play a game?” He grabs the chess set that’s on the table near the sofa. With a wave of his hand, his skin starts to glow slightly and the chess pieces put themselves back into their proper places. Corbin nods and sits down on the floor, next to the table. Donovan sits on the couch. “Would you like to go first?” Donovan offers as the glow on his skin dies down. “S-sure. Yeah, thank you,” Corbin says, moving a pawn forward. Donovan smiles.203Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNCX85RZ2Ns
