hippitytto42 wrote:
KIERAN had felt uncomfortable laughing at Theo’s hijacking joke, but once Hadi turned it on Ryan, he smiled to himself before changing hiz exspression back to disapproving. It was good to know that he didn’t seem to be a huge fan on him either. At least they would have something to talk about in case Brett somehow ended up being in good terms with Ryan again.

Kieran decided to stay quiet while Ryan was introducing himself, hoping that he would take Hadi’s joke as it was and not explode because of it. Being in Ryan’s presence felt like walking on eggshells, and Kieran wanted him nowhere near Brett. It was still hard for him to believe that he had once seriously suggested Brett to make himself look more guilty. Even thinking about it annoyed Kieran, so he decided to move his attention to someone he knew would make him feel better.

Kieran gave Brett a warm smile, really just hoping for someone to say something before the situation would escalate.

addzumi wrote:
RYAN

"Already?" Ryan thought when the new resident openly had humiliated him in front of anyone. Did someone already have time to denigrate Ryan completely, he's suspecting Kieran and Alex the most. Well, whatever. They've clearly made their mind about him already. So that's that with trying to make new friends.

A forced, hurt smile appears on Ryan's face and he claps his hands to softly catch people's attention. "It was a pleasure to meet you. See you around", he said politely and nodded his head before leaving the kitchen to upstairs. He felt like a complete outsider in this house. He just had a near death experience, his mother almost died, his proposal had been rejected and he had gotten cheated on, and no one is here on his side. He's contemplating whether he has missed something or if he's really just surrounded by ignorant, judgemental people. He felt alone and couldn't even feel like there was no one to ask for help, not even Victoria or Brett. He would certainly feel bothered being comforted by Victoria, since she is the main reason of his state, and Brett just seems to not care at all.

Ryan enters his room and tumbles on the bed. He wanted to cry, smash things but for the first time in forever, his emptiness prevented him from doing either of those. He didn't have energy to even force a tear out. Even though he hasn't been really able to talk about his emotions out loud, he has still felt something and was capable of releasing his emotions, even if it was by smashing things or crying with a whiskey bottle in a tree.

He couldn't get his mind off of Victoria and what she had done. He has tried so hard to prove his love to her after her suspecting that there was something between him and Alex, and she betrays him like this. The fact how easily she gave up on them still confuses the shít out of Ryan. Guess she was the broken one with trust issues after all.

While speculating the cause for the cheating, he texts with his mom to make sure she's okay. She will be leaving the hospital in a week or so, and invited Ryan to stay over for a few nights at their summer house a few hours away. She insisted to have some time just with her family after such an arresting experience. He of course agreed and since they will be going straight to the summer house from the hospital, Ryan would need to take a bus, which he didn't really mind. He was too grateful for his mama to have survived to complain about a form of transportation. Believe it or not, Ryan isn't that superficial. There are greater things that matter to him.

hippitytto42 wrote:
It was clear Hadi was just as disapproving of Ryan as KIERAN and Alex were - there was no doubt of it, considering the somewhat hostile comment and looks the three of them gave to each other when Ryan was in their presence. Still, he couldn’t help but feel a little bad when he clapped his hands as a sign of defeat and walked away. After all, he had gone through traumatic things during their trip. Still, he had been an awful friend to Brett before any of that. Despite all of that, he still felt like he was ganging up on someone like they were still in high school. Kieran tried to remind himself that Ryan had brought the disapproving looks on himself.

Kieran nodded at Hadi’s suggestion to relocate to the living room and ended up following everyone there before sitting on the couch. However, Brett didn’t stay in the room with them for long before he seemed to follow Ryan upstairs. Kieran gave the people around him a confused look. Thankfully Brett hadn’t stayed upstairs to pet Ryan’s hair and tell him everything would be alright but instead returned quickly. Kieran gave Brett that same questioning look that he had given the others in the room, but secretly he admired the way he was able to feel compassion and see good in everyone, even Ryan. That trait might end up being his downfall, because he clearly didn’t know who was deserving of that compassion, but it was still an admirable trait.

Shigo wrote:
VICTORIA

The words I love you just echoed in Victoria's head until Ryan decided to leave to eat.
"See you later", she mumbled as she followed him rushing out of her and Alex' room. Victoria still felt conflicted over the conversation she had with Ryan. They were talking but the talk felt as something unresolved, rushed, pretended or perhaps even not fully genuine. It hurt and Huxley could not help it but feel empty. She tried to keep it together, to fight for their relationship but for now the fight felt extra heavy than usual as she could feel Ryan getting more distance from her.

As soon as Ryan was gone from her room, she fell down to her bed again, face facing the pillow. Victoria felt like she was drowning in her relationship with Ryan. The weight of their problems was suffocating her, leaving her feeling helpless and alone stranded to the shore. The worst part was, that Victoria wasn't comfortable to talk her feelings out to almost anyone as she needed someone neutral who wouldn't scream or shout that Ryan wasn't shit. The most neutral person to have around her right now was Valentin. The younger Huxley was sure he would at least somehow support or at least listen to her without pouring ton of shit on Ryan right away. Besides, the older Huxley was offering to talk if needed as he had noticed that she was clearly off because of the whole situation.

Victoria grabbed her phone and went through her contacts to text Valentin.
"أنا بحاجة إليك"

VALENTIN

Valentin was in his guest room taking care of some business arrangements through his emails and phone calls. Currently he was on the phone with Allan Elliot Murphy, the ex fiancé of Victoria. He was not only his little sister's éx fiancé but also a good friend and business partner of his. They were discussing about the construction plan of sports car centre in San Diego that Valentin has worked hard towards to so it could truly happen. As the business talk was going on, a notification appeared on Huxley's notification centre. A text message came from Victoria, who has actually sent him a message in Arabic, which was rare. She just texted him that she needed him. Valentin would be lying if his heart wasn't fluttering.

"Alright Al, I must go, sister is calling"

"Say hi from me to the little princess", Valentin let out a light chuckle after Allan's words. He wish he could say hi from his behalf but Victoria couldn't even stand to hear man's name.

"I'll see you in Queensland"

Valentin ended the call and stretched out his arms. Victoria must feel genuinely shitty if she is asking some comfort from him. Maybe he truly had to try to be a good brother for once. Huxley got up from his chair and finally left his room. He took a few steps towards the kitchen to see people to start gathering around in the living room. There were also two new faces he had never seen before. He went closer to the living room be polite and introduce himself to the new faces.
"Hello, my name is Valentin, pleasure to meet you", Huxley introduced himself while giving firm handshakes to Hadi and Theo.
"Hopefully you are settling in nicely. I'll have to excuse myself as I'm going to stop by my sister’s room. She will come down to say hi as soon as possible”, Valentin turned back to kitchen and before going there, he glanced at Alex and gave her a faint smile. He wasn’t proud at all to make her feel unappreciated and as soon as he will be done talking to Victoria, he will focus on making things right with her.

Valentin quickly stopped by the kitchen to make some tabbouleh so his sister could eat at least something. It was a quick prepare, the salad was made from fresh parsley and mint, a handful of bulgur, finely chopped tomatoes and onions. The salad was finished with a drizzle of lemon juice and olive oil. Huxley made a lot of that salad so others could have it as well. He grabbed a plate and put some salad to it before heading upstairs to his sister’s room.

HUXLEYS

Valentin gently knocked on the door before opening it.
“How are you holding up?”, he started the conversation while putting the plate of salad to Victoria’s nightstand. Victoria was a trainwreck, literally freaking out about the events that recently happened. She was crying her eyes out, not knowing how to form her sentences as she couldn’t even breath properly. Valentin pressed his lips together to a thin line as he approached her to pull her into a hug. He stroked her light hair and let her cry while being in silence himself.
“Talk to me when you are ready, ‘ukht”

They stood in the middle of a room, hugging each other. Honestly, Valentin did not know how to make his sister to feel better, he rarely was comforting her when she was upset. After a while, Victoria was able to slightly come down and start to open up about the whole Fiji trip, how lost she was when Ryan left, how ‘bad bítch’ she was while fooling around with different kind of guys during the week just to get temporary relief for her aching heart, the amount of cigarettes she smoked, w3ed and alcohol she consumed so she could get her thoughts elsewhere, her anxiety eating up alive and feeling of not being enough. Victoria went through all of that just for Ryan to return back and propose, accusing her later on cheating and putting all the blame on her.

Victoria was éxplaining everything in Arabic as for now it felt the most natural way to speak with Valentin. She wasn’t that fluent, so English words were still used there and here. Younger Huxley explained that apparently Ryan was gone for his personal reasons, which she did not open more to Valentin as she felt that it might be too personal information to share on his behalf. She told how devastated she was to turn Ryan down in front of everyone. She felt pressured as no one should know better by now than Ryan that such gestures scare the shit out of her, especially if they are so sudden and hurried. And how guilty yet confused Victoria was that suddenly, she was a cheater when in normal conditions she could never do that to the person she loves.

Victoria told about the kidnapping, about the whole operation to get Ryan back safe and sound with Brett and Kieran. How scared she was for Aldon’s life. Her opening up was finished with the talk she had with Ryan about what happened, how close yet distanced she was from him and how it felt like many things were left unsaid. Or perhaps there was nothing to say and they had this weird and rushed talk that actually felt like pretended one, as if Victoria was now all alone in this to work and resolve this unfortunate outcome of the events.

“I’m afraid of losing him”

While Victoria was bleeding her heart out to her brother, Huxleys did not even notice how at one point they just sat down at the floor. Valentin was invested in his sister worries, and he genuinely felt bad on her behalf now that he knew what she was truly feeling. There was a lot of information and feelings to process, and older Huxley had to take a moment before saying anything. Honestly, he was surprised that after rejection Victoria and Ryan were still trying to work it out, kind of.

“Ryan is clearly traumatized as a lot of shit happened to him. He needs time and so do you. This all happened recently, so no wonder the things are not going so great as you wished. You’ve put a lot of effort to make things to work out just in the name of love, but V please remember that you are not his mother and he is not 5 anymore. I didn’t get to see you that much together but what I have saw so far is only you running after him when the things do not go the way the boy wanted. The boy has zero social skills, and it is not your job to teach him how to communicate, it was his parents job to do so. Love is not always enough, there is a lot of things that should be considered as well.

It is okay to push the person to the right direction and help him to heal or fix himself. But there is a thin line when you try to fix someone so badly that you are breaking yourself. What comes to ‘cheating’, sister, he should have known better what kind of impression he left of himself when he took off to take care of whatever personal issues at the same time with his éx and not returning any calls or texts. According to his past fuck ups with you, he should have known that you had strong valid reason to think that he got back with Camillé and took off. If he knows you that well, he should have known that you wouldn't do such a thing to him under the normal circumstances. He must know that he is lucky enough that you are so good-hearted person who puts up with that kind of bullsh. But V, let’s be honest, at this point, he will take advantage of that sooner or later. Unless he is not doing it already. And only you here are allowing him to make you feel this way you are feeling right now. You should not be alone to handle this situation because it takes two to make the relationship to work.”

Valentin was speaking calmly, not noticing how he switched back to English, as he was holding his sister hand and looking straight to her eyes. He wasn’t the one to give any relationship advice, but he had to give a piece of his mind to Victoria. His intentions were not to push younger Huxley to call it quits with Ryan, he just gave few things to keep in her mind.

“Fight for him if you love him but it is not worth it to break yourself over him. He needs professionals help. You are a Huxley, you should know your worth, your boundaries and when enough is enough. But for now, let the dust to settle down and take then an overall look on how the situation is looking. Everything will turn out one way or another and I do really hope you know what’s the best for you”, Valentin finished and wiped some of the tears from Victoria’s cheeks.

“No matter what the outcome is, everyone here loves you”

“Now, whenever you are ready, join us downstairs, there are some new roommates”

addzumi wrote:
RYAN

Ryan lays on his bed watching YouTube videos. He needed to turn off his brain for a little bit, not that there was anything else than a monkey toy with cymbals inside his skull anyways. He startled as the door of his room creaks and a bag of chips is dropped on the floor by an unknown roomie. Ryan raises his other eyebrow confusedly. He wasn't really craving for snacks at the moment so he just turns his gaze back to the video he was watching, thinking about who might've been behind his door. He's assuming it's either Bre or Vicky, or if it was someone else, they must've added cyanide to the content of the bag.

Scrolling on his phone starts to bore him. He can hear others laughing and socializing downstairs, and as much as he would like to join, he most probably would not be welcomed by others. He's still confused of how the new guy seemingly already had such a strong, negative opinion on him which only causes the feeling of betrayal to continue growing.

"How to get over cheating", he types on the search bar and his heart jumps into his throat as he just realises admitting to himself how hurt he is. He didn't want to be hurt, since it would potentially prove fatal for them.

After a deep breath he decides to go for a run instead of wallowing in sorrow. He changes himself into his workout clothes and pushes the bag of chips from the doorway with his feet. The instructions from the hospital of Fiji was not to engage in any heavy sports in a while. However, he was so desperate in feeling something that he was willing to take the risk, whatever it was. He rushes past the people in the livingroom straight to he hallway and ties the laces of his running shoes. He exits the villa, inhaling the fresh air into his lungs. He takes a few running steps in place and begins his alone therapy session.

He ran as fast as he can. The more exhausted he was getting, the better he felt - just what he was craving. Ryan continued to run until he reached the beach. The sand was cool under his feet and the sound of the waves crashing onto the shore was calming. He slowed down to a jog, taking in the beautiful scenery. The sun was setting, painting the sky with hues of orange, pink, and purple. For a moment, Ryan forgot all his worries and just enjoyed the moment. But then, his thoughts started to creep back in. He couldn't keep running away from his problems forever.

Ryan sat down on the sand, breathing heavily from his run. He closed his eyes and took deep breaths, trying to calm his racing mind. A memory of him and Victoria sitting on the beach and looking at the stars floods his mind. They were so happy and in love then, with nothing but each other and the beauty of the night sky to keep them company. He feels a pang of sadness in his chest, remembering how things used to be and how they are now. But he quickly shakes the feeling off and takes a deep breath, determined to focus on moving forward and healing from the pain.

As Ryan sat on the sand, trying to clear his head, he notices a woman in the distance. She was jumping into the water from the pier, her hair wet and clinging to her face as she emerged from the water. He notices how gracefully she moves through the water, her body gliding effortlessly. He thinks to himself that she must be a good swimmer. He can't help but feel a twinge of jealousy towards the woman. She looks so carefree and happy, unburdened by the weight of heartbreak and betrayal.

Ryan gets up from the sand and starts walking along the shore. As he walks, he notices other women enjoying the beach as well. Some are playing volleyball, some are sunbathing, and some are swimming in the ocean. He realizes that he's been so consumed by his own pain that he's forgotten how beautiful and vibrant the world around him can be.

He makes a mental note to try and enjoy life more, to appreciate the little things and find happiness in moments like these. He also reminds himself to take things slow. For now, he just wants to focus on healing and moving forward, one step at a time.

addzumi wrote:
RYAN

For a minute he thought about leaving this place. He has always dreamt of traveling the world and just being free. Maybe he could leave with Victoria. She doesn't seem the type to just leave her life behind, she's way too dependant on others. Ryan contemplates whether Victoria would do that for him. Realistically she would rather listen to others' opinions and make them her own. After all, she's deeply not really a person who makes a lot of decisions for herself.

Ryan feels his phone buzz in his pocket. Brett. Ryan frowns and decides to check what he sent despite the thought of the message just being some sort of bullying about his situation. He was right. When did Brett become like this? Ryan leaves him on read and puts his phone back to his pocket.

Ryan walks back towards the villa, feeling a mix of emotions. He was glad he went for the jog and got some fresh air, but at the same time, the thoughts about Victoria and Brett were still nagging at him. As he enters the living room, he sees everyone gathered around in a circle, playing a drinking game. Without even looking at their direction, he can already feel their experessions changing. He knows he's not welcome there, but he doesn't want to seclude himself in his room just yet.

He goes to the kitchen and starts rummaging through the fridge, pretending to be looking for a drink. In reality, he just wants to avoid the uncomfortable situation in the living room. He pulls out a bottle of water and hydrates himself after the heavy sport performance. Luckily his organs didn't fail him while he didn't follow the hospital's instructions. He's not really a person to follow the rules and it can also be seen in other areas of his life.

As he leans against the kitchen counter, Ryan's mind wanders again. He can't help but think about the woman he saw earlier at the beach. She seemed so carefree and confident, jumping off the pier into the crystal clear water. Ryan shakes his head, trying to push the thought out of his mind. He should be focusing on fixing things with Victoria rather than running away from his problems as always.

Ryan starts to look around the kitchen for something to do. He sees a recipe book on the counter and decides to flip through it just for fun. He's never been much of a cook, but maybe it's time to start learning. He flips to a page with a simple pasta recipe and decides to give it a try. He starts to gather the ingredients and starts to prepare the meal, losing himself in the process.

As he stirs the pasta, he feels a sense of accomplishment. It's not much, but it's a start. Maybe if he can learn to take care of himself, he won't feel so dependent on others. Ryan takes a deep breath and smiles to himself, feeling a glimmer of hope.

Elimia wrote:
- ALEX -

Alex just smiled to Hadi who thanked for the welcoming, it was nice to have fresh faces on the house, even though sometimes the fresh faces where present only for couple of days. "I think relocating to the living room sounds nice. We have stood here enough." Alex said and took a sip of her drink. Before she could really move Ryan left the chat and left upstairs. She looked a split seconds after him before seeing Valentin walking up and introducing himself to Theo and Hadi.

Valentin gave Alex a faint half smile, which made Alex smile back to him with an slight awkward smile of confusion and just trying to be polite. They hadn't really talked at all after the masquerade night, and the tension between them was a bit off. But if she was able to fix the tension between her and Brett, she was sure that she could do that with Valentin also.

Alex followed Valentin also exiting to upstairs, to be with his sister. It was nice to know that those two were able to have a chat and relay on each others even though their relationship seemed really fucked up to Alex sometimes. But Victoria must need some practical opinions, and to that Valentin was a really good option.
Alex turned her head back to the group as Hadi spoke, his idea of an drinking game was just the thing that Alex needed right now. "Drinking game sounds great. I can take a truth from the start, for me." She said with a smile while she noticed that Ryan got back from outside and walked straight to the kitchen.

Alex started to move to the living room with Theo while the Huxley siblings came downstairs with a couple minutes after each others. Alex smiled to Victoria who introduced herself to the new faces. Her question about the rest of us made Alex's face twist a little. "Well...." She said while stretching the word. "Rozi is moving out." She said to her bluntly, not sugar coating it at all. "And Ryu is in NYC." She said while looking at Victoria

outfit: https://pin.it/1wbJHHH

Heartbreaker2002 wrote:
Brett / 21 - Hadi / 21

Brett had felt a slight secondary hurdle ever since Ryan left to go out. It was a miracle to see him return unharmed and quite uncharacteristically go to the kitchen. He detached his attention toward Ryan and rather focused on the circle. Alex eventually agreeing to the drinking game wasn't a shock at all, but he admired her for having fun. Then again, if her habits aligned with Hadi's, Brett would watch out for that.

As for Hadi, he was pleased with the agreement. Despite only two feeling up for it, Hadi wasn't particularly the biggest fan of democracy. The rest of the group could just follow his and Alex's vibe as they should. He was about to shoot out a truth, dare or drink to someone random before he realized he would have to think of some first. Luckily, sigma brother and Victoria appeared to his view.

Though it wasn't his first time seeing Victoria, the brown-girl showed the majestic beauty of what middle east had to offer. Mashallah to that, and her. Of course, he only acknowledged it passively without commenting it like a creep. He could say the cracker was missing out. Hadi could practically smell the flavorless food the American was boiling. What? Hot water, salt, diabetic potatoes in a pot?

He raised his eyebrows at the faint, although, audible Arabic. The lowest volume of it was enough to hype him up. The brown siblings knew their language! One thing was being brown, another was actually having a taste of their own culture. Hadi was stupidly amped up to find out they did know something. Although, the sigma brother could shove Burj Khalifa up his a**

"T'ala, jalla," Hadi gave each of them a nod, not able to hide his smirk at the language. Of course he didn't know Arabic fluently. Hadi only knew a few words. Good, more people for truth, dare, or drink.

Brett wanted to cringe, but he was happy Hadi could connect with someone over something. Anything cringeworthy was better than punchworthy.

"Bunnyy," Brett greeted by drawing it out almost involuntarily. He would be nervous to talk to her if it weren't for the fact that he had a sixth sense telling him she needed someone. He looked between Victoria and Alex, who were talking about the other roommates. Other than Brett's overthinking, he did have a weird sense of being few. Jay was missing, Levi was missing, Rozi was missing, Ryu was missing, etc.

Brett tilted his head in confusion at the newfound information? He looked between the roommates to his left and right, as if they knew about this. The lack of shock did show that they in fact knew about Rozi's departure and Ryu's sudden trip to New York. Brett's shock was evident by his widened eyes, slightly dropped jaw, and most flickering gaze as if his braincells were working hard to draw a connection between rational explanation.

"Bro you should've been there. Single dad guy dodged a bullet when prickly rose blew up the engagement with a single tantrum," Hadi looked at Brett's loading expression and nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders. It was a condensed version after all. It was supposed to help Brett's shock, but Brett exclaimed a higher-pitched 'what the fuck'.

Brett was the first kid of the couple. He was the one that caught them kissing and dragged Abigail and Ki to see it too. Jesus, Brett felt so bad for Ryu. Rozi throwing a tantrum? Brett was so confused, and hoped the best for Ryu. Levi and Jay? He wanted to ask about them, but decided that Hadi should start the weird *** drinking game before the topic turned sour or depressing.

"So, now that everyone's on the same boat, we can start," Hadi apathetically changed the topic to the drinking game again. He and Alex just wanted to drink, man.

"For starters, Alex, my only drinking buddy, truth or dare?" Hadi asked her in a chill tone, no longer seeing as much red in her. Emo girl was approved. Seemed like the two only drinkers would get drunk first anyway, at least they could possibly drunkenly vibe.

Alex picked truth, which was predictable. Luckily for Alex, Hadi wasn't the one to give out the most mayonnaise truths.

"Could you imagine yourself romantically with any of your roommates?" Hadi asked quicker than intended, practically giving away that he had thought about this beforehand.

Elimia wrote:
- ALEX -
outfit: https://pin.it/1wbJHHH

Hadi explaining the Rozi-Ryu situation to Brett using these weird nicknames and being so direct about the situation made Alex almost chuckle, he did not hold back on his thoughts and opinions. And his way to shift the conversation out of the tea was also funny, he wasn't here to waste any time on old news.

As Alex sat down to the living room couch she listened Hadi's truth which almost made her choke up to her drink. He really pulled out the big guns right on the spot without knowing nothing about their past relationships between everyone. The question was way more awkward that Alex had assumed, and she was almost scared to look up on Valentin to see his reaction.

"Um.." She started as she tried not to make eye contact with almost anyone, just kept her eyes on Hadi's direction. She didn't want to say yes and seem like she would be an hundred percent sure on anything and she didn't want to say no and seem that she had zero interest on anyone. "Maybe, if people got their sh*t together, including my own." She said and looked at Hadi.

Alex took a courage sip of her drink even when she had answered the question, but she felt like that she needed to quiet down the voices inside her head before continuing to choosing her victim. She lifted her chin slightly so the stream of liquid would go down quicker and her buzz would come faster.
As she was chugging her can she noticed Ryan joining the group with Victoria. Them sitting down to a bean bag acting all lovey dovey made her want to throw up, she had no idea how Victoria could sell herself so easily. He had literally broke her heart and the second he got back she was all guzzi with everything. Pathetic.

Alex lowered her can and looked around the room of people. "Brett, are you up to a truth or dare?" She asked. "Choose."