POV: Hamari
I wasn't the host.But somehow, it felt like my party.
Maybe it was the way people leaned in a little when I walked by.Maybe it was the way the music kept its rhythm steady when I stood still.Or maybe it was just because I knew how to carry weight without letting anyone see it.
Back against the kitchen counter, cup in hand, I watched the room flow.
Bodies moving like they belonged to the beat.Warm air thick with too much cologne and voices trying to be louder than the bass.Lights low, golden, soft enough to make everyone look a little better than they were.
Outside, I was calm. Rexed. Shirt sitting right. Chain catching the light. Shoulders loose.
Inside?Is the speaker about to blow?Did I reply to my coach?Did I leave my headphones at the gym again?
Three thoughts at once. Always.But I carried them well. That's what I do.
I scanned the hallway just as the door opened.Didn't need to look.
Malik.
He walked in steady - calm, tall, like the night didn't dare touch him unless he allowed it.Darker than me. Leaner too.He had that quiet strength in his frame - you could see it in the way he moved, like everything was calcuted, banced.Taller than me, yeah.But I was built heavier, stronger - years of pying against guys way taller made sure of that.
We weren't identical. Fraternal twins.Same blood, different style.He was the cooler breeze. I was the weight.
Same bck tee.Same silver chain.Same way of letting people notice him without ever trying.
We locked eyes. No words. Just a nod.That twin tension. The silent check-in.
I pushed off the counter and cut through a few people to meet him halfway.
We dapped - tight grip, shoulder bump, no smile, just solid energy.
"You good?" I said, low.
"Always," he said.
But I knew him.And I felt it, just like I always do - his focus had shifted.A subtle change in his eyes. Not arm, not panic. Just... tension.
Then I saw her.
Sienna.
She looked good - well-dressed, composed, like she didn't belong to the chaos of the room.The kind of girl who made you gnce twice just off the way she carried herself.
But what caught me wasn't her.It was Malik.
Something in him shifted the moment their eyes met.He didn't move. Didn't flinch.But I know my brother.
That tension?It was real.
I didn't know what their history was. Didn't ask.But the silence said more than any story could.
Jo?o dragged her over.
"Malik, right?" Jo?o said.Too loud. Too confident.
Malik gave the kind of nod that didn't invite more conversation."Yeah."
"I heard you fight, bro. MMA or something, right? That's crazy. I tried boxing once. Too much contact for me, y'know? I stick to polo. Less blood."
Polo.Of course.
I didn't even smirk. Just sipped my drink, standing a little closer.Just in case.
Malik didn't flinch. Didn't blink.Let Jo?o talk himself into a corner.
Sienna barely looked up.But her fingers tensed slightly around her cup.Even that told me more than her face did.
Then Jo?o cpped Malik's shoulder like they were friends.Too hard. Too fake.
Malik just blinked.Let it roll off him like he didn't feel it.
Eventually, they walked away - Jo?o leading, Sienna trailing behind him like her thoughts were still with us.
"You alright?" I asked again once they were out of earshot.
Malik breathed out slow."Yeah. Better now."
I nodded once, tapped his shoulder."Handle your night, bro."
He left with that smooth weightless walk.But I could still feel the heat in the space he'd just left behind.
I leaned back against the counter again.Let the tension fall off my shoulders.
Back to scanning. Watching.Holding the room without needing it to know I was holding it.
One girl was already drunk by the speakers.Another guy was trying too hard with a girl who wasn't into it.The beat was still alive.
And in the middle of all of that, I thought -
Did I ever text my coach back?Did I really leave my headphones at the gym again?
I chuckled low.Then turned.
Shoulders collided - a clean, solid hit.Not hard enough to spill, but enough to feel it.
"Yo-my bad," I said, looking down.
And for two seconds, I didn't breathe.
