Mark now found himself in a dilemma. His feelings for Aileen had developed, but Lisa was so into him. He seemed caught in the middle, where he appeared to have no right to decide anything because of guilt.She really wanted to tell Aileen how he felt. Still, he was unsure how to keep it from hurting Lisa or Lucas, who would obviously support his sister no matter what.Ultimately, he called Aileen, but look, even though Aileen won't answer the phone. She only answered a short message with the words,"I'm busy. Call me next time!""Oh dear!" muttered Mark alone in his room.Aileen really was a workaholic. She wouldn't stop until she could do everything herself."Man, I thought bringing her here would make it easier for me to see her. But what?" Mark grumbled again.He plopped down on the soft bed. He stretched out his arms to find relief from the tightness in his chest that came from the demands of Lucas and Lisa that he could not meet.He could not pretend to love Lisa when he did not.
"Are you okay? I'm sorry."The girl stood up and brushed the dirt from her short skirt.Mark shook his head. He also stood up, but his eyes were still on the girl. Who was she? Mark was sure that he had seen her before."Lisa!" A well-dressed boy approached them. Mark now understood that this girl was not an orphan. She had been here with her family last week. And the boy seemed to be her brother."This is Lucas.""What's wrong with you?" he asked the messy little girl.The girl named Lisa shook her head. "It's okay, I accidentally fell and hit him."Lucas looked at Mark, who was silent. "I'm sorry about my sister." He was indeed the type of brother who was charismatic and authoritative. He looked sweet and swooning over the girl.Mark pushed something towards them. Lisa's hairpin got caught in Mark's shirt when they collided.The girl smiled happily. "I'm Lisa. What's your name?" She offered her hand— a tiny white hand."Mark.""I'm Lucas."Mark knew then that Lisa and Lucas were the
Over the next year, Mark grew into a handsome and intelligent young adult. Mr Howard sent him off to college to study business. He always satisfied the man, earning a perfect GPA and graduating faster than he should have, even mastering more than just his business major. Mark studied anything he found interesting, including geography and astronomy. He often spent time on the roof of his house looking up at the stars glittering in the sky.Mr Howard even gave him all the equipment to observe celestial bodies. Whatever it was. Whatever Mark needed. For he was now his favourite son. While Lisa grew into a beautiful pubescent girl, she was a little maja and became possessive of him. Mark and Lucas love and spoil Lisa; whatever the girl wants, they always do it. Especially since Mama died a few years ago, he became very possessive of her. Mark had to take time to be with her every day, or sometimes he had to take time off work when she insisted on company.Occasionally, Mark would scold
A beautiful girl in a knee-length white dress sat in the corner of the room. Her gaze was blank. Occasionally, she wiped the clear water that slowly trickled down her cheeks. It had been almost an hour since she had locked herself in there, not letting anyone in, not even her brother Lucas.Lisa had a beautiful and graceful face, a mixture of American and Franciscan. She had milky white skin with thin, delicate lips like her mother's. Unfortunately, this was not her nature. Unfortunately, her nature was not. She grew up to be a superman and selfish girl. Everything she wanted had to be done, or she would do anything to get it.But this one was different. She had a long-time crush on Mark, her foster brother, whom she had taken in five years ago. She liked how he was gentle with her and sensitive to what she wanted.Since she was a little girl, Mark had always accompanied her to the orchid garden when she was bored or fighting with Lucas.Especially when her mother died, Mark took Lisa
They had been silent for almost a quarter of an hour. Lisa decided to finish her ice cream while Mark did the same. They preferred to look at the people biking near the park, looking cool, until they both had half of their ice cream left."What do you want to ask?" asked Mark, who finally couldn't stand it any longer. He opened his voice first, waiting for Lisa to speak, but the girl preferred silence.Lisa seemed to swallow hesitantly. "It's okay. It's okay." She licked at her melting ice cream. As if what had just happened had never happened."Oh."Now, Mark cursed inwardly. For some reason, his tongue felt numb, and the sentences he had neatly arranged at home suddenly blurred and fell apart in his head. Finally, he decided to join the silence, and it was boring."You're close to a girl, huh?" asked Lisa finally.Mark turned his head. "How do you know?" he answered later, but of course, in a softer tone, with a smile."Really?" asked Lisa again.She didn't even bother to look into
"Listen to me, Luc! I can explain everything." Mark held his breath, feeling the grip of Lucas's hand tighten.Lucas squeezed Mark's shirt collar even tighter until the man was out of breath.The muzzle of the gun was perfectly aimed at Mark's cheek, keeping him from moving."Don't lie! How many times have I told you?! I never asked you for anything!" Lucas' veins tightened. "Why is she crying? What did you do?"Having crossed the line, Mark finally stood up for himself. He pushed Lucas with what was left of his strength, almost knocking him over. Lucas then tried to breathe correctly."I'm just telling him something true! Not another weird thing!" Mark was trying to defend himself in front of his adopted brother. Because he really wasn't lying. Finally, it seemed that Lucas was also 'sick' of loving his sister too much."Since when did you know he could see the truth, huh!" Lucas raised his voice. He stared Mark in the face."You know that Lisa is my real sister! She deserves to be h
Since yesterday's incident, Mark's relationship with this family has been strained. He could not speak his mind. He still felt unworthy and inferior because he was just an adopted son who owed this family a favour.Saturday was a day off. Mark and Lucas were at their big house. They ate together at the dining table, accompanied by Lisa, who wore heavy make-up to attract Mark's attention. But it didn't change anything. It seemed that no matter how hard Lisa tried, Mark still wouldn't see her as the grown-up girl.“Brother,” Lisa called out, causing them to turn their heads together. However, Lisa's eyes on Mark made Lucas continue with his breakfast.“Mark,” Lisa called again, her voice hoarse from yesterday's incident. But once again, Mark did not answer her. The man continued to act indifferent as if he already hated him. That didn't make the stubborn Lisa give up so easily.“Brother Mark!” Lisa shouted, pounding on the table. The intonation of her voice was not that of someone screa
Silence fell over the dining table, leaving only Mark and Lucas. Since earlier, Lucas seemed to be trying to keep his emotions in check with Mark's indifference towards Lisa.Suddenly, Lucas kicked the table, stopping Mark, who was about to put chicken soup in his mouth."What do you want?" The face stiffened and turned bright red. Al was still casually eating the rest of the chicken soup in the bowl."I don't want to prolong this problem, Ed. And you can't make me love Lisa. My answer is clear. She's still my sister. Forever, and I think of her only as a sister, nothing more," Mark said.It seemed excessive to magnify Lisa's selfishness about her feelings and make her and Lucas have to behave like this.Obviously, Lucas' view of the matter was much more complicated. The man didn't accept Mark's unbiased decisions and statements and retaliated against Lisa."Okay, let's make this simple." Lucas took a breath to formulate his following sentence."You got all these benefits from my dad.