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.
"Oh, I know you. The look on your face says it all." Aileen explained. After all, this wasn't the first time Mark had been like this, and she understood.Mark looked down deeply. "Hmm, what do you think? What am I supposed to do when everything I have is slipping out of my hands?"Aileen paused. "There are many options. One, you can start over. Second, you can keep it. Third, you could be down for a while.""How long?""Depends on your power level."Mark smiled. This girl was brilliant; she could think of anything, read everything and understand it quickly."By the way, what's wrong with you?"Mark leaned back on the garden chair and stared at the white clouds above. He tried to formulate a short sentence to explain his situation."My current dad is not my real dad. They took care of me at the orphanage when I was ten years old. We have a younger sister called Lisa. Because we had always obeyed her wishes for a long time, there was a misunderstanding between her and me." Pause."This
Mark drove home with his emotions running high. Lucas couldn't do this to him just because he hadn't accepted Lisa. He moved his car at a fast pace to get there as quickly as possible. On the porch, the man with a cross face between Francis and American sat quietly, enjoying a cup of tea. It was as if nothing had happened. Mark quickly approached the man, grabbed the cup from Lucas' hand, and glared at him."What do you mean you blocked all my cards?" Mark clenched his fists.Lucas still stared nonchalantly at Mark's red face."Are you stupid? I didn't cancel your cards. I didn't have the right. Our father did." Lucas took the teacup back from Mark's hand and sipped at it calmly."Yeah, and you told Dad to do it, didn't you?" Mark snapped.Lucas let go of the cup a little roughly. The next second, he laughed eerily. A mocking grin that made Mark even more apoplectic."Why, it wasn't yours to begin with. And you want to hear the other good news?" Lucas scoffed.This time, he got up fro
Mark left Howard's house with only a few dollars in cash. Fortunately, it was enough for Mark to rent a cheap inn for at least the next few nights. He couldn't walk any further with his suitcase. Mark turned a deaf ear to Lucas' repeated calls for him when he decided to leave and refuse Lucas' offer. He already didn't care what the man said. Sacrificing his own feelings just for money? Ha, absolutely ridiculous.If Mark's hard work for the Howard family company was not appreciated, then there was no point in staying. He had not been a member of their family from the beginning. Even this time, Mark seemed to be disregarded simply because he didn't share Lisa's feelings. For God's sake, Mark loved Lisa. But this wasn't the kind of affection he felt. Lisa would be his little sister and would never change.Mark would genuinely be someone else in the Howard family. He managed to stay out of Lucas' way, even though he had to give up all his hard work. Sometimes, he wondered if he was missin
Lisa wiped the tears from her eyes. It felt like she couldn't even see clearly anymore because she cried too much. Her whole life seemed to crumble because Mark kept rejecting her feelings. Why was it always like this? Why couldn't Mark make her feel the same way? Lisa had just been holding a sharp black pen in her hand as she stared out the window of her room. Her whole body seemed to be out of order. Lisa had no appetite and could not sleep properly. Lisa just wanted Mark all to herself."I really don't deserve you, do I?" Lisa muttered to herself.Lisa closed the bedroom window. She picked up the carving knife from her drawer, which was actually one of her crafting tools. The shine of the sharp blade looked enticing. Lisa had done this many times before, but this time, it would definitely not be felt.Lisa wrote a short message on a piece of paper. It was just an apology to her family and to Mark. She was also grateful for everything she had received so far. If she couldn't get Mar