Noah secretly kicked my foot underneath the table, his sign of telling me to do something before everything went out of hand. Before we get busted, considering Dad was already furious about seeing Dylan. Worst-case scenario. Dad might not just point the tip of his pistol toward Dylan but to me and Noah. I could not help but bite the lower corner of my lips while holding onto that thought. I need to do something real quick. "Because Brother Noah kept on playing online games late at night. He kept cursing and punching the walls." John Dave continued. "Sometimes, I even caught him cooking and drinking in the middle of the night. He eats a lot." "He got me, Mom, Dad," Brother Noah faked a smile before he blinked at me. "I had insomnia. Playing late at night helped me fall asleep." "Better quit that kind of habit, Noah," Dad replied, and his suspicion of us started to subside. "Eating food late at night is unhealthy for your body. And so should you, Elaine." "By
"As much as I hate the fact that you don't like me anymore and want to forget our eight years of friendship, I'm gonna respect your decision, Elaine. Thank you so much for everything you have done for me." Those were Dylan's last words before he finally evacuated the house for good. His heavy feeling even left footprints in the room. But the one thing that I regretted about his disappearance was when he did not get the chance to tell me about his company. He was the CEO of his dad's company but he chose to tell his side of the story from my disappearance. I did some digging earlier while waiting for my parents to fall asleep. The news claimed that his CEO position in the company might be affected by his dad's passing. All his relatives, including Ghino, questioned his capacity to lead the empire his family built over the years. On top of that, the cops did not even have the final verdict of the case if it was an ordinary accident or murder. Dylan never mentioned anything about it
Ghino was about to put his hand on top of my shoulder, but I was taken by surprise when Noah applied what he learned from his marshal arts lessons by kicking my boyfriend's balls. Hard enough he moaned helplessly in pain on and before he crouched to the ground. "What's wrong with you, you son of a bitch? Do you have a death wish, huh?" I cannot blame Ghino for uttering such profanity even in front of me when I could feel his excruciating pain after getting kicked. I cannot blame my brother for what he did either. He was simply protecting me from harm since I forgot to mention anything that someone would pick us up from the port. Protecting me from any kind of harm, including those who wanted to take advantage of me being a woman was what he promised my parents on joining me on getting back to New York City. On the other hand, Ghino was well aware that I would be getting back to the apartment with my older brother. He knows my brother's name, however, he knows no
"Do you mind to discuss the reason with me as well?" Ghino replied, his voice sounding a bit hesitant for some reason. "I mean, Elaine and I are in a relationship. As her boyfriend, I am concerned for her well-being." They were supposed to be uncle and nephew by blood but why am I having these weird feelings that something was going on between them? Perhaps it does have something to do with Don Romulado's death. We already met the two brothers, yet neither of them told me anything about the incident. They acted in front of me as if they were not affected by it. "Well, I respected your relationship with Ms. Elaine, Ghino. I really do. But I'm afraid this business is in between me and her. It was already late, young man, go home, you still have an early flight back to France." Mr. Dex clapped Ghino's shoulder before he stepped foot into the apartment. That I didn't know. Ghino mentioned nothing about his flight back to France. Don't even know how long he will be sta
Last night, while waiting for my brother to get back to the apartment, I reached out to Dylan and informed him about his Uncle's unexpected visit along with his tempting work proposal. I told him everything he proposed to me including, triple salary and weekday off. But just like I expected from Dylan, his expression did not even change at all as though he already expected his uncle to know about my new apartment. Just like what Mr. Dex told me last night. He doesn't need Dylan or Ghino to tell him about me. For me, there might be something, a reason, that his uncle approached me all of a sudden. "Woooh!" Noah eagerly breathed, "Now, I was pretty convinced that my little sister had such a charismatic appearance. Well, what else could I say, we shared the same blood." Then strode closer to Dylan and shrugged off as though they became really that close after staying in his room. "You know what? Even his boyfriend, what's his name again?" "My brother, Ghino?" Dyl
The old man begged Dylan to listen and forgive him as he was telling nothing but the truth. However, Dylan, himself was already convinced that he did the right thing by putting the man in prison. Then he moved out of his seat, wiped off the tears that flooded his cheeks, and evacuated the precinct. A part of me wanted to share my impression of the man who claimed to be a murderer but I'm afraid once I do that, Dylan might not listen to me as well. "So, what do you think about my proposal, Elaine?" he asked on our way back to the car. "Are you in or not?" "But I thought you were already convinced that your Dad's case has given the justice he deserved? Why ask me about your proposal again?" The proposal Dylan was referring to was about him offering my job back. He trusted Lalaine that she would do her job properly but he trusted me when it came to his family issues since I have everyone's background in his family tree. Maureen may be his wife but he couldn't entr
"Do you think this was a good idea?" Brother Noah mumbled as we were having a hard time walking on a secluded road. However, I simply ignored him, not because I was worried about what lay ahead of us in this dim and stinky place filled with empty bottle, can, used clothes, blood, and even used condoms. The entire alley we were taking was completely a mess. If I cannot continue walking at a slow pace, I might collapse because of the unbearable scent. So, I doubled my speed and left Noah behind me. But my brother was persistent to get the bottom of his main concern. He tripled his pace and reached out to my hand to stop me from following Dylan. "Are you still mad at me because I lied to you about my job?" he insisted before he frowned upon seeing my entire face filled with sweat and was having a hard time breathing. "Are you okay, Elaine?" "Let go of me, Brother Noah!" I exclaimed and did not wait for him to do it so I voluntarily removed his hand by force. "I wa
"But Brother Dylan was right, Elaine," Noah insisted. "I am also a man with a manly need. Do will not understand us because you're a woman." To make their duo more convincing, he and Dylan even exchanged high-fives with an ear-to-ear smile on their faces. However, I was still not convinced by it even if the fact that I had no money for the rent deposit. So I replied, "How are you going to protect me then if you have your own room? On top of that, how will you know if someone tried to sneak into the house if you are locked up in your room with a stunning woman on your side?" Dylan simply lifted the tip of his shoulders when my brother attempted to seek his alliance. Instead, he pleaded, "Can we talk for a second outside, Brother Noah?" Then he fixed his serious gaze on me. "This is in between me and your brother, Elaine. I think it would be better if you must know nothing about it." Noah and I exchanged glances. Mine was bothered that Dylan might need my brother to do s