Are you not excited to meet him?

“Four tickets booked for Ketchikan, Alaska” I said keeping my phone on the table after booking the tickets for the hell online.

“Thank you. Thank you so much for being so understanding” Mother said in a grateful tone now holding my shoulder with tears still glistening in her beautiful eyes.

“I am really proud of you” said father smiling proudly while patting my head gently.

I did not reply and left for my room immediately after I was done with my work.

I closed the door and buried my face on my pillow while kicking my feet on my innocent bed.

My brother followed me soon behind.

“You okay, sis?” Mark asked while opening the door.

I rose my head and looked at his honey brown eyes which was staring at me with concern. I groaned in frustration before burying my face again in the pillow one last time. I turned and faced my brother while lying on my back.

“I had my vacation perfectly planned. I wanted to sleep half of my vacation before I appear for my internship. Can you imagine? Two years of no sleep and I was about to get one month all to myself and then they came with another problem. Why can’t I live in peace? I hate it! I hate my life” I said in an irritated tone while attacking my unarmed bed again.

I wanted to kill something or someone but only Mark Blue was sitting in front of me and for a weird emotional reason I love this fool.

“I kind of feel bad for you, baby sis” said Mark honestly as he saw me suffering for two years straight.

My brother sat on the chair next to my study table making himself extremely comfortable in my room without asking for my permission.

“Why are you so chill? You have to do your last semester project too, Mr. Engineer? How are you going to do it if we are not here?” I asked dumbfounded.

He was hella chill for someone whose future depends on his dissertation project.

“It’s vacation time sweetie and I can plan my project there too. I need to do research and planning first, complete the whole paperwork before going hands-on which I’ll start as soon as I come back. I can call people for inquiries. It’s not the end of the world” Mark replied casually like it is a piece of cake for him.

“I wish I could be as chill as you” I said turning back and burying my face in the pillow again.

“You can sleep there too. You always pretend to be rock there, anyway. Continue to pretend to be a rock and ignore them, then nobody will disturb you” said Mark with a small chuckle.

“Sleeping is not the only reason. I wanted to go out with my friends. I wanted to go on blind dates. Have s*x with different guys from various countries! Totally waste of my life. Do everything which I couldn’t do for all these years! In my whole life, all I have done is hard work, from getting into a medical college, and then working even harder to get the best grades. Once this vacation is over, I will be stuck in internship for two years straight” I said in a voice which sounded like a cry of a dolphin.

“You are speaking like you never had s*x before. You had two ex-boyfriends!! You are not a very good girl anyway” said Mark while raising an eyebrow.

“Do you want to know how unsatisfying it was? How bad they were at it. I never once cried happily after a thrilling org*sm! I could just sleep on boredom in the middle of it. I want someone who could take me and mark me like those wild Alpha do in the werewolf stories! Sexy as hell and great in bed! Dominating in every way possible! You know like the wild animal s*x and…” I started talking about my wildest desires and fantasies, making him more uncomfortable than he ever was around me.

“Don’t you dare! Don’t you dare make me uncomfortable like this” said Mark getting up with a scared face and left my room immediately leaving a laughing teddy bear behind.

“Hahahaha!! Don’t ever try to advise me again!” I shouted behind him as he left the room with lightning speed.

Next morning,

I woke up early, took a long shower, gave myself a pep talk, screamed a bit in frustration in between, and got ready to pack some necessities before I concluded my packing. I should be extremely quick as my mother would soon start screaming from the top of her lungs.

“Rose, are you ready dear?” shouted my mother from the living room. Just when I thought I still have a minute for myself.

‘Speak of the devil and devil is here’ I thought after hearing my mother’s voice.

“So, that was really not a dream? I am really going to Alaska? But Why? Ugh!” I said in annoyance while closing my eyes before closing my suitcase.

“Coming Mom” I shouted back.

The door of my room opened with a thud and Mark entered with a smirk.

“Have you ever heard about a thing called ‘Knocking’?” I asked in a sarcastic tone.

“Nope, what is it, sis?” asked Mark pretending to be shocked while keeping his hand on his chest like a drama queen he is.

“Why are you here?” I asked in frustration.

“To get your bag, Cruella de Vil. We have got a plan to catch, remember?” asked Mark casually but for some reason, he sounded really excited.

“Why are you being an excited chicken to go there?” I asked in utter irritation.

I really wanted to smack and remove that ugly smile from his handsome face but I decided to save it for later. I might need strength to break more than one person’s face in the near future.

“I am going to meet my best friend. Are you not excited to meet him too?” asked Mark in a cheerful tone.

His statement made me realize that there is only one cousin of mine who is genuinely kind and it’s been a while since I have seen him last.

“Oh, yeah. A bit. It’s really been years” I said standing there thinking and a smile curved on my lips after Mark mentioned him.

“Ten years to be exact. Let’s go otherwise we are going to be late” he said with a smile and left my room.

He was right. Last time when I met him, I was thirteen years old then. After that, we only had small talks over the phone until three years ago. Now, we are just following each other on social media. We only text each other on special occasions like birthdays, Christmas, or thanksgiving. I have not heard his voice for three years straight.

A part of me got excited to meet him but the other part of me was still cursing my decision of going there.

Soon I was done with contemplating, as I have already said yes to my parents and there is no going back. I went out of my room and moved towards the living room where my family was waiting for me.

After checking everything twice we left for the airport.

After traveling for 7 hours straight, we reached my own personal hell. When we were done with all the airport formalities and came out, Uncle Pete and Uncle Levi were waiting for us at the airport parking.

I looked here and there, my eyes were eagerly searching for someone. I was disappointed as I was expecting him to be there as well, but guess things have changed. He might not feel the same way he used to feel. Looking down I followed my family like a soldier marching.

Soon enough, a gentle voice caught my attention and compelled me to raise my head again.

“Mark, how are you, brother?” asked the guy happily while hugging my brother.

“I am great, buddy. How are you doing?” asked Mark like a happy puppy bouncing in its place.

“I suppose I will be doing great after seeing you guys” said the guy looking at my brother and then his eager eyes fell on me.

He moved towards me slowly. I held my breath and a small smile curved on my lips.

“It’s been a while, Rosy” said the guy looking me directly in the eyes with a bright smile on his ethereally handsome face.

“Oliver”