My Stepbrother-Too Hot To Handle

DAMIEN:

I had my sleepless night restless, with Dabby’s abrupt answer the previous night. I had never been rejected in my entire life by a lady, and the first time was by a girl whom I could never have thought I would like so much more than I could tell with just words.

My heart had become so attached to everything about her, that it hurt to hear someone say the word ‘NO’ to me. In my time of experience with girls and relationships, I had never had deep and intense feelings for any girl before, except one.

But I remained with cluelessness about how to handle rejection, even before the entire romance started. Yet it was so sad that even though I wanted something real now, it was impossible because I had fallen in love, in the wrong situation. She was my stepsister.

‘Just how can you decide to make things hard for me again with your decisions, dad?’ I blamed him in my head the entire night over and over again, while I tossed and tossed on my bed without sleep.

The next morning was suffocating and sad for me, and I knew that I was going to stay up in my bed the entire morning. Everything was really hard to deal with by myself, and the feeling of rejection really sucked.

I checked my phone to see Bryan’s numerous messages buzzing up my phone, and not a single one from Xavier, because he got even extra pissed about having to find out that I and Mason were cousins by a casual hallway announcement. I tried telling him that I too just found out about it, but he wasn’t ready to even listen.

There were also a lot of messages from Debby whom I have not seen and was unable to reach for days, and I blocked her number immediately without checking the content of the message. There was too much stress going on in my life already.

When I finally came out of my room and went down the stairs to the kitchen, I desperately hoped in my heart that I wouldn’t have to meet Dabby by coincidence. My heart was hurting, and I would hate for her to see me in a state of mess.

The house looked empty with no one in sight, except that the outlook of every way gave away information that the housekeepers had done their jobs. The kitchen looked as clean and clear as ever, giving the eerie feeling of his I felt usually alone in the past.

I checked outside in the garage, and every car was gone except mine. It made me come to a quick conclusion that it seemed like everyone had left the house.

I was bored, hungry, and tired, but I just went to the living room to watch one of the usual series that Dabby liked watching. There was no one in sight, so I could scream, cry, laugh, and act crazy I liked, without anyone seeing me do all that.

The series that was playing, was related to a painful breakup between two lovers, which was caused by the guy’s unsteadiness and disloyalty. Watching how the scenes of the movie played made me even sadder, and I ended up quitting halfway because it felt like it was mine and Dabby’s story.

I returned to my room to get my phone, in an attempt to call Dabby and ask about her whereabouts. But I lost the nerve to do it when I was on the verge of dialing her phone number, because I didn’t even have anything plausible to tell her.

I was feeling all alone again and lonely by myself in a huge house, and returned to the room to sleep again. My phone beeped a notification when I was laying on the bed, but I didn’t check it, thinking it was one of my random texts.

Hours had passed before I finally saw the message, and it made me so guilty the moment I read the details. I got into the bathroom to scrub myself clean, got dressed in simple clothes, and drove out of the house when I was done.

The direction to Aunt Adele’s house was quite simple to follow, and I just ordered a cab to the place instead of driving. I phoned to inform her that I was waiting outside already, and she came out of her house almost immediately looking all youthful and beautiful.

She gave me a tight hug the moment she got to where I was standing, and smiled so brightly as she urged me to come inside. Her house was more artistic and beautiful than the ones she had done at her former house, and it was so gladdening to my heart that I still had someone to call family.

Aunt showed me everywhere around her beautiful house, and told me that she was just making chicken and waffles, muffins, pasta, and other things I didn’t even know. It reminded me of Dabby when I saw the variety of food that she was planning to make.

She wanted me to sit down in the living room, and offered me wine and whatever I wanted to eat, but I wanted to eat from what she was making regardless of how hungry I was. I offered to take the seat before her worktable, while I watched how she prepared everything. I needed a distraction.

“Your cousin went out to the mall hours ago. He should be back soon,” she told me as she watched the shrimps she wanted to use underwater, and I nodded wondering if I and Mason would have something to say to each other like in the past.

“I think you would cook so well, Aunt,” I commended her job as I watched her chop the food so fast and neatly like a chef, and how she tossed the food up and down in the pan.

” I think I am. I once ran a YouTube channel in the past, and I usually gave cooking tips asides from that. People commended my tutorial videos, but I became too busy and impatient to run it even after quite a number of subscribers,” Aunt smiled as she narrated everything to me.

‘She was so admirable as I watched her worm, and I loved her for that.’

“Mum! I am home,” I heard Mason’s voice from the door as soon as he entered, and he seemed to walk closer to the kitchen.

“Hi, Mrs. Carr,” I heard the voice say as a figure followed after Mason, and it was the person that I had been hoping not to run into the entire day.

“Oh, Dabby. You are here too,” Aunt smiled at Dabby, whose gaze shifted away the moment she saw me sitting on the tall stool in front of Aunt.

“Hi, Damien,” Mason called out to me and I smiled after waving at him, and he turned to his mum, “I and Dabby have got a lot of things to do, so we will be in the room doing our turf.”

That was like a major distraction for me, because I couldn’t stop thinking about Dabby by just seeing her face. I was struggling to keep up with what Aunt was saying and asking me, while she prepared food.

I asked her about her cafe, and she said she was taking the evening off to be with me because there was now a duty routine at the cafe with more workers.

When she served me the first round of food, it tasted so good and chewy just like that of Dabby’s. I finished every meal that was served to me in one go, probably because I had been too hungry. Aunt just chuckled, and fed me more food.

She served lunch after she was done cooking, and I knew that I was too full to join the dining table which was better. Dabby couldn’t even look at me or straight into my eye, which made the worst guilt gnaw at me. It felt like she still hated me for everything.

I played chess with Aunt Adele after they were done eating, while Mason played video games with Dabby in the living room. I lost focus of even the game I was playing with Aunt, and watched how Dabby okayed so skillfully against Mason. She had beaten him in every single game they played.Belongs to (N)ôvel/Drama.Org.

It was evening already, and Aunt suggested that we played Monopoly for the last time, while she served even more snacks to everyone. Throughout the entire time, I and Dabby didn’t hold eye contact, and it was suffocating to play in that kind of awkward situation.

Mason lost the first round, and then followed by Aunt. I played one on one with Dabby for so long, and I won at the end after a lengthy duel.

Aunt and Dabby served dinner, while Mason suggested that we watch a good Tv series. I was almost the only one who didn’t see it as a good idea, and I had no choice but to join them in the living room while they ate, talked loudly, and laughed at funny movie scenes. It made me want to stay with Aunt forever.

I had never sat to watch movies, eat and laugh so loudly with my dad before, nor had we played a one-on-one game before. It was surprising to watch a new system and family play before me, and I loved it.

Almost an hour later, we heard the doorbell ring from outside and wondered who it was. Aunt Adele said she wasn’t expecting anyone, but went to get the door anyway. She called to me and Dabby from where she was standing at the main door, that our mum came to pick us up.

‘Mum? What mum?’

Dabby walked before me to the door, and she asked her mother where she was coming from. She asked what made her schedule time so free, enough to pick us up from a friend’s house. She sounded kind of angry, and I couldn’t tell whom it was aimed at. I found the situation a really weird one, but there was nothing to do.

“You ever lived in Kansas city before? Paola?” Aunt suddenly asked Dabby’s mum so suddenly, and she was looking confused while looking at the woman’s face that asked her a question. She nodded, after thinking it through.

“Yes, I have. For a short while,” she responded, still trying to figure out where she could have known aunt from.

“It is me, remember. From the orphanage home downtown. Adele,” Aunt explained further.