"You and my brothers are totally different. How would I compare you to them? Let me ask the same thing, who is more important to you, Claire or me?" Leena asked him back and rolled her eyes. It seemed that Kevin was a little strange tonight and she couldn't understand why. He wasn't the type to change the topic out of nowhere. He was talking about Louisa and then went jumping to her brothers. What on earth did he want to do? Leena was certainly clueless about his behaviors and didn't even think of linking his acts to jealousy.
"Those two relationships are defined differently!" Kevin frowned. Only then did he realize how narrow-minded he seemed to ask such a stupid question. How did he even come up with that super-nonsense question?
"There's nothing different. All of those people you were mentioning are family members. You should understand that. Do you need me to explain things again?" With a sigh, Leena lowered her voice and tried to cool her head off. Kevin used to be so calm. Why was he suddenly acting like a kid right now?
"Forget about it. Just pretend that I never asked you about it." That was it. Kevin made an about-face and walked out of the bathroom. He was instantly embarrassed after hearing Leena nagged at him for the first time. He was just a step away from the door when Leena suddenly stepped ahead of him and blocked his way.
"No. I think I got it!" She exclaimed as a word sudden flashed in her head. 'Jealous! God, yes! Jealous!' she almost screamed.
"Kevin, are you jealous?" A smile as bright as the sun suddenly rose on Leena's face. Even her eyes were smiling as she looked up at Kevin teasingly. The happiness that was flooding her was immeasurable after finally figuring out what was wrong with Kevin.
"Me? Jealous? Says who? Why should I be jealous?" Kevin looked up at the ceiling and deliberately avoided her grinning face.
"Good question! Why are you jealous? Hold on, let me think about the answer for a while. Oh, yeah! I know now." Leena looked up at him and tried to catch his gaze. It took her a second to get Kevin's attention again and she instantly smiled when she finally met his eyes.
"What do you know?" Hesitation was dripping from Kevin's voice when he spoke. His heart was going crazy. What would he do if she guessed right?
"I know why you are jealous! It is because Tom saw my back!" Leena spoke out her answer like a student in a quiz-bee championship. She looked so sure about what she said and didn't even think that he was hurting earlier because of love. She already accepted the fact that Kevin never looked at her that way and she was a realist. Thus, she stopped fantasizing about feelings that didn't belong to her.
"I don't know what you're talking about. I need to go downstairs to check on Claire." He said those words so fast in just one breath and then bolted out of the room like he was being run after by a demon. It wasn't safe for him to stay next to Leena at that time. He was losing control and he might just blurt what was inside his head on her face.
"Am I wrong?" Leena mumbled to herself while innocently staring at the door Kevin just ran out from. If that was not the reason, then what else could he be angry about?
After walking out of the bedroom, Kevin felt relaxed, with a sigh of relief. If he continued to be questioned by the little girl, he should have no secret in front of her.
"Kevin, is Leena all right now?" Claire asked immediately upon seeing her brother. She was sitting on the sofa while watching TV and Kevin's appearance took her attention.
"Ummm. She is okay now. I helped her apply the medicine and I think she will be fine soon." He walked to the sofa and sat next to Claire. He turned his head left and right to remove Leena out of his thoughts and then got himself ready to talk with Claire. He had been noticing some unusual changes in his sister in the past two days. Thus, he would like to focus on her and understand her more.
"That's good! I was worried that she would hurt for a long time." A sense of relief and embarrassment showed on Claire's face when she talked. Compared to her previous attitude, she seemed to be more mature now for considering Leena's situation.
"Are you alright, Claire?" Kevin asked doubtfully. Claire had never been considerate to anyone and what she just said warned Kevin that something might be wrong.
"Of course, I am very well! What would happen to me?" responded Claire and then looked left and right. It was only today that she found out about Leena's social status. Leena was born with a silver spoon in her mouth. However, she couldn't see any arrogance nor attitude on Leena's behavior. Unlike her, she was too naive and narrow-minded. That might be the reason why she couldn't have real friends.
"Alright. If you come across anything, just let me know. Don't hold it up by yourself, understand?" Claire might be the type of sister who needed a lot of spankings but Kevin also cared about her nonetheless. After saying those, he leaned his back against the sofa and overlapped his legs under their coffee table. What a leisure pose! Who would even think that he just escaped from Leena in full panic earlier?
"I know, I know. I am not a little girl. How could I even wrong myself?" Claire smiled calmly. She wasn't just a domineering and arrogant girl. Not many people knew but she was also a very nice girl too.
"Okay. If you said so. By the way, after staying here for a while, do you still want to land a job here in S City?" Kevin didn't really want to ask that question again. He didn't even think that Claire was serious when she said that she wanted a job. As her brother though, he was still curious about her thoughts. He might not be the type to force the information out of his sister, but God knew how important those little things were to him. Still, it would be up to her if she would share her mind with him or not. She was old enough anyway and she deserved some personal space. He was a brother and he would support Claire no matter whether she was jobless or not, good or bad.
"Job? Oh, let's talk about that later. I honestly haven't decided about that yet. I need more time to think about what career I want." If Kevin had asked her a few days earlier, then she would have answered him in an instant. However, the surprises she had these past two days had changed her thoughts. Thus, she needed to reconsider staying in S City.
"That's fine. It will always be your decision, Claire. Just let me know once you have decision. Go to bed now, Claire. I'll go upstairs too." Kevin stood up and waved at his sister. It was late and he still needed to be in the army base early tomorrow. Thus, he held back from asking more questions. Again, she was now a big girl and she was entitled to live her own life. As a brother, all he could do for her was to support her decisions.