"Have I mentioned that I had an older brother?" Vincent began, striking a conversation to remove the awkward atmosphere between the two of them. "Chris is the second child so I have an older brother but he left."
"What you mean?" She looked at him in surprise. "What do you mean he left and I never knew you had an older brother but what was he like and why did he leave?"
"He was the best brother one could ever have, he's cheerful, jovial and a nice person. He was Chris's idol, he worshipped him like he was a god. You know I never believed siblings relationship could be that strong but he....." He looked away from her and fixed his gaze on anything in the sitting room.
"But what?" The curiosity getting the best of her. "What happened to him? Why did he leave?"
"He d...ied." He said that with a strained voice, like though he was forcing himself to do so. "He and his wife died in a car accident and they had a baby named Rose..."
Fortune kept quiet as he speaks, all this time she always believed he got everything he wanted and needed, when it comes to handsome he has it A1 and when it comes to riches, it was nothing. His brother is a known well artist in the whole world so basically she believed nothing bothers him and he helped proving her point by being a dick in school. She never knew he had an older brother, she wondered how he must've felt when he heard his older brother was dead.
You know she always seen Vincent as asshole, he's mannerless, doesn't give a fuck of what people think or say about him. Goes ahead toying and hurting people's feelings but like the saying goes, you never know someone until you come close to them. Sometimes people tends to be mean just to survive in this cruel world but that doesn't mean they're aren't sweet and caring people.
"Sorry for that, I never knew you had an older brother and I'm sorry he died. Must be hard on you."
"No, don't worry I'm fine and I have gotten over it." He smiled at her. "So when I told you in the hospital I understood your feelings and pain, I literally do because I know how it feels to loose a sibling especially one very close to you, I understand that feeling. I was more closer to him than the way I was with Chris but still Chris kept blaming himself for being responsible for their death. He shunned himself away from the other world."
"Why would he blame himself?" She turned her gaze to him, wondering why? "I mean why would he always blame himself when one of his loved ones dies? It's not his fault."
"Exactly!" He nodded his head in affirmation. "But still he blamed himself for being responsible because according to him, he wanted to pick up his phone which it mistakenly fell on the floor of his car so he wanted to pick it up and he made the mistake of not looking to know if a car was coming in front of him. Before he could do anything, a truck coming in front of him collided with his car and that was all. The next day it was said my older brother and wife died but their little baby survived."
"Gosh that's a terrible news." Fortune sighed.
"Yeah it is but Chris kept blaming himself, he stopped talking to anyone even took a break from his singing career because the news was a big blow to him, I'm almost lost him too because he kept wallowing in self pity, he won't talk, he won't eat, he was just a living dead. But how he started singing again I don't know, it was like a miracle and I was really grateful about it. Chris made seem tough in the outside but he's very emotional, things get him and he doesn't like hurt people even though he's been hurt."
"So Fortune, I know that feeling." He smiled once again at her. "You shouldn't keep yourself away from other people, I know it hurts. I know it isn't easy to get over it but come on there's a big life ahead of you. Are you gonna waste it by dwelling in self pity? your friends in schools miss you every day even if they don't tell you. They do, I see that in their faces so come on, come to school tomorrow." He urged her.
She averted her gaze again from him and looked down on her palms which were entwined, she rubbed them together to soothe out the sweat, she can't do it. Her sister's memories still lingered in her brain, it's hard to let go. And another question in her head was why is he being all caring and a gentleman to her?
"Why being all nice to me?" She threw that question. "As long as I could remember, you don't like me, I don't like you. Why then are you being all sweet to me? It is really making me uncomfortable, I'm not used to this side of you. It will be better if you continue showing me that side because I don't really like this sideβ¦.."
Really Vincent would admit her question threw him off guard, he didn't know where the question came from but he smiled at the expression on her face. "Yeah I know, it's kind of a surprise to me too, I mean I don't know why I'm doing this but all I know you shouldn't be at home, be around friends and smile. Your sister won't be happy where ever she is if she knows you shunning yourself from people. She wants you to be happy, I never had contact with your sister but from the way my parents and brother speak of her. She's a nice being and since she's a spirit now, nice spirits hate when their loved ones cry."
That last sentence of his made her cock her lips into a small smile. "Ad my dog is here to do that for you, if you want someone to play with, she's here for you. Here you can touch her." He took her hand and placed it on his dog's fluffy head.
"Seeeeβ¦.how soft it is and she loves being stroked." His hand on her hand, they gently stroked his dog. His dog nuzzled more on their stroke, Fortune told herself she should ignore how warm his hand was on hers and how much his touch was affecting her, she tried to ignore how his hand grazed hers gently, sending chills down her spine. She doesn't want to have some dirty thoughts in her just because they are stroking his dog. They kept stroking his dog when his body mistakenly grazed hers, it felt like her whole body w. It's been long he was this close to her and it was already affecting her.
π΅π, ππ, ππ. She shook her head vigorously. πππππ, πππππππ πππππ. π¨ πππππ πππππ ππππ ππππ ππππππ π'π ππππ ππππ ππππππ ππ πππ.
"Are you okay?" He gently touched her shoulder noticing the way she shook her head but she immediately jerked away from him. Vincent noticed her reaction and wondered why she did that.
Ummm I want to be left alone." She stood up and moved five inches away from him, Vincent looked at her, puzzled at her behaviour. He wondered what had come over her all of a sudden.
"What's wrong?" He stood up and moved two inches towards her. She moved backwards to create another inche. "What's wrong, why are you suddenly distancing yourself from me?"
"I just want to be left alone." She said with a stern voice. "You can now..." She was interrupted by a knock on the door.
She ignored his questions and went to open the door, Ada and her twin brother Ekene stood there with smile on the faces. She groaned inwardly, she wished to be left alone for some days and not surrounded by people. She gave them a weak smile as she lets them inside. They walked in and was shocked to see Vincent.
Ada arched her right eyebrow inquisitively at the sight of him while Ekene gave him a pointed glare.
Vincent ignored his glare and just faked a smile on his face. He knew Ekene hated him, there's this burning rage in him at the sight of him especially whenever he was close to Fortune.
"What's he doing here?" Ekene turned his attention to her, all the questions and whatever that might be going on in his head written over his face. "Why's he here?"
"I came to see her?" Vincent answered instead.
"Fort answer me, why is he here?" Ekene ignored him and gave him a stoic look. "When did you two started being close?"
Fortune heaved a deep breath before saying anything, Ada kept looking from Fortune to Vincent, a lot was going on in her mind like why is he here and why did Fortune let him in? As long as she knew, these two are always on each other's throats. They bicker all the time, there was never a moment of peace and quiet between them. The more she tried to convince herself that it isn't what she's thinking but her mind won't accept that.
"He came to see me, he came to see how I'm doing, that's all and besides he was present in my sister's funeral so don't make a ruckus outta it."
In order to respect her words, Ekene chose to ignore his presence and focus his attention on her. "So tell us how are you doing?" He touched her forehead to feel her temperature. "You're not doing so good."
"Don't worry about me I'm fine." She gave them another weak smile. "I'm fineβ¦.."
"Ummm I wanna ask, will you be free on Saturday?" Vincent interjected.
"Why?" She narrowed her gaze at him. "Why do you ask that?"
"I wanna take you some place so will you be on?" He judged by the way she kept staring at him not saying a word. He already knew what's going on her mind. "Don't refuse, I know what you must be thinking but I'm not that kind of person and if you don't trust me, you can bring your friends along."
She kept quiet and kept staring at him. "So I will take your silence as a yes. See you tomorrow." He left.