"What do you mean keep it a secret?", Hoong asked.
His face turned dark.
"Well, one day she confessed to me and then asked me to never reveal the same to you, as she is familiar with your past."
"You mean...about A... Asheley?"
"Yes"
"How did she know?"
"Lee, of course."
"Lee also knows about her feelings for me?"
"No."
"I am not letting her get away with this. This time, she has done it! How can she just invade my life like this? I am so done."
"Before you go and confront her, let me tell you everything. Though she asked me not to, now I don't think hiding any of these would do any of us any good. First, listen to me, then you decide what you are gonna do. I won't stop you then."
"Fine!"
Hoong lit another cigar, and this time I took a drag to calm down my nerves.
"4 years ago, when she came to this residence, from then on, Florida got attached to you. Your cold attitude, staying alone, and rude yet caring behavior somehow reminded her of her brother, so she got herself attached. And unknowingly, she somehow feels that God has given her a chance to finally take care of someone who resembles her brother. She didn't want you to know this, for she feared you might run away from her, so she watched you from afar, as she clearly knew how much you hated her. Even though you were rude to her and were all cold towards her, she never complained. Once you remembered you were fighting, you pushed her into the pool, thinking she could swim. Unfortunately, she didn't know how to. It was me who saved her from drowning. I wanted to kick your ass, but she stopped me, telling me your actions were unintentional. At that point, when I pressurized her, she came clean about her sisterly feelings towards you. Remember how your contact with humans gives you vision and bothers you? She remembers that, which is why she got you the gloves you are wearing now."
"Well, I thought they were from Ruby."
"No, she literally begged us to keep silent."
"Lee told her once, when he was drunk, how you got injured because of Ashley. That is the very reason why she never wants to go hunting with you. Knowing she is not as good as us with zero power, she might become a liability, which is another reason why she trains every night and is covered in bruises, not because she is clumsy, as you might know. Whenever you're injured, she never leaves your door, as she is in constant fear that she might lose you." Now you get why she is so special to me and to us, but clearly you are too blind and bound to your own world to notice any of this!"
Hoong was no longer smoking. He looked above, lost in thought. I know he is trying to gulp in the information I passed on right now.
"And there is another thing, which I and Lee came across yesterday. But it's better if you don't know." I said.
"No point hiding; you should have told me all of these beforehand. Do you know how bad I feel after what I have done to her all these years, when she did nothing but..". Hoong stopped.
I could feel the turmoil he was going through.
"I mean, how could I turn a blind eye to all these for four fucking years? Am I crazy?", he started rubbing his hands in his thick hair. "Why Brother? Why did you do this to me? Couldn't you come clear for once? "
"Its for your own good."
"And what good has it done so far? Clearly, you're jealous."
"Are you kidding me? I would be a crazy crow to hide these out of mere jealousy. I've only been protecting you—this house.. Florida...and now you don't dare play the blame game on me. Do you think it is easy to watch the only woman I have feelings for get hurt because of you, and in turn, she has her eyes only for you? I simply let it go because you're my brother, and now you have the nerve to point your fingers at me. I am not the villain here, for Lord's sake. Grow up!"
"Nah, you better come clean, or else I am waking that stupid woman up."
"Don't you dare say anything to her?"
"Then you tell me about yesterday!" he said.
"Fine! Do you know about the power of her blood?"
"Remind me again."
"Well, as you know, she comes from a powerful line of vampires and hunters; her blood is super rare and very powerful, which she was not aware of until her parents told her because she forgot after the attack. Later on, Henrik called Lee to warn Florida to avoid the ghouls, as she is weak, when he learned about her hunting nights. It was the very reason that caused Florida's brother's death. We never realized the power of her blood until we both saw how ghouls started swarming in whenever she bled. Her blood attracts ghouls."
"What do you mean?"
"To keep things short, both the siblings have a rare type of blood. The blood, which can make ghouls or any supernatural creature immortal. When the ghouls came to learn about this, they killed Feenix to drink his blood. Now Florida is the sole heir of the blood."
"Now, I understand why the ghouls kept coming whenever she went along. Knowing this, she is still stubborn, and how did you guys agree to let her keep hunting?"
"As if you don't know how stubborn she can be. And if we tried to stop her, she threatened to leave."
"Wait a minute, don't tell me yesterday night..."
"Yes, when I saw the slash mark on her arm, I knew what she had done. Yesterday, when you both ran after hearing the noise and were not returning after hours, thinking you guys might be in danger. She cut her arm to attract the ghouls towards her. She risked her life to save you, Hoong."
Hoong looked at me with strange eyes. Something like a guilt was lying somewhere deep in his soul, which I could read.
"You wouldn't have known", I gave him an reassuring smile.
He jerked and tuned towards me and replied angrily, " how could I not?"
"I better leave you alone." , I said.
And I left him to his thoughts.