Chapter 12
1395 Words
Joy’s POV
I was about to go to bed when I heard a knock on the door.
I headed to the door and asked, “Who is it?”
“It is me. Open the door.”
I recognized Ryan’s voice and frowned, not knowing why he turned up here. I was hesitating If I should open the door when Ryan spoke up, “What are you doing inside? Just open the f*****g door!”
“Stop yelling at me!” I shouted and flung the door open. Then first thing I saw was Ryan’s redden face and then I smelt a whiff of alcohol on him. My eyes widened and I blurted out “Are you drunk?”
“Absolutely not,” Ryan shook his head and argued with a stupid grin, “I am just feeling a bit tipsy.”
“Really? “I raised my eyebrows at him and said, “You look as if you are hammered. How many shots did you drink?”
Ryan blinked at me and murmured with a confused look, “I forgot.”
His innocent face reminded me of myself. When I didn’t do my homework and got picked by the teacher, I would put the mask of innocence, too. I snickered and Ryan asked, “What?”
“Nothing.” I shook my head, knowing this is definitely not Ryan’s usually manner. Otherwise, he would have said this is none of my f*****g business rather than actually think about the question I asked. The answer was obvious. Whether Ryan admitted it or not, he was acting weird due to the effect of alcohol.
“But there must be something so funny that it makes you smile.” Ryan retorted with a sudden pause. Then He added quietly with a pitiful look, “You never smiled at me.”
“Wow, wow. Don’t play victim.” I put my arm across the chest, “You are the one insulting me first. You started the war and then you shouldn’t expect me to smile at you.”
“So that smile wasn’t for me?” He ignored my moral lecture and asked, voice with great disappointment.
To be honest my heart softened for a second when I saw Ryan’s remorseful face. My rationality, however stopped me from forgiving him. He acted so cutely only because his mind was messed up by alcohol. Once he recollected himself, he would become a cruel bully again and the last thing I am supposed to is to pity someone like him. So I put away my mercy and said, “No. I didn’t smile because of you.“
“Alright.” Ryan lowered his gaze sorrowfully. His grief didn’t last for a minute and then he lifted his eyes and sent me an accusing look, “Then you must be laughing at me.”
“If you think so,”I laughed and couldn’t hold back the urge to challenge him, “You are limped and I doubt if you are able to walk a straight line?”
“Of course I can. Don’t you underestimate your brother, sis.”Ryan snorted and took a huge stride forward to prove his words. He succeeded making the first step but stumbled as he took the second.
To prevent him from falling on the ground, I reached out to steady him. My initial purpose was to help him stand upward yet he was too heavy to carry. The sudden weight on me caught me of the balance and caused me trip over my feet. The result was both of us fell on the ground, with me landing atop of Ryan.
Ryan looked up at me and stated, “I can walk straight but for you pushed me to the ground.”
“Oh sure you can.”I replied mockingly, ready to lift my hip to get off him.
“Hold on.” Ryan stopped me by holding my arm. He didn’t seem to notice this embarrassing posture at all! He c****d his head and stared at my neck, asking, “What is this?”
“What is-“I followed his gaze and saw the dangling necklace. “It is a gift my mom gave to me.”
“Like a birthday gift?”
“No.”
“A Christmas gift then?”
“No.”
He huffed, “Right. Just tell me the right answer.”
“It was a gift to help Cinderella better present herself.”
“What does this mean?” Ryan asked curiously.
“What do you think?” I rolled my eyes and further explained this metaphor for him, “Mom gave the necklace to me before she took me to meet you and your dad. She wanted me to dress up like a princess so that my presence wouldn’t disgrace her.”
Ryan stared at me with and his expression was unreadable. It took him a long time to process the information before he opened his mouth again.
“It is shiny.”He remarked as he lingered a finger on my necklace. “What would happen if I take it off? Will you shift from the princess to the maid?”
"Nothing would happen.”I assured him while moving his hand away. My body was tensed up even though he didn’t touch my skin.
“How do you know?”Ryan asked with frantic eagerness. He looked like a child longing for knowledge and I couldn’t resist the tempt to answer him even though the question he asked was quite silly.
“Because this is a necklace, not a pair of crystal shoes.”I said and noticed that he had put his hand on my necklace again. I cleared my throat and his hand stiffened and retreated quickly. I smirked and added, “Besides, Cinderalla is a fairytale, yet we’re living in a real world. There is no magic in this world.”
“Nah,”Ryan shook his head and claimed, “I hate witches too. But you can’t say magic doesn’t exist only because you hate it.”
“I don’t hate magic.”I frowned and said, “But that’s not the point. The point is whether I like it or not, magic doesn’t exist.”
Ryan mumbled something like ignorant human beings under his breath. I couldn’t get what he meant so I asked, “What did you say?” He raised his voice and spat out, “I said arrogance blocks your imagniation.”
“Arrogance? Me?”I laughed mockingly and retorted as I felt a surge of anger, “You are the most arrogant jeckass I’ve ever seen in my entire life-”
“Oh shut up.”Ryan interrupted as he rubbed his forehead with a groan, “You’re causing me headache.”
“For the record, the beer you drank tonight caused you headache.”I rolled my eyes but lowered my voice. I sighed and stood up, grabbing him by the arm to drag him up. “Come on, let’s get you some sleep. You’ll be fine tomorrow.”
“But I can’t sleep now.”
“Why not?”
“Because I am here to have some fun. I should have hang out with my buddies and then played tricks on you to avenge your mom. You need to let me finish my jobs so that I can sleep.”He pleaded with a pair of puppy eyes.
“Oh thank you for informing me of your evil plan.”I snorted as I pushed him to move forward, “Go to bed now or you will spend your night on the sofa.”
“Protocol No.3, it is deadly wrong to threaten your Alpha.”Ryan shook his head as he started to preach a strange rule I'd never heard of. I pushed him harder and this time he stumbled forward, falling with his face burying into my pillow.
Ryan tried very hard to raise his head but eventually gave up. Instead, he raised his right hand and waved to me, purring, “Never mind. Good night Joy.”
Within seconds, he started to snore and I couldn’t help but smile.
“Night.” I said and closed the door.
Strangely enough, it was my first time to expect tomorrow.
- Writer
