Sinful Affair: My Stepbrother Is My Student

A Little Wonder

KIARA FALLS

~~

“I am worried about you, Dave…. Worried about us. Please call me when you get this message. It's been two weeks of whatever this is. I miss you.”

I said into the speaker of my cell phone when my call to Dave went straight to voicemail again. Sighing, my mind was caught between my mother’s newfound love and the brewing issues in my relationship.

Dave has been avoiding me. He doesn't answer my calls or respond to my texts. The last three times I had gone to his place to check on him and pay him a surprise visit, he wasn’t home. My heart clenched as I swallowed my fear, steering my car into the avenue that my mother mentioned in the text she sent to me.

I peeped at my cell phone that I had dropped on my lap, hoping to get a response from the man I had loved for four years but that didn't happen.

“Why now?” I scoffed.

I was finally having everything i have very wanted and living my dream but that dream wouldn't be complete without my smarty pant Dave and our future babies that I have always fantasized about. Cute babies with amazing IQ levels.

Heaven knows I loved that man and I would do anything to make him mine forever… as long as he responded to the countless voicemails I sent him.

Within a few minutes, I arrived in the most sumptuous part of New Crest City, a place with so many Villas, and estates and full of rich àss folks.

“Mom has outdone herself this time.” My jaw dropped when I reached the end of the road and came face to face with an enormous silver gate. “Holy cow.”

Above the gate was a stone template with the words “Miller’s Estate” carved into it.

I had never felt so out of place. Usually, I call my car old but at the moment, after all the cars I have seen on this road, I can boldly say my car was trash. In fact, my life was trash.

Before I could keep dwelling on my life in the middle of a place I never thought I would be, the silver gate began to open, sliding into the right side of the equally tall fence. There was no one behind the gate– nobody to stop me or question me.

“I should call my mom before I land into–” I started saying.

However, my cell phone chimed on my lap, and a text from my mom stared back at me.

“DRIVE IN, KIA. EDNA WILL HELP YOU INTO THE HOUSE WHEN YOU REACH THE MANSION.”

“There is no way she could see me from… anywhere.” I gasped even though it was clear to me that somehow, those in the estate had been notified of my arrival before their gate.

Slowly, I pressed my foot on the accelerator, driving even slower into the estate. Trust me when I say it took forever to reach the mansion even though I increased speed at some point, zooming past trees, and a few buildings but none was as magnificent as the mansion itself.

No one had to tell me that this was the building where I was having dinner. I could just tell.

The four-storey building– wait it wasn't a building. I should call it a glass wall because I couldn't see a brick anywhere. All I saw were glinting glasses that reflected the beautiful greenery of the estate.

Although I had stopped driving to admire the mansion and the numerous cars parked on every corner of it, I couldn't bring myself to alight my beat-up car.

Not until I was snapped out of my reverie by a knock on the window of my car. “Hello, Miss. I am Edna.” The middle-aged woman who broke my trance uttered with a wide smile.

I quickly pulled myself together and stepped out of my car in embarrassment. “Pardon me. I didn't see you there.”

“It’s alright. The mansion usually has that effect on a lot of people. It did the same to me as well.” Edna smiled brighter, stretching her hand towards the entrance to usher me. “This way please, Miss.”

“Thank you. Call me Kiara, please.” I said to Edna, following her.

She was wearing a nice skirt that I would have worn too if I wasn't here to meet my mom’s rich man who I might have searched online a few times in the past hour... I wasn't tripping but my mom’s new man might just be the thing. He is Steve Miller, the well-known founder and president of Miller’s Science Corporation.

He is the hero of many youngsters who loved science but couldn't afford to study.

“I wish I met him when I was struggling through school.” I thought to myself just as Edna and I stepped into the veranda.

The minute the door opened, my mom’s face popped out before me.

“My baby girl.” My mom cooed with outstretched arms, pulling me into her arms and welcoming me to the starnge glass house.

“Lovely to see you, Zora Shore.” I voiced, hugging my mom back. Although she was my mom, I hadn't seen her in more than six months, except when she Facetimeed me. She looked as beautiful as ever– if I was being honest, she looked even more beautiful and at peace. “And you are back to your natural color.”

“Dirty blond is my lucky charm, Kia.” My mom winked at me.

I grinned at her, taking a minute to let my eyes take in the interior of the house. On each side of the ceiling-to-glasses were gold curtains. The few walls I could see were adorned with paintings of notable scientists which made me smile and–

“Don’t be a stranger. Steve is waiting to meet you in the dining room. Come along.” My mom pulled me, pace so fast I had to jog behind her. She whispered to me when we were a few feet away from Edna, “I couldn’t be more grateful that you aren’t wearing one of your hideous shirts and skirts. This dress might not be good enough but at least you–”

“I can leave now, you know?” I cut in not impressed by her critics of my fashion taste.

“You look perfect, Kia. I dare not say otherwise.” My mom blurted, causing me to roll my eyes.

After a few turns, we finally entered a smaller space and my eyes found the famous man who had stolen my mom’s heart– Steve Miller.

He rose from the immaculate chair he was sitting on and approached me, adjusting his glasses on his nose.

I should have worn my glasses too. Heck!

“Kiara Falls.” Steve Miller uttered my name with a grin that looked too familiar even though I had never met him before.

I cleared my throat and stretched my hand to him, “Thanks for inviting me to your home, Mr. Miller.”

“Please don’t be stiff with me. I am just Steve when I am within these walls.” Steve responded, took my hand, and nodded toward the chair opposite his, “I have heard so much about you but nothing about your extraordinary beauty.”

“Well, my mom has never liked complimenting me not even when I won a medal back in preschool for outsmarting a–”

“Don’t paint me like that, Kiara Falls. Let’s pretend I am a perfect mother, okay.” My mom but in, settling in the seat beside Steve, her hand on his.

Steve laughed heartily, “I know you aren’t perfect but that hasnt stopped me from falling in love with you and it would never.”

“Awn, darling.” My mom blushed.

My mom, Zora Shore blushed!

This should have a space in the Guinness Book of record…

I stared at the duo as they dotted on each other, forgetting about me for more than a minute. I never knew this day would come. Usually, my mom never talked to me about the men she dated because she knew she wouldn't stay with them.

Like she once said, “Let’s not create unnecessary emotional attachment, Kia. You don’t have to meet any of them.”

But here I was, sitting with the same woman and her lover.

Who would believe this was the same woman who got knocked up when she was seventeen– a young orphan trying to survive the night by sleeping with strange men? Although she chose that lifestyle, I knew she used to feel guilty whenever I spoke about knowing my Dad just like other kids….

But that never got to happen.

I grew up without my biological dad or any paternal figure at that but I had a mother who stood by me even though I was nothing like her.

See why I am here and happy for her? My mom was–

“Kiara?” My mom called me. My eyes cut to her scrunched face when she asked me, “Are you alright, dear?”

“Of course, mom. Just stressed from work.” I told a white lie.

Steve exclaimed, “Ha! Zora told me you are a professor at NCSC, the best college in town.”

“Yes.” I smiled, owning my crown. “I graduated earlier this year and–”

“Top of her class, Steve. She is a little wonder, I tell you.” My mom etched with pride even though she wasn’t there to see me graduate for reasons she still hasn’t told me.

I wasn’t mad at all. I completely understand her lifestyle– heck! I take that back. I was so mad and still mad about that.

“I hope that child of mine will learn a thing or two from you when you both meet.” Steve sighed.

His expression showed that he was having issues with his daughter even though he seemed like everything I wanted in the father I never had.

To save myself from going down memory lane, I asked, savoring the taste of the pasta that Edna had dished out some minutes ago, “When do I get to meet her? I am certain your daughter must have learned one or two from a smart father like you.”

I failed to understand the frown on my mom’s face until Steve muttered, “Huh… it’s actually a son and I am hoping he would show up soon even though I didn't tell him you will be coming for dinner tonight.”

Confusion set into my mind not just because Steve sounded sad when he spoke about his son but I also wondered why he didn't tell him I would be coming.

I guess I would be having a stepbrother instead of the smart step-sister I had envisioned.

Like nothing happened, we all continued eating dinner. Steve and I spoke about recent scientific inventions as we ate even though my mom didn't seem pleased by the topic. Dinner was great until it wasn’t beginning with the annoying sound of someone dragging their feet on the floor.

Steve brightened up a bit when he heard the sound I found annoying and he announced, “Oh, there he is.” His announcement made me turn my head to see who it was. I was eager to see in fact until Steve added, “Kiara, meet my son….”

And until I actually saw who it was… the face of Steve’s son.

Steve continued while my eyes widened in nothing but unexplainable shock, “Jack and Jack, meet Zora’s daughter–”

Jack! Or should I say Jackass?

Those familiar captivating green eyes connected with my wide orbs and while I thought back to how I thought he was hot, Jackass stared back at me with anger burning in the depth of his alluring eyes.

Now I know why Steve’s grin seemed awfully familiar.