Loving My Brother's Best Friend

The Morning After

‎I feel the heat of the sun on my face. I slowly open my eyes. For a few seconds, I felt peace in my life.

‎After a few minutes, I remembered what happened last night. That night was the most painful thing that ever happened in my life, but it was a wake-up call for me to stop loving him after all these years.

‎After remembering what happened last night, my eyes started crying. I can't breathe. I feel ashamed of what I did. I don't know how to face him.

‎Knock!

‎Knock!

‎"Loraine, open this door!" Mom called.

‎I quickly stood up, looking in the mirror to fix myself. I slowly opened the door.

‎"It's already 10 o'clock and you're not eating. What's wrong, baby?" Mom said.

‎"I'm fine, Mom."

‎Mom held my hand and gently fixed my hair, then she hugged me.

‎"I know what happened last night. I'm so proud of you, baby," she whispered.

‎"Thank you, Mom," I replied while crying.

‎Mom looked at me and removed my tears. She held my hand and slowly walked me to the dining room. She prepared my favorite cuisine.

‎I quickly finished my food and went back to my room to get ready for school.

‎I arrived at school, and I saw my two best friends, Kelly and Liam, coming to me.

‎They have been my friends since Grade 11 until now, Grade 12. Kelly is talkative while Liam is a silent-type person. As always, Liam carried my books and Kelly embraced my shoulder, and we continued walking to our room.

‎"Did you confess to him?" Kelly whispered to me while teasing me.

‎"Yes, but he doesn't like me."I replied and I looked down.

‎"What!!?" She shouted and her eyes becomes big.

‎Everyone looked at us, even Liam. I covered her mouth to stop her.

‎"He doesn't like you!?" she quietly asked.

‎"Yeah, he told me he likes someone else," I replied.

‎"But I can feel that he likes you!?" Kelly asked.

‎I stopped walking and looked at her.

‎"What do you mean?"

‎"I saw both of you after you blew the candle. He hugged you and kissed you on your forehead."

‎"Let's not talk about him," I said while entering our room.

‎"Okay," Kelly said.

‎Liam politely pulled my chair for me to sit on, and he gave me a pack of food in a small container. As I started to get it, our teacher arrived with a few students from college. One of the five students was Matt.

‎Everyone stood up and shouted. My classmates became crazy as soon as they saw the engineering students.

‎"Everyone, be quiet," the teacher said.

‎"We have students from the College of Engineering Department, and they are going to conduct a survey."

‎Matt led the group. He assigned everyone individually.

‎"Are you okay?" Matt asked me.

‎I looked at him and smiled, pretending I'm not affected by what happened.

‎"Of course, I'm fine."

‎"I'm worried about you, Loraine."

‎"I was drunk last night and I couldn't remember what happened."

‎Matt looked confused. He removed the food container and gave it to Liam. He placed the survey sheet and sat beside me.

‎How can I move on if you are always like that? Your fragrance, your caring toward me. I can feel your shoulder while sitting beside me. I feel nervous and frozen. I look like an i***t every time you ask me questions based on the survey. The only thing I answered was yes. The man who rejected me last night is with me. I immediately looked in another direction as I noticed that he was about to rub my hair.

‎"What's wrong?" he asked.

‎"Your classmates are waiting for you."

‎He looked in his classmates' direction and slowly stood up.

‎"I'm going now."

‎"Hmm," and I turned around to talk to Liam.

‎The class finished smoothly. Everyone looked tired and hurried to go home. Kelly went home early because of an emergency in their house. Liam and I were the only people left in the room. I fixed my things and informed Liam that I was going home. ‎I felt tired while going down the stairs, but I accidentally slipped. Luckily, Liam caught me.

‎"Slowly, Loraine. You're not watching your steps!" he angrily said.

‎"Thank you!" I stood up and fixed myself.

‎Liam grabbed my bag and books. He knew I couldn't walk properly. He helped me walk.

‎"Take care of yourself. I'm always here for you," Liam said.

‎I looked at him and smiled. I pinched his shoulder.

‎"Thank you, Liam. You're the best!"

‎He gently fixed my hair and hugged me. But after a few minutes, someone pulled my wrist. It was Matt.

‎"Let's go," he coldly said.

‎"Be gentle, bro. Her ankle is hurt."

‎While holding me, he put me on his back and looked at Liam like a lion.

‎"No need to teach me what I should do. I know her for many years," he said.

‎He got my books and bag from Liam and carried me. He opened the door of his car and helped me sit down. While he was driving, I could feel the tension. He stopped the car and looked at me.

‎"You wait for me here."

‎"Hmm."

‎He went outside to buy something at Ministop. After half an hour, he came back. He opened my door.

‎"Can you still walk?" he said.

‎"Why?" I replied.

‎I didn't have any idea what he wanted. He opened my seat belt and gently helped me get down. Matt helped me sit on the bench.

‎"This is the new flavor of cake, try it, Loraine." He smiled.

‎He unboxed the ube cake and gave it to me. I just looked at him. I can't believe he's doing this to me. After rejecting me, he's still sweet and caring toward me. Does it mean he only sees me as his little sister!??

‎Matt sat in front of me and slowly removed my shoes. He gently massaged my ankle.

‎"Just tell me if it really hurts," he said.

‎"Okay."

‎I can't control myself seeing him being nice to me. I rubbed his head and he just let me. He looked at me and our eyes met. I immediately looked away.

‎"I'm sorry, you have dirt on your head."

‎"That is fine." He smiled at me.

‎He put ointment on my ankle and gently twisted my foot. After that, he sat beside me, waiting for me to finish eating my cake. He even opened my bottled water, wiped my hands, and picked up all my garbage and threw it away.

‎"I'm sorry about that night," he said while seriously looking at me.

‎I looked at him. Seeing his sad face broke my heart.

‎"I told you I'm fine. I was just drunk that time," I said.

‎I gave him a smile to make him think that I'm okay.

‎"About the girl I mentioned to you, hmmff?"

‎"Let's go home, Matt." I slowly stood up even if he was not yet done talking. He slowly helped me walk and assisted me to sit down.

‎We arrived at our house. Matt rushed to open my door outside and removed my seat belt. I stopped him from carrying me, but I couldn't stop him.

‎"Stop moving, Loraine. You're injured," he said.

‎Then he continued walking. My heart couldn't stop beating. My hands felt cold. I couldn't stop looking at him, imagining and wishing that he loved me.

‎After a few minutes, Matt stopped walking and changed his mood.

‎"What are you doing here!?" he coldly asked.

‎I quickly got down when I saw the girl standing there, although my foot still hurt.

‎"Slowly, Loraine," he said with a worried voice.

‎She looked at me from head to toe. Her eyes were burning with fire. She gave me her hand and introduced herself.

‎"Hi, Loraine. I'm Sam, Matt's girlfriend."

‎When I heard that, I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe. My hands were trembling. I looked at Matt, hoping that he would deny her. My heart tore into pieces. I didn't know that my hand was shaking while shaking hers. She looked at me and smiled like she was giving me a different meaning.

‎"Let's talk," Matt said.

‎He grabbed her hand and they talked quietly. In a few seconds, Liam parked his car and walked faster toward me. He rushed to hug me and comfort.

‎

‎To be continued......