Time is the ultimate truth teller

Curiosity kills the cat

I am at Emilio's house right now with my cousin, Lea, as well as Princess and Dan, who live here.

Lea's my cousin from my mother's side, and when she moved here, we got close, and she introduced me to Emilio and the others since she will be living with them for a while. As I knew them longer, I already saw them as my younger siblings that I am responsible for. Sometimes I sleep here so I could prepare their breakfast, dinner, etc., and also help them with their studies.

But then, after months, Emilio and I started to feel a thing. However, we decided not to be in a relationship yet because it's too early for it, and we want to take everything slowly.

That's what he told me.

"Let's drink!" Princess exclaimed.

"Soju?" Lea asked.

These kids, really.

They both looked at me with their puppy eyes.

"Fine!" I gave up.

They jumped and ran outside. I then stood up and took my keys so I could drive them to the convenience store, just 3 minutes' drive away from Emilio's.

When we got home, Emilio and the others had already arrived.

"Where have you been?" Emilio asked before hugging me and kissing me on the lips, which I responded to quickly.

"Get a room!" Lea shouted and acted disgusted, which made us laugh.

"We bought drinks since they wanted to, just soju though," I explained, and he nodded before putting his arm around my shoulder while we entered the house.

"Do you want to drink too?" I asked.

"No, I have classes tomorrow morning," he said.

"Are you staying tonight? Sleep here, please," he said while pouting.

I laughed and pinched his cheeks.

"Yes, Dan asked me for help, actually, that's why I'm here," I explained.

"Why not help me first, hmm?" he said while smiling playfully and winking.

Before I could even respond, he grabbed my arm and went inside his room.

"Emi—" He kissed me passionately while rubbing my back.

I couldn't help but respond.

"They might hear us," I said with a hoarse voice.

"Shhh," he just hushed me before he sat down, and I am now sitting on his lap.

"I miss you," he said.

I can feel his arm getting inside my shirt; his palm feels so hot, and it turns me on.

"Ugh,"

Yes, we're not in a relationship, more like friends with benefits and mutual understanding.

"Fvck," he cursed as I moved above him.

"I might end up fvcking you right now," he said, so I chuckled and stood up.

"Nah-uh, rule #1," I said before I fixed myself and gave him a slow kiss on the lips and playfully bit his lower lip.

Yes, we have a rule: 'no s*x'. We only do kissing and foreplay but no intercourse since, again, we are not in a relationship, serious relationship with “label”.

"Satisfied?" Ken playfully asked Emilio when we got out of his room, so I laughed.

Ken is his younger brother.

"Shut up, Ken," he said, which made Ken and I laugh harder.

"Nice one, Bella," Ken said before clinging to me as we walked to Lea's room, where they are drinking right now.

"Girls' things! You go and do yours," I said as I stopped Ken and Emilio from entering Lea's room.

"I thought we could join you?" Emilio asked.

"I changed my mind," I said before I looked at his friend down there, which made Ken burst into laughter.

Can't let him drink tonight, especially since I'll be sleeping over here; we might end up breaking our rules, and I can't let that happen. Especially since Ken and Ace have been giving me hints lately about this older brother of theirs.

I knew that Emilio's talking to someone behind my back, so I also don't want this so-called fling to grow into something. I'm just having fun with it, not being so serious, even though I don't have plans to entertain someone else while we're still onto it. I am not a player, duh?

"And you, Baby Ken and Baby Ace," I looked at Ken, who's standing beside Emilio, and Ace is lying on the sofa, playing with his phone.

"It's time to sleep, you still have classes tomorrow," I said before giving both of them kisses on their cheeks and hugging them.

They are like younger brothers to me; Ace is 12 years old, while Ken is 14. My babies. They actually don't like being babied or being called "baby"; I am just an exception. They both nodded before kissing and hugging me back.

"Good night! Love you, Bella!" Ken said before entering his room.

"Love you, Isabella!" Ace also said

"Love you both, sleep well," I said, and I saw Emilio smile while looking at me and his brothers.

'If only you'll behave,' I said in the back of my mind while looking at him.

I am not yet ready to face the truth, to unveil what you're up to right now, Emilio, because I know that it will also affect my relationship with your brothers, Ken and Ace, and cousins, Dan and Flynn, who are also like younger brothers to me.

"Bella," I looked at Princess when she called me.

"Hmmm?" I responded before sitting and grabbing a bottle of soju.

"Can you download this dating app?" she asked, which made me frown.

"What? No," I immediately refused.

"I mean, I am the one who will be using it. I just want to look for someone," she explained.

I took a deep breath; if I know it's that rider guy of hers again. She really can't get over that guy she had her first s*x with, which ended up ditching her and giving her the "who are you" thing like nothing happened, and here she is, keep on pushing herself and trying to get into that guy. He’s actually the reason why she turned into this little bitchy side of her. Making up with some random guys she doesn’t even know, having one-night stands, etc.

"Can’t you just get over him?" I asked, but she just smiled at me.

Whatever.

I gave her my phone and let her do what she wants.

"Here, just swipe left so you won't like whoever it is. Just swipe until you find his profile," she explained.

I just nodded. I actually knew how this thing works because I already saw it with my friends at school, and I am not a kid not to be familiar with it, even though I never even tried to use it.

"Baby Ken?!" I exclaimed as I swiped left.

Ken's profile popped up.

He’s using a dating app? I face-palmed and screenshot his profile before swiping it right. I got lost in my mission to find Princess' jerk and swipe left until I found my friends' profiles and screenshot it. It’s actually fun. Until something came into my mind: what if Emilio also has one? So instead of looking for Princess' jerk profile, I ended up looking for Emilio’s.

While swiping, a familiar profile suddenly appeared. It’s a profile of a guy holding a billiard taco while standing next to a billiard table, wearing white long sleeves and a cap. He’s familiar.

‘Hayden’

That’s the name on the profile.

I keep on juggling my mind if I saw him somewhere. I scrolled to his profile to look at his other pictures.

"Oh!" I said.

I was about to ask Princess, but she’s already asleep, so I looked at the guy’s profile again. I think this is the stranger that Princess had eyes on and danced with at the club last month.

Out of curiosity, I swiped it right and I got shocked when a ‘Matched’ word popped up in the screen all of a sudden, so he already swiped me right before I could even do it? Shocks! Why did I even swipe right if I could just ask Princess tomorrow? Me and my stupid curiosity really.

Right after the matched word popped up, a message came next.

"Yo" - the Hayden guy messaged.

Wow, so fast, huh? So active.

"Hey" I replied.

"So why are you in this app?" he asked, but before this conversation goes somewhere, I frankly told him the reason why I swiped him right.

"I actually have a reason why I swiped you right, not because I am interested but I am curious," I honestly said, which he laughed at.

"Curious of?" he asked.

“Are you the birthday boy that Princess danced with in the club last month? You really looked familiar, and as they said, curiosity kills the cat, so can’t help my nosy curiosity to confirm my suspicion," I explained.

"Oh! You’re that friend of her who went home first?"

So it’s really him! What a world.

"Yes, yes! It’s really you. So that’s it, that’s what I only want to confirm and for a record it’s my first time using this kind of app because Princess asked for my help to look for someone here, so I hope you won’t get a wrong idea of this," I don’t even know why I am explaining to this guy.

“That’s fine, no need to explain. So I guess can I have your social media instead? Since I bet you’ll be deleting this app later on,” am I that predictable?

He seems used to talking strangers, huh.

We talked for a bit before I gave my social media name to him and continued looking for the guy Princess asked me.

While scrolling, I froze while looking at the profile I saw - Emilio’s. It says in his bio that “Single and always available, just hit me up.” I immediately deleted the app and closed my phone.

I went home without telling anyone.

Why? I already saw it coming, but why does it feel hurt reading those and catching it myself? Fvck!

I couldn't sleep that night, thinking about Emilio's profile on the dating app. I felt a mix of emotions - hurt, anger, and disappointment. I didn't know how to process it. I kept thinking about our conversations, our moments together, and wondered if it was all just a lie.

The next morning, I woke up early because I have classes. Emilio’s been chatting me so do Ken, Ace, Lea, Dan, Flynn and Princess. They are all asking where am I and why did I went home last night.

I didn’t respond to any of them.

Until night came and I decides to take some time to think and went to a coffee shop.

I didn’t know that Flynn’s friend saw me and messaged him asking if he knew me since he saw me in some of his social media stories.

Just then Emilio, Ace, Ken and Flynn appeared in front of me with worried faces except Emilio who’s clearly confused.

So I decided to confront Emilio about it. I wasn't sure how he would react, but I needed to know the truth. As I walked out of the cafe, I saw them going after me, I looked at Emilio. He looked calm and relaxed, at the same time confused, completely unaware of the storm brewing inside me.

"Wait il Isabella," he said, walking behind me.

I didn't respond. Instead, I walked towards his car, my heart racing with anticipation. I went inside the car before they all got in but before anyone could even say a thing I faced Emilio.

"We need to talk," I said, my voice firm.

He looked at me, curious.

"What's up? Did I do something wrong?" he asked, but I could see the hint of nervousness in his eyes.

I took a deep breath and showed him my phone, opening the screenshot from the dating app.

"I saw your profile," I said, my voice barely above a whisper.

His expression changed, and he looked guilty.

I signaled Flynn to get Ken and Ace out of the car so he did, and they went back to the cafe maybe to grab something so they could give us privacy and space to talk.

"Bella, I can explain—" Emilio was about to say after his brothers got out of the car.

But I cut him off. "Explain what? That you're using dating apps behind my back? That you're looking for other people while we're...whatever this is between us?"

He sighed and rubbed his temples. "It's not what you think, Bella. I can explain everything."

But I wasn't interested in hearing his excuses.

"Just be honest with me, Emilio. Are you looking for someone else?" I asked, my voice shaking with emotion.

He hesitated, and that was all the answer I needed. I felt a pang of hurt and anger, and before I knew it, tears were streaming down my face.

"I thought we had something special, Emilio," I said, my voice cracking. "But I guess I was wrong."

He moved and tried to reach me behind the car, but I pushed his hand away.

"Don't touch me," I said, my voice cold.

"I need some space."

And with that, I walked out of the car, leaving Emilio and his secrets behind. I didn't know what the future held, but I knew I deserved better.