Imperfectly Yours: His Slave Series

Eight

Mum was home which was a rare thing to happen but meant that either dad was around or Julian was coming back to visit. Either way, I was on edge the entire time.

Waking up on a Sunday morning to find your hardly around mum in wearing an apron in the kitchen with Reece helping her was not how I had expected my day to begin. Usually she calls a day before letting me know that she would be coming back so I could clean and tidy up the place but today was different.

“Mum, when did you come in?” I asked as I walked to the fridge and grabbed some orange juice. I looked at Reece for help but he just shrugged. “Is dad here too?”

Mum stopped what she was doing and placed her hands on her hips as she stared me down. Her blonde hair was cut into a bob and her green eyes held my blue ones. “Why? Don’t you want me here?”

“No, no, that’s not what I meant,” I said quickly. Trust her to always get me tongue tied and feeling like a fool. “I was just asking since you usually tell me when you’re coming is, that’s all.”

She tucked her hair behind her ear but it just fell off again. “I came in this morning and I figured I would let you sleep,” she replied and turned back to the stove where I could smell her signature spaghetti Bolognese cooking. “As for your father, he will be here later this afternoon. Is that all?”

“No, that’s all.” I poured myself some orange juice then took a seat on one of the island stools. Now that I think about it, spaghetti Bolognese was Jules’ favourite dish and she was making it at ten in the morning, that meant Jules was also coming. This couldn’t be good, when they were all together all they did was ask me questions about school and what I planned to do after and everything in between. I couldn’t take so I always made sure to come up with some form of lie for not being around during dinner time. “Is Jules coming too?”

“Jules is already here Mace,” came his reply.

I turned on the stool and watched as Reece left the cheese he had been grating and run into Julian’s outstretched arms by the kitchen door.

“Julian, you’re here,” Reece squealed as Julian pulled him into his arms and lifted him into the air. “I have so much to tell you.”

Julian laughed and placed Reece back on the ground, “Do you now? I can’t wait to hear all about it kid.”

I swallowed, Julian was the oldest in the family and not only was he the oldest but probably the highest achieving of everyone, even my parents’ records didn’t come close to his. Since he was a kid he had been acing every single test and exam thrown at him and it didn’t help that he got perfect score on his trial SATs when he was just in his freshman year. Then went on get another perfect score another perfect score in his junior year. Julian was president of the school council, president of the debate team, chairperson of the model UN and not to mention that he was also the captain of the chess club as well as captain of the basketball and swim team. Not once had he gotten anything below a 100% on any of his tests. He was valedictorian for his class having graduated with a perfect 4.3 GPA out of 4.5, the highest in the school’s history That should tell you a lot about him.

There was just no I could compete with that. I had tried to take a practice SAT exam in my freshman year and I had failed it miserably. I sucked at anything school related and I always wondered why I was given such a perfect and high achieving family as my own. Someone up there sure as hell didn’t like me.

“Julian,” I said but my voice came out breathless. “You’re back.”

Julian rolled his eyes, something he only ever did when it came to me. He walked over to me then opened his arms out, “Give me a hug.”

I stood up and wrapped my arms around his and it wasn’t until then that I realised just how much I had missed him. Sure, he always seemed to make my life a living hell but he did it because he cared and I couldn’t hate him for that. I remembered all the times we would sit at the kitchen island and he would help me with my homework but that was a distant memory, one that would never happen again.

“I missed you Jules,” I whispered while holding onto him as if he were my lifeline but I knew better.

“I missed you too Mace,” Julian replied into my hair then pulled back.

“When did you come?”

“Came in this morning with mum,” he replied and downed my glass of orange juice in one go. I narrowed my eyes at him but he shrugged. “It was on the table with no one attending to it, it’s not my fault you weren’t watching it.”

“Seriously!”

I shook my head, this was one of the times when I did miss him because when he wasn’t around, it was just Reece and me and Reece was always lost in his own world. My parents were hardly ever home, when they weren’t busy doing their jobs here, then they were travelling still doing their jobs. Sometimes the freedom was nice but other times I wished we could just be a normal family and nothing else.

“How’s Uni treating you?” I asked after we both sat down at the island. “Anything interesting?”

I wanted to ask him if he had finally gotten himself a nice girlfriend who our parents approve, roll my eyes, but I couldn’t ask him that directly with mum here. She always made a fuss about how dating only took you away from your priorities and whatnot.

“It’s a little challenging but I love it,” Jules replied with a contended sigh. “The classes are always amazing and the professors even so. And nothing interesting as of yet, still waiting to taste the waters and see if I find any of it interesting,” he winked and I knew immediately what he meant without him saying it directly.

The other thing I missed, our conversations and us knowing what the other person meant without having to say it directly. It was our own way of talking to each other.

“I hope you find something interesting soon, because I can’t wait for you to show it to me.”

Julian slung his arm around my shoulder and laughed. “Sure Mace, anything for you.”

Mum finished cooking and made Reece and I set up the dining table while she talked to Julian about something in the living room. Their voices were hushed but I could make out some of Julian’s facial expressions and he did not look happy at all. Whatever mum was telling him was not setting in well with him.

“What do you think mum is telling Jules?” Reece whispered as we set the last of the plates.

I shrugged and acted like I wasn’t seeing anything.

“Whatever it is, Jules doesn’t look happy at all,” Reece went on. “I don’t like it when Jules isn’t happy because then he locks himself up in his room and doesn’t come out.”

I could agree with Reece on that one. And the fact that a 10-year-old could catch something like made me feel uneasy. I didn’t want him to feel the harshness of reality just yet, he was still my baby brother and I swore to protect him from the harsh reality for as long as I could.

                                                                                   *********

There was a knock at my bedroom door and moments later, the door opened and Julian walked in. He was wearing a pair of blue sweats with his Oxford university hoodie and some slides.

I sat up and closed my laptop and placed my notebook on top of it, “Jules, what are you doing here?” I had been working on some new recipes that I hoped Julian would try out before he went back to school.

“Can’t I spend time with my sister I haven’t seen in close to a year?” he asked as he joined me on the bed. I arched my eyebrow at him and he ran his fingers through his hair before sighing. “Fine, I wanted to talk to you about something.”

That got my attention, I crossed my legs and grabbed one of my pillows. “Okay, you are scaring me Julian. What is it?”

Julian bit his bottom lip before speaking, “You remember when I say I haven’t found anything interesting yet?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I lied. I did find something interesting but it’s complicated.”

“What do you mean its complicated? Can’t you uncomplicate it?”

Julian sighed and moved over to the headboard. “I can but the thing is, she has different views from mum and we all know that won’t settle well with her. But I really like her Mace, she’s funny, super smart and is hot as hell.”

“Then what’s the problem? I really don’t see what’s wrong with any of that. You’re in Oxford all the time and mum is usually here or travelling somewhere else, you can make this work,” I said.

“You don’t get it Macy, that’s the problem. All my damn life I have been told what to do and who to date and everything else in between, but my life in Oxford has changed my perception and I don’t think I can take any more of mum’s controlling.”

My eyes narrowed even more, “this is the first time I’m hearing you cuss Jules. Who are you and what have you done with my brother?” I said as a way to lighten the mood.

Jules smiled but it didn’t reach his eyes, “He finally got a taste of what it means to live and he sure as hell isn’t going back to being a walking dead,” he replied.

This was really serious. “What about Missy, you liked her right?”

Julian scoffed, “Missy was all mum, she wanted me to date her because she had good grades and a great GPA and she was my vice president in the student council. I didn’t even like her and I was glad she decided to apply to Harvard and not Oxford, otherwise mum would have already planned our wedding.”

I wanted to laugh at that. But then again, he wasn’t wrong, mum had taken a liking to Missy and would always invite her over for dinner, breakfast or lunch and sometimes she even went as far as inviting her on family time. We fell into silence and I wanted to say more but I could see that Julian was struggling with himself and so I kept my mouth shut.

“You know, I wish I was like you. You have it easy and you know what you want at only 16,” Julian finally spoke after what felt like ten minutes but was probably less. “You’ve loved cooking at such an early age that it took me until university to realise what I actually wanted to do with my life and it sure as hell wasn’t law.”

I was now getting confused with what he was saying.

“What do you mean? I don’t have it easy, both mum and dad are always on my case about school and always comparing me to you and honestly that sucks so much,” I hugged my legs to my chest and stopped myself from crying. It hurt so much just thinking about it. Julian moved close and wrapped an arm around my shoulders.

“I’m sorry Mace, I didn’t know that was how you felt. I always thought you liked being invisible and not in the spotlight but maybe if I had been a better brother and not stuck following our parents’ every wish and command then I would have noticed and been there for you.”

“It’s not your fault.”

We sat like that for a while with Julian’s arm around my shoulders while I tried to hold back the tears that threatened to fall.

“Can I ask you a question?” I asked. “And I want you to answer honestly.”

Julian pulled back and nodded. “Yes, ask me anything and I swear I will be honest with you from now on.”

“Who is she?”

“Bel.”

“What’s she like?”

Julian laughed nervously at that, “well, she’s like Kate. That’s all I can say.”

I cringed, no wonder it was complicated. If she was anything like Kate, then mum would never like her in a million years not even if she was president or it was the end of the world and they had to get along to save humanity. Mum would rather see humanity disappear than see her most priced child date someone like Kate or worse.

“She’s really smart though and the one who made me realise that I actually had a thing for Math and not law,” he added. “So, I switched majors.”

I sprung up at that, “does mum or dad know?”

“Nope and they won’t know until I graduate,” he said with a straight face. “They can’t keep controlling my life anymore and you shouldn’t let them do it to you either. I’ve seen how much it can ruin you from the inside. Eat you up until you are nothing but a shell of the person you were supposed to be.”

“I hope you know what you are doing Jules, I really hope you do because mum won’t be happy and the possibilities of her disowning you are high.”

Julian shrugged, “You know the only reason I’m here is because she came and requested I be given a break for some family reasons. She wants me to come back home and do the whole online learning while looking after you and Reece because she is afraid that your lifestyle might affect Reece in the long run and he might end up like you.”

“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?” I was offended by that statement. I wasn’t bad, sure I wasn’t school smart but I was good at cooking and I knew what he meant but a part of me still wanted to hear him say it.

“Not to be rude or anything, but mum says you’re lazy and you won’t get anywhere with your cooking. All you are doing is ruining your own life.”

That hurt, I knew she was against my cooking but I had no idea that was how he truly felt and I suddenly found myself falling into a deep hole with no one to pull me out.

“I’m really sorry but that’s what she kept on saying on our way here.” Julian placed a hand on my knee and rubbed it. “But I have to go to the impending doom. Mum wants us to talk about me moving back home when dad returns and I want you to see how I finally disappoint her for the first time in my life,” he winked as he stood up. “Wish me luck.”

He walked to the door but turned back, “I hope there aren’t any boys I need to beat up.”

I smiled and thought about Keith and suddenly wanted him to actually get beaten. “Actually, there is and he deserves it.”

Julian shook his head while smiling, “Don’t change, stay the way you are Mace. The world needs people like you in it.” Then he closed the door.