Chapter two
779 Words
"Brother," Christian said, slinging an arm around Mark’s shoulders.
"I know our sister is so pretty with her purple hair and eyes — and she’s sexy, I have to admit that. But how can you be sure Mathew will marry the baby? You don’t know Mathew — he’s a psychopath, a womanizer, and he doesn’t care who it is, man or woman," he said angrily, then sighed to calm himself down.
Mark’s face fell at Christian’s words, and he spoke again.
"Do we have any other choices? The baby will be back soon. It’ll be even harder to see her if Dad has her under tight watch," Mark said.
But Christian still opposed it, because he knew that even if they got their sister out of the hellhole their father had built, she’d just end up in an even worse hell with Mathew. Mathew’s bad reputation with women and his womanizing ways made it impossible for Christian to agree to Mark’s suggestion.
Mark just put his hands on his head, worried about what might happen when their sister returned.
"Surely the situation won’t be that bad," Mark said.
He patted Christian’s shoulder. "Come on, let’s just find a way. If she does marry that guy, it’ll be easier for us to protect the baby, and she’ll have more freedom to act," Mark added.
The brothers moved to a table closer to Mathew and his companions. They were looking for the right moment to catch Mathew’s attention — he was sitting at the other table.
The man next to Mathew crossed his legs and struck up a conversation.
"Math, wanna play?" he asked, holding a glass of whiskey.
"Not tonight, Gerald," Mathew replied seriously.
As Gerald and Mathew talked, women clung to them. Gerald burst out laughing at this.
"What’s going on, Math? What’s the problem?" he asked again, his eyes glassy from being drunk.
Mathew looked at Gerald and sighed.
"Yeah... it’s Mom and Dad," he said, then took a drink of whiskey.
Gerald just smiled and pulled the woman on his lap closer.
"What’s wrong with Auntie and Uncle?" he asked, kissing the woman next to him.
Mathew told Gerald about the problem he was facing — his parents wanted him to get married as soon as possible. Something he couldn’t bring himself to do, because to him, marriage was just a headache. Gerald asked Mathew who he’d be marrying, but Mathew couldn’t answer — his parents hadn’t mentioned a name. His head grew hotter when he remembered they wanted him to marry a woman he didn’t know, a stranger in his life.
A woman in the United States sat on the terrace of a hotel room. She was wearing a white polo shirt and shorts.
"I’m back!" Jazmine said cheerfully as she walked into the room.
"Where are you? Hmm?" Jazmine wondered, because no one answered her.
So she called out louder for the person she was looking for.
"Mich, where the hell are you???" she asked frantically.
A woman replied to her call, coming from the terrace where she was sitting, drinking coffee.
"I’m here, Jaz, stop shouting," Michelle said, sitting seriously.
Jazmine went to the terrace and saw Michelle there.
"What are you doing?" she grimaced at the sight.
"What do you see?" Michelle replied sarcastically.
Jazmine laughed at what she saw.
"Are you serious, girl? Coffee? Under the sunlight? We’re not in the Philippines — we’re in the US," Jazmine said, laughing.
"Did you finish what I asked you to do?" Michelle asked.
"Oh! Of course... we can go back to the Philippines tomorrow morning," Jazmine replied, overjoyed.
Michelle just nodded in response and thanked her. Jazmine noticed Michelle staring at her phone, so she couldn’t help but ask.
"Are you waiting for a call? Is it your brothers?" Jazmine asked her in quick succession.
Michelle set her phone down on the table, took a deep breath, and frowned.
"Yeah. They didn’t call yesterday, and still haven’t until now," she said.
She was starting to worry too — afraid their father might have done something bad to her brothers.
"I hope not. I just hope Dad didn’t do anything to them," she thought to herself.
"They might just be busy, you know. They have a lot to do too," Jazmine said.
"Maybe, but I’m nervous. They’re not usually like this. Even when they’re busy, they always call. But from yesterday until now, I haven’t gotten any calls from them," Michelle said sadly.
"Then let’s go back to the Philippines — we’ve been here in the US for almost a month now," Jazmine replied.
Michelle stood up from her seat and headed to her room.
- Writer
