My Stepbrother-Too Hot To Handle

DABBY:

“What if I were already falling in love with your husband’s son, Mum?” I asked her after she demanded to know what I meant by my answers, and she gasped silently the moment she turned to look at me on hearing what my reply was.

“What.. what did you say, Dabby?” She asked me with a shaky voice, and my face was so impassive in its expression.

“I might love Damien,” I repeated what I had said before in a different manner, and she shakes her head in disbelief before turning to slap me hard on the face.

And the imaginative slap from Mum, jolted me to my senses and reality instantly.

“Am I not talking to someone? You seem to have spaced out,” Mum’s voice was louder this time, and I was taken aback as I turned to look at her confusedly with my right hand still on face.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

‘Thank goodness it was just an imagination.’

“I seriously have no idea about what I am saying. I am just frustrated about everything that is all,” my mouth went dry in anxiousness, as I turned away from her sight immediately. I wondered how she would take the news if I were to tell her that I made out with Damien.

I went upstairs after taking a handful of the midnight snacks Mum made, definitely not ready to talk about the other things that we had just finished resolving. And about the issue from the afternoon with Damien, I was still so pissed about it.

‘How could he ask about something that wasn’t of his concern, when there were still issues to be settled?’

I ended up sleeping angry because of everything that had happened, and I didn’t feel any better even when I woke up the next morning. As much as I wanted to keep my pride and wait for Damien to talk about it, I was so uncomfortable by whatever seemed to be going on with me in the picture.

‘But you drew the line already. Whatever he does shouldn’t be your concern,’ my subconsciousness spoke, and I rolled my eyes like it wasn’t a mind of my own.

I entered the car and sat in the back seat earlier than Damien came out, and waited for him to start the car so that I could ask him. Instead of going straight about the pressing issue in my mind, I decided to ask why he asked me about the picture.

The replies he gave to me were unsatisfactory and forced, and it frustrated me by the minute with the way he was acting. I knew that I had rambled a lot about unnecessary things before talking about the main point, and it hurt me to hear him say that he was not in the mood to talk.

‘I was so agitated about something, and yet he said that he wasn’t ready to talk about it?’

I didn’t want to be in the same space with him anymore, and I told him to stop the car immediately before I opened the car door in motion. Right before his eyes, I hopped into the incoming cab which dropped me at school. Since he said that he wasn’t in the mood to talk, I would give him the break he wanted.

I hung out with Mason throughout school, and suggested that we go to the library to study when we were supposed to go for lunch. I sat at the front with Mason during the play at school, and left immediately the play was over to avoid bumping into Damien.

When school was over, I left with Mason, who said that he wanted to go for his swimming lessons. He dropped me off at home for a quick change, and I spent my afternoon taking swimming lessons.

After we were done, I resumed my job at the cafe with Mason even if I had not told him about me quitting soon. When I saw Damien’s calls, I intentionally put them off because I felt he wasn’t ready to talk.

When I saw Damien as the customer whom I meant to take his food orders, I was so angry that I had another person serve his food and just helped with whatever they needed in the kitchen. I made sure to remain there till I was sure that Damien was gone already, and continued with my work till it was time to close.

Mason offered to drop me home, and we had really funny conversations before we got to the front of my house. Immediately he left on his bike and I was about to enter the house, I heard Damien call from behind me which made me realize that he probably had been following us from the cafe.

I was still so mad that I didn’t want to wait, which really had me surprised by my actions that I could act that way. Dabby was the kind of girl to choke on her feelings and whatever was going on with her, so far it would make the other person comfortable. But I wasn’t even ready to switch to my understanding mode.

It was until Damien grabbed me by the arm that I stopped, and turned to look at him. The sight of his eyes almost melted every anger that I had in me, and I looked away so as not to be carried away by whatever I was feeling.

I knew that I didn’t have the right to feel anything for my stepbrother, but my heart would beat fast at the sight of him. My mind had whispered to me several times that it was forbidden, and yet I craved his touch even more. It was crazy to know that I was probably not myself anymore.