My Stepbrother-Too Hot To Handle

DAMIEN:

When I heard Gina say those words, I was pissed because she clearly was messing up with me. It was glaring that she still had thoughts of the past thinking that she could come back after three years and a half, with an attempt to walk back into my life like the way she usually did, even before I eventually found out about Jasper. I loved her too much.

“Do I look like a joke to you?” I turned to ask the moment she uttered bizarre words from her mouth, and she was looking at me with a pouting face. The same one she usually did if I got angry at her in the past.

“Now I see that you still seem to be stuck in the past, with a clear situation of mental and intelligence degradation,” I scoffed disgustingly, “Know this, and know it for good. I have a girlfriend, whom I very much love now. Secondly, I must not see you anywhere near my house, or else I’m calling the cops. And if you would like to know the new version of Damien, ask around or even from your boyfriend,” I warned her strongly, and turned to leave immediately.

‘I couldn’t believe her actions. Or even her words. They sounded so annoying and disgusting the more I thought of it.’

I stormed out of the cafe immediately, entered my car, and zoomed off. It was so appalling for me to know that I had dated such a selfish person. I began to blame myself for being such a fool and going with Gina to hear what she had to say, when I could have used that avenue to settle things more with Dabby.

I drove to MADELES and parked somewhere on the street, where I could watch Dabby from where I was through the translucent walls. She was working tirelessly from table to table, taking orders, and moving every corner in the cafe. It made me marvel at her personality.Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

She had a mother who was ready to take care of her, a wealthy step father, and she lacked nothing good at her age. She was so intelligent in her studies, a beautiful young lady, with a killer smile and body. She literally had everything she needed for a perfect flex, flaunt, and even for a perfect social media influx.

‘How could she be so modest and humble with everything?’ I continued to wonder. I wondered why I had not realized and seen her charms even faster than I did.

I planned to wait until nighttime when she would be done, but Xavier suddenly called and said he was ready to listen to everything I had to say. Even If I had always been a jerk to him most times, he was still willing to settle things first.

He seemed to be the only true friend that I had.

The meeting went as planned and I was able to reconcile with my friend again, which brought some kind of partial peace into me that I was progressing positively. I told him about Gina’s sudden visit too, and we both laughed about it.

He also told me about Bryan’s weird behavior lately, and the fact that he had seen him hanging with Jasper twice already, in town. He told me that he had not quit the drugs he claimed that he stopped taking, and that Jasper seemed to be giving him for free to draw him closer.

Okay. That was another situation that left me in deep thoughts again, as soon as I left the resort where we hung out. Though Bryan was a messed up guy and a very annoying person, I still didn’t want him to ruin himself with the wrong person.

When I got back to the cafe, it was already closed and I was disappointed that they had left. I knew that Dabby would be home already, and I navigated my car back to the direction of our house. I wanted to talk to her as soon as possible.

The moment I was about to enter the house after parking my car, I heard a voice that was obviously Dabby’s from the door. It sounded really angry, and I wondered who she was talking to.

“You once abandoned me in an orphanage, right?” I heard her ask her mother, and I was really surprised to hear such a question.

“Dabby. What are you saying? Have you finally lost your mind after meeting Mason’s mum?” Her mum asked her incredulously with a scoff, and I tried to push the door open a bit to see if they would get distracted.

“Yeah. Because that brought back old memories that seemed to have been wiped off my brain for some reason. And maybe some old photograph,” She said sarcastically again and I wondered what was going on with both of them.

I had observed their relationship as a mother and daughter ever since they moved in, and it wasn’t the normal kind that I knew, where the daughter would rebel against the mother and rant angrily at every little thing. There was either little or no problem between them.

However, seeing Dabby ask about something that trivial from her mother, made me realize that something was going wrong. Especially with recent moods, I had been noticing between both of them, after we all returned from the family vacation.

“You saw a photograph? Where?” Dabby’s mum asked this time, with a sullen look that held doubt in her tone. She sounded shocked.

“Why did you leave me, Mother? Why did you leave a child you claimed to love at an orphanage and left, even when she cried that you should come back every night? Why mum?” Dabby asked with a shaky voice this time, and it soon dawned on me that she had started crying.

“I didn’t mean to Dabby. I really didn’t mean to. Things were so tough that time, and we were struggling really badly. I couldn’t even afford food for only you to eat, and I figured out that that place would be the best option for a while, so far you were okay. When I met Mason’s mother as a worker in the first orphanage that I went to, I felt too guilty and took you back with me because I couldn’t drop you. But things got even worse in a few weeks, and I considered taking you to one that was far away instead. You had fallen sick too and it was so hard. But I swear, I came back. I came back to take you because it was really hard for me too,” Joanna started crying as she tried to explain herself to her daughter, who seemed to have misunderstood her mother. I entered inside already, and they were too busy to notice me.

“Was leaving kids and running off when things got worse the trend those times?” Dabby asked again, still sobbing, and there seemed to be something that was tightly held in her fingers.

“No, baby. I swear I love you so much, and would do anything to protect you. I did what I had to do, because that was the only way. When I came back to get you, you looked so different and healthier than when I left you there. I wouldn’t leave my only child and run away like that. I am so sorry,” Joanna apologized over and over again as she cried, walking over to where Dabby was standing to pull her into a hug, “I am so sorry, Abby,” she cried again.

It was quite an emotional sight for me to watch, and it made me miss my mother too. It made me wonder that dropping me at an orphanage far away would have been better, if she had run off with me the night that she left. I would have preferred that, if it meant that we would see each other again whenever she came back for me.

Joanna patted Dabby on the back so softly as they hugged, and I walked past them so silently so that I wouldn’t distract their beautiful reconciliation and closure. It wasn’t the perfect night for me and Dabby to settle our differences.

As I walked past them, Dabby was facing the direction of our stairs with a closed eye as she hugged her mother. Her hands too were around her mother’s neck, which made it easy to see the picture that she held in her hand. It looked so familiar.

“What is this picture?” I asked suddenly out of deep curiosity, which instantly separated the mother and daughter that I was trying to avoid. I just couldn’t help it.

“Welcome Damien,” Joanna said with a smile when she saw me, and I returned the greeting with a modest smile too. Dabby just looked at me so weirdly, probably trying to understand my question, as she just turned to make eye contact with her mother.

They probably didn’t want things to be too awkward for everyone.

“It was a picture that I took with a dear friend. Years back,” she answered and raised the picture for me to see. It was a boy and a girl with very short hair. They were standing side to side, and they were smiling brightly. They were both cute too.

‘Why was the young boy in the picture looking like a replica of me?’