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Chapter 11
Hearts Fluttering
When the girls reached the ground floor again, the brothers were still there waiting for them. Conrad grinned like an idiot. Nicolas nodded appreciatively. Logan whistled. Tristan winked. Hayden cocked his head and said, “Not bad.” And Sebastian and Darcy didn’t look too pleased.
Sakura wasn’t pleased either that they had to be there, witnessing her awkwardly descending the stairs in her heels and short skirt.
“What do you think, Conrad?” Lauren asked. “Doesn’t she look great? I wore that dress on my sixteenth birthday. Do you remember? But it fits her perfectly.”
“Yes, it’s beautiful,” Conrad said, his eyes on Sakura.
“Do you really remember me wearing that on my sixteenth birthday back in New York?” Lauren asked him, her eyes bright.
Conrad blinked and then laughed uneasily, remembering no such thing.
“She looks like a sixteen-year-old girl,” Sebastian said, a hint of disapproval in his voice.
“Who wants to get laid,” Darcy muttered under his breath.
“You look very nice, Sakura,” Nicolas said.
The brothers didn’t miss Nicolas saying Sakura’s name for the first time either, as though he were really cherishing it.
Darcy turned on his heel and headed toward the drawing room to join everyone else. Sebastian turned and left as well.
Sakura was quite pissed with Sebastian’s behavior thus far. Oh, she’d heard him all right when he said she looked like a sixteen-year-old girl. She wasn’t an ignorant sixteen-year-old girl, for Pete’s sake.
She was also pissed with Darcy, who had said she wanted to get laid. Yes, she was a virgin, but she never wanted to look like she wanted to get laid—ever!
“Come on,” Lauren said to Conrad. “It’s time.” She grabbed his hand and led the way to the drawing room. Conrad laughed uncomfortably as he trailed behind her. Sakura, Nicolas, Logan, Tristan, and Hayden followed them.
It was jam-packed with guests in the drawing room, and before long, Mr. Simpson gave a good, long speech for his daughter’s eighteenth birthday. Then when it was ready, the cake was brought in, and a chorus of “Happy Birthday” followed. Lauren happily blew out the candles that stood on top of the biggest and grandest cake Sakura had ever seen. So that was what Mrs. Simpson had splashed her money on—the cake!
“Sorry I’m late,” a voice suddenly said behind Sakura while everyone was cheering loudly.
Sakura turned to see the boyishly handsome Mark Chatsworth smiling at her. “Hey,” she said. “Where have you been?”
“Hey,” he said back. “At the lab. You look great.”
“Err, thanks,” she replied. “Want some cake?”
“Sure.”
Some twenty minutes later, James came over to his sons, wondering why they were looking so serious at a party. When he turned to observe the object of their interest, he grinned.
“Who’s he?” Conrad asked.
“Mark Chatsworth,” James said. “Dr. Mark Chatsworth.”
“Are they dating or something?” Logan asked.
“Not that I know of,” James said honestly.
This was of course followed by sighs of relief from Logan and Conrad.
“Come on. I’ll introduce him,” James announced and led his sons toward Mark and Sakura, knowing very well they were dying to know who this guy really was in relation to Sakura.
“I don’t trust that guy,” Conrad whispered to Sebastian.
“Why not? He’s a doctor.” Nicolas chuckled from behind.
“Oh, shut up,” Conrad snapped.
James heard the conversation and hid a smile. “Sakura?” he said the moment he was beside her. “A new dress?”
Sakura turned and gave her adopted father a grand smile. “Accident,” she said. “And your sons are to blame.” She glared at the brothers, who looked as though they were ready to pick a fight with their defensive stances and serious faces.
“Really?” James asked and turned to his sons. “Which one of you is responsible?”
“Me,” Conrad said without hesitation.
“In that case, I believe you owe Sakura. How about repaying her by volunteering for Dr. Chatsworth’s research?”
“Oh. That’s great,” Mark said before Sakura could say no. “And they are?”
“My sons,” James said. “Nicolas, I believe, is the same age as you.”
Nicolas shook hands with Mark—tightly. He also made sure his hand was on the top, which pleased him and his brothers mightily.
“Logan.” James nodded to Logan. “Tristan, Sebastian, and Conrad.” Then he nodded toward his other sons. “Hayden and Darcy.”
Mark shook hands with all of them, pleased. “Are you all volunteering for my research?”
When the brothers all nodded, Mark clasped his hands together and said, “Why don’t we go to the lab now? I’m quite eager to—”
Sakura wasn’t happy. All of them? Volunteering for the research? Good God!
“But, Mark, you haven’t had lunch yet,” she cut in.
None of the brothers had lunch yet either, and they were quite upset she didn’t notice—especially Conrad.
“Besides,” she added, “it’s rude to leave a party without saying farewell to the hosts.”
Mark chuckled. “All right. We’ll eat first.”
Sakura sighed and walked away to get some food. She’d do anything to delay going to the lab with the brothers. God! She had to take their blood, and the thought didn’t sit well with her. She was an expert at venipuncture, having had excellent experience working in the hospital as a lab scientist, and as part of the job description she had to bleed patients as well. It was just that now she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to do a proper job simply because it was the brothers.
It was an hour later when Sakura reluctantly wished Lauren a happy birthday and told the girl she had to leave. Then she found herself sitting in the back seat by herself while Conrad sat in the front seat next to Mark, who was driving the car. Behind them, Sebastian drove the silver Mercedes with Nicolas and Logan as passengers, and Tristan drove the black one with Darcy and Hayden as passengers.
Sakura was even more uncomfortable to be surrounded by eight very tall men in the small lift as they headed up to the fifth floor of the public hospital where the main lab was located. She held her breath until they got out, and by then her lungs were starving for oxygen and her whole body was aching because she’d been so tense.
Sherry, the lab assistant working under Mark, greeted them as they came in. She was quite shocked to see the Princeton brothers with Sakura. She blushed profusely when they smiled at her, and her hands shook uncontrollably when she handed them each questionnaires a little while later.
“What’s this for?” Logan asked.
“Err, your well-being questionnaires,” Sherry replied, blushing again. “It’s just the standard. Take your time. I’m here to help if you need any. When you’re done, Sakura will take your blood.”
The brothers got down to it, answering questions about their diet, medications (if they had any), daily routine, and exercise regime. Tristan and Logan, as usual, treated it like a competition and raced through the questionnaires. But it was Sebastian who finished first and headed out of the small reception area to the lab behind. Tristan muttered under his breath as he watched his brother go. Nicolas put his pen down and chuckled.
Once he stepped into the laboratory area, Sebastian was taken aback by the scene before him. There were massive machines running tests everywhere, some as big and as long as the length of the whole room and connected together like trains. There was quite a number of staff on the floor, working, putting test tubes filled with blood through the analyzers.
He spotted Sakura in a small office on the other side of the lab. He headed for her, and once there he saw she’d put on a lab coat and had her long hair tied back into a ponytail.
He knocked on the
door.
She turned.
The sight of her knocked the wind out of him. She looked sophisticated and professional in her lab coat. Not to mention sexy as hell. He swallowed. And then he remembered how to breathe properly.
“You’ve finished your questionnaires, then?” she asked.
He cleared his throat, which had gone dry all of a sudden. “Yeah.”
“Sit down.”
He didn’t move. More specifically, he didn’t hear her. He was too busy looking at her.
Sakura cocked her head to one side, wondering what was wrong with him. “Sebastian?” she asked.
Sebastian blinked. It was the first time she’d called him by his name, and it caused his blood to tingle deliciously.
“Huh?”
“Don’t tell me you’re afraid of needles,” she said.
He was offended. “I’m not afraid of needles.”
