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He responds almost immediately:Oh! Okay. Deal!
32
Amsterdam, March 11, 2022
Andries
After school,I’m back home stuffing my luggage with the required clothes for the weekend. Thinking of which, I can’t help but marvel at the changes in my life—ever since I reconnected with Roxanne, everything has become different. I feel like I have been freed from the shackles that held my heart bound, but it makes me also wonder how my parents will feel about my new relationship with her. After all, to my family, it’s no news that I have become an enigma, a mere shadow of my previous self, because of my breakup. But how far will they go to express their disapproval once they know we are back together?
I don’t regret giving her a second chance, but at the same time, I’m not sure if I’d be willing to cope with a life where I’m hated by every member of my family for being in love with her. It’s surely not the life I had imagined for myself, but I’m relieved to have acted on my own accord.
Moments later, I walk to the kitchen and help myself to a cup of coffee, knowing that my evening will be long. It’s blackand bitter, just as I like it. I’m slouched against the cabinet and taking measured sips, my mind visualizing the way things would go down this weekend, when the sound of my phone ringing pulls me out of my thoughts. It must be Roxie who wants to know at what time I’ll be arriving. Perhaps she’s already eager to have me over. Perhaps she misses me as much as I have missed her. I hurry down to my bedroom and pick up my phone. But my excitement is short lived when I see who’s calling. It’s none other than Elise herself. Seeing her name on my phone screen sends sticky flushes down my stomach. Elise always smells like trouble, and her knack for being a nosy sister seems to increase day by day. Reluctantly, I take the call, resorting to silence as I place the phone against my ear.
“Hello, brother,” she greets with that little, innocent tone she usually does when she’s fishing for info. I remain standing on the other side, totally quiet. “I can hear you breathing, Andries. What are you up to?”
I frown at the question, my eyes falling on the luggage resting in front of me, and I wonder if she’s calling me because she knows something about my weekend. “What do you mean?”
“Are you going back home this weekend?”
Her new question makes me pause and I swallow the lump past my throat at it. Does she already know the answer and is just testing my honesty? “No. I’m staying in Amsterdam.” Technically that’s not a lie either.
“Doing what?” she presses on.
I heave a tired sigh at her little inquisition, ready to hang up on her. “None of your damn business.”
I’m about to finish the call, when she makes a question that leaves me speechless. “You’re seeing Roxanne again, aren’t you?”
Fuck! I freeze on the spot, unable to say a word. I take a few deep breaths, trying not to let my astonishment get the best of me. “Um, no, I’m going to hang out with Dan,” I say instead.
“Dan is spending the weekend in London,” she retorts. Her response sends a frown on my face. What is it about my life that gets Elise so interested? I struggle to find a response to her statement.
“I bet you didn’t think I knew Dan’s schedule, huh?” she continues, and I can sense the tinge of victory in her tone.
“Oh! He must have forgotten to reschedule,” I offer, halfheartedly. There is a pause from her side as if she’s assessing my answer.
“Look,” she begins, her tone even. “I have no idea how you managed to forgive your ex after what she did to you, but as your sister, I’m left with no choice but to ask you to put an end to that affair once and for all.”
“What?” I utter in shock, my jaw gasping at her audacity. “Who you think you are? Stay out of my fucking life!”
“Sorry, bro, not as long as we share the same family name,” she replies, sounding more like an enemy than my sister. “Either you break up with her yourself, or I’ll tell Mom and Pops about it.”
Her words are like a knife perforating my chest. I can’t believe it! My own sister is threatening me? I chuckle at the whole thing and start walking around my room, processing what’s happening. It feels like she enjoys tormenting me and gaining some sort of control over me.
“Fine, go ahead,” I tell her, after careful consideration. “You have no proof anyway.”
“I’ve got the tabloid picture. You’re lucky our parents don’t check those magazines,” she says, sounding quite sure of herself.
“Goodbye, Elise,” I reply, hanging up.
For a moment, I’m impelled to fling the phone away, but I manage to hold myself back, inundated by the bickering of my sister. She continues to set herself as an irremovable thorn in my side.
I find reprieve from seeing Roxanne again. I’m finally back in her penthouse, and her arms are wrapped around my waist as she continues to hug me tight. Then she looks at me, her succulent, kissable lips inches away from mine, making it incredibly hard to focus on anything else. But I do take a moment to contemplate her beautiful face. She looks so happy to see me again, her lips twist into one of those mesmerizing smiles that warm my heart. I instinctively run my fingers over her cheeks, brushing her smooth skin until I pull her closer for a lingering kiss. The taste of her lips reminds me how much I had missed her. No matter how much I have tried to stay away from her, she’s my home. Despite what my family thinks of her, Roxie makes my world goes round, and I know how lucky I’m to have her in my life. When our lips part, she smiles at me in the most alluring manner as if she knows what I’m thinking. She brings her right hand to my hair, brushing it backward and caressing my cheeks. “Welcome back home,” she says in a whisper, her breath brushing my skin.
I place a gentle kiss on her forehead, grinning.
“You are definitely home to me,” I tell her, pressing my lips against hers once more.
She wraps her arms around my neck as I revel in her warmth and deepens our kiss, her tongue dancing with mine and letting me know how much she wants me.
