Crystal's P.O.V :
*This was happening at the same time as Charlie's POV. It's a continuation from chapter 9.*
Once I have enough energy , I pull out of the hug.
"Why was my little pumpkin crying?" He asks sweetly, Looking at me with concern.
"Anthony?" I say with a shaky voice and he signals for me to go ahead.
"Am I spoiled?" I ask. He scratches his head and looks away. I realize that the accusation is true by his hesitation.
I look away sadly and sits back on the bench. He does as wise. He pulls my chin back up with his finger , making me look him in his eyes that are as dark as night. "Not in a bad way , I mean who wouldn't be spoiled if they had such a fit , handsome brother to love them so very much?" He asks putting a smile on my face.
The second I realize what he's trying to do , I wipe the smile off my face and look at my sneakers as I swing my legs back and forth.
He sighs and stands up then starts walking away.
"Where are you off to?" I ask and he puts a finger up signalling for me to wait. I watch him to see where he is going and he stops by an ice cream truck. Does he think Ice cream will make me feel better? Well he was right to think so.
He comes back with two bowls of my favorite strawberry ice cream and hands both of them to me. "Aren't you going to have some?" I ask and he laughs.
"I'm dieting , you don't get these hard rock abs overnight you know." He lifts his shirt showing me his abs . I roll my eyes at him , such a show off.
I put one bowl of ice cream on the empty space on my right and start eating the other one first.
Anthony's phone buzzes from his pants pocket , he takes it out and answers it. "hello" he says , there's a huge silence. "I think it's a prank." He mouths out. He's about to hang up when the person on the other end says something.
"Charlie!" He exclaims.
"Anthony , who is it?" I ask but he doesn't say anything. He puts the phone down and is left looking puzzled.
"That was Charlie?" I ask and he nods.
"What did he say?" I ask curiously.
"He didn't say anything , how did you guys meet by the way?"
I think of what I'm supposed to say , from what I know , these two don't seem to have a good history , if I tell him Charlie kept following me , it might trigger his protective brotherly instincts. "We met on the plane." I say and once again the annoying lie detector goes off. Beeping continuously. "Shut up." I mumble to it.
"What is that?" He asks and I don't know how to get out of this. Anthony hates lies and if I tell him it's a lie detector , he'll instantly know I'm lying to him.
"Awww! I want a puppy!" I shout in amazement , pointing at the pet owners playing with their puppies on the green grass. I remove the lie detector and throw it under the bench. Anthony's gaze is still on me , he seems suspicious so I run to one of the Korean ladies. She looks rich and educated , she might know a bit of English.
"Excuse me miss , can I play with her?" I ask referring to the cute, fluffy ,white furred sheep dog.
"Sure" she says handing me the treats and ball .
"Anthony , come over here , I wanna make her do some tricks." He hesitates at first but then he comes over.
We play with the puppy for a while till the owner comes to take it back.
We go back to the bench and sigh , exhausted from running around like little kids , I kinda miss the puppy already and wish I had my own.
"Tell me the truth Crystal , did he do anything bad to you?" He asks and I shake my head . He looks like there are a lot of things on his mind , will this be a good time to ask what happened?
"What happened Anthony?" I ask . He shrugs , making it seem like it's not a big deal but from their reactions I know it was a big deal.
"Anthony , you are bound by our sibling bond. Remember , 12th August 2012? The day we moved to Alaska, we promised to tell each other everything , we made rules we're going to follow as siblings, you , Clarissa and I." I remind him.
"Fine , I'll tell you." He says , with a tone of defeat.
He sighs and right when he's about to start , I stop him . "Wait!" I bend down , bringing my chest to my thighs and stretch my hand under the bench , looking for the lie detector. I find it and bring it back up , it's no longer ringing. I grab Anthony's hand and put the thing on his wrist.
"You may proceed." I tell him.
We both look up in the same direction , to make the flashback more dramatic. As if the scene will randomly appear in the sky as he tells what happened.
*Insert harp sounds here*
"It all started in 7th grade , April 2014 to be specific." I look at him wondering when he's going to finish if he gives such details like when it happened , what time it happened , the weather on the day it happened. He's acting like he doesn't know how short my attention span is.
He notices I'm already bored by the introduction so he says , "okay fine , I'll get to the point. Charlie was a bully . Rude jerk , always in black hoodies , antisocial and inhumane. You still with me up to this point?" He asks and I nod.
"Amber Holland , shy, quiet , innocent , sweet and smart girl,dealt with a lot of hardships as a kid. Also known as my middle school crush." He stops to check if I'm still paying attention so I signal for him to continue.
"Okay , then there was me , the social butterfly who talked to everyone , the entertainer of the class , the most talented with my dance skills. Also known as the only guy who ever got the shy girl Amber Holland to talk and even laugh."
I narrow my eyebrow at him. "one day , Amber was being bullied by the mean girls , they tripped her , making her tray of food fall on her. As she was picking up her food , Charlie was entering the cafeteria , If I didn't do anything , he would have used her as a staircase to get to the other side so I grabbed him by the hoodie and because of his fast reflexes a punch landed right into my pretty face."
"That's how he ruined your life?" I ask sarcastically.
"No , I'm not done. We had a fist fight , he was stronger than me so he left me weak on the ground and walked out. From that day on , he always wanted to hit me whenever he saw me.
Amber felt bad , so she kept trying to reason with him at every chance she got. That was a really big deal for someone who could barely say a word to even a teacher. one day on our school trip to Hawaii , she decided to talk to him once again , she asked him to stop and apologize .
He ignored her , but she kept pestering him to leave me alone and do anything to her instead. She got what she wanted and he punched her so hard , she lost her eyesight in her right eye."
"Woah , what happened after that? What happened to her?" I ask now fully engrossed in the story.
"He felt bad after punching her and tried to apologize , but she was in shock , she stopped talking completely . The shock of losing her eyesight made her lose her speech as well. Life was always hard for her and the only thing that made her happy was photography , losing her eyesight was the end of her will to live. Her and her family moved away and we never saw her from that day."
*Insert harp sounds here to end the flashback*
"What is this? A silent voice?" I ask and he lets out a laugh.
"Nope , but close to it."
"That darn jerk , when I get my hands on him , I'll beat him black and blue." I stand up , stretch my neck and punch my right fist into my left palm to seem intimidating.
"Calm down!" He pulls me back to my seat by my hoodie. "What was your issue with Asher anyway?" He asks. I hesitate and he says , "come on , you can tell me."
"I have to work on my manners and become worthy of him first." I state. He looks at me with a raised eyebrow so I explain further. "Crystal is spoilt , bad mannered and selfish. There's no difference between her and every other girl." I say one word at a time to make sure he understands.
He nods his head slowly , up and down trying to process what it is I'm even talking about. He never sees the bad side in me so I'm not surprised he doesn't believe anything I just said.
"You remind me of someone." He says , I express doubt on my face. "It's true , you and Charlie both think you aren't good enough."
"You really think so?" I ask.
"Why not try to make Charlie open up to you , make him enjoy life and forgive himself. By the time you do that , you would have cultivated all the qualities needed to be a good person." I am slightly offended by his last sentence. What does he mean by , "good person". Am I not one?
"Why do you care so much about Charlie if he put you through so much?" I ask.
"He's been through a lot too , the guy needs a break from being blamed , plus before she left , Amber texted me and told me to help Charlie. If she had forgiven him what gives me the right to hold a grudge?" He explains and it totally makes sense.
It makes me love my brother even more seeing how big his heart is .
If someone where to do that to Asher and be the cause for me never to see him again , that would literally be the death of that person.
Anthony's phone buzzes again , we literally spent our whole afternoon in the park. And the sun is coming down almost bringing evening upon us.
"Hello....yes.... Hospital?....really?....... okay I'll be right there." He talks on the phone , more worry emphasized in his last words.
He places his hands on my shoulders and looks me in the eye. "Crystal , can you go to Robert's place from here?" He asks in a firm, serious tone of voice.
"Yeah , but why? What happened?"
He ignores my question and starts making another call. "Yo , Rausky. Operation 8.456 is a go , I'll be back with the victim in a few.... Also my treasure is in need I'll send the address." He says that and cuts the line.
That was obviously Robert cause no one else would understand what ever they mean by the codes they use.
Rausky is just Robert's last name and I of course am Ant-man's treasure. However the 8. Bla bla bla , I do not know nor do I care.
"Robert will be here soon , I'll be coming home with Charlie , don't forget what I said you should do to help him okay?" He tells me in a clear tone and I nod.
I watch him walk away with a cool bounce in his step. He stops a taxi, gets into it then it drives away leaving me sitting all alone on a bench.