Kylie's POV
I. Hate. Her.
That thought kept on repeating in my mind whilst I sat there, glaring at the woman who was currently flirting with my father. We're in their office, for Pete's sake! Where did the professional woman earlier go? I couldn't believe that she was the same woman who appeared out of nowhere, claiming that they would take Josh.
I get that my father is attractive for a man his age, but didn't she notice the ring on his finger?! Or she merely chose to ignore that? Seriously, she was giggling and batting her eyelashes at my father, who was totally oblivious and busy signing the documents needed for the official adoption of Josh. Josh already agreed being a member of our family, by the way. He was sitting beside me, fidgeting his hands anxiously. Jake was on the other side of me. He was frowning with disapproval at the sight before him while Kris, in his ghost form, was scowling at the woman.
Back to the matter at hand. That woman was really getting on my nerves! Thank God for the desk separating the two of them. She looked like she's in her early thirties. And my father is in his late forties, bitch! I don't have anything against people in relationships with wide age gaps, but this is my father and that woman we're talking about! That's a gigantic NO NO!
And remembering that I still haven't got to eat the three boxes of pizza didn't help lighten my current mood. Where's mother anyway? The sooner she gets here, the sooner we'll be out of here.
"Jake, where's mo–" I was about to ask where mother was when the door at the entrance opened. And there she is! My mother graciously walked in. She was still wearing her formal blouse and slacks, so I guessed that she just came here from work. She stopped halfway when she caught sight of my father and the shameless woman. They were still unaware of my mother's presence. She raised one of her eyebrows at them. Oh, no. My mother may be the most kindhearted in our family, but once angered...I can't put it into words.
I looked back at my father, and almost gasp loudly. I stared incredulously at the woman's hand that was boldly resting on my father's arm. My father stiffened and stared bewilderedly at the woman's hand, as if it's an alien's hand and wanted to flick it off immediately. He slowly leaned away from the appalling hand and brushed it off. I almost laughed at my father's face. It was apparent that he was uncomfortable and wanted to get away from the woman as soon as possible.
"Here," he hastily gave the woman the documents he just signed.
He glanced away for a second and froze when he caught sight of my mother who was standing there with an unusual poker face, as if nothing wrong was going on. However, her eyes were a different thing. Her eyes promised death of two people. Nah, kidding.
On the serious note though, her eyes stared at the woman murderously. My father stared at my mother and swallowed the lump in his throat nervously. The four of us, Jake, Josh, Kris, and I, watched the whole scene in awe and silence.
The woman noticed that my father's attention was on something else and looked up to find my mother already walking towards them. Her flirtatious smile wavered when realization finally dawned on her. She was flirting with the wrong person.
She immediately sat straight and busied herself with the files on her desk. Mom stood in front of the desk, her eyes were glued at the woman who couldn't even raise her eyes at my mother. There was a few seconds of silence before my mother spoke.
"Learn to keep your hands to yourself, lady. Or they'll be gone before you know it." She said with a dangerously calm voice.
The woman gulped before shakily nodding her head at mom.
"Are we done here?" Mom asked to no one in particular.
"Ah! Yes, darling! Come on." Father shot up from his seat and guided mom to the exit. The four of us glanced at each other before we followed suit.
That was intense.
We went home after that and gathered around the living room. I was sitting with Jake and Josh on one couch and across us were our parents.
Kris was, well... He left us alone to tend to our familial matters. His exact words were, "That business is private. Whatever you discuss there, it doesn't concern me. I respect your family's privacy."
"So," I started when we were just glancing at each other in utter silence. All of them turned their attention on me.
"What now?" Jake continued, looking at our parents.
"Well," my mother smiled and leaned towards Josh, shrugging off father's arm around her shoulders. I guess she's still upset. My father frowned at her, but let it go.
"Why don't we welcome Josh to our family first?" Mother reached out to hold Josh's hands, her smile was warm and welcoming.
Josh was looking at mother with wide eyes before smiling timidly. "I...thank you so much, Mr and Mrs. Livingston."
"If you're still not comfortable to call us mother or father or whatsoever, please call us by our first names. Get rid of the formalities please. Just call me Charlotte."
Josh nodded, his smile widening. Mom squeezed his hands before letting go.
My father then also leaned towards Josh and shook their hands. "Call me Jared."
"Well, you already know my name." Jake smirked at him, then smiled genuinely. "Welcome to the family, brother."
Josh chuckled tearfully, and they gave each other a brotherly hug. When they broke apart, I didn't waste time to also hug Josh.
"Thank you, Kylie. For everything." He whispered in my ear, his voice full of emotion.
I patted him in the back and grinned. "You're welcome, younger brother."
It was nice to call him that although he was taller than me.
We pulled away from each other, only to be crushed by our parents and Jake. "Group hug!"
We all laughed together, however, all of a sudden, loneliness crept into my system. I was confused for a second before I realized it was probably Kris.
I glanced at the top of the stairs before deciding to go to him. "Uh, guys, I'll just go to the bathroom."
"Oh, okay. Go ahead." Mother smiled before turning back to talk to Josh.
Jake raised one eyebrow at me before narrowing his eyes in suspicion. As if realizing something, he smirked and gave me a knowing look.
"What the fvck?" I mouthed at him and rolled my eyes. Tss, whatever was he thinking?! I turned back and proceeded to go upstairs.
I sensed Kris' presence in my room, so I went there. Opening the door, my eyes went to search for him, and there he was. On my bed, lying down and relaxing. Both of his arms were behind his head. That position definitely emphasized his biceps. Oh, those...
"Oh, shit! No! What the hell are you thinking? You came here to check up on him! Not to check him out!" My subconscious reprimanded.
"But that's normal! I like him! What's wrong with feeling attracted to him?" My dazed self replied stupidly.
I shook my head and listened to the more reasonable subconscious. Yes, I'm here to find out what's wrong with him!
I noticed though that no matter how relaxed his face was, I could feel the waves of loneliness oozing off him. I frowned and began walking towards him.
Seriously, I just left him to himself for a while then this happens! He really tends to be wallowed up by negative thoughts, doesn't he?
"You know, you can just take a picture if you really want to stare at my face." He muttered, his eyes still closed. I made a face at him. Arrogant jerk!
"Your arrogant jerk." My subconscious whispered slyly.
I jumped a little when he opened his eyes, and they immediately landed on me.
"Why are you here?" He sat up before asking, staring at me with his grey mesmerizing eyes. I could stare into those eyes for forever, but I didn't want to make the situation awkward. Plus, I didn't even know how he felt towards me. The only thing I was sure of was that he wanted us to be friends like before I confessed. So, I acted normally.
I raised my eyebrow at him and replied sarcastically. "Well, I own this room."
"Wow, as if I don't already know that." He gestured to the whole room, pointing specifically at my doll Michelle. He did that without taking his eyes off me.
Okayyy, do I have some dirt on my face?
"Why are you here? Are you done downstairs?" His eyebrows slightly furrowed while asking that.
"Uh, yes," I lied smoothly. And as if the gods hated me, my family chose to laugh loudly at that exact moment. Kris crossed his arms, and I noticed his strong biceps again. My fingers twitched, so I fisted them. I hurriedly looked him in the eyes. He pursed his lips, as if finding something funny, but was stopping himself from smiling.
"You were saying?"
"Oh!" I shook my head and smiled sheepishly. "Well, it seemed that I was the only one who thought that it was done already?"
I realized then that I could no longer feel his loneliness.
What??? What happened?!
He was looking at me with amused eyes and a smirk playing on his lips. My lips parted as I scrutinized him. What happened to his loneliness? Was it because of my company? Does he feel lonely whenever he's alone?
Then, unexpectedly, I caught him looking at my lips attentively with his mouth slightly open. Blood rushed to my face as I hastily closed my mouth. Why was he looking at my mouth like that?! As if he wanted to...
NO! Don't be assuming! That's not good!
I cleared my throat absentmindedly. His eyes snapped back to mine, but he immediately looked away, as if he was embarrassed about something.
Awkward silence engulfed the room. I squirmed and awkwardly proceeded to the reason why I went here. "So, uh, what's the matter?"
"Huh?" He turned his head in my direction, but didn't look at me. He was looking directly above my head. "What are you talking about?"
"You...you were feeling lonely...just now."
Now, he was looking me straight in the eyes. "You felt that." It wasn't a question.
I slowly nodded, gauging his reaction. He deeply sighed before looking at me under his eyelashes. "I guess you need an explanation."
"No!" I blurted out as I frantically shook my head sideways.
He looked shocked at my reaction because his eyes grew wide.
"I mean, you don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to!" I smiled reassuringly at him.
"But you want to know." He said in a low voice.
"Well, yeah, but I won't force you into telling me." I said timidly before looking down at the floor and staring at it. Oh, look at the smoothness of it–
"You won't. I want to tell you actually." I nearly stumbled back when he smiled charmingly at me.
Oh, no. Come on, heart. You're stronger than this! You're not going to die on me just because of his smile, are you?!
Gah! Why is he doing this to me?! Can't he warn me before attacking my heart? He could say something like, "hey, I'm gonna smile so handsomely. Just informing you because you might have extreme palpitations and I don't want you to die because of me."
I stood there, staring at him dazedly. He snapped his fingers before my eyes, making me snap back into reality.
"And here I am, ready to tell you my innermost thoughts." He deadpanned.
"Sorry," I replied cheekily.
"Come here," he patted the space beside him.
"No, I'm fine here," was what I would like to say to save my already crumbling defense against his charm, but he would undoubtedly ask questions, so I complied begrudgingly.
I bit the inside of my cheek as I sat down on the bed, not looking in his direction. He was silent for a moment, so I spared him a glance. He was giving me a wry look.
"Do I have some contagious disease that makes you want be as far as possible from me? There's like five feet of space here." He slightly glared at me, gesturing at the space between us.
It's for my safety, you idiot! You do not get to look at me like that!
I pressed my mouth into a tight line to stop myself from blurting out unnecessary things. I dropped myself beside him with only half of a foot of space between us.
"Happy?"
"Very," he grinned sexily.
I almost choked on my own saliva. Okaayyy...
"So," I drawled out.
He slowly turned serious and averted his eyes to the floor. He sighed before saying, "It's my parents. It's been a long time since I saw them."
My mouth opened as I realized that he might have remembered his own family when we were dealing with the adoption of Josh.
"You miss them." I said, taking in his hunched form.
"Yeah," was his only answer, but it made me want to go hug him until he's feeling better.
"I was wondering whether they're okay. Whether they've moved on and put the past behind them. I hope they did. It won't do them any good to linger in the past, you know?" He smiled sadly that I almost felt my heart ache for him.
I was contemplating with myself whether to say comforting stuff or just stay silent.
The former won.
"I'm sure they know that you wanted them to move forward, but it's not easy. It might take them a while, but I'm sure they will." He glanced at me gratefully, and I offered him a reassuring smile. His eyes lingered on me longer than I expected. I breathed a sigh of relief silently when he looked away.
"You're right." He mumbled softly.
"Uh, do you know where they are now?" I asked reluctantly as I watched his mouth slightly curled downward.
"Three years ago, I heard that they wanted to live somewhere in Europe." He turned to look at me with those serious eyes. I nodded and hummed.
However, not long after, a glint of amusement flashed in his eyes.
"There's no denying that I miss them, but thanks to some cute and entertaining female who can see and touch me, I don't really feel their absence." He smirked at me.
My mind only registered the words 'cute and entertaining female.' Thanks to some cute chick, huh? Who might that be?
My lips formed a pout before I knew it. He chuckled, still staring at me. Then, it clicked that he was talking about me. I sat there, still processing what he just said.
Did he...just compliment me? He said I was...cute..?On top of that, he said that he didn't really feel their absence because of me!
I gasped inwardly. The hell?! What's happening to him?! Is this even him?
Okay, I should've been a giggling mess, but I couldn't help it. Seriously?! He complimented me?!
He noticed the horrified look I was throwing at him. He rolled his eyes in response, still having that damn sexy smirk on his face.
I decided to acknowledge the compliment. "Um, thanks?"
He scoffed lightly, not believing that those were the only words I could say to him.
~~~~~~~
Author's note
Gaaaah! I'm so sorryyyyy! It's been a while! I know it's been months since I've last updated, but I couldn't really have the time to write. There's been so much school work to do! And I needed to get serious regarding school since I felt that I would get failure grades if I slack off. It's like you get paranoid whenever you feel that you have free time and you're not doing any non-fiction related stuff.
Anyway, I know this chapter was not that long, and maybe it couldn't make up for the months I didn't get to update, but I hope you enjoyed reading this. And hopefully, I could write fast enough to update on Christmas day because, well, it's Christmas!
Thanks for reading this far! And don't forget to vote and comment! I shall return!