Chapter 5
Liam's POV
It was six a.m., a nice and warm Sunday morning. I just arrived from my daily 30-minute run. A habit that started in grade school when I had to compete in a marathon every weekend to win a hundred bucks.
After a quick shower, I grabbed a fresh shirt from my drawer. The plain white shirt that I kept on pairing with my faded jeans. I did not own much clothes since shopping was a strange word for me. I got my shirts from gifts, mostly from my older sister, Lisa, and my sneakers were hand-me-downs from my born-rich cousins, Brandon and Cory. They just collected sneakers and did not even wear most of them.
Life was tough for me and my family as I grew up. It was only recently that good things started to happen.
We relied on our struggling bakery business. For years, the income was just enough for our family's basic needs. It became tougher when my adventurous dad had a motorbike accident. He had a knee injury that he ignored for years. Only when the pain aggravated and he could not walk anymore that he decided to see a doctor. Bad news. He needed surgery. A total knee replacement surgery that our family could not afford.
I had to work to help our family. I started when I was nine, selling eggs and bread in the neighborhood. At twelve, I was cleaning backyards and doing errands for old people. At fourteen and fifteen, I already worked different jobs— a grocery bagger, dishwasher, busser, ice cream scooper, mascot, and many others. When I turned sixteen, I got to drive dad's motorbike. I earned more money in delivering pizza. I could say that I did numerous jobs until I became eighteen.
It was when Lisa got promoted in her job as an executive secretary to her boss, and now her husband, Alessandro Russo, life became easier. Dad was able to have his total knee replacement surgery. He could walk well and help Mom in our bakery business.
The bakery was also renovated and expanded. The very old ovens were replaced by hi-tech ones to make baking more convenient and faster. So far more customers were coming. Slowly, it was picking up more sales.
I went down whistling and saw my mom in the kitchen.
"Good morning!" My mom, Yvone Brooks, poured the boiled water from the kettle into her cup.
"Morning, Mom," I greeted back and opened the fridge, looking for something to eat. There were a lot of choices of food inside from the wedding celebration. They just needed heating in the microwave. I put in some carbonara and cold fried chicken on my plate.
"Hey!" My dad, Lyndon Brooks, appeared in the kitchen smiling cheerfully. He was holding the morning paper.
Mom poured hot water into another cup and asked Dad. "How many hours left till Lisa and Alessandro get to Maldives?"
Dad settled at the head of the six-seater rectangular dining table before he answered.
"Let's see...their total travel time is 18 hours and 29 minutes. They left at 10:45 last night. It's already 7:15AM..." Dad raised his eyes to the ceiling, obviously having a difficult time calculating. He gave up and waved his hand in a vague gesture. "Ask Liam."
"They have 9 hours and 59 minutes left in their travel." I answered.
"Oh goodness, they're still halfway. What time will they arrive?" Mom asked me.
"5:14PM, New York Time."
The microwave beeped. I took my plate out and settled on the table, ready to dig in the delicious food.
"That's a long trip." Mom put the two cups of green tea on the table, one for her and the other for Dad. She joined us at the table.
"They're on honeymoon, they won't feel the long hours of travel." Dad chuckled and continued to scan the pages of the papers. "Don't worry, Lisa will call once they get there."
"Look at the celebrity column. I'm sure they featured Lisa and Alessandro's wedding." My mom's smile was so wide, showing her blinding very white new dentures.
The wedding was simple and private, but still the press managed to get in. It was expected though, privacy was impossible if one married a billionaire. Alessandro was not just a typical billionaire, he was part of the Petrakis clan. One of the most influential families on the planet.
"Whoa!" Dad's eyes grew so big looking at the papers. "Here it is."
"Let me see." Mom took the papers, she grinned so wide then looked at me.
"What?" My eyebrows furrowed. Both mom and dad were staring at me.
"You're famous, son." Dad said, with a sarcastic sympathetic expression. Then he burst out laughing.
What the fuck!
I looked at the photos of Alessandro and Lisa's wedding at the celebrity section, and at the left side—there it was. The thing that I was afraid of last night really happened.
My morning adrenaline suddenly dropped very quickly. The press got a good shot of the kiss. They even Photoshopped it to make it more passionate.
Damn it. I had a precise recollection of what just happened. She turned around when I was on the act of kissing her.
What the hell was she thinking? She knew I was about to kiss her, and she turned around and captured my lips! I was shocked as she was. She could not blame me because that second kiss was totally her fault.
The thought of Crystal Petrakis was enough to ruin my day. She was an ungrateful spoiled brat. She was also insane, accusing me of kissing her intentionally at the pond. Calling me a pervert was below the belt. Never would I take advantage of girls. In fact, it was the other way around.
I was allergic to spoiled rich girls. I've had bad experiences.
I got kicked out from the job because my employer's daughter attempted to kiss me and was caught on CCTV. A celebrity's daughter in our school spread lies about us dating because I refused to go out with her. And there was this unknown girl who would not stop texting me, even though I blocked all the numbers she used. I changed my number but still, she had a way of finding out.
Lisa said Crystal Petrakis was different. She was never a spoiled girl despite how extremely rich her family was. In fact, she was a very special girl.
Okay, I got what Lisa meant.
Crystal Petrakis is a very special child because she's insane!
"That's a really good shot." My mom said, bringing my mind back to the present.
I shook my head in disapproval.
"Exactly." Dad chuckled. "Did you use your tongue?"
"Dad... What the heck! It's not something to joke about."
"Sorry, I'm just trying to lighten up your mood. Why are you looking so upset? She's a very pretty girl. You two looked good together."
My mom smiled so wide, blinding me with her superwhite dentures, then said. "Yeah! You'll have cute babies."
Oh shit!
The last thing I wanted to hear was my parents shipping me and Crystal together. That would never happen.
Later in the afternoon
I was doing my assignments in the living room when the door opened, and Alice came struggling in carrying a huge box. She accompanied Mom shopping and bought some stocks for the bakery.
"Hey, I'll get that." I went to rescue her before she would drop the box.
"Whew!" She exhaled heavily and wiped the sweat off her forehead.
She was running out of breath for sure, the box was kinda heavy for her slim arms.
Alice Banner was the girl next door, my age and a schoolmate. My best friend Josh has a great crush on her.
Alice was like a living saint who could never do wrong. Always a good samaritan and would never speak anything bad against anyone. She even looked like the Mother Mary that every production would cast for a Lenten movie—slim, tall, and with very long straight black hair.
She was always available at my mom's beck and call, ready to help. More often, she would never take money.
"Thanks for the help." I said when I put down the box in the kitchen.
"No worries. That's nothing." She took a glass and drank water from the faucet. "I have to go. Mrs. Lee needs help in her garden."
"Have some rolls first." I offered the basket of dinner soft rolls on the kitchen counter.
"No thanks, I'm good. I had pizza and boba tea while waiting for your mom. She went to the beauty salon."
"Okay, thanks again, Alice."
She waved and left.
Mom came in holding a bag of groceries. She had a new haircut. She was smiling the whole time, looked like she had a wonderful day and talked about her long lost friend she met at the mall.
"By the way, did you fix the old oven?" She asked.
"Yeah, I did. I used it to bake those rolls." I pointed at the basket of dinner soft rolls on the kitchen counter.
She grabbed a roll and ate it.
"Mmm... I really like this...they're really good." She said between munching the bread. "Give me the recipe."
She had been asking me for the recipe too many times. The truth—I did not have the exact measurements. I just tossed everything in the mixing bowl using my eyes and instinct.
"Okay, in one condition. You have to increase my allowance." I said as a joke.
She rolled her eyes. "Never mind."
I knew what was coming whenever she would do that. A tidal wave of rants.
"Are you crazy, Liam? The business is not yet picking up so well. We've just started with our expansion. Do you know how much we paid for the renovation? It's like building a new house. And that new ovens we bought are too expensive, it's like your tuition fee in college. I tried to budget the money that Lisa gave me, but it's not enough. I have a lot of stuff to buy for the bakery, but I prioritized saving for your tuition fee. A medical course is not cheap."
I was embarrassed suggesting it to her. I shouldn't have opened the topic. Mom was so tight when it came to money.
But I understood her though. Her frustrations for many years struggling for the business to pick up. The earnings were always just enough for our basic needs. No extra income to make the business grow.
Now that the bakery had expanded, she was determined to make it a success.
I resigned recently from the pizza delivery because Lisa asked me to. She wanted me to concentrate on my studies and help at the bakery during weekends. But it seemed like Mom did not need me much in the business, she and Dad could take care of it. Mom has no plan of giving me extra money to save either.
I had to find a good paying weekend job to save money for college. There would be too many expenses soon for textbooks, photocopies, projects and other miscellaneous things.
I had a problem also with my motorbike. It always broke down, mostly at unexpected times. So I was thinking of buying a new one or a second-hand car in college that would be more convenient for me in traveling daily to school instead of taking the bus.
Two weeks later, my wish was answered.
I arrived from school, having a bad day because my motorbike broke down again. I was freezing and so soaked from the heavy rain.
"Take a shower then come down right away. I'll make you hot soup." Mom said.
"Thanks, mom." I answered and went up to my room.
My phone suddenly rang. It was an unknown caller.
"Hello?"
"Hi! Is this Liam? Liam Brooks?" The woman in the other line answered.
"Yeah. Who's this?"
"This is Mrs. Jade Petrakis."