4: The Unusual Brothers

BROOKS

At first, I was speechless.

Then, I was angry.

“What are you doing here?”

He didn't look the least bit bothered that he was caught doing something he shouldn't be doing. If anything, he looked impeccably put together in his black suit and wine tie.

“This used to be my study before it was converted into your room,” he volunteered before starting to walk towards me, towards the door. It took repeating his sentence in my head twice before I got the meaning.

“Even if this used to be your study, and you came here out of habit. You'd have realized right from the entrance that it's no longer your study and should have left, but I found you in the middle of my room.”

“So what are you insinuating?” his tone was equally as bored as his tone.

“Nothing. I just need a proper explanation about why you were in my room.”

“I just gave you one.”

“An unbelievable one,” I pointed out, but all I got was an eye roll before he made to sidestep me and walk out of the room. I grabbed his forearm without thinking.

He stopped. Literally just stopped and his dark grey eyes bored into mine before he wrenched his hand away from mine.

“Don't ever put your hand on me again,” his tone was defensive, tortured even, and I was so surprised that I forgot how to speak for a second.

“I didn't want to put my hand on you. I just want an explanation for…”

I didn't finish speaking before he was out of the room, and my mouth dropped open in wonder. I walked fully into my room, looked around to see if anything was amiss. Nothing was. Everything was just like I left it. His explanation didn't make sense, and yet, nothing was missing from my room.

It was confusing. They were all confusing: The Romano Brothers. One treated me like a slut, another has no regard for me and another was in my room for no reason at all.

I wanted to rest my head on the bed, but I decided against it. I wasn't going to remain in this house without Mo,m and even though my account was entering the red, I packed a week's bag and left.

I’d come back when Mom returned.

********

Mom returned, and I returned too. She was brimming with news of how their honeymoon went, and I tried to match her vigor, even though I dreaded what living with Heath full-time would bring.

It brought nothing. Days turned into weeks and weeks into a month, and nothing happened. I hardly even see him, just occasionally during dinners, and it was so hard to believe that we live in the same house.

I was grateful for the distance, though. It allowed me to focus on other things, such as touring the palace, noticing how unreasonably large my room was, and realizing that I was now living in luxury, even though my salary was just enough to pay my bills.

I've been looking for a better job for a while now, but since half a loaf of bread was better than nothing, I was still stuck at my current job. That was until a guy from HR handed a sack letter to me.

I was shocked at the abruptness of it, and for a while, I stared at the letter and willed the sack to change into Promotion. But it didn't. The company was downsizing, and I was part of the staff they had to let go.

I went back home with dreary spirits. The whole family was having dinner, and Mom instantly waved me over to join them. I couldn't. Instead, I lied and said I had an early dinner and needed to sleep early.

But Mom noticed that something was wrong with me because the minute I entered my room, she was right on my tail.

“Brooks, what happened?” she demanded in a soft voice, “And don't say nothing because I know my daughter and I know when something is wrong with her.”

I couldn't say anything to that. I just fished the letter out of my bag and gave it to her before dropping it on my bed. I covered my face in shame.

I had failed at something yet again.

First, it was love and friendship, and now, it was a job.

“Oh my God. I'm so sorry, Brooks,” Mom sat beside me, “but I believe this is a blessing in disguise. You've been looking for a better job for a while now.”

“For a year,” I corrected her, “and I haven't found any because there are no jobs out there. Now I'm jobless and…”

“I called it a blessing in disguise because Stephan was just talking about the company wanting to recruit new employees. I told him you were looking for a better job, and he already promised to get you into the company.”

What?

“I'm serious. You just lost a job at a nameless company to get another one at the biggest conglomerate in the country.”