Chapter 3

Randy's POV

As soon as I walked back into the house, I received an email notification;

“Mister White, Please report to the NRMC head center within a week. Project Spinal begins in Three weeks.

Sender: NRMC.”

As I read the mail, I walked to my room to get my things ready. As my eyes took in my belongings, it occurred to me for the first time that I didn't really have so much. In the five years I had spent in this house, I was kind of glad that I didn't really have a lot of things to pack.

Before I could even start with the arrangement, a loud bang resounded on the front door, making me rush towards it to open it up.

“Are you stupid? I've always told you, five seconds max. I knock, you open, but you took 45 seconds,” Selene, Clara’s younger sister shouted, as soon as the door opened. “Now, apologise for making me wait,” she added, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms.

Instead of answering her, I quietly took in a deep calming breath as I wasn't in the mood for her shenanigans. With a slight shake of my head? I turned to leave, but Selene grabbed my arm, forcing me to stop.

“Are you deaf or something? I said apologise or I'm going to tell Clara that you were disrespecting me and being a dick and she won't speak to you for like a week,” she said, her voice raising a bit.

Without sparing her any words, I removed my arm from her grasp.

“Oh my God, did you just push me?” She exclaimed dramatically, her voice echoing slightly in the big sitting room. “You know what, Randy,” She continued, crossing her arms above her chest. “I'm going to tell Clara to divorce you. Thank god, Kyle is coming, at least he will show you how a real man acts.”

Of all the things she had said since she walked in, the part of Klye coming caught my attention. But I didn't need to think too far as a few steps outside the still open door, Clara walked towards the front door with a bright and cheerful smile on her face, by her side was Kyle Rogers. A hurtful pang shot through my heart as I saw her look lovingly at him with her hand in his.

With a smile on his face, Kyle waved their links hands at me in some sort of mock greeting. With a slight furrow on my forehead, I looked from Kyle's face, down to their joined hands and up to Clara’s face. As soon as she saw the look on my face, she immediately removed her hand from his, but that didn't matter because I had already seen enough.

“Ah…what's going on here? I heard some shouting,” Kyle said, his eyes darting from me to Selene.

As if in cue, Selene reached out and took Clara’s hand in hers, “Clara,” she began in an obviously fake whiny voice that she always used when she wanted to get her way, “Randy is being unreasonable. I just showed up and he started giving me attitude for no reason, he even screamed at me and pushed me,” she said, her words making me widen my eyes in surprise.

I looked from her to Clara and from her facial expression, I could tell that Clara was eating up her words.

“Thank God, Kyle is here to show him what a real man looks like and how a real man should behave,” she added, making Clara smile and she turned to look at Kyle again. “Kyle,” Selene continued, her voice becoming sweet all of a sudden as she held Kyle's hand, “It's so good to see you and you know you're the one I always wanted my sister to end up with. I mean, you're the one she has always wanted. She buys little gifts for you, travels halfway across the world just to see you and she will not shut up about how much she misses you,” she finished with a bright smile.

While Selene talked, I crossed my arms and listened with what I hoped was a bored expression on my face and I couldn't help but catch Kyle's satisfied facial expression as he glanced at me for a few seconds with a self-satisfied smile, before looking back at Selene.

“All you have to do is just say the word and my sister will drop Randy like the dead weight that he is,” Selene added with a chuckle.

“Selene, stop it,” Clara said with a small smile on her lips. “Randy, don't mind my sister, she doesn't mean who she just said,” she added looking at me.

The whole drama was as funny as it was painful and it actually made me chuckle.

“Yeah Randy, this is nothing to get angry about,” Kyle said.

“Oh, I'm not angry,” I replied, grateful that my voice was strong enough. There was a brief pause as Clara looked at me briefly. It was as if she was surprised by my response and so did Kyle, and truthfully, I wasn't angry at any of what they'd said. I had heard these kinds of derogatory statements long enough to make me not care anymore, especially with the recent developments.

“What are we doing standing by the door like a bunch of idiots?” Selene asked, “Kyle just moved in, let's show him around.”

“Wait, Kyle is moving in?” I asked as my eyes widened in surprise and for the first time, I noticed the suit case he had brought in with them. It was bad enough that I had had to watch Clara talk on the phone with him nonstop and even watch her sexually fantasise about him, and now he was moving in?

“Yes. Kyle just got back in town and he’s looking for a new place to stay, so I figured I should let him stay here for a few nights,” Clara explained, her smile returning to her face.

“I hope Randy does not mind, right?” Kyle said, looking from Clara to me.

Before I could even answer, Clara responded, “No, no, Kyle. Randy does not mind, he's very accomodating.”

“Yeah,” Selene said, “he's just like a glorified housekeeper, so what he thinks does not matter,” she added, waving her hand in my direction like I was nothing more than a fly that needed to be swatted away.

With a deep breath, I finally spoke up, “even if I did mind, I doubt it would make much difference.”

“Clara, I don't think Randy is okay with this,” Kyle said, “Maybe I should just go back…”

Before Kyle could even complete his statement, I watched as Clara grabbed his arm, “no,” she said, her voice sounding desperate.

“Randy, Shut up,” Selene said, her voice reading a bit. “stop sending like you deserve respect. You're the one who should be packing your bags.”

My brows furrowed again as I listened to the words that came out of my sister-in-law's mouth. In front of me, a ghost of a smile spread discreetly over Kyle's mouth, it was as if he was delighted at the insults that were hurled at me on his account.

“Okay. That's enough,” Clara said, “Kyle is staying and that is final.”