Chapter 5 : Childhood Rival 1 ​

Paula returned home in the evening and brought food for both her sons. She had just learned that Chris had taken the day off. Theo, the younger son, had only just come back home today as well. He had spent several days hiding out with some unknown beautiful girl.

"Chris, you were home this morning. Did you see her?" his mother asked, excitement on her face.

"Her? Who?" Theo asked, chewing his steak.

“It’s Ruby. Do you remember her? Amber’s daughter, who lives next door. She’s come back to live with her mother. I just learned from Amber that Ruby’s father passed away. Ruby left the house and land to her father’s new wife, and she decided to return to live with her mother here.” Hearing this from their mother, the handsome Theo immediately felt amused. He quickly turned to look at his older brother.

“Chris is in trouble for sure. That troublemaker is back; our peaceful home is definitely doomed.”

“Theo, how could you say that about Ruby? She’s grown up now, Theo. She’s not a little girl who runs after your brother like she used to.”

“Mom, that Ruby is definitely a little devil. She’s polite, charming, and adorable in front of you. But if you saw her true nature, you’d be horrified. I’ve seen it countless times. Right, Chris?” Theo turned and winked at his older brother.

“I’m not sure. We’ll have to wait and see,” Chris admitted. At this moment, he still couldn’t read her. Seven years apart, everything had changed.

“Oh, Chris, you talk as if you don’t know that little girl. Be careful—just don’t let her into your bedroom. Otherwise, you’ll have a headache for sure.”

“Theo, why do you talk about Ruby like that? Never mind, just eat your meal.” Paula couldn’t scold her son enough. She quickly cut him off, making sure they focused on their food instead of gossiping about the neighbor’s daughter.

“Mom, you are really… You never catch on to Ruby's tricks,” Theo muttered quietly to his older brother, while their mother continued to glance at them without pause.

“I know, Theo. I’ve seen everything. Ruby is actually quite adorable; she’s not as mischievous as we thought.”

“So what? Mom really can’t keep up with Ruby’s games.”

“That’s enough, Theo. Stop talking about other people and just eat your meal,” Chris helped his mother admonish his younger brother. He understood his brother’s feelings, but he also sympathized with their mother, who had been deceived by Ruby’s trick.

After finishing dinner, Theo played rock-paper-scissors with his older brother and lost. The loser had to wash the dishes. Chris wouldn’t let their mother do it for him and his younger brother. This gave him some free time to talk with their mother.

“Chris, can I ask you something?”

"What is it, Mom? Why so sudden?" Chris frowned, curious.

“It’s about Ruby.”

"Why?" Chris wondered when Ruby started troubling his mother again.

“It’s been many years, dear. Whatever Ruby did wrong, you should try to forget it. I think by now, Ruby is old enough to know what’s right and what’s wrong.”

“What would you like to ask, Mom?”

“Could you be kind to Ruby like when she was a child? Could you not resent her like before, dear? Have some compassion for Ruby; her father just passed away.”

“I’m not sure, Mom. If Ruby is still the same as before, I don’t know if I can be nice toward her.” Chris was half-accepting, half-reluctant.

“Open your eyes and your heart, and see Ruby, dear.”

“I’ll try, Mom.”

He smiled at his mother but didn’t promise he could be affectionate toward Ruby right away. His lingering anger and resentment still ran deep. In the past, Ruby had been so exasperating that he was weary of having to constantly restrain her.

Twenty-eight-year-old Theo, after graduating, joined his older brother in the company, which dealt in fitness-related products. Theo became a model for the company because his appearance closely matched the products. As a result, he became more widely known than his older brother, who mostly stayed behind the scenes in the business. In the past, Theo often felt jealous of his older brother because of Ruby, as he liked her cuteness. But Ruby ignored him many times. What began as affection gradually turned into dislike. He paid special attention to anything that annoyed her, caused her frustration, or hurt her feelings, simply because doing so gave him amusement and satisfaction.

Ruby had been absent from his life for a full seven years. Now that she was back, Theo felt amused and wanted to tease that stubborn girl into learning a lesson. After all, he was quite attractive to women himself. To flirt and then casually discard them without care would probably be rather entertaining.

‘You used to treat me like something you scraped off your shoe. Let’s see how smug you are now.’

The man, confident in his looks, was thinking arrogantly. He began plotting mischief by going to ring the doorbell at Amber’s house the next day.

“Hello, Amber.”

“Theo, you’re here so early. Do you have something to talk to me about?” Amber was quite surprised. Normally, Theo rarely rang her doorbell ever since her beautiful daughter had moved in with her father.

“I heard that Ruby has moved back here, so I came to visit. Also, my mother asked me to bring the payment for the cleaning.” In fact, Theo’s mother hadn’t said that at all; it was he who offered his mother’s money to Amber himself.

“Thanks. Come in. Ruby hasn’t woken up yet. She must be very tired after cleaning by herself yesterday. I was thinking of giving some of the payment to Ruby as well.”

“All right.” Theo looked slightly disappointed that he didn’t see Ruby’s face. Still, he couldn’t help being surprised that she could do housework. In Theo’s memory, Ruby had been a silly, self-willed girl who never helped with chores or showed propriety. Now, he was starting to want to see her handling a broom and cleaning the house.

“Would you like to come in, Theo? I’m just preparing some desserts for the customers. Would you like to eat some snacks?”

“Uh, no, thank you, Amber. I have some errands to run outside. I’ll come by another day for your desserts, okay?”

“Of course, you can come anytime, just like when you were a child. I’ll be happy to welcome you.”

"Thank you. I’ll go now." Theo waved and left.

Amber smiled faintly. It had been a long time since the two households visited each other as they had in the past. Perhaps it was due to the growing disparity in social status, or perhaps because the relationships between their children had changed; everyone had grown up, and the bonds had become more distant. Today, Amber began to see the threads connecting the two families starting to weave together again, thanks to the return of her daughter.

Theo walked back into the house, a disappointed look on his face since he hadn’t seen Ruby as he had hoped. He saw his older brother sitting and watching television in the living room, so he went over to strike up a conversation.

“Chris, where did Mom go? I haven’t seen her car since this morning.”

“On her day off, Mom went to her club with her friends. I heard there’s an activity today to do charity work with underprivileged children,” Chris replied to his younger brother, his eyes still fixed on a popular documentary.

“There’s nothing to do on a day off. It’s so boring.”

“You’re acting kind of strange today. You’re actually at home. Usually, you have plans with girls every single day.”

“The girls lately just aren’t exciting at all.”

“Bored already?”

“Maybe. I just keep running into girls who swarm me like bloodsucking leeches. So boring.”