Chapter 4

"You scared me." I tried to sit up by pushing my hands on the mattress. "What are you doing? How did you get here?" I was sure I had completely locked my bedroom door, but how could he be here?

Andreas looked at me with a look in his eyes that made me feel uneasy every time I saw him. "I missed my brother who I haven't seen in a long time." His excuse made no sense to me.

I wrinkled my face when I saw it. "Still, you shouldn't have come into my room. You can wait until morning, and we live in the same house anyway. We're bound to see each other."

He seemed to be quietly listening to me, now that I noticed him presence really made me uncomfortable. What's more, what's with his clothes? Why is he shirtless and exposing his upper body like that? But I admit, those muscles are perfect. They were beautifully sculpted, I wanted to touch them and feel how hard they were and feel their warmth. I shook my head quickly, realizing my dangerously wild thoughts about Andreas. I cursed him silently, he shouldn't have come to my room at night especially with that appearance.

"Are you uncomfortable?" I watched as he came closer and peered into my downcast face. "We're family, how can you feel uncomfortable with me?" He seemed to catch on.

"It's not that, I'm just tired." I argued. "Suddenly waking up made me a little upset."

"I didn't intend to wake you up or upset you." He looked regretful, if he was I hoped he would just get out of there and leave me alone. 

"I was just walking past your room, and wanted to check if you were asleep. But I saw that your blanket had fallen over, so I intended to make it right." Whether it was true or just an excuse I don't know because I didn't see it.

I tried to act okay, but the distance between us right now was really making me uncomfortable. 

"Can you watch your distance? We're too close." I tried to push him away but unconsciously placed both my hands on his chest. For a few seconds my mind went blank, I was transfixed by the warmth radiating in my hands as well as the solid sensation I felt in my palms. 

How can someone's chest be that solid, can humans be like that? 

"Stay away." When I regained consciousness, the misbehaving me turned my gaze in another direction to cover my attitude.

But Andreas touched my chin instead, he made me turn towards him forcefully. Our eyes met and looked at each other, what I felt when I looked into his eyes was the feeling of being caught in a trap. As I was caught off guard by being captivated by his eyes, Andreas suddenly kissed my cheek and then stood up to leave.

I was stunned in my place, surprised at what I had just gotten from him. I thought he was going to leave immediately, but just a few steps after he stood up, he turned back to me. "See you in the morning, Vanessa."

I ignored his words, pretending to be fine. But as soon as he came out, I screamed silently, burying my face into the pillow. My body was heating up even though I hadn't been exercising, then somehow my heart was pounding wildly and I felt like there was an overflow erupting inside me.

I pounded my fists on the pillow that I had buried my face in. "Oh calm down Vanessa, realize Andreas is your brother. Stop thinking weird thoughts!"

The next thing I know, I'm mulling it over for the rest of the night until I go back to sleep. Even when I woke up in the morning, I still remembered it and felt upset.

I went downstairs after finishing cooling my head with a shower in the morning, and I didn't even use the warm water that slowly soothed my nerves. I chose cold water so that I would be fully awake, and all those strange thoughts could be pushed out of my brain. But no matter what my efforts were, when I saw her again sitting down my mind went back to last night.

"Morning Vanessa!" Mom greeted me gently, she was as friendly as ever.

I smiled. "Morning mom." Then I approached my father and kissed his cheek. "Morning dad." I greeted the man before I sat down.

"Morning dear." I heard my father's reply as I sat down.

On the other side, Andreas leaned his body towards the table, peering at me like I didn't see him. "You didn't greet me?" He asked.

I froze steadily and looked at my mom and dad in turn, as they noticed me thanks to Andreas' strange remark.

"Morning, Andreas. I forgot." I flashed him a stiff smile, after I made my umpteenth excuse.

Andreas smiles at me, his gaze radiating warmth. "Morning, Nessa." He calls me by my given name. "How about a walk today?" Andreas who was sitting next to me looked at me enthusiastically.

I was flat-footed, I objected to the idea. Before I could answer, under the table, Andreas' hand grasped mine tightly. What he did stunned me and I spontaneously looked at my parents, worried that they would see what Andreas was doing.

"It's good that we're spending time together today, Vanessa needs some fresh air anyway. Yes, right dad, mom?" He precedes me. His demeanor was annoying, he was like two different people when dealing with our parents and when dealing with me.

I tried to remove my hand, but Andreas tightened his grip on my fingers, making them even tighter.

"Right." I turned my attention to my father who was talking. "Take Vanessa for a walk, she'll need it." 

No, you're wrong, I don't need it. I was in danger if I stayed with Andreas.

"Yes." Andreas agreed eagerly, his hand grasping mine leaving me with nothing to do but worry.

Right after we finished breakfast, he took me out, sat me on the seat beside the steering wheel and made sure to put on the seatbelt that he put on himself. I reflexively held my breath as he came back closer, then glanced at me as if nothing had happened and it was just a normal thing.

I gave him an exasperated look. "You did this on purpose, didn't you?"

"Did what?" He replied looking unconcerned.

"Taking me out of the house." He then glanced at me.

He looked at me warmly. "If it weren't so, we wouldn't be spending time together. Besides, I haven't been with you for a while since you chose to marry that jerk." His eyes turned dark. "I told you not to marry him, but you wouldn't listen to me."

I gave him an annoyed look. The marriage happened because of him, if I hadn't married Jaxon back then, then something even more horrible might have happened because of him.

"Shut up!" I shouted at him in frustration, then when I saw him surprised face I realized what I had just done to him. I closed my eyes, then slowly let out a slow breath.

The look on Andreas' face changed, he immediately pulled the car over and stopped. I, who was feeling a little messed up, became worried about him. "I'm sorry." I quickly said that so he wouldn't misunderstand. "You know what my condition is like right now. My mind is a little muddled because of my divorce with Jaxon, it just happened." He stared intently.

His hand moved to the back of the chair, then I realized he was not touching my head but the back of the chair that was parallel to my head. "Yes, that thing." He spoke in an unfriendly tone, besides his carefree and cheerful and kind nature he also had a dark side that he rarely showed when he was angry. I thought, I was the only one who realized this side of him while others judged him as a person who always looked good.

"I don't understand why you married that man, I don't understand it at all." He sounded more frustrated than me. "Isn't my existence enough for you? Are you that desperate to have another man?"

I looked at him in surprise and also panic as Andreas seemed to be starting to worry me. "What do you mean?"

His gaze that looked into my eyes seemed to break through and try to bind me. "Did you not see me as a man all this time?"

What exactly was he talking about? I twitched my mouth in complaint, he was making my mind go haywire and my feelings were all over the place. "Of course you're a man, who can deny that? I see you as my older brother-"

"Older brother?" He cut in with an unaccepting tone of voice. "We don't even share the same blood, how could you possibly consider me a brother?" I looked at him silently, and I could see that his gaze looked so hurt. "Don't you understand what I'm doing for you?" 

The moment he said that, my heart raced, my blood seemed to flow so fast to a point inside my body trying to turn on my senses, and the urge inside me warned me to run away from there immediately and avoid him if I didn't want anything worse to happen.