Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 101 - Chapitre 110

“Your pride is still intact, stop being dramatic!” Gary retorted.Alex lightly punched him under the table, “he’s eighteen, allow him!” he mouthed.“How pretty is this girl?” Noah started.Adrian raised his head from the table, and tried to replay the FaceTime.“I can’t say how pretty, I didn’t think to rate it at the time…” he replied earnestly.“Oh, come on!” Gary exclaimed.“What?” Adrian panicked.“You’re about to be termed a dork!” He teased.“Is that a bad thing?” Avery asked, corking her eyebrow. “Well, it’s a not a bad thing if you want to remain just friends with her.” Noah chipped in.“My god, Noah!”“Stop it” Margaret exclaimed.“Women don’t know some of these things, but Adrian is eighteen and he has four men in the house. He needs this lesson, would you rather he learnt it the hard way?” Gary riposted.Avery and Margaret exchanged knowing glances at each other. Gary was right, Adrian was fast outgrowing his teenage years, he needed to ask some questions freely. All she c

“I swear it, I didn’t mean to hurt you… it was just a reflex question. I didn’t mean to bring up your past or anything.” Gary spluttered nervously. He didn’t know what to do next. The fact that Fredrick and Alex remained quiet, minutes after Avery walked out made even more anxious.“Be angry, yell at me. Send me out of your house or something. Do anything but this silence…” “I don’t know what to say…” Alex muttered. He was apparently shocked, staring blankly into the air.“I don’t think I want to be here anymore.” Margaret said, jolting from Alex’s arms.“Babe…” Alex pleaded.“Alex, don’t!” She said sternly.Turning to Fredrick, she approached him with a fixated glare and said, “If you care about her, go out there and fix this. Gary did you a favor by bringing it up now. There’s no need to make him feel any worse than he already does.”“There’s no need for you to apologize to your brothers, they had it coming. Both of them…” Margaret turned to Gary, who had gotten pale and petrified

The dinner table in Nei-Nei’s chateau still held a feel of her. The joys and lively chatters that coursed through the walls of the house triggered Fredrick’s memories of that night he visited Nei-Nei unexpectedly, around this time of the night and found Avery and Adrian here. It felt weirdly strange to see his grandma feel so at ease with Avery and Adrian whom she had just met. He often wondered if being close to the time of her death made her become more welcoming or maybe Avery and Adrian just had that magical beacon that endeared them to everyone.“Yes, maybe, just maybe it is something about them” Fredrick muttered. His eyes wandered around the room, scanning each face and each expression, each person had finished their glass of juice except ….“Alex” he sighed.Alex was withdrawn, more withdrawn than he had ever noticed. His expressions worried him, and with every passing moment, he became even more antsy. It was even more disturbing that Margaret had no clue that he was goin

“Winter!” Adrian exclaimed.“We will have more customers, I’m positive” This was his second attempt to start a conversation with Gary but he wouldn’t budge. He had insisted on brewing coffee today while Adrian did the serving. It was obvious that he was trying to avoid communicating with anyone but Adrian couldn’t just sit still watching him gray out with the weather. Truly, as calculated, it was barely noon but he had recorded a high amount of sales, but even the numbers didn’t excite Gary, neither did the constant inflow of customers. Adrian thought it wise to keep his comments to himself, observing his demeanor.“Winter is indeed cold…” he sighed, in sync with his phone buzzing in his pocket.He fumbled his pockets for his phone,“Heather!” Adrian exclaimed, scurrying over to the counter.“Can I borrow your AirPods, Gary?” “Sure” Gary nodded, handing over the case to him.Adrian nervously struggled to connect the AirPods with his phone, “Sh*t!” He cussed, “What is it?” Gary

“I don’t think there’s anything to talk about. Fredrick clearly has replaced me with his half brother.” Alex seethed.Fredrick remained quiet, he knew Alex was trying to avoid talking about his panic attacks. He silently analyzed the situation and decided that to be quiet was the best option. Fredrick glanced at him, his brows were furrowed in feigned annoyance. Feigned, because he had no reason to be angry. Fredrick was the offended one.“Fredrick…” Gary called, giving him a slight push.Fredrick took a gulp of water and stood up from the table.“I had a long day, Gary. I just want to be in bed, let’s do this some other time.” Fredrick’s voice was low and weak, evidently writhing with emotions and fatigue. As he walked away from the dining room, he made certain to avoid Alex’s gaze. Unexpectedly, Alex jolted from his seat, scurrying over to his side. “I can’t sleep…” he muttered. “I really can’t sleep and I don’t think you can either.”“I sleep pretty well, Alex. I don’t want t