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Home / Romance / My Boss, My Step-Brother: The Devil From My Past / Kabanata 11 - Kabanata 20

Lahat ng Kabanata ng My Boss, My Step-Brother: The Devil From My Past: Kabanata 11 - Kabanata 20

119 Kabanata

chapter 11

Elena kept her gaze out the window, trying to mentally prepare herself for a day spent in Elliot’s company. She still hadn’t fully processed the shift in their dynamic—the high school bully who now seemed determined to prove himself as a decent human being. Her suspicions about his motives lingered, and the idea of forced bonding felt more like an elaborate punishment than an opportunity for reconciliation. The picnic spot her mother had chosen was undeniably picturesque. A sprawling meadow bordered by a gently flowing river, with tall trees providing ample shade. Elena carried a basket to one of the tables while Elliot and his father unloaded the rest of the supplies. “Here,” Elliot said, setting down a cooler and glancing at Elena. “Need help with that?” “I’ve got it,” she replied curtly, not meeting his gaze. Her mother, ever the peacekeeper, clapped her hands together. “Why don’t we start with a game of badminton? It’ll be fun!” Elena inwardly groaned. She hadn’t playe

chapter 12

Elena stood in the office breakroom, her hands gripping the edge of the counter as she stared blankly at the coffee machine. She could feel the weight of her frustration bubbling beneath the surface, threatening to spill over. Her encounters with Elliot had been a confusing whirlwind of contradictions, and she couldn’t take it anymore. Ever since he had come back into her life, her emotions had been on a rollercoaster. The boy who had tormented her in high school now seemed determined to be her savior. He offered help at work, defended her in meetings, and even treated her with kindness. Yet, Elena couldn’t shake the feeling that it was all a façade. She spun around at the sound of footsteps, and there he was, leaning casually against the doorway. Elliot had an infuriating knack for appearing at the worst possible moments. “You okay?” he asked, his tone light but his eyes sharp. “Why do you care?” she snapped, crossing her arms. His brow furrowed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

chapter 13

The memory was one Elena hadn’t revisited in years, a moment buried beneath the layers of humiliation and pain Elliot had caused her in high school. Yet now, as she sat in her quiet apartment, her mind betrayed her, drawing her back to that fateful day—a day that had sown the smallest seed of doubt in her otherwise certain hatred for him. It was her junior year, the worst stretch of high school, when Elliot had been at the height of his cruelty. He wasn’t just popular—he was untouchable. His charming smile and effortless charisma made him the star athlete, the class favorite, and the one person everyone either adored or feared. For Elena, it had always been the latter. His taunts were subtle yet cutting, his pranks always well-timed to embarrass her in front of others. She had grown used to the sharp sting of his words and the way his laughter seemed to echo louder than anyone else’s. Yet, there had been a moment—just one—when everything she thought she knew about him had cracked,

chapter 14

Elena didn’t know when she first started noticing the changes. At first, they were so small, so easy to dismiss, that they barely registered. But slowly, over days and weeks, Elliot’s subtle gestures began to form a pattern—one that she couldn’t ignore. It began with the coffee. Elena was perpetually late to the office in the mornings, a fact she tried to remedy with a quick stop at the breakroom coffee machine before diving into her tasks. But one particularly chaotic Monday, she arrived to find the coffee already brewed, a steaming cup waiting on her desk. At first, she assumed it was a coincidence—maybe someone else had brewed an extra pot and left it there by mistake. But when it happened again on Tuesday, and again on Wednesday, she started to suspect otherwise. She glanced toward Elliot’s office, where the man in question was seated at his desk, intently focused on his computer. He didn’t glance her way, didn’t offer any kind of acknowledgment, but something about the situa

chapter 15

Elena had always prided herself on her ability to keep her head down and get her work done, even in the face of adversity. But working as Elliot’s secretary in a high-pressure corporate environment had introduced her to a new kind of challenge—office politics. Among all her colleagues, there was one person who seemed to take a special interest in making her life miserable: Laura. Laura was an ambitious junior manager with a sharp tongue and an even sharper sense of entitlement. From the moment Elena joined the company, Laura had treated her with thinly veiled disdain, making snide remarks about her role, her background, and even her appearance. At first, Elena tried to brush it off. She had endured far worse in high school, and she wasn’t about to let someone like Laura get under her skin. But as the weeks went on, the bullying escalated, and it became increasingly difficult to ignored. It started with small things—Laura “accidentally” taking credit for Elena’s ideas in meetin

chapter 16

For as long as Elena had known Elliot, she had attached two words to him: tormentor and bully. Those labels were carved into her memory, her identity, and the scar tissue of her high school years. She had spent years thinking of him as the boy who had humiliated her, the boy whose smirks and cruel pranks made her dread going to school. But now, as she sat across from him at the office lunch table, watching him chat casually with a colleague, she saw something she couldn’t reconcile with her memories. He was laughing—a genuine, soft laugh—and it wasn’t the mocking sound she remembered from high school. His expression was open and unguarded, and the way he interacted with others held no trace of the arrogant cruelty she had once feared. It unsettled her, this unfamiliar version of Elliot. The shift didn’t happen all at once. It was gradual, like a series of tiny cracks forming in the wall she had built to keep her past with Elliot separate from her present. She first noticed it in

chapter 17

Elena wasn’t prepared for the phone call that came late one Sunday evening. Her mother’s voice, usually steady and reassuring, trembled as she explained the situation. “It’s your stepfather,” her mother said, her words rushed and uneven. “He collapsed. We’re at the hospital now. Can you come?” Elena’s heart dropped. Though she still felt like an outsider in her mother’s newly blended family, she cared for her stepfather, Robert, who had always treated her with kindness and respect. Without hesitation, she grabbed her coat and rushed to the hospital. As she stepped into the sterile, fluorescent-lit waiting room, the sight of her mother’s anxious pacing made her chest tighten. Standing nearby, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, was Elliot. He looked up as she entered, and for a brief moment, their eyes met. There was no hostility or teasing in his gaze, just a quiet, shared worry. “What happened?” Elena asked, walking over to her mother. “He was complaining about ches

chapter 18

Elena thought she was starting to understand Elliot—or at least the version of him that had emerged since they became step-siblings. His gestures of kindness, moments of genuine care, and quiet apologies had begun to chip away at her defenses. But just when she thought she could start piecing together who he was now, his behavior would swing in the opposite direction, leaving her confused and wary all over again. The mixed signals were like a pendulum, swinging wildly between warmth and coldness, leaving Elena caught in the middle, unsure of what to believe. At work, Elliot’s behavior toward her was particularly perplexing. On some days, he seemed genuinely invested in helping her succeed. He would spend extra time explaining complex projects, praise her ideas during meetings, and even deflect criticism from their boss when she made minor mistakes. But then there were other days—days when his demeanor shifted, and he became distant, almost dismissive. He would barely acknowledge h

chapter 19

Elena sat in her room, the warm glow of her desk lamp illuminating the stacks of papers she hadn’t touched in hours. Her mind was elsewhere, trapped in a whirlwind of conflicting emotions that refused to let her focus. The question that had haunted her for weeks now loomed larger than ever: could she truly forgive Elliot? She had spent so much time trying to understand him, deciphering the person he had become versus the boy he had been. On the surface, it seemed like he had changed—his actions were kinder, his demeanor softer, and his apologies more frequent, even if they were subtle. But beneath it all, the pain of the past still lingered, a wound that hadn’t quite healed. Forgiveness, she realized, wasn’t a simple decision. It wasn’t something she could give lightly, especially not to someone who had been the source of so much misery during her most vulnerable years. The memories came flooding back: the cruel pranks, the mocking laughter, and the endless sense of humiliation sh

chapter 20

The memory of Elliot’s bullying was a scar that Elena carried with her every day, but what she didn’t know was that Elliot himself carried scars of his own. What seemed like pure malice during high school was, in truth, born out of a complicated tangle of his own struggles, insecurities, and fears—a side of the story Elena had never been privy to. In high school, Elliot had seemed untouchable. He was the golden boy—captain of the soccer team, adored by teachers, envied by classmates, and surrounded by a loyal group of friends. On the surface, he appeared confident and self-assured, but beneath that polished exterior lay a different reality. Elliot’s home life was anything but idyllic. His parents were constantly fighting, their voices echoing through the house like thunder. His father, a man who demanded perfection in all things, was particularly harsh with him. Any grade less than an A, any game where he wasn’t the star player, and any sign of vulnerability were met with biting cr

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