Lahat ng Kabanata ng My Bestfriend’s Brother Is My Tutor: Kabanata 51 - Kabanata 60

JEROMEThe place I went to when I woke up on Monday was my laptop. I had not gotten the email, which was what I expected since it was still very early in the morning. The sun wasn’t up, and most people weren’t up either. I left my email tab open and walked around the house in my briefs, returning every ten minutes to refresh the page. By the time the sun was up, I had downed two cups of coffee, a plate of cereal and milk, and the full plate of chicken I had gotten last night. I could hear the bustling city outside my window when I sat down on the chair for the umpteenth time. I refreshed once again, and this time, it took longer than normal, revealing in the end that the contract had been sent. I opened the email and went straight to the attached file. It was here—my contract was here. Though I had been assured that it would come in today, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was living my dream, right here in this moment. I started to read, sipping my water as I did. I was halfway

JEROMEStacy was at the door, and she called my phone just as she knocked. I opened the door, and she smiled at me, a bright blue duffle bag in front of her, her brown hair pushed into a loose bun, and her black, long gown swirling around her legs and the floor. “Hey, baby girl.” I took her bag from her, pecked her cheek, and she walked in. It was becoming natural—our little sweet gestures, our extra thoughtfulness about the other person. What we had was beautiful already. I just hoped it didn’t feel that way only because it was being kept secret. When we eventually decided to go public about our relationship, I hoped it would still hold the same beauty, the same fluidity, this type of ease and grace. “Hi. How are you?” “I’m good. How are you?” “Good too.” “Perfect. Do you want to change, shower, do anything right now?” Stacy shook her head. “Depends on what you’re doing.” Her eyes went to the kitchen, as expected. I had already started prepping things there. I had fried

JEROME I woke up to the soft hum of life happening around me, just behind the bedroom door. I had never been this happy to be up from my bed. I couldn’t even remember the last time I slept so fulfilled and well-rested. The scent of something sweet drifted into the room just as the memory of last night morphed into my head, foggy structures and warmth enveloping spaces. Pancakes? I think that was what my nose was picking up. I sat up, stretched and rubbed my eyes. The sleep cleared easily. My feet touched the floor and I marched to the windows, pulling the blinds open so the sun streamed in. My bedside clock told me what the time was. Seven thirty. I wondered how long Stacy had been up for. She could have woken me up but instead, she kept the lights off, and kept the blinds closed so I could sleep for as long as I wanted. Her thoughtfulness was so beautiful. I stared at the bed, the sunlight painted it with golden stripes. I thought of last night, of having her in my

STACYNo matter how much I tried to look else where, to not focus my time and energy on her, my eyes continued to move with her, every inch and every turn. She walked like she owned the kitchen, like she had been in there a million times. And she kept it clean. Something I could never do. I should try to do that some more because now I could imagine Jerome thinking of Nattie and how easy she made keeping his kitchen clean whenever he had to clean up after me. Fuck her for being exactly just what he wanted and needed. “Do you want some?” Nattie asked as she was unloading her bag. She didn’t just come to wait for Jerome or to see him, she came to feed him, to make dinner for him. “Did he know you were coming today,” I had asked her when she first moved into the kitchen. It was one thing to be at his house, it was another to come over to cook for him. People didn’t show up at people’s door wanting to make dinner for them without telling them, and if that was what she w

STACYI was seated at the wide wooden table at the library, my fingers drumming against my notebook. After spending the weekend with Jerome, I had to go back to my dorm room on Sunday Morning and since then, I’ve moved between lectures, studying and updating my story. I guess Jerome was right about he being a source of inspiration. Sex was a beautiful thing and the more we did it, the more I wanted more. It had his upsides but it also had its downsides because here I was, supposed to be studying for my upcoming tests but instead, I was thinking about Jerome and I. My mind did a lot of wandering these days, going back to all the places we could be together, all the things we could be doing or talking about or experiencing together. I loved that man. I was done lying to myself. This is the part where I accept that I am helplessly and shamelessly falling in love with him. The library was dead quiet as usual, and it was meant to be the silence I needed to focus my concentrati