Chapter 75

Chapter 75: Engaged “I was worried about you,” he frowns and says. “You gave me a new address without (elling me why you moved, and you rarely answered my calls for the past few days, so I came down here to check on you. Are you OK? Whose house is this?”

I wasn’t intentionally ignoring his calls. I was so busy for the past whole week that I didn’t even have the time to check my phone As I try to staminer an excuse, a flicker of doubt appears in his eyes. I know what he is thinking this is a lancy apartment located in upper east side, somewhere I apparently can’t afford.

“Are you…” he slowly begins, “…dating someone?” “No!” I quickly begin.

I can’t have him know that I’m living with Eason right now. He won’t understand. Plus, this is only a temporary arrangement anyway, so there’s no need for him to know and I can spare his worries.

“My lease expired so I’m staying with a friend before I get a new apartment,” I say, and it is partly the truth “Oh,” he nods, slightly relieved. “Aren’t you going to invite me in?”

There is no good excuse to keep him out, so I can only step aside and let him in.

But it’s already 9:30.

“Wow the food smells great,” he notices the dishes on the table. “Though it’s a bit too much if you are eating alone are you cooking dinner for someone?”

Another question I can’t answer. I have no choice but to make up another excuse: “I didn’t make those.

It’s my roommate. She is cooking for her boyfriend. They will be back soon.”

“Oh. Then we shouldn’t stick around and disturb them. Can I take you out for dinner? You haven’t had dinner vet, have you?”

This is exactly what I want, getting him out of the apartment before Eason comes back. But this way I won’t be able to have dinner with Eason.

Screw it, I can’t care for so much. The priority is to stop them from meeting each other. “Great,” I force out a smile. “Can you wait here a second? I’ll go change.” I let him hang out in the living room and go into my room. Carefully closing the door, I take out my phone and call Eason. He picks up on the first ring, “Hey Natalia I’m almost”

“You aren’t home yet, are you?” I blurt out.

He pauses, and then his voice deepens. “Not yet. What’s up?” “I’m terribly sorry. But something came up at school and I need to get down there. I had everything ready on the table. Just eat up and don’t wait for me.” “You don’t even have time for dinner?”

he sounds annoyed. “I fly all the way back home just to have dinner with you. Can’t you go tomorrow?”

“Wait wait wait…you said ” gulp and then carry on in disbelief, “-you flied home just to have dinner with me? But your meeting ends today right? You were planning on coming home today anyway, weren’t you?

Please tell me you didn’t come back for-for me.”

He lapses into silence again.

I clench the phone as a complicated feeling fills my heart. I’m both terrified and nervous right now.

Terrified because l’ın afraid of the possibility that he still has any special feelings for me, and nervous because there’s a sinall part of me tljat wants him to say yes.

A short moment later, he sighs and murmurs lowly, “No of course not.”

“…Oh.”

I guess I should be relieved.

Just then, Liam knocks on my door, “Natalia are you ready?”

1 hastily cover the speaker and whisper, “I gotta go. Talk to you later, Eason.”

After hanging up, I grab a coat and exit to the living room. “I’m ready. Let’s go.”

Liam takes me to a small pub, where I order burger and fries and he gets a beer. Wesit there and talk.

He is fun, sophisticated and easy-to-talk-to as usual. I am willing to share my troubles at school and work with him because he can always provide a new perspective for me. I love the quality time we spend together During dinner, he asks about the status of my relationship again. “Mom called a couple days ago. She is wondering if you are seeing anyone right now.”

I laugh, “Does she want to know? Or do you want to know?”

He shrugs and laugh with me, “You got me. I can’t say I’m not at all curious.”

“Well excuse me for not wanting to share details of my love life with my brother.”

He slightly raises his eyebrow and gives me a long look, “Your brother? Huli.”

I lower my head and dig into my burger, avoiding his gaze. I know that he has a thing for me. And over the years, there were a few romantic moments between lis. But I have been very careful not to cross the boundary, because, clearly, dating your hot stepbrother is a terrible idea.

I’ye learnt my lesson. Swallowing down the bite, I continue, “And honestly, there’s nothing to share. My life is totally occupied by school and work. Even if I want to date, I have no time.” “I know. All i’m saying is that don’t waste out college. Just let me know if you need my help.” He is back to being a big brother to ine. I smile at him gratefully. He knows that I’m not ready to respond to him, so he never pushes me.

He is a very nice person, unlike Eason.

After dinner, Liam insists on sending me home. When we finally get back to the apartment building, Liam stops at the entrance door and says, “so good luck with school, work and apartment hunting. I’ll see you at Christmas?” I hesitate a bit, “I haven’t decided yet…but I might need to spend this Christmas in Boston. Mom called me a lot recently.”

“Oh,” he seems disappointed. “But it’s true that you haven’t seen her for a long time. But doesn’t that mean that you are going to see…him?”

He is talking about Eason.

I shrug and pretend to be casual about it. “It’s ancient history. Me and Eason are still related. It’s not like that I can avoid him forever.”

What Liam doesn’t know is that Eason is right upstairs and we have already mel again.

“Well, in that case I’ll see you after Christmas. Or you can visit me sometimes. Let me show you around the city,” he opens his arms and smiles, flashing his white teeth at me. “Goodbye hug for your big brother?”

I laugh and hug him back. I’m very lucky to have him by my side for these past three years. He helped me to manage through my darkest days. “Take care, Liam.”

Yet before we let go of each other, suddenly a deadly voice comes from behind us:

“Natalia?”

We both jump and jerk around. My heart drops hearing the voice. Not surprisingly, it’s him, Eason, standing by the elevator and staring at us gloomily with his arms crossed.

What is he doing downstair!

Liam is totally shocked beyond words. He glares at Eason in disbelief, and then snaps his head around to me and growls, “What the hell is he doing here? Is he bothering you again Nat?”

“No! It’s nothing like that! Liam I can explain—”

“Natalia is staying with me now,” Eason says calmly.

And that’s the last straw. Liam lets out a furious roar and strides over to Eason. He grabs Eason’s collar in one hand and points a finger at him, “I’m warning you, you bastard. Stay away from her! You are lucky enough that we didn’t call the police three years ago in the bar, but I don’t mind doing that now if you try any dirty shit on her again!”

I rush forward and try to put a little distance between them, “Stop Liam! It’s nothing like that! He helped me after I lost my apartment. We are friends now. He is not doing anything inappropriate”

Liam’s hand loosens and I finally manage to drag him away. He stares at me, a bint of annoyance and disbeliel flickering in his dark eyes, and after a while he finally asks me:

“You lost your apartment? Why didn’t you say anything to me?”

I stammer, not knowing what to say. The truth is that I don’t want to take his money anymore. I am not attracted to him, so it feels wrong to have him keep helping me financially. I know he doesn’t mind, but I don’t want things to be complicated between us. A clear disappointment appears on Liam’s face. After a long pause, he sighs, raking his fingers through his hair and says, “Never mind. I can’t let you stay here anymore. Let’s go. I’ll get you somewhere else to stay tonight.” He grabs my hand to leave, but Eason holds on to my other hand. Now I’m like a string, being pulled from both ends.

Eason stares at Liam coldly. Though there’s no clear hostility on his face, his tone is filled with defiance.

“Don’t you think we should let Natalia decide?”

“Fine!” Liam snaps and turns to me. “Nat, don’t forget what he has done. People don’t change.”

Now they put me in a very difficult situation.

The truth is that I don’t want to leave. It’s not that I really want to live with Eason, but simply because I don’t want Liam to spend any more money on me, I know if I go with him, he will insist on paying for an apartment for me, which is simply too much.

Even though Eason and me have a complicated history, I’m pretty sure that we’ve both moved on now.

But I also know that if I say I want to stay, Liam will snap.

Admit silence, Eason suddenly speaks up. “I know you don’t trust me. But Natalia and I are only friends now and nothing more. I live in New York, so it’s easier for me to look after her. Nothing weird is going on between us. I can promise you that.”

“Oh yeah?” Liam lets out a sarcastic and cold snart. “How can you promise? Like you said, you don’t seem like a trustworthy guy.”

Eason sighs. He grits his teeth, and after a while, he finally says: “I’m engaged and about to get married soon. Now you trust me?”