The man advanced forward, and Alia instinctively stepped away. The back of her knees bumped into the couch, and when left with nowhere else to go, she held out her hands.
"Wait!" she exclaid. "I’m Alia, Alia Kentwood. Ronan’s friend. I believe he said I would be staying here for the next couple of weeks?" She winced, trying her luck. "Might you be his older brother?"
The striking resemblance, paired with the fact that he called out for Ronan imdiately upon opening the apartnt door, Alia would bet anything that the man who stood before her was none other than Ronan’s older brother. However, Ronan said that he would be gone for the next few weeks.
What was he doing back so soon?
He frowned, lines appearing between his eyebrows as he stared at Alia as though she had grown a second head. She was speaking English, that he was sure of, but for so reason, he couldn’t understand a single thing she said.
Then, his entire posture slackened and his eyebrows dropped. He looked almost... bored.
"Oh, I get it," he said, reaching up to run a hand through his hair, further tousling the strands. "Great. I told that little bastard not to bring his flings ho."
"F-Fling?" Alia echoed. "No... Wait... You’ve got it mistaken. I am not―"
"I don’t know what my brother promised you, but he’s got probably a hundred other won out there," the man said.
He sighed heavily before shrugging his coat off, hanging it on the rack by the door.
"You seem like a nice girl," he said, sparing Alia a backward glance. "Word of advice, you’d better leave him before he ends up breaking your heart. It wouldn’t be the first ti."
Looking away, the man walked past Alia, making his way towards her room― or technically, his room.
"Wait―!"
However, Alia’s warning ca a little too late. The man had already placed his hand on the doorknob, and when he pushed open the door to his bedroom, his eyes widened once more.
He had only been gone for a few short weeks but the entire room had been redecorated. The wardrobe was filled with clothes that did not belong to him, the doors strewn wide open, and there was even laundry placed on the foot of the bed.
His eyes landed on the matching light pink bra and panties set that sat right at the top of the hill of clothes, and a blush in the matching shade crept up his neck and to his cheeks.
Alia darted forward, slamming the door shut in the man’s face. However, judging by the blank look in his eyes, staring straight forward even with the door closed shut, Alia knew she was too late.
There was nothing she could do now other than act oblivious to what he might’ve seen, and instead, Alia plastered an awkward smile.
"Like I said," she said, "I am Ronan’s friend. Just a friend. I am not one of his... partners."
***
"I already told you in advance!" Ronan yelled, scratching his head with annoyance while his older brother sat on the couch, Alia sitting at the other far end. "Alia and her dad are staying with us for the next few weeks."
"You didn’t say anything of that sort!" Ronan’s older brother — Dimitri — argued back.
At a standstill, Alia and Dimitri had no other choice but to dial for Ronan. The poor man ca running back in the middle of the workday, only to find his house guest and older brother sitting awkwardly on the two ends of the couch, refusing to et each other’s eye. That was when Ronan knew― Dimitri had not actually properly read his ssage at all.
"You opened the ssage!" Ronan said, holding up his phone, and the screen displayed his chat with Dimitri. Under the blue text bubble, there was a small ’seen’ written. "Did you not read what I sent you?"
Dimitri raised his hand, his index finger swiping at his nose a couple of tis.
"I was preoccupied with work," Dimitri confessed. "It might’ve slipped my mind."
Ronan’s eye twitched. "Well, either way, this is the current arrangent. Alia’s staying with us until Matteo gets his shit together."
Dimitri imdiately frowned. "Then where am I supposed to stay?"
"Ho?" Ronan retorted. "With Mom and Dad? The estate is huge. I am sure they will have a room to spare you, maybe even two."
"The drive down to the office is a whole hour longer from their place," Dimitri gritted out.
"Then stay in a hotel for the ti being!" Ronan said. "You’re rich! I’m sure finding temporary accommodations will hardly be an issue for you. Hell, you can even buy another apartnt right now if you want to."
That wasn’t wrong, but Dimitri had been out on a business trip and had just returned to Solara. After the long flights he had been on, he wanted nothing more than to take a nice hot bath and head straight to bed. However, his plans were thwarted. Running low on sleep, his patience was wearing thin― his rationality even thinner.
"I’m sleeping in your room, then," he said before standing up, and marching straight into the shower. "Ronan, get my clothes from my room."
"What?!"
"And a towel too." Nothing else was said before the slam of the door to the bathroom echoed through the apartnt, leaving Alia and Ronan staring in the direction where Dimitri had disappeared.
"Fucking hell." Ronan sighed, scratching his head in annoyance. "What a week."
"I could sleep on the couch," Alia weakly offered. "I shouldn’t preoccupy your brother’s room if he’s back."
"Don’t worry about it," Ronan said, waving the matter off. "My brother will only be here for a short while, and he won’t be ho during the day since he’s usually busy at work. He can sleep on the couch."
Alia pursed her lips. She stood up and walked with Ronan back to her room where Dimitri’s clothes were still stored. Leaning against the wall, she watched as Ronan dug through one side of the wardrobe for suitable clothing.
He suddenly said, "Although, if I were you, I would worry about sothing else."
"What is it?" Alia asked.
Ronan looked up, a plain t-shirt in his hand. "The engagent party," he said. "It’s this Saturday."
Reviews
All reviews (0)