Chris looked at the feminine man and saw Jasmine looking at him with hot eye. "Ahem." He coughed to get Jasmine's attention and smiled. "Don't think about hooking up with me. I'm married."
"Ah? You're married?" Jasmine repeated the information in question. "Too bad."
Chris could only chuckle at him but didn't say anything anymore.
Inside the apartment, after dinner, Stefan went back to Cayenne's room first to take a shower. Cayenne and Kyle cleaned the kitchen and washed the dishes while Luiz took care of their mother's room. The apartment was rather small but it was clean and the furniture were well-arranged.
"Yen, I just have a question? Why don't you like to visit our father? I mean, I could understand that he's not really your father but I think he was still able to stand as your father in the past, right? Did something happen that we are not aware of?" Kyle questioned openly to his sister.
In the past years, they could count the times that Cayenne visited their father using one hand. It's true that she was busy but there were times that she didn't have work to do yet, she never visited him.
Cayenne was shaking her head while wiping the plates with the dry cloth. "I don't hate him and nothing happened. It's just that, whenever I see all of you together, I felt that I'm being left out. You have our mother and you have a father. Truth be told, I'm quite envious of your complete family even though your father isn't physically here with you.
You can still see him, talk to him, laugh with him and do other things. Unlike me, I have no knowledge of my real father. I don't even know if he's alive or not." Even though she told her mother that she won't ask about her father anymore. She was still curious about him. Every time she saw a complete family, she'd wonder how her father was doing and if he's healthy and safe.
She would think what he looked like. She would think how he would react if he would see her. She could do nothing but think.
Kyle walked towards his sister and hugged her. The tears that she had been holding came out and rolled on her cheeks. It was the first time that she cried in front of her brother. "I really want to see him." Cayenne muttered between sobs and hiccups. "I want to know how he looks like but Mama wouldn't tell me. I don't want to ask her anymore because I could only see sadness in her eyes when I ask her.
I don't want to reopen the wounds of betrayal and pain. But Kyle, don't I have the right to know him? All these years, I just wanted to know his name."
"I know. I understand." Kyle responded while rubbing her back. "I'm pretty sure that she'd tell you about him soon. She may not be ready yet but she will eventually tell you who your father is. Let's just give her time."
"Is 23 years not enough?" she questioned. "I've been waiting for 23 years."
Luiz came out of his mother's room and was watching his brother and sister in the kitchen. One was crying while the other was helpless. After all, this was the first time that Cayenne showed her honest emotions in front of them. They had no idea what to do.
Stefan came out of Cayenne's room and found her crying in the arms of her brother. He was thrown into panic, worried that something happened to her and he didn't even notice. With large strides, he crossed the distance to get to her and pulled her into his arms.
"What happened to her?" Stefan asked Kyle but the latter could only smile faintly and shrug his shoulders. It's obvious that he didn't want to talk about it. He can only ask Cayenne. "Are you okay, Yen? Are you hurt?"
"Hn." Cayenne responded mindlessly to him. 'Ahhh! That was embarrassing! I just cried because of my father's unknown identity! Damn it! I even told my brother that I'm envious of them.
Oh no! What will they think of me now? A green-eyed monster? I can't believe I made a fool of myself. AHHH!' she was busy mentally scolding herself that she didn't notice the changes in the real world.
Few minutes of being dazed, she blinked her eyes because it has turned dry and it hurts her eyeballs. When she focused herself back to reality, the first thing she noticed was that Stefan's face was close to her. Very very close to her. She can even count his eyelashes if she wanted to. And he was watching her with a scorching gaze. If the intensity could burn her, she would be toasted by now.
"W-what…what are you doing?" she whispered her question while meeting his eyes without blinking at all. Her heart was beating so fast as if she was being chased by a dog. She could even hear her own heartbeat.
"What were you thinking?" Stefan answered her question with a question but even if she wanted to dodge it, she knew that he'll pester her about it because she promised that she won't keep a secret from her. And even if she wanted to move away from him to get some space, she highly doubted her success.
Stefan's hands were placed on each side of her shoulder, and his legs were parted a little. One movement from her and he could shift his body to block her way.
"Uh…Stefan, can we sit over and talk? You don't need to do a kabedon with me." She attempted to joke with him but Stefan leaned even closer. This time, the tips of their nose were touching and she could feel his warm breath on her lips and face.
"Ayen, what do I do? Something's definitely wrong with me today? Whenever I think of you, something is awakened." His husky voice sent shivers down her spine and her eyes unconsciously looked down on his lower body. Something was indeed awakened.