Chapter 3

Working his way down the hallway of a dormitory building, Joey searched for room number 1420. It was still clear in his memory the time he had spent his first and second years of college in this very building and met a curly-haired guy next door, Harley, who now became his best friend. But since this junior year, they had decided to move out to a bigger place and now they were also roommates.

As he arrived at room number 1420, he knocked on the door three times. When the door was opened, a five-feet-three blonde girl in a white dress stood behind it and the look on her face changed as soon as she saw him on her door.

"Joey?" she asked in bewilderment.

"Hi, Kirsten," he replied. "May I come in?"

Kirsten stepped back to let her stepbrother come into her room. "What are you doing here?"

"Mom and Jack asked me to check up on you," he said casually as he walked in.

"Well, you could just text me," she responded.

"I had that in mind but then I thought I haven't seen your dorm, so maybe I could just stop by and visit my little sister." His eyes scanned the room, smirking suspiciously. "And hey, look, you did a pretty good job decorating your room as comfortable as yours at home."

She just stood there with her hands on her hips, watching him touch everything on her desk.

"Well, as long as you're not hiding pot or something," he joked as he plopped down on the bed which had some polaroids hanging with LED lights above it.

She rolled her eyes. "Joey, seriously, what are you doing here? Where's Harley? Don't you always hang out with him at a bar on Saturday night?"

"He's busy with his new girl."

"Well, how about you?" she asked after a moment.

He frowned. "What about me?"

"You don't have a date or something?"

"Well, my friends invited me to go hang out with them at this new bar in Queens, but I just don't feel like it." He shrugged then reached for a bag of Doritos on the mini fridge.

"Doesn't sound like you." She narrowed her eyes at him. "Wait, I thought you were a thing with that goldilocks girl?"

"What girl?" he asked without turning to her and busy eating the Doritos.

"The one I met at your apartment last week. What's her name again?" she asked as she clicked her fingers repeatedly, trying to recall. "Ah, Ashley! Right?"

"I thought this dorm was the place I could get away from her, I was wrong," he muttered between his teeth.

"What?"

"You're all dressed up," he equivocated. "Going somewhere?"

"Yup, I'm going out for dinner with Liam tonight!" Excitement was heard in her voice.

"Oh, so I guess today is his schedule to visit you?"

She nodded happily. "Today is our second anniversary, so we're going to celebrate it at this fancy restaurant for a romantic dinner."

"Oh, congrats," Joey responded flatly but more like a mumble.

"Why haven't you asked Ashley out yet?" Kirsten started again.

"I will never ever do that."

"Why? She's totally gorgeous and so nice! It seems like you and her had fun conversation last week, too."

He saw her grinning at him teasingly. "Kirsten, that wasn't a conversation, that was what people call 'arguing'. And it wasn't fun, it was annoying."

"But you enjoyed it, didn't you?"

"Nope. But well, it's fun whenever I can win the argument and make her speechless," he laughed in evil.

"Aww, you both would make a really cute couple together, believe me!" She shook his shoulder excitedly.

"You make me want to vomit this Doritos," he said in a monotone. "I was actually thinking to ask you to come to my game tomorrow in Princeton, but I don't think it was a good idea."

"Will Ashley be there, too?" Her voice was still in excitement.

"This is why I said it wasn't a good idea," he responded as he shook his head.

"I'll come! I'll come!"

"No, you're probably just going to shout some stupid things at me, like, 'Go, Joey! Ashley loves you!' or something."

"No, I promise I won't!" she protested eagerly.

"Yes, you will."

"Okay, I'll stop talking about you and Ashley." She pantomimed to lock her mouth and threw the imaginary key away. "Please let me come, Joey. I really want to watch your basketball game."

Joey didn't get why Kirsten really liked Ashley and wanted him so bad to go out with the girl he definitely disliked. It wouldn't happen even if they were the last two people alive on this planet. But when he saw his stepsister staring at him with big doe eyes, he had no choice.

He sighed. "Okay, you can come, but—"

She instantaneously cheered, her face beaming. "Can Liam come, too? He'll still be here tomorrow."

"Oh, sweet," he said sarcastically then nodded. "Okay, but—"

A ding interrupted the stepsiblings.

"Hang on." She grabbed her phone then smiled. "He's here! Joey, I got to go and it's your cue to leave my dorm."

He watched her sitting on a chair and sliding her feet into her shoes in a hurry. Then she got to her feet, made sure her hair was perfectly styled in the mirror, straightened her dress and turned to him. He could tell that she was excited yet, for God-knows-why, nervous.

"How do I look?" she asked with bated breath.

"You look great," he answered honestly.

Her smile became brighter. "Thanks."

"You should hurry," he opened the door for her, "your prince could be quivering outside."

She chuckled.

As they walked down the stairs together, he could hear her humming a song and a smile never left her face. When he pushed the front door open, there was a modern-cut pompadour, brown-haired guy standing there in light gray blazer over two-buttons-undone white shirt with his hands in the pockets of his black jeans. As soon as the guy noticed his girlfriend's presence, a smile bloomed on his face.

"Wow." He looked totally amazed at Kirsten. "Wow."

"You, too," she said embarrassedly.

"Liam, you better take her to dinner now," Joey suddenly said, ruining the mood, after a moment the couple just smiled at each other, "or she'll turn into King Kong and destroy New York City because she gets mad easily when she's hungry."

"I don't!" Kirsten scowled as she punched her brother's arm playfully but she still couldn't hide her smile. Joey and Liam snickered. "Let's go, babe. Bye, Joey." She shot Joey a smile then whirled around and descended the doorsteps.

"Bye. Have fun!" Joey gave them a quick wave. "Oh, Liam, please take care of my little sister, will you?"

"Sure will do, man," Liam smiled at Joey and followed his girlfriend.

***

Not even for a second could Liam take his eyes off of the blonde girl sitting right in front of him in a French restaurant located in Upper West Side. She looked so beautiful in white dress he had bought her wrapping perfectly around her petite body. Right now, she was telling him about her opinion on her stepbrother who should be dating this girl at their university. He kept smiling during her story because he didn't want to interrupt her. If he could, he just wanted to stare at her like this forever.

He had really missed her. He had missed her touch, her vanilla scent and her warmth. He had also missed stroking her blond hair, kissing her lips and cuddling with her. He had missed everything they couldn't do over the phone. And the fact that she was there with him right now made him unable to remove a smile that was embellishing his face since he had seen her at her dormitory.

"You look absolutely amazing tonight," he said after Kirsten finished her story.

"Ba-a-a-be, you weren't listening to my story," she protested fretfully but he could see her blushing.

He chuckled then took his girlfriend's hand and held it gently. "I'm sorry, babe, but I just wanted you to know."

"Thanks, babe," she replied shyly then looked down.

"Anyway," he started after the waitress served their dinner, "I think Joey genuinely cares about you, don't you think?"

She shrugged. "Um, I don't know."

"He's very protective of you."

"I don't know, I'm not sure," she said with doubt.

"You just really don't know it. Do you have a clue what he said to me before I followed you when I picked you up earlier?"

She shrugged again as she shook her head. "What did he say?"

"He said to me to take care of you which means he doesn't want anything bad to happen to you," he told her. "That's what brothers do. Oh, and he called you 'little sister'."

She groaned as she rolled her eyes. "I can't believe he keeps calling me that! I mean, I'm a college student now."

"What's wrong with that, babe? Isn't it a good thing? It means he loves you like his own sister."

"Well, Maya once said to me that he always wanted a little sister, but we haven't got much time to get to know each other and, I don't know, he's just unreadable. One thing for sure, he always teases me when he's around. Besides, he looked upset with me right before you arrived tonight. So, there's a chance he said that to you just to make fun of me," she opined.

He laughed. "I don't think so. Trust me, that's him being a big brother, he is."

"But we always fight."

"Well, from my point of view, he's the type of guy who tends to hide his true feelings."

It seemed like she was thinking of something before she said, "Yeah, he could be."

"You just need to spend more time together to get closer," he advised. "And now, since you're both in New York, it's the perfect time to bond."

She just mumbled without saying anything. The next second, her brows suddenly rose. "Oh, speaking of Joey, he wants us to come to his game tomorrow in Princeton."

"I'd love to," he said, taking a sip of his wine.

Suddenly, a man in a black suit standing a few steps away behind Kirsten sent him a signal to come over. He knew exactly who he was; the manager of the restaurant. "Babe, I'll be right back," he excused as he got up.

"It's all ready, Mr. Perkins," the man reported.

"Thanks," Liam said before walking onto the stage with a grand piano on it. After sitting at the piano and glancing at his girlfriend who was staring at her phone screen while drinking her wine, he started pressing some chords on the piano keys.

"How sweet it is to be loved by you

How sweet it is to be loved by you

I needed the shelter of someone's arms

And there you were

I needed someone to understand my ups and downs

And there you were"

When he turned to check on Kirsten and saw her staring at him from her seat, gawked, he just threw her a smile and continued singing. His eyes looked straight into her eyes.

"With sweet love and devotion

Deeply touching my emotion

I want to stop and thank you, baby

I want to stop and thank you baby, yes I do"

How sweet it is to be loved by you

Feels so fine

How sweet it is to be loved by you"

After finishing the song, he approached her with a broad smile on his face. She smiled back at him with her hands pressed to her chest, but he still could see disbelief paint on her face. Making sure a big surprise for her was still inside his blazer pocket, he smoothly slipped his right hand into it and his fingers grazed against a velvety small box.

"That was so astonishing, babe," she remarked when he already sat back on his seat.

"Thanks." And right away, he pulled the little box out of his pocket, opened the lid and presented the ring to her. "Happy second anniversary, babe."

Gasped in total surprise, she covered her mouth and began to cry.

"Maybe it's not a real engagement ring," he said as he looked deeply into his loved one's teary eyes, "but one day I'll give you the real one." Taking her hand, he slid the ring into her finger. "I love you so much, babe."

"I- I love you so much, t- too," she sobbed.

As he swiped tears off of her face, a glad smile never left his face. Next, he tilted up her chin, leaned in across the table and kissed her lips softly. When he felt her kiss him back, he knew he was beyond head-over-heels in love with her and never wanted to lose her from his life.

***

(to be continued)

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