Chapter 33: Something She Can't Ignore

"Okay, I will help. Happy? Just don't forget your promise."

"Of course!" Anna said cheerily.

Nowadays, she reminds Kiera of her old self. There was a time when she liked smiling and grinning so much on any little matter. These habits were long lost in her somehow in the long run. But seeing those again, Kiera was feeling nostalgic. Whatever the reason is, Kiera prayed to make that reason permanent as she treasured Annabelle's carefree smile the most. It was a kind of smile that can make people's day wonderful just by witnessing it.

To be exact, Kiera didn't know where to start from. Theodore was always there as a visitor ion, never involving with others' life, showing up on family get-togethers whenever he was really forced to. She was always compared with him as they were in the same grade. If he was good at math, Kiera's father would tell her to bring the highest marks on math too. If he won an award in sports, her father would also force her to learn sports all of a sudden. Though she didn't have any kind of animosity towards him as she wasn't someone too interested in competing with him. He was extraordinary. Competing with him would be some kind of foolishness when she did know her capacity well. She was good enough to take her position to the top 3. And she was quite satisfied with that too.

As for her father, he always was like that. That didn't mean that she had to listen to all his things. She did listen to him word by word till a certain age. Afterward, she came to realize competing like this will never bring any productivity for her.

It was true, she was taught many things in this way. Because her father was so obsessed with surpassing his brother's son that Kiera had to do many things that normal people usually don't do at such a young age. Kiera learned shooting, archery, karate, basketball, and all many fun things with Theodore. It was fun practicing with him. He was just like her. Less talking and more doing. Neither he helped her when she was in great trouble nor he mocked her for her incapability. He just stood there and waited till she again started to try. And when she succeeded, he would just leave the place silently.

Theodore looked cooled, was called an iceman by all the schoolmates, was always scolded by his relatives for not being a little more sociable and easy-going, but he was surprisingly a good brother to her. He was only one day older than her but acted like a big brother who is several years older than her.

It was his unique way to protect Kiera and also to teach Kiera. Technically speaking, that was the main reason she could still keep in contact with at least one of the members of her family. Maybe he also thought that she did a great thing eloping from home?

Anna was quite taken aback by knowing all these. This brother-sister duo, they are definitely a unique kind of psycho. Why would a person learn so many things in one life? Is she the only one here with no quality?

But practically speaking, Anna herself learned so many things, though all of them weren't like something related to the outdoors. She learned ballet, singing, instrumentals and all those things which she didn't even like that much. Yeah, she did have fun while learning those. But still, why would they learn shooting and archery among all other things? Do they have some kind of horrible enemies luring around them all the time or something? Or are they some kind of secret agent like those action movies?

Gahh… this is really out of her league. Why the heck is she trying to understand? It's just a waste of time for her anyway.

Anna wanted to know further about Theodore's personal life, especially about his love life, as she heard from someone that they are quite popular.

"Hey, if he was that cool, he surely had a bunch of girlfriends and high school romance experiences, right?"

"Eh?" Kiera was startled for some reason.

Why? Did she say something wrong? She didn't, right?

All of a sudden, Kiera started to laugh loudly as she remembered something from the past.

"What happened?" Anna was dumbfounded.

"I don't remember anything special from that time as I never crossed paths with him in the school though we went to the same school, I do remember something from a long time ago," Kiera said though she still couldn't help but laugh again.

"What's so funny? Tell me too, nahhh…."

This time, Anna was more than curious.

Kiera cleared her throat and forced herself to not laugh anymore though her attempt was in vain.

"There was a time when someone very romantically confessed to him. if it was me, maybe I also would accept the proposal if someone could ever do something like that for me. It was so romantic that it was hard to deny…..."

Unfortunately, Kiera couldn't finish her speech as the doorbell of Anna's apartment was rang by someone furiously. Shit, who is it at this time? They just ruined Anna's intense moment.

Though she wanted to ignore that, Kiera somewhat forced her to go open the door.

Anna has a very bad habit. Just because the whole building maintained tight security, she never bothered to look at the peephole before opening the door. The exception happens whenever she watches a detective or horror drama. As she wasn't watching any drama right now, she again forgot to look at the peephole and opened the door in an instant. The next moment, she was having a déjà vu feeling.

This… this kind of event also happened before, right?

Theodore himself was standing there, outside her apartment door with a half worried and half furious look. After all, she was good at reading people's emotions just by looking at them. Though she didn't know what he was so angry about and also what made him rush here at this hour.

"Theodore?"

The moment her soft voice spelled his name, his tough stiffened face expression was softened in an instant. It was like magic. It was her voice that was working like magic over him. Did she spell him or something?

He was furious, super furious. After dialing her number and calling her more than 50 times, he didn't get a single message or any kind of response from her. He was clearly more than worried, though it was the first time for him to worry about a girl, especially one who just likes to lock herself up inside her apartment and never bothers to contact others. But still, it made him super mad that she wasn't giving him that much attention and it seemed like that she was not that much concerned about what he was doing as soon as Kiera came back.

Should he send Kiera somewhere far away? So that she would start to notice him again?

But she was like this before too. He could never get her online easily without calling her at least 50 times. It was just like she said a few days ago. She was just going to help him until Kiera came back. Once she comes back, this weird type of relationship will end.

To think it clearly, she was nothing to him and he was the same to her. They aren't friends, they don't have a boss-employee relationship, and even worse is it, they have nothing specific between them to connect it with their interactions.

It was both pathetic and hopeless.

Annabelle was puzzled seeing those continuously shifting complex emotions over Theodore's face. What happened all of a sudden? He seemed to be very mad a few seconds ago, but now he looks more like a puppy who is wearing a gloom cloud over his head. What made him look like this, huh? she wondered.

"Hey, what are you thinking so hard? Wanna come inside or not?" Anna struck up a conversation as she was feeling uncomfortable seeing him like this.

"No." Theodore just stood there like a stubborn kid.

Eh? Then why did he come this far to her apartment? Kiera was also here. Then why did he come here if it's not for Kiera? After all, he has no reason to come here now as Kiera came back from her business trip. Thinking about those things, Annabelle felt even more uncomfortable. She just wanted to end this drama here. What is the reason for feeling so sad? It's not like they shared any kind of special relationship or something with each other. Whatever.

"If you don't wanna come inside, then at least tell me why are you here at this hour, will you?" Anna looked more than troubled this time as she pinched her nose bridge with irritation.

"You didn't answer any of my calls for three days."

There was a pin drop silence for a long time after what he said. Thank God, Kiera didn't get to hear these words which Theodore said. No one witnessed or heard about this embarrassing situation except the two of them. Anna forgot how to respond to this. She was speechless as if someone had snatched her voice.

This guy, what is he even spouting?

She didn't know if he called her or not. She really didn't know. Because she blocked him that day. That day, when Kiera forbade her to come near to him. He was someone whom she can't handle, it was what she heard from Kiera. But now, it feels like if she can't give herself a chance to handle him for just once, she can't be at ease. It was impossible for her, impossible for her to ignore this guy and his shameless needy words.