While Wendy sat there feeling frustrated, she suddenly felt her phone ringing.
When she fished out her phone, she saw that Bain was calling her.
She then stood up from her seat and announced, “You two have fun, I have to take this,”
After walking out of the room, she picked up the call and greeted, “Yo,”
“Where are you right now, Wendy?” he asked on the other end.
“I’m… Outside,” she answered vaguely.
“Huh, no wonder no one answered the door when I went to Big City,” he said.
“You’re back?” she gasped.
“Yep, just landed yesterday. I just thought of paying you a visit after taking care of a few business matters,” he replied.
“Where are you though? I’ll go pick you up,” he asked as he started making his descent downstairs.
“It’s alright, bro. You can finish up with your work first. You don’t have to come look for me,” she said.
“That won’t do. How can I rest easy if I don’t at least see your face?” he sulked.
She deduced that there was a shopping mall nearby so they could definitely meet up there. “Well, we could meet up at a shopping mall?” she suggested.
Bain nodded and replied, “Sure, let’s meet there then. It’s quite a distance from where I am though, so I might take around twenty minutes to get there. I’ll drive as fast as I can though,”
“No need to rush. Just take your time to come over,” she reassured then
hung up before making her way back into the room.
She noticed that the two of them were still talking when she entered.
After picking up her handbag, she said to her boyfriend, “Hope you have a nice time with Commander Burke, Henson. I have to go meet someone right now,”
“Are they male or female?” he asked as he turned around to look at her.
“I’m meeting my brother,” she pouted.
“Isn’t he still on a business trip?” he probed annoyedly.
“He was, but now he’s back,” she answered.
Apparently, his plans had failed him. “To think that he’d return in less than two months,” he thought to himself glumly.
Afterwards, she turned to Peter and said, “Twas a pleasure meeting you today, Commander Burke. You two can continue having fun together. I’ll be taking my leave first,”
But before Peter could say anything, Henson got up from his seat and spoke up, “Let me take you there,”
“You don’t have to, we’re meeting somewhere nearby anyways. We’re meeting at the shopping mall,” she insisted.
“But I insist,” Henson said firmly then turned to Peter. “I’m afraid you’ll have to drink by yourself at the moment,”
Peter merely shrugged at that. “Sure, take your time,” he said.
She didn’t think it was a good idea for him to leave Commander Burke all alone like that, as it was a rare occasion for him to return to the country, after all. But
since Henson kept insisting, she had no choice but to let him, as saying too much might make it seem like she was playing cute with him.
After leaving the clubhouse together, he personally drove her to the shopping mall which was located only three kilometers away from the previous venue.
When the car came to a halt, he scanned the surroundings and couldn’t see Bain at all.
“Where is he?” he asked.
“He’s driving from Big City, which is farther from where I am,”
she said and started unbuckling her seatbelt to get out of the car
when he grabbed one of her arms and looked at her with a face full of displeasure. “Do you really have to see him?” he asked.
“You have a problem with that?” she probed as she glared him back.
“You know how much I despise the man,” he said.
“But he’s my brother. He was the only Nicholson who helped me when everyone around me bullied me,” she said and shrugged.
She said that, but Henson couldn’t help but get shivers all over his body whenever he saw how Bain looked at her.
Perhaps that was how it was like to have a big brother dote on their younger sister.
However, it was only when Bain and Julia interacted together that he knew that they were true siblings.
Bain’s movements toward Wendy, on the other hand…
He frowned at the thought. Was he just overthinking this though?
“I’ll wait for you back at the clubhouse then. Just phone me up when you’re done so that I can come pick you up,” Henson instructed.
“He’ll probably send me back,” she said with pursed lips. “You just worry about having a good time with Commander Burke, alright? It’s been a long time since you two saw each other, after all,”
She then opened the car door to get out of the car. “You should go, don’t keep Commander Burke waiting now,”
After she shut the door and started walking, he fired up the car engine and circled the mall instead.
When he returned to the entrance, he noticed Wendy still standing at the entrance.
Nothing changed after three or four minutes had passed either.
After looking left and right for a bit, she spun around and started walking into the shopping mall.
A few minutes of waiting later, when he’d decided he should go, he noticed her walking out of the building with a skewer of candied fruit in hand.
He then watched intently as she munched on her food happily while sitting on a stone railing.
He just got to know that people could actually sit there.
Soon after, a strawberry fell onto the floor while she was biting into the skewer.
This caused her to stare at the fallen piece of fruit on the floor, her expression sorrowful.
It wasn’t until a moment later that she got up on her feet to pick it up to deposit it in the nearest bin before returning to her seat.
He couldn’t help but chuckle when he saw what a charming display she was putting on.
Who would’ve thought Wendy could have such a cute side to her.
Ten minutes later, he could see Bain jogging over to her from the right side of the parking lot.
Since she was busy scrolling through her phone at the time,
she didn’t seem to see him coming at all.
It was only when she noticed a shadow of a figure in front of her that she looked up, only to be met with a tight bear hug from Bain.
This made Henson seethe with anger.
In his eyes, Bain wasn’t the kind of person who’d show affection and wouldn’t go around hugging people willy-nilly.
He recalled to how stern he was in front of Ken, and how cold he was towards his sister. So, to think that he’d be so warm towards Wendy?!
While he was still sulking, he fished out his phone to dial Wendy’s number.
On the other side, Wendy didn’t know how to react, being held in Bain’s tight embrace like that.
“You’re strangling me, bro,” she mumbled as she sat up and patted his arms.
“It’s been way too long, Wendy. Your bro just misses you too much,” he said.
Her phone then started ringing at that exact moment.
“Someone’s calling me,” she muttered.
Only then did Bain let go of her.
When she saw Henson’s name on the caller ID, she glanced up to look at Bain.
He was also looking at her phone screen at the moment.
It was a good thing that she’d set Henson’s name in a different way, so that no one else would suspect that Henson was calling her.
After walking to the side, she finally picked up the phone to greet him, “Yes?”
“I forgot to remind you not to accept hugs from the man. I’ll have you know there are CCTVs at the entrance of the mall too, so if I find out that he took advantage of you, I won’t allow you to meet up with him by yourself ever again, you hear me?” he chided.
She frowned as she looked in the direction of the CCTV at the entrance. “Well, aren’t you preoccupied,” she whispered sarcastically.
“I will be, so long as Bain is involved,” he replied.
She pursed her lips in response. She bet that he’ll do the same when it came to other men.
What an overthinker.
“I don’t mind if you’re like this with other men, but this is Bain, my brother we’re talking about,” she said in a low voice.
“Haven’t you heard of the word ‘incest’ before?” he probed.
“Your mind’s so dirty. I promise you I’ve never once thought of him like that,” she huffed.
“Since you don’t, let me come pick you up now,” he said.
“Fine, I’ll listen to you for now. Geez,” she said and
thought about how the two of them would get into a fight upon meeting each other. She broke out in a cold sweat just by thinking about it. She didn’t wish to see such a scene ever again.
After hanging up, she returned to Bain’s side and gave him a smile.
He stared at her quizzically for a bit before piping up again. “Was that Henson on the phone just now?” he asked.
She didn’t feel like lying to him so she shrugged and said yes.
“Did he need you for something?” he probed.
“It was nothing, it was just a short call,” she said through pursed lips.
“So… are the two of you dating right now?” he asked once more.