Chapter 12

"Who came, honey? Are they your visitors?" Aunt Lila, who had presumably heard the disturbance from the living room, inquired as I entered the kitchen. "No, Auntie, they are just my brother"s pals," I respond while standing next to her. Aunt Lila smiled and nodded. She could have heard of the people I was talking about. "I see," she continued, chuckling, "come help me prepare a snack for those gorgeous young men." She also laughs while shaking her head. "Have they known brother for a long time?" I inquire, my curiosity piqued. This is my first time hearing about brother"s friendship. I mean, you cannot blame me though, he do not have that much pleasing personality in him. I had not seen them till recently. I cannot believe Alessandre, my older brother, has a friend. I was astonished that those three loud folks were his pals because he was rude and did not talk much. Do you believe that anyone can stand my brother"s antics? Recently, instead of treating his friends as guests, he slandered them. But it appears that the three are accustomed to him, as they simply chuckled at his eviction of them. "Hmm, they appear to have known one other for a long time. We are also friends with the parents of those three young men," Auntie said as she opened a bottle of juice. I was reminded of what happened with a bottle of pineapple juice and my older brother when I saw the bottle of juice she was opening. The memory keeps haunting me, probably because it happened not a long time from now. "Oh, what happened to you? Why do you seem to be blushing?" Aunt Lila glanced at me with a frown. She was surprised at the sudden blushing of my face. "I, uh, I am fine Aunt Lila. Maybe it"s because of the heat that I blush, you know, I blush quickly when it gets hot," I replied with a smile. Auntie is still staring at me critically. "Okay?" she said as if unconvinced of the excuse I thought. Who would even believe what I said, the sun is not high yet, and it is not hot inside our house because it is fully air conditioned here. What a lame excuse that is that you came up with, Annalize. "In any case, I believe that four have known each other since high school. You have not seen them before, have you?" Aunt Lila had enquired of me. "I just met them now," I said, shaking my head. I did not see my elder brother with a friend at school back then, so I assumed he did not have any, and it is only recently that I have seen them visit here at home. "Those three are kind, but they are also naughty," Aunt Lila explained, "and they have made a lot of women weep, especially Elias, do you know him?" Aunt Lila had inquired. She is currently preparing an egg sandwich. I assisted her in slicing the hard-boiled eggs that she would need for her sandwich. "Of all of them, Elias is the greatest womanizer. Sebastian"s head seemed to heat up virtually every day as a result of that boy"s actions." Aunt Lila and I both chuckled. They are, without a doubt, their parents" headaches. "Last month, while I was with Elias" mother, someone approached us, a woman, who presented herself as Elias" ex-girlfriend, screaming and crying." Auntie began explaining me what she was doing to create an egg sandwich while she was busy mixing. However, my attention is not on what she is the egg sandwich but to what she gossiped to me. Aunt Lila"s story piqued my interest. As if it were a telenovela. It is comparable to what I see on television and what I read in books. "Then, Auntie, what happened?" I inquire. "It was told that Elias lure them all together. At the same time, Elias have three girlfriends. Elias visits his other girlfriends while she is at work." Auntie stated with a shake of her head. "Oh, Ma"am, Sir Elias is quite the womanizer, isn"t he?" Mrs. Emma was the one who responded. I secretly laughed as I realized she was also listening in on our conversation. This nanny is simply gossiping. "Haha, nanny, who else but his father will he inherit that from? Sebastian was like his son when he was young, a playboy as well, Aunt Lila burst out laughing. I assumed Auntie was referring to Elias" father, Sebastian. "How about the other two, Auntie? Are they the same as Elias as well, womanizer?" I enquire. Auntie burst out laughing, and Mrs. Emma and I exchanged glances, puzzled as to why Auntie was laughing so loudly. "They are all the same, those men, which is why I can say Elias is the biggest womanizer since his parents constantly catch him, whereas those three are good at disguising their dark secrets so they don"t preach," Auntie added, laughing. That is the way things are for them, huh. "What a pity for the people who are their victims," Mrs. Emma expressed her thoughts. I nodded my head in agreement with what she stated. They are like every women"s walking disasters. Auntie agreed, saying, "That is very true." "So, Anna, you must choose wisely who you will love, okay?" Mrs. Emma warned me, "Do not be tricked by the nice words those men will tell you." "They wil tell you what you want to hear," Nanny Emma said, "but once they get what they want from you, they will leave you." She has looked after me since I moved in, and she has always reminded me of the do"s and don"ts. I now feel like I have three mothers: my beloved biological mother, Aunt Lila, and her. I am grateful for their love for me, and I did not feel alone because of their care, love, and tireless understanding of me. "Of course! If I do have a boyfriend, Nanny Emma, I will choose him carefully "With a smile, I said. I even gave her a wink, which made her laugh. "I guess I am full of your two"s sermons," I added, widening their smiles. "Come on, help me bring this food to your brother"s friends; that is enough to mislead us." Mrs. Emma expressed her thoughts. I agreed with a nod. Auntie merely gave us a warm smile. I am still a long way away from the living room, but I can already hear the deafening noise. They appear to be inviting brother to accompany them, but brother being who he is, he is disrespectful once again. . I my brother"s friend, Marco, say, "Bro, truly, you don"t really plan to come up to us?" "Tsk, even I, if there was a good view in our house, I would not try to leave the house," I assume Elias is saying. He is the one Auntie described as a womanizer. Brother Alessandre replied, "Shut up, Fuentebella." His pals seemed to irritate him. "It appears that you are going to make a significant change in your life, Villareal." But first, talk to the other one; we are the ones who are being troubled." When I eventually made it to the living room, I noticed Dela Cruz, my elder brother, conversing, and Auntie informed me that he goes by the name Josh. I placed the juice I was holding on the middle table quietly. Mrs. Emma quickly left after placing the sandwich on the table, leaving me alone in front of my older brother and his friends. I merely knelt down and arranged their lunch. I heard Elias whistling and saw his cheerful face when I turned around. "Oh, that is right! When Marco replied, I turned my gaze to him and said, "Let us just invite the baby girl, after all, Mr. Villareal does not want to come with us, so let us just take Mrs. Villareal with us." I scowled at him, wondering if I was the baby girl he was talking about. "Right! With a fist bump to Marco, Josh stated, "It looks like it is more fun with my baby than with that rude Villareal." He then looked at me and winked. With a smirk, Elias responded, "What, baby girl? Game?" I turned to face the three of them. So, what exactly are they saying? To be honest, I do not comprehend them. "Huh?" I said, my mouth hanging open. If I were just watching an anime movie, I would have a giant question mark flying about in my head. I have no idea what the three of them are talking about. "Excuse me, but I do not understand you? Do you mean you want to play? A game, maybe?" I inquire, unsure of what they are asking me; Elias said game, right? The three of them burst out laughing. I also saw a small rise in the corner of my older brother"s lip. Are they making fun of me? Is it possible that I said something amusing? I did not make a joke to make them laugh, and I certainly did not dress up like a clown to have them laugh at me. "Fuck, you are such an innocent angel," Marco continued to chuckle. Elias and Josh, on the other hand, had their bellies clenched in mockery. Are they all right? They appear to be insane. When Josh finally stopped laughing, he shook his head and added, "She is too innocent for you, asshole." He was clutching a throw pillow when my older brother hurled it at him. Josh, fortunately, caught it and was not injured. My older brother said, "Fuck you, Dela Cruz." Josh just laughed at him and did not say anything about how bad his behavior was. "So? What do you have to say? Are you planning to join us?" He asked, smiling, and the two of them with him were just staring at me, waiting for me to respond. I smile awkwardly; this is the first time I have been invited to a party by someone other than Lyka; as I previously stated, I do not have many friends. "It is your birthday, isn"t it?" I inquire, intrigued, and the three of them grinned once more, Josh shaking his head and grinning at me. Marco swallowed his saliva and cleared his throat. My focus turned to him. "Baby girl, no one has a birthday. We really just wanted to party," Marco said in response to my question, because Josh was just smiling at me, like if he was going insane. "Is that okay? Are you going to throw a party just because you want to?" my brow furrowed in answer. That is incredible. Do they not regret the money they would have spent on a party? "Haha, you are so adorable. It is just like that, baby girl; it is a really basic thing. What if I told you that we party every night? You would pass out from fear," Elias said proudly. "Wow, really?" I have never heard that before. Do they not become weary after a night of partying? "Come along with us. It will be fun there, and it will be just us, so there won"t be a big crowd." Josh said, trying to pursue me from attending their so called party. "We will inform your Uncle," Josh added with a smile, and the two nodded in agreement. "Ah, eh," I said, shaking my head, "I do not know anyone there, and I do not want to party." The three of them squint their eyes. My older brother, on the other hand, rose and approached me. "All right, everyone, you have heard her response. You may now depart as a group of three. Flee in front of me," my older brother insisted, shooing his three friends away. Josh remarked childishly, "Do not interfere in our conversation, Villareal; you are not interested." "Whether you do not want to or do want to, you will come with us. Uncle, where is Uncle?" he inquired. Are they like this always? Like, they are so hard headed. "He is in the library," I said quickly. "Good girl," he said as he brushed my hair and brought me to the library on the second floor of the mansion. I did not realize we had arrived to our house"s library. Uncle frequently works here while he is not in his office. We heard Uncle"s voice ushering us in after Josh knocked quietly. Elias and Marco went in first. I did not realize that they follow us from here. I turned to see at my back and I was astonished to see my older brother standing behind us when I turned around. He was staring at me dead in the eyes. I averted my look because I couldn"t tolerate his ferocity. "Uncle, we would like to ask your permission because we would want to invite your baby girl to our party," Elias said nicely to Uncle Sandro. I scowled at what I heard, not because he told Uncle despite my repeated refusal to come, but because of the way he spoke to Uncle. Is what I am hearing correct? Was he pleasantly conversing with Uncle? What a breath of fresh air Elias inhaled as he faced Uncle Sandro, like a calm sheep. "We are having a party tonight at home. We would have invited her if she had not indicated you would not let her." Elias said courteously. Josh, on the other hand, was obviously suppressing his laughter because Uncle was not looking at him. They are too plastic; they act nice when Uncle is looking at them, but when Uncle is not, their true colors emerge. "What are you doing—" I would have retorted if Uncle had not abruptly spoken and shifted his focus to me. "Of course you can, honey; I am not stopping you from having a good time." Uncle told me with a smile on his face. What the hell is going on? "But, Uncle?" I pleaded, but I was stopped off again when Uncle Sandro said. "Cool! Uncle Sandro, I appreciate it. You"re fantastic! " Josh was ecstatic. Uncle shook his head and laughed as he gave him a fist bump. "So, Uncle, we will leave you first," Marco stated as Uncle nodded. We headed out after that, and as soon as we got out, I approached my older brother"s three smiling pals, rolling my eyes at them. They merely remained silent and avoided looking at me, while my older brother remained leaning against the library door, waiting for us to exit. "What was that?" I inquire of the three insane people in front of me. I thought I would stated unequivocally that I do not want to go. "I will talk to you later! Bye!" Elijah remarked hastily as they dashed down the stairwell. I just stood there in disbelief as they walked out of our house. While facing my clothing, I was frustrated since it was almost six o"clock in the afternoon and Elias had stated that his party would begin at eight o"clock. To be honest, I was too lazy to go. Tss, I do not know anyone there, and even my older brother said he would not go, so it is probably best if I do not go either. They will not notice since they will be too preoccupied to notice. A knock at my door jolted me out of my reverie. I was already lying in my bed, having given up hope of making it to Elias" party. I stood up and walked carefully to my door. "Anna, I brought you a dress to wear," Auntie said as she stood in front of my door, holding two dresses in each hand. She also brought me a pair of stilettos. "What brings you here, Auntie, and what are you carrying?" I joke as I open my door wide for her to enter. With the way she carried the garments, it looked like she was selling them at a market. "Why are you still not getting ready? Did I think the party would start at eight o"clock?" Aunt Lila asked with a frown. I was scratching my head. I am doomed. Auntie probably really believed what Elias said. "Auntie, I don"t want to go. I"ll just sleep. Besides, I don"t have any acquaintances there, I"m sure I"ll be bored." I said as I made my way to my bed to lie down again. Aunt Lila ignore me and started arranging the clothes she was carrying. I just watched her do that. "You know what, I think you should go." She said looking at me with a smile. "You always confine yourself to the four corners of this room," she said. "Go out, Anna. Have fun while you still can." She walked up to me and gently massaged my hair. I hugged her and breathed in her sweet aroma. Auntie made a small chuckle at what I did. She stroked my hair once more. She whispered softly, "You think I don"t notice? You"re separating yourself from others again, Anna." Aunt Lila added, kissing my head, "I know you are still traumatized by being left alone, and as a result, you are avoiding being linked to other people, I understand where you are coming from." "But you can"t live your life like that; there are amazing things waiting for you in life; all you have to do is open your heart and enjoy the moment while it lasts," she said, hugging me tightly. "Open your heart, Anna. Let go of your fears and let God determine what he has in store for you. There are so many wonderful things beyond your shell, honey." I held Aunt Lila even tighter. "You are an angel, Anna," Aunt Lila said lovingly. "You are kind, lovely, and beautiful. There is so much in the world that I know you deserve, so don"t limit yourself, my love."