Brain Teaser

"I like you."

At first, I was stunned by his words but then I immediately regained my composure. "What's with this bullshit now? Do you need anything from me?"

Arthur massaged the back of his neck with the corner of his lips lifted. His gaze lowered to me which momentarily made me feel smaller against his 185cm height. "I just said that I like you and that's what comes to your mind?"

I straightened my back in an attempt to lessen the gap between our heights but it didn't really help much. "What did you expect me to say? I like you too?"

"Why not?"

I bit the side of my cheek to hold my anger back. "Because if I did, I would just be as crazy as you. You are aware that at the moment I really want to strangle you for standing in my way, right?"

"Looks like I was not able to send the message across. Let me change my words then." He took a step closer and towered over me.

I smoothly took a step back and raised an eyebrow at him. "I don't want to hear it."

"I love you."

His words made me frown as my heart started acting strange. "Are you on drugs?"

"I'm serious." His deep voice really sounded sincere and the look in his eyes told me that he was not playing around.

My eyebrows twitched and I internally instructed my heart to stop acting out. "I'll pretend that I didn't hear that."

"That's really mean." He reached out to take my hand and firmly held it when I tried to snatch it back. Then he put two fingers on my wrist. "You can pretend all you want but your body is telling me otherwise. Did I make your heart flutter, sister?"

I knew that he didn't mean that he loved me in a romantic way but hearing those words still did make my heart flutter which I would never admit to him in this lifetime.

He loved me as a sister, a fact that I've known for a long time even if he never said it.

Because I've also known for quite some time whom his silly heart was beating for.

I forcefully pulled my hand from his grip. "That's my heart being stressed out because of suppressed anger. I'm really just a breath away from throwing a punch at your face. Will you please stop this bullshit?"

He smirked and softly took a lock of my hair. "Will you say the same thing if Craige told you that he likes you?"

My heart skipped a beat at the mention of that name. "He wouldn't say something crazy like that."

"That's not that point." He tugged at my hair which made me scowl at him.

"Then what is?" I looked up at him and I was pretty sure that if someone were to see us at that moment, they'd probably think that I was either being bullied or we're having a romantic time together. Depending on which angle they were looking from.

Arthur smiled and his dimple showed which just made him look a lot more annoying than he already was. "If Craige were to confess to you that he's in love with you, will you also pretend that you didn't hear it?"

"...I will."

He snickered. "You hesitated."

"Did not." I retorted.

"You did."

"Did not!"

He flicked my forehead. "Stop being a kid."

I stomped at his foot which made him wince sharply. "You're the one who should stop acting like a kid. Seriously, what do you want from me? You want me to say I love you too? Fine! I love you too! Happy?! Can I go now?"

He did not say anything and looked really stunned for a minute so I took that chance to push him away and leave. But I was not able to make it that far before I heard footsteps from behind me. In just a couple of strides, he was standing in front of me again, blocking my way. No longer able to hold back my frustration, I threw a punch straight at his chest but he managed to effortlessly block it with his hand.

"Argh!" I angrily growled. "What is it this time?"

He tilted his head and had a frown on his face. "When you said that you're going to confess to Craige, what were you planning to do?"

"How did you know about that?" It was a stupid question to ask.

"Katherine. She told me to stop you from doing it." The way he said it made it seem like it was no big deal. "I was against it at first but I'm starting to think that I really do have to stop you after all. What were you planning to tell Craige when you confess to him? You'll tell him that you like him but he doesn't have to worry about it because it's nothing serious and you'll get over it quickly?"

I was stunned speechless. 'How did he know?'

"How did I know?" He chuckled but his voice was laced with sarcasm. "Isn't your stream of thoughts way too obvious, sister? If you tell him that and fool the entire world, then the one who will suffer in the end would be you. Because by the time that you finally stop fooling yourself, it will already be too late to make your move. And we both know how much you hated having regrets. Especially when it's about not doing what you could have done. Look what happened when you didn't stop your mom from marrying my dad. You ended up being stuck forever with a handsome brother like me."

"I don't regret not stopping mom from getting married again. I can put up with an annoying person like you if that's the price to pay for letting my mom experience happiness again. As much as I love my dad, I have to admit that your dad was nothing but good to her." I said with utmost sincerity and I knew from the very bottom of my heart that there were no lies in those words.

"But you'll definitely regret it if you keep on turning a blind eye to your feelings for Craige." He declared resolutely.

I could not help but smile. At that point I've already given up on trying to get away from this conversation. To hell with the rehearsal. "Who said anything about turning a blind eye? I admit that I'm attracted to him. But this kind of thing will wear off in no time. And I'm planning to tell him just that so that there won't be any misunderstanding between us in the future. I can't believe Katherine even rattled on you about this. Why are you all making a huge fuss about it?"

"You really believe that it will wear off?" He asked incredulously.

"It's just a crush, Arthur! For heaven's sake, stop overreacting!" I snapped at him.

But he replied with a low and serious tone. "Crush is what Trixie feels for Craige. It's shallow and filled with self-interest. Yours is so much deeper. You're prioritizing your relationship with him over your own feelings because you know that it's important for him too. But you're refusing to see that you care for him a lot. You're denying that you're already in love with him."

"I also do care about you a lot, Art. Did you not know that? Does that make me in love with you too?" I could not believe that I just said something so sappy that it would have made me vomit any other day. Then I added with sarcasm. "Since you also just confessed that you love me, do we start going out from today onwards?"

"Is that what you have been doing?" His forehead wrinkled with a frown. I could not be sure if it was because he was upset about me mocking his feelings or about me suggesting that we start dating.

I heaved a sigh. "What?"

"Were you using me to keep your feelings for him in check? Is that what you have been telling yourself? That what you feel for him is not different from what you feel for me aside from the fact that you're currently attracted to him?" He scoffed as he put his hands on his waist and looked up at the now dark sky. "Is that why you think that this attraction towards Craige will easily go away with time?"

'I guess this was how Craige felt back then when I was psychoanalyzing his feelings. It's seriously annoying. How was he able to put up with me back then?'

"I'm not using you to keep my feelings for him in check. That's just exactly what it is." I corrected him but deep inside, a part of me felt scared of the possibility of his words being true.

"Then you're very mistaken, sister. What you feel for him is different from what you feel for me. Don't get confused because it hurts my pride. I don't have plans on sharing my title as your brother. Not even with Fafa Craige." He let out a low chuckle which sounded ominous. "You think that you'll get over this attraction towards him? Haha. I can't wait to see you go crazy as your feelings for him only deepen over time. That's the curse of falling in love, sister. Even if you don't want to and even if it's really annoying, you will just find yourself in deeper shit as time passes."

"How can you be so sure that I'm in love with him?" I challenged Arthur to prove his point.

But I completely forgot that even though we were not related by blood, our craziness was on par with each other. He suddenly swooped down and hovered his lips just an inch from mine which made me freeze on the spot. Not wanting to admit defeat, I did not back away and glared at him instead, silently daring him to try going for it.

But the bastard just smiled. "Care to guess why I'm not closing this distance?"

I smirked back at him. "Because you're afraid of getting beaten to pulp."

"I'm not scared of you, puppy." He whispered mockingly and I could feel his breath against my face.

I grinned. "But you're afraid of Argus Paige. Do you really think that you won't be buried alive if I told uncle that you forced a kiss on me?"

His eyes rounded in surprise and he let out a breath. "Woah. Now that is indeed a very scary threat."

I giggled, not taking my eyes off him. It was my turn to give him a manic smile. "Brother, you should have known by now that this puppy's bite is far worse than her bark."

He nodded with a smile. "I know. But there's another reason that I'm keeping this distance between us."

The smile disappeared from my face as I rolled my eyes. "Enlighten me."

"I love you. And you love me. But we can never close this distance between us because we're not in love with each other in a romantic way. It just wouldn't feel right." Then he moved his face towards my ear and whispered. "Now, here's a little brain-teaser. You claim that what you feel for Craige is the same as what you feel for me. And also that he's not attracted to you in any way. If that is so, will you be able to keep this same distance with him without feeling tempted to close it? And will he?"

My heart went erratic with the thought and I turned my head to the side to glare at Arthur. "What the hell are you trying to do, you crazy bastard?"

He finally took a step back and put his hands in his pocket with a smug smile on his face. "Isn't the curiosity driving you crazy? Won't you want to know whether it will feel right or not? I guess, we'll never know unless you try it, right?"