Challenging me, huh?

Daisy's pov

"When are you coming home, Dy?" I ask in a small voice.

"Very soon, Dais." He says from the other side.

"I miss you so much, Dy." I try to keep my voice from quivering as a tear slides down my left cheek.

"I miss you so much more. By the way, how's dad these days? He didn't speak to me since I last visited home three months back." He sounds sad.

"He's out always for business trips. I haven't had a normal conversation with him."

"Why's he like this, Dais? Why does he loathe us so much? Why can't he love us as normal father's do? You know, my friends' parents come to visit them and it hurts so much when they hug their children while we just hope for two good words from him. What did we do wrong, Dais?" His voice is desperate, broken and I'm sure he's crying.

"Dy, listen to me, You haven't done anything. You never did anything wrong. You're the best son he can ever ask for. It's just that he's not over mom's death even now. Give him some time, he'll be back to us." All I hear is muffled sobs and no answer.

"Dy, please stop crying. It breaks me when you cry. You know I love you right." He hums in response.

"So for my sake, please stop crying. I promise I'll come to visit you soon." I say in hopes of lighting up his mood.

"You're coming for sure or you're just saying?" He asks after a few seconds.

"I'll come for sure. For a high school guy, you sure are a softie." I say in an attempt to crack a joke.

"Huh! You don't know anything about me, Dais." I can imagine the grin on his face.

"Challenging me, huh, little brother?"

"Hell yeah, tell me anything you know about me after I joined again." He says.

"Well, you were the MVP in the last basketball game which happened two weeks back. Your latest girlfriend is someone named Violet. You bunked your classes last week to go bowling. I've many more things, my badass brother. You wanna know more?" I ask while walking into my closet.

"Dais, how do you know all of this? Don't tell me there's a private investigator you hired to keep an eye on me." He whines.

"Never, Dy. It's your life, you're free to do whatever you want. I'd never hire anyone to spy on you. Being your amazing, elder sister I've to keep tabs on you so that you don't get in trouble and even if you get in one, I should be there to help you. So, that's why." I shrug pulling out a black dress from my closet.

"But how do you know all this?" He implores and I can imagine the frown on his face.

"Don't stress yourself, bunny. It's for me to know and for you to figure out." I mumble rolling my eyes at my own lame comeback.

"Anyways, how's Ronnie and others?" He knows them just like me. They love him just like their own brother. There's no wonder that he remembers them.

"They're good. It's Lizz's birthday tomorrow, so we all are planning a surprise for her." I explain chuckling at our ingenious plan.

"I wish I could be there. But yeah, don't forget to wish her for me. What are you guys doing for her?"

"Well, I'm not gonna tell that. I'll send you the videos, you can check it out later." I answer throwing the dresses in my overnight bag.

"I'll be waiting, then."

"Hey Dais." He calls out as if he just remembers something.

"Yeah, Dy."

"How about you bring them all along next time you come to visit me. We all can even go have a weekend outing somewhere. They are the only close one's we have as a family. You're lucky you are with them all the time, while I'm somewhere in some other state away from my only sister." Something seems off by the way he's been behaving so emotional today.

"Dylan, is something the matter? Why are you being so emotional today? You were never like this. Is everything alright?" I ask him concerned.

"Yeah, Dais. It's just that I am really missing you a lot. I wanna see you."

"Hey, don't worry okay. I'll be there as soon as we're back from Lizz's birthday celebrations. I can come there tonight if that's what you want. Just tell me once, I'm going to board the next flight to Vancouver." I say genuinely worried for him. He's my only brother and I can't let him be alone when he's feeling so low.

"No, no, Daisy please. Don't do that. Have fun and be hereafter her birthday. I'd love to see you all here and yeah tell them all hi and that I miss them. I'll hang up now. Bye." He says the last part in a hurry.

"Yeah, I will. But take ca---" The line goes off signalling that he already hung up without letting me finish.

Just keep him safe, God. I mentally pray for him