Sunlight flowed and sat on Darren's drooling face like little morning hummingbirds poking his skin. "Wake up, Darry, wake up, today is the day!"
Darren fluttered his eyes open to reveal his blue irises sparkle in the sunlight. The same bright blue of Dad's eyes. I got my mom's brown and I used to be jealous of his eyes many times in the past.
A smile lit up on his face when he realized that he would be going to pick up Saye today. Giggling he pulled the duvet away and jumped up while pulling his shirt on and clicking up 'Running After You' by Matthew Mole on his Bluetooth speaker and jumped into the shower, dancing to the notes.
After a while he stood in front of the mirror in his formal attire and looked at himself over and over. Is my hair too messy? Wait…didn't I iron this coat yesterday? He tried to fix his hair and took off the coat to iron it when he remembered he had forgotten to check his car.
Throwing the coat on the chair, he rushed to the garage with a vacuum cleaner and went through the car, cleaning every speck of dust on the seats.
He even hung up a new air freshener.
"I hope she likes the smell of roses," he sighed and went back in to grab his newly ironed coat.
He passed by the garden on the way back to the car and paused. Some of the flowers had drooped from lack of care after their mother was gone. He was barely home to look after them. His feet squished on the garden soil as he walked over to the little tuft of bright pink flowers.
Holding a few by the stem, he thought, "She likes pink…" and gave it a gentle pull, snapping them from its base. Pretty flowers for 'pretty' girl.
It was drizzling again when Saye walked over to the car from the door of her house. She was dressed in simple clothes this time. A simple crop top with lightly faded jeans. They looked so normal on her that Darren was even more astounded.
'God, she looks pretty…' my idiot of a brother thought. I hadn't known about his feelings for her then, of course. I hadn't even known they were acquainted.
"Morning, Darren," she said as Darren opened the door for her sheepishly.
"M-morning, Saye."
She side glanced at him and smiled slightly before getting in. He rushed to the other side and took his own seat.
After a few minutes of just the sound of the car on asphalt, Saye spoke.
"Does Ashe know I'm coming?"
Darren shook his head, "No…and about that," he glanced at her before focusing on the highway again. "Nobody in the house can have access to phones or any connection to the outside."
"What?" she shifted in her seat to face him, "You're telling me this now?"
Darren bit his cheek, "Sorry…I didn't think it was important…"
She fell back on the seat, "Darren! How will I know if my project got selected for the exhibition? How will I know if my application to study in Germany got approved? And my social media accounts! I didn't even notify my followers"
Darren spoke without thinking, "That's all you're worried about? I've got that taken care of, if that's what you're saying. I thought you would miss talking to your parents or brothers or something…"
Saye fell silent and guilt ran through her. "Oh…yeah that too," she whispered quietly, retreating back to her seat.
"Oh no, Saye. I didn't mean to-"
She shook her head, "No, you're right. I'm selfish."
"I didn't say you were selfish…"
She turned to look at Darren. His eyes had left the road for a second and their eyes met. Guilt dripped out of both of them.
He whipped his head back to look at the road and swerved the right that turned into the Boldman's Estate. Slowly, he retarded the car to a stop in front of the mansion's gate.
He looked back at Saye and held her gaze again. "We're here."
She bit her lip remorsefully. "I hate that you're making me do this."
He looked down, "I hate myself too. I'm sorry."
"Darren…" she whispered, her voice sugary and raspy at the same time as she lifted his face with her finger. "You're lucky I love you. Otherwise, you'd be dead by now."
He smiled sadly and shrugged, "I guess I knew you did. That's why I asked you to help out. I knew I could trust you."
The car's windows were closed and even though it was cold inside because of the weather, it was getting a little stuffy. Rain splashed on the windows increasingly now, building up a steady rhythm in their ears.
"You trust me?" she asked. No one had said anything about trusting her before. She had always broken their expectations at one point somehow. Always second best.
But despite all that, the boy in front of her nodded, "I do."
Saye dropped her fingers from his chin and grabbed his collar, tugging him close. "Kiss me, Darren."
Darren's breath hitched. "Wha-what? I-"
He forgot to speak when he felt her fingers glide cross across his neck, curling around it. He couldn't hold it back anymore.
He finally parted his chapped lips and kissed her.
She lifted up from the seat as he kissed her harder every second. Her fingers caressed his ear lobes, sending warm chills down his spine. Darren let out a sigh and held her waist, pulling her on his lap. She interlocked her feet around his torso and didn't let go.
"You have no idea for how long I've wanted to do this with you," Saye confessed. She was too afraid to see his reaction so she kept her eyes closed and leaned into his neck, smelling his morning scent of lavender soap.
Darren kissed her golden hair, his heart still beating rapidly, "I'm sorry. I was afraid. An affair between the holding families of two rival companies wasn't the first thing on my mind."
"You're right," she agreed. Sometimes she even surprised herself by how timid she was when it came to some people and how ravage she was when she came to others. For example, me.
She was like the human version of Janus, the Greek god with two faces.
"Maybe we should end it here," she managed to say, glancing at the mansion. Then she remembered who Darren's sister was.
Yours truly.
She realized what a relationship between my bully and my brother could do to me. How it could break me even more. To a point where I might give up on everything I like. My brother was the only actual friend I had. If she stole that from me, than I would truly be nothing.
And she wasn't wrong. I would go from Ashe to ashes if she ever did that.
"Are you serious?" my brother asked, looking at her in disbelief after the milestone they had just crossed. Saye giggled, curling his hair in her fingers, "No," she said, changing tactics, "I want you more than anything right now. If anything happens, we'll face them together alright?"
Darren smiled, forgetting his role as CEO of Systema Games, the world's No.1 Gaming Platform for the moment.
Right now he was just a normal 19-year old boy, discovering the pleasures of first love. What could go wrong?
"Saye. Will you be my girlfriend?"
She smiled as if she was the happiest girl in the world, "Yes!"
Darren kissed her in happiness once more but they abruptly broke apart when someone tapped on the window.