Chapter 2

Chapter 2: First Day

"Kuya, please don't tell Dad, hm?"

I almost pouted my lips when my brother ignored me. He quickly walked out of the mall and got inside our car, his face was so serious that even Rhum couldn't talk and defend me.

"Kuya!"

"Maxine," he warned, shooting daggers. "Let's just talk about it at home."

I heaved a sigh, giving up. I can’t help but blame that man. If he hadn’t reacted like that, mall security wouldn’t have seen us, and Maxwell wouldn’t have been able to find out what happened. Now, I'm doomed. Maxwell will definitely report me to Dad.

"Are you okay?" Rhum mouthed which I replied with a nod and a small assuring smile.

Surprisingly, Maxwell did not tell Dad when they called us. However, his coldness towards me is still there. He doesn't talk to me; he doesn't even look at me every time I talk to him. He would also give me small replies and nod whenever I asked him.

"Kuya," I called him in a soft voice. "Don't get mad anymore, hm? I'm sorry, it's not my fault."

"You're sorry but it's not your fault?" he asked, his tone sounding as if he heard something offensive and absurd.

Rhum covered his mouth to hide his laughs. Maxwell shot him a sideward glare before saying, "Tomorrow, as your punishment, your bodyguards will be there to watch you over at school, you and Rhumzelle."

That caught us in a real surprise. "Maxwell-I mean, K-Kuya! I thought we had already agreed they would just drive us to school and pick us up?"

“Am I hearing a complaint?”

My shoulder dropped as I felt like the sky just landed on me, so do my younger brother. It was obvious that we both lose our appetite, but we couldn't leave the table, especially now that our brother was looking at us intently.

There was a long pause of silence, we can only hear our sighs and the sound of our utensils hitting the plates.

"Fine, I'll take back my words," my brother spoke, sighing.

Rhum and I exchange glances. We were about to go and hug my brother when he uttered something that made me want to just die.

"But your Ayiyi will have to apologize to Mr. Solomon-Enriquez first."

I opened my mouth to rebuke when he halted me, raising his hand.

"You choose, Seb and Val will go with you and Rhum or you will apologize to the guy you had fought-"

"He started it!" I reason out, raising my voice out of anger, but my brother was unfazed. I inhaled a large amount of air to calm myself down, staring at my empty plate. "F-Fine..." I took a three-second pause. "I-I will apologize to him, only when we cross paths again!"

"I'm sure you will," my brother said. "You and Mr. Solomon-Enriquez will go to the same school," he uttered, leaning his back on the chair, crossing his arms. "His dad is one of the directors there, so do our parents. So, whether you like it or not, you need to be kind towards him."

I banged my head on the table, didn't know what to feel.

"Are we clear with that, Maxine?" my brother asked.

I took some air before replying, "Yes, sir."

"Hope you understand why I'm doing this," he then said out of a blue. "People around us have a high expectation towards our family. I'm trying to save you from our parents also. Do you hear me?"

A nod is all I could give in response.

"Alright," my brother stood up from his seat, wiping his lip with a napkin. "Thanks for food, Nay. I'm going home now."

I gave my brother a small smile when he leaned closer to me and give me a smack on my forehead. My eyebrows furrowed when he did that too on Rhumzelle and my younger brother didn't move afterward. He even eats my salad.

"Yah," I get his attention. "Aren't you coming? You supposed to go back with Maxwell, it's getting late."

"I'm not going home, Ayiyi," he said which made my eyebrows meet. "I'm going to sleep here-"

"Yah!" I yelled, freaking out my younger brother.

"K-Kuya!" he called, hiding on our brother's back. He looks like he'd cry any minute.

Maxwell looked at me with an unknown face, trying to stop himself from laughing. "Maxine-"

"No, Maxwell. I will not let him sleep here," I cut his words short, determination in my eyes. "For what reason did dad separate us and buy him a house? He already slept here last Friday!"

"What's the difference if he sleeps here again? Tomorrow is your class, you will also be together," my brother remarked.

I started stamping my foot in annoyance. "He can't! He's eating my... " My voice trailed off.

From then, my brother's lips curved into a small smirk. "He's eating you what?" he asked, raising a brow.

"You know it already, stop asking," I said in a low voice.

"I won't eat all your krimstix again, Ayiyi," Rhum promised, raising his right hand.

My eyes grew wide as I rushed towards him, covering his mouth. "Rhum! Do you have to say that out loud?!"

My brother looked up at me, confused. "Why? It's your favorite cream paste!"

I heard Maxwell laughing so I glared at her. "Rhum's right. You should be proud of being a fan of Krimstix."

"Just get out, Maxwell. Go home now!" I said with an annoyed face. I quickly shut the door when he got out of my house and looked at Rhumzelle. "You sleep on the couch."

"No, I will sleep beside you, Ayiyi." he proudly said, smiling from ear to ear.

"You can't!" I retorted, marching up to my room.

Rhumzelle quickly followed me. He even hit me on the shoulder and entered the room first. He then tapped the space beside him repeatedly, inviting me to lie next to him as if he were the owner of the bed.

Having left with no choice, I walked towards my bed and sat down. For some unknown reason, I kept on sighing and Rhumzelle seemed to notice it.

"Don't mind what Kuya said earlier, Ayiyi." Rhum looked at me and smiled, his eyes were sleepy. "He just mad. We both know it's not the real him."

"I know," I nodded. "It just can't help it. Maxwell was right, though. Our family has an image to protect. I understand why he was angry. I'm also wrong, I should have just apologized so that it wouldn't get worse."

"You've forgotten the rule, haven't you?" he muttered, closing his eyes.

"Yeah, actually," I replied, chuckling softly.

When my brother finally fell asleep, I sighed once again. Many people think our family is happy, a perfect family. But little did they know, not in all cases were we happy. As the only daughter of one of the known persons in the industry, our moves become limited especially for me. Sometimes it's suffocating, it's difficult. However, whether I wanted to complain or open up to my family about that, I just couldn’t. I'm just my dad's illegitimate daughter, a piece of extra baggage to their family. I am too indebted to complain especially to Tita Ayen because she accepted me and my mom into her family.

Even if the three of us get what we want, we can't do everything we want to do. And to be completely honest, until now I still feel that I am different especially when other people recognize me as an illegitimate child of my dad. It hurts and what hurts the most is no one knows about the pain I'm going through.

* * *

Early in the morning, I already took a shower and got dressed. Rhumzelle, on the other hand, still sleeping peacefully at my bed, mouth opened. I cracked into a soft laugh before getting in the bed and woke my brother up.

"Rhum, rise and shine!"

"Five minutes more, Ayi!" Rhum hides in the comforter. "Please, one minute," he pleaded. "30 seconds!"

"King Rhumzelle!" I hissed, starting to lose my patience. I then shook my head when he slowly get up and rushed to the bathroom. "Hurry up, we don't want to be late for our first day in SE, do we?"

I made our bed before heading to the kitchen. I caught up with Kuya Seb and Kuya Val who were having breakfast while Nanny was pouring milk into a glass. When they saw me, they greeted me "Good morning" in unison, inviting me to join them.

"Good morning," I greeted back, pulling the chair on one edge of the table. "Wow, it's Sinangag! Rhum will surely love this, Nanny."

"That is why I cooked a lot," Nanny remarked, placing the two glasses of milk on the table.

I thanked Nanny before starting to eat. As usual, Kuya Seb and Kuya Val are arguing over who is the most handsome between them.

"Just accept it, man. I am really the one God has blessed," Kuya Seb uttered, brushing his hair through his fingers, wearing his sunglasses.

"Keep dreaming, my man." Kuya Val then fixed his suit. "I'm not just saying it, but I am the one chosen by God to spread goodness in this world."

Nanny and I couldn't help but shake our heads. That’s part of the everyday scenario here at home. They don't want to lose so they are always like that.

"Hey, don't tell anyone about it, okay?" Kuya Val added, but his companion ignored him, covering his ears. "I don’t want to be exposed yet. I want to stick as lowkey handsome for now."

"Stop it you two."

We all looked at my brother who came, fixing his collar.

"Need a hand?" I offered, motioning him to come close to me.

"Yah, you two, stop arguing over who is the most handsome!" he scolded, watching me fix his collar. He looked at my bodyguards when I finished. "God knows who's the most handsome here on earth," he uttered, taking a seat beside me. "It's me, the one and only King Rhumzelle Armani Castro."

I scoffed, shaking my head in disbelief. Kuya Seb and Kuya Val were silent. They know that if they don't agree with Rhum, he will report them to Dad. Of course, Dad's always spoiling his youngest so he'll tell my bodyguards not to argue with Rhum anymore. Nothing will change if they continued fighting with him, though. I mean, they all have the looks, honestly.

"We just arrived at your new school, ma'am," Kuya Val informed, parking our car. "You can go now, ma'am, sir."

"Just call us when your last class is over, ma'am." Kuya Seb saluted with his left hand. His right arm is incapacitated due to an injury that's why he's using his left, and he couldn't drive for now. Thanks to Kuya Val, by the way. He took over in driving.

When we got to the hallway, I immediately felt uncomfortable because their eyes are on us. Rhum was getting irritated because of the girls who's greeting him while trying to get close to him. Some of them tried to kiss him on the cheeks which made him look like he'd cry any second!

"Ayiyi!" he called with a sigh of irritation.

"Hi! My name is Gabbi!" the girl in pigtails proudly introduced. "I don’t normally ask strangers for their number, but I’ll be pissed at myself if I never see you again, so…"

To my great surprise, Rhum came to a halt and raised an eyebrow at her, saying, "I don't have a phone."

Gabbi's jaw dropped as she looked at my brother in disbelief. "T-That's impossible! I'm sure you have!"

Rhum sighed. "You can have my Ayiyi's digits if you want."

My eyes slightly widened when he mentioned me. I wanted to hit my brother but I restrained myself. Rhum walked away without looking back at Gabbi who's calling her. She was left there, standing still, embarrassed. And when she looked at me, I just gave her an apologetic yet awkward smile and followed my brother.

"That's kind of harsh, Rhum. You should excuse yourself at least," I told him as we headed to the principal's office.

"What did I do wrong? Girls shouldn't do that in the first place, Ayiyi," he said, pouting his lips.

I just shook my head and went into the office first. A forty-something woman greeted us with a Duchenne smile that made my nervousness away. Rhum and I bowed our heads and smile politely as we greeted her, "Good morning, principal."

"Good morning, Ms. and Mr. Castro," she greeted back, motioning to the seat in front of her desk. "First, let me give you my warmest welcome. Welcome to Solomon-Enriquez High School Campus."

"Thank you." I smiled and Rhum did too.

The principal gave us our IDs. "Our goal is to provide support and encouragement for each of you in your journey to improve the world. Don’t hesitate to let us know if there’s anything we can do to help during the process. Have a GREAT start to the school year and we’re so glad you’re here! Also, send my regards to your parents. We are very grateful for their willingness to invest in our school."

Rhum and I looked at each other before nodding. Minutes later, the principal finally let us go and have a quick tour of the campus. We were walking in the hallway of the first building when Rhum saw our cousin, Trix Armani.

"Ate Trix!"

Trix looked back at us, her eyes slowly widening. She was stunned for a moment before rushing towards us and hugging us both, whispering how much she misses us and how happy she is that we are in the same school. Trix and I are both in eleventh grade.

"Ayineeee!" she cried. "Did you know this is my first time coming in early? It's because of you bitch! I found out from Dad that Tito Augustus invested here in SE, and you and Rhum just moved here!"

"It supposed to be just me, but Rhum insisted on moving here also. He even cried because Kuya didn't want to agree at first," I recalled, chuckling.

"I didn't!" Rhumzelle denied, shaking his head.

"I see, I see." Trix nodded, smiling from ear to ear. She then started running along the hallway, pulling our wrist so we could catch up. "Oh, wait! Let's take Rhum to their building first."

After sending my brother to their building, Trix showed me our campus' map. She showed me everything, where I could go and where the restricted area was. She also showed me the garden, the park, the cafeteria, the library, and the club building. Trix mentioned that she and her friend belonged to the dance troop and I couldn't wait to join them too.

"You know what's more exciting, Ayine?" She asked, unable to keep her smiles. I shook my head in response. "Meeting my friends and the most popular boys on our campus!"

I'm really excited to meet her friends but not what she said about the most popular boys here on campus. Aside from the fact that I'm not interested, I already know they were handsome. Seeing how do girls react earlier when they see Rhum, I won’t be surprised if there are popular groups here that are idolized by groups of women.

"Brace yourself, bitch. My friends are crazier than me!" she reminded, showing me her evil smile.

I just shook my head in her craziness. I'm used to it, though. Trix is the type of girl who will laugh at the dumbest jokes and go along with the craziest ideas. It really confused me how on earth I can match up with her level of madness.

The moment we arrived at our classroom, Trix kicked the door and said, "Ladies and Gentlemen-"

"Ms. Armani! What do you think you're doing?!"

* * *

When He Dares Me

by: Thesweetestthing