Chapter 41: Brother Zone

The vans finally entered the premises of the beach resort. As the car pulled over, Isaiah, Dr. Miller, and the private nurse left the van first as Zarah and Xavier were sound asleep at the back.

"Are you sure that it's fine to leave them alone, Chairman?" Julie asked him.

"Yes. It's fine. Let them rest for a little bit." He meaningfully said while glancing at Zarah with her head on Xavier's lap since he was still wearing a cast.

"How could I disturb them when they're sleeping soundly?" He continued.

So, they had no choice but to go to the reception so they could finally check into their respective rooms and then ate their late lunch.

It was thirty minutes later that Zarah and Xavier woke up from their sleep.

Zarah immediately got up and bumped her head against Xavier's chin.

"Hiss!" Xavier hissed in pain while Zarah felt like seeing the stars because of the impact.

"I'm sorry. Does it hurt?" Xavier asked and touched the top of her head.

"It's fine," Zarah said in embarrassment although it hurt her head so much.

At that moment, they realized the van was not moving although the AC unit was left turned on. Also, they're left alone inside the van.

Zarah decided to leave the van first as after what happened last night, she felt awkward around him.

Xavier could feel her anxiety and awkwardness and so, he wondered what was going on.

She got up and before Zarah could successfully reach the door, he pulled her to him and made her sit on his lap.

"What's wrong? Did I do something to make you act like this around me?" He asked her and Zarah immediately denied it.

Well, she didn't dare to be frank with him and so she said while avoiding eye contact, "Nothing's wrong. I'm just a little hungry and I want to find out where the others are."

Xavier raised a brow as he doubted her answer but then he looked at the time and it was almost one in the afternoon.

"Okay. Then, let's go." He said and reached out to open the door for her and came out of the van first and waited like a true gentleman for her to come out.

Zarah contemplated if she should take his hand or avoid it.

Should she choose the latter, Xavier would think that something was going on and she lied earlier.

He did know how to corner her. So, she had no other choice but to grab his hand.

"Thanks." She said while wearing her sunglasses back.

The driver of the van approached them and told them that the others decided to eat lunch first.

Xavier and Zarah walked to the restaurant.

The sun was shining in this region and so it was easy to get a tan or sunburn. And Zarah didn't mind having her skin kissed by the sun. She cared about her eyes though.

As they walked inside, Zarah and Xavier realized that the resort was not crowded. Was it because it was not the weekend yet? Nevertheless, she liked it as they'd have a little privacy.

With Xavier walking behind her, they went entered the resort's restaurant to have their lunch.

Upon entering they saw Julie waiting for them.

"Julie, where are the others?" She asked her.

"Oh! Chairman Stevens headed to his room after we finished lunch to rest. Dr. Miller and Romeo accompanied him."

Romeo? Must be the name of the nurse.

Zarah and Xavier decided to have lunch then.

After lunch, Xavier went out first without telling Zarah where he was going.

This gave Zarah time to think about what to do with Xavier.

'What if he is only messing with me?' She thought and then heaved a deep sigh.

She remembered that he needed a woman to marry and be his wife.

Enlightened by it, Zarah's face lit up. "That's right!" She exclaimed and caught Julie's attention yet she didn't make any comment.

She should start looking for possible candidates for him to pick! Getting him busy could make him stop his feelings for her; if they were real. Or else it would be unfair to him and his soon-to-be bride.

Biologically related or not, she had no intention of being his woman or his wife. Personality and status-wise, they were worlds apart!

Moreover, she didn't want to be entangled in another series of family dramas involving the rich and the elites. She simply could not stand it.

From the sound of it, Xavier's maternal family was no ordinary.

Who would demand their grandson to find a woman to marry and be his wife? That kind of pressure did not exist on the families in the middle class.

'Yes, Xavier is very attractive that's it. However, it's still not enough to make me fall for him. It's just impossible..' She thought again.

All she needed was to list his qualifications. That's all.

Zarah looked at Julie and asked, "Julie, are you familiar with the rich families in Oakridge City?"

"I'm sorry Miss. Aside from knowing their names, I'm not very familiar with them at all." Julie answered.

Well, her answer made sense. Only those who belonged to the same circle could give her the information she needed.

"Okay. Thank you." Zarah said. She'd just do her research if that's the case.

"If you don't mind me asking, Miss. Why do you suddenly become interested to know about them?"

Zarah contemplated if she should answer this question or not. In the end, she did, "I'm just trying to help someone find a date."

"Oh! Like a blind date?" Julie asked again.

"Yeah. Like a blind date."

"That friend of yours must be a big shot! But I don't think it would be easy to find a girl for him to date here." Julie shared and her curiosity was picked up by it.

"May I know why?"

"Well, if I heard it right, the daughters of the rich families in Oakridge City are already engaged or some are happily dating someone else."

Then, she should broaden the scope if that were the case. She should not limit it to daughters from rich families.

'How about strong and influential women?' She gave it a thought.

She didn't expect that the job was difficult to do.

After knowing that he liked her, she thought that he laid this trap for her when he asked this in exchange and she became a willing victim.

However, she won't back down. She had to find him his woman.

Zarah left the restaurant with Julie. She wanted to find Xavier yet she had no idea where to start.

They roamed around the resort but they could not find him. Instead, they only caught the attention of other men who were enjoying their afternoon swim at the beach.

"Maybe Master Xavier's in his room, Miss. Do you want us to go and check?" Julie suggested.

Zarah felt embarrassed as she did not think about it earlier. The most foolish thing was that she did not think of calling him.

So, she grabbed her phone and tried calling him. However, he did not pick up the phone.

So, she had no other choice but to retreat to Isaiah's room instead.

"I'm tired. Let's head to Old Man's room first." She told Julie.

Isaiah's room was in one of the resort's villas.

There were five villas in the resort and they occupied three. To reach there, they had to ride the resort's shuttle service to reach there.

Zarah and Julie walked away from the beach and went to the pickup point. They waited for the shuttle to arrive there.

While they were waiting, some men tried to catch Zarah's attention.

"Hello, Miss." The man asked but Zarah had no plans in entertaining him.

"Are you also here for a vacation?" He asked her again but she ignored him. However, he was not discouraged.

"I'm Travis by the way. How about you? What is your name?"

He was persistent.

"I saw you walking by the beach earlier and I thought you were looking for someone. That someone might be me." He said with confidence that even Julie could not believe what she heard.

'Is this man serious?' She asked. Julie looked at the guy to examine his looks.

He's tall and handsome. His skin was brown but Julie could not tell if this was his original skin color or perhaps the long exposure to the sun's rays made him look like this.

With all those self-promotions that he was doing, he still could not get Zarah's attention.

Therefore, he started to be pissed off.

"Don't you have any plans in answering my questions?"

Faced with this man's audacity, Zarah fixed her sunglasses and started talking to Julie, "Julie, can you see the fly hovering beside me?"

Julie got the memo and so, she decided to play along.

"Oh! Yes. Should I swat it for you, Miss?"

The guy also started looking for the fly that Zarah was talking about.

"Yes, please. I'm allergic to bugs." She said and acted like she was terrified of it.

The man kept on searching for the bug until he realized that the fly Zarah meant was him all this time.

This made him angry.

He wanted to grab Zarah's arm and confront him about it but a solid punch landed on his face.

Caught off-guard, the man fell to the ground.

Zarah was stunned to see him fall and when she looked at her side, Xavier was standing there. He looked at the man like he wanted to kill him.

"How dare you punch me?!" He asked Xavier in fury.

Xavier on the other hand thought that his punch had become weaker. He wanted to send him to come in one punch yet he failed.

The man spat the blood and tried to get up but Xavier kicked him and he fell back. Xavier was about to beat him to a pulp when Zarah grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Stop!"

The man chuckled like he was mocking him and this angered Xavier even more.

Zarah coldly looked at the man and he became quiet.

Meanwhile, Xavier looked at her in disbelief.

"What's wrong with you? Why did you punch him?"

"I'm just trying to protect you, woman," Xavier answered with a bit of anger.

"Well, I don't need your protection. We come here to enjoy and not cause trouble, remember?" She reminded him.

Xavier looked at the man who decided to lie on the ground.

The commotion caught the other guests' attention and they started gathering around.

The resort security also came to inquire about what happened. He helped the man get up from the ground.

"What's going on, here?"

Xavier protectively hugged Zarah's side as they faced the security.

"This man tried to harass my girlfriend," Xavier told him frankly which caused Zarah's jaw to drop.

"Is it true, Miss?"

"No!" The security raised his brows. Zarah thought that he misunderstood and so she corrected herself.

"I mean yes. He tried to grab my arm after I ignored his question. I was so scared and wanted to cry. Good thing my brother came to my rescue. My brother...he's just overprotective of me."

Xavier was dispersed to hear her calling him as a brother again.

Zarah then looked at Xavier and saw his displeasure yet she ignored it and continued, "My brother's imagination is pretty wild. He probably thought that he was believable if he'd claimed that I'm his girlfriend rather than his sister. After all, we don't look alike."

She then turned her attention to the man while she continued talking to security. "And oh! Xavier's punch was not that strong. He's only overreacting. Next time, don't be so overconfident that everyone would like what you're doing. Anything overdone is bad."

"If you have further questions, Julie could tell you what happened. She was with me when he started pestering me." Zarah looked at Julie and she got the clue.

"Now, if you'd excuse us." Zarah politely smiled at the security before leaving with Xavier.

***