Gabe meets Romeo!

"Ms. Taylor!"

The receptionist ran with papers in her hands. And Summer felt even more embarrassed for not taking the time to face Valentine and sign them like a responsible employee that belonged to his company would. 'Nice one,' she thought sarcastically then wondered what she could do to salvage the remains of her image in her boss's eyes.

The receptionist smiled brightly for her when she reached them, "We need to get your signature on these papers for the insurance to become effective!"

"...Of course, I'm so sorry for troubling you,"

"Oh! It's no trouble at all!"

Summer signed and thanked the receptionist who was on her way after that.

"...How did you come here?" Gabe asked when he couldn't see her car parked anywhere.

She pointed a thumb at the monster standing on another level next to so many other cars.

Gabe's face fell, "...One would think he's trying to compensate for something…"

She hit his shoulder hard, "What the heck is your problem? He's been really good to me!" She said with a protective edge thinking that Valentine did not deserve this rude behavior.

Gabe crossed his arms against his chest defensively, "Oh really? He's been good to you? Since when?"

She scowled, "As of late…" she said vaguely

"...Give me a date on the calendar…"

Summer who saw her brother's point gulped down, "...Since a few days ago,"

He clenched his jaw twice, "Have you told anybody about that encounter you had with the..." he swallowed back a couple of profanities, "...With the Gypsy?"

"…No,"

He rolled his eyes at her lie that was as clear as the sky above them.

"I told a colleague of mine, and she told her cousin…"

He ran both of his hands through his hair, "There you go, it must've spread like fire by now, and the next thing you know... Every guy in your company will want to try his luck!"

Summer was deeply offended, she was sure that valentine had no idea about the Gypsy, and she was sure that Carol and Andrew told no one, but she couldn't prove anything to her brother, "You…You have become unbelievably rude lately…" she said with teary eyes.

Gabe's eyes widened, 'She never cries,' he thought with his hands grabbing her shoulders instinctively, "I'm sorry," he held her tight to his chest, then he felt a gaze on them. When his eyes drifted to the source, he found a huge man standing next to the main door of the hospital and lighting a cigarette while looking in the opposite direction to them.

"Let's get out of here, there's a taxi stop just around the corner," Gabe was suddenly in a hurry; he didn't want another encounter with that man at any cost. Something inside of him wanted to put as much distance between his sister and her CEO as possible, it was a feeling that he couldn't explain.

***

"…I'm truly sorry guys, I'll be available all the time here," Summer said when she observed the dismay on her colleague's faces, they were just wrapping up a Zoom conference call.

"Don't worry, please take care of yourself and take your medications, we'll see you first thing in the morning," Carol spoke on behalf of Summer's team.

She ended the call and glared at her brother who sat not too far away to her right, "Did you honestly need to put it in a cast?"

"Just do what you do best and let me do what I do best, okay?"

Gabe was being melodramatic again. But this time, Summer was the angry one.

"What kind of a team leader lets everyone else pull an all-nighter while she stays at home..." she mumbled to herself.

"You're working though! Aren't you!"

"What's your problem?!" She kept asking him that today.

"Nothing," he sprinted to his feet, "I'm going out for a walk,"

"Fine!" She snapped.

"Fine!" He snapped back and then stomped his way to the apartment door.

*Slam!*

"Don't take it out on the door!" Summer said after him with rolling eyes. She took a deep breath and opened the shared folder on her desktop, ready to pull an all-nighter along with her team from the comfort of her home.

***

Gabe was on his way back from the pharmacy, but he wasn't paying much attention to the road, thoughts about calling Michael were twisting and turning in his head.

The two brothers were in cahoots as always for the sake of their family. While Michael stayed back home taking care of their parents and their family business, Gabe pursued a path in medicine while keeping their sister safe and giving her the space that she desired, enabling her to have a career of her own in the place that suited her best for that.

That was their deal, and for that, Gabe hesitated to talk to Michael about the Gipsy thing.

'Summer is under my jurisdiction,' He thought to himself as he was about to reach his sister's apartment once more, but then he eyed the grocery shop that was still open, 'Maybe some chocolate will put her in a better mood,' his own mood sank rock bottom in skyrocket speed when he felt someone following him. He stopped and turned abruptly taking a defensive posture, then he relaxed when he recognized the face.

"…What do you want," Gabe said in a low tone.

"Hello, Gabe. I called out for you a couple of times, but you didn't hear me," Zack said in a polite tone.

Gabe scratched his head, deciding that he didn't have to overreact about it, "Okay," he was about to turn around once more.

"What's wrong with Summer?"

Gabe felt all the blood in his body rushing straight up to his head, he turned around and glared at Zack, "This again?"

But Zack had already decided on the path he was going to take, "I assure you that my intentions towards your sister are honest,"

Gabe who had prepared a long speech about taking a hint and red lines was suddenly speechless, the man who stood three feet away looked and sounded dead serious.

"…She's five years older than you are," he argued.

"That's a very reasonable age gap between a man and a woman," Zack retorted.

Gabe opened his mouth then closed it, then he opened it again, "Listen, man, my sister is going through a hard time right now, and even if she wasn't…I don't think she sees you that way,"

'It must be true then, Summer is sick, even her brother knows about it,' Zack's fists balled on either of his sides. "She had problems walking out of the taxi… I saw you two from the window. And then I saw her car parked in its usual spot, but I didn't recognize the man who drove it back..." he recited everything that had tortured him that evening.

'He's in too deep,' Gabe shook his head. He preferred it back when Zack annoyed him for hitting on his sister, but now while he all but asked for her hand in marriage, he found himself going easier on the neighbor, too afraid that a harsh push from Gabe could complicate matters even further for Summer. His head throbbed when he imagined his sister getting a proposal before Valentine's Day, it throbbed again when he imagined her accepting it to save her unthreatened life.

"Is there anything I can do for her?"

Zack's emotional tone brought Gabe back to the present moment. "Er…It's… I think the stress she's going through right now is making everything so much worse... I'll be staying at her place for now,"

Zack nodded and sniffled, "That's good to hear,"

Gabe flinched back when Zack threw himself at him and hugged him for a second, then the neighbor ran off without saying a word leaving Gabe gaping at nothing.

He finally found his tongue, "The heck was that all about?! Does he think he's some kind of a Romeo or something!"

In Gabe's mind, things were slowly but surely getting out of hand.