Midnight surprise!

"There," Gabe pushed away the cast that he had just removed from around his sister's foot, "Do you feel better?"

Summer who was sitting on her bed massaged her foot lightly, then she looked at her brother's face and grinned, "Much, much better,"

"…I only put it in a cast to prevent you from moving it around too much, but I guess it ended up straining your ankle and even that weak point in your back,"

Summer sighed in relief with her eyes closed, "Will you put it in another cast tomorrow for me?" She opened one eye to look at him.

He found that a bit strange, "Wasn't it uncomfortable?"

She gave him two pats on the cheek, "Nah, I bet having to wear shoes would've been ten times worse, but I'd like to postpone it to the very last minute, so maybe we can have an early breakfast together first, hm?"

"…I'm sorry I missed breakfast today,"

The two siblings exchanged a warm smile.

"I gave you a scare when I told you about the prophecy, didn't I?"

It wasn't true, the only thing that scared Gabe was how his sister was reacting to that nonsense.

"But you were right when you told him that I can put people in their places,"

He raised an unconvinced eyebrow at his sister, "…You ended up inviting him for coffee, though?"

"Exactly, Andrew is someone I think I'd want to go out with again, and that's why I invited him for coffee,"

Gabe wasn't crazy about the idea, "How about Patrick then, Sunny? Don't you want to give it a shot with him?"

Summer thought about that for a few seconds, "Gabe, I feel that another date with Patrick would be so… final…"

Gabe understood what she meant, and she wasn't exactly mistaken, 'But is it a bad thing?' He couldn't decide about that. "Haaah, I don't like it…" he murmured to himself thinking about all the men who suddenly emerged in his sister's life.

"Oh, you want me to go out with him again?" She sounded disappointed.

He got up from where he was on the floor and sat next to her on the bed then looked up at the ceiling, "I want you to do what makes you happy..." he said earnestly.

"But?"

He looked at her face, "But…I don't know what that means to you,"

Summer blinked a couple of times, and a sad feeling came over her out of nowhere.

"This… This face you're making right now proves my point, Summer, just promise me you won't rush into something because of some ludicrous ultimatum,"

She clenched a fist with her little finger extended to promise him, "It's something I have already decided on but thank you for worrying about me,"

Gabe looked from her hand to her eyes which shimmered like two midnight stars and hugged her tightly.

Summer giggled.

He smiled, "Now that sounds nice," he pulled back and looked at her with a serious face, "What was that about roses coming to your office?"

She tilted her head to the right and looked up then down again, "Zack wants to go out with me, I think I should, but I really don't want to,"

"Don't then…" Gabe swallowed back his words, he didn't want to burden her more than she already was with that heavy conversation he had with Romeo. 'A date with that dude would be what's final,' he thought disapprovingly.

*Clap!*

Summer looked at her brother with two interweaved hands, "Enough of all that, how about some food?"

His eyes glided down until they reached her foot, "I'll order something you can eat in bed; would you like to take a quick shower now instead of in the morning,"

"Mhm," she beamed at her brother, thanking the universe that she wasn't going through this alone.

***

*Vrrrrr*

*Vrrrrr*

Summer was rolling the final stick on her damp hair when she heard her phone vibrating on her bed, she carefully left her dresser and walked slowly there and then gasped when she saw the name on the screen.

Mr. Valentine Hosek Calling…

When she checked the upper corner of the screen, she clearly saw the 00:00 there. "Why does he keep calling at times like this?" The idea startled her, but she was more afraid of missing his call right now than spoiling him into calling her whenever he wanted.

She took a deep breath, "Hello?"

"You're still up," he said with his deep voice that sounded somehow deeper over the phone.

Summer placed a hand on her neck, "Yeah," She bit her inner cheek, not knowing whether she should say something about today or wait for him to do that. But then it hit her, 'This must be about the event again!' She was about to get into her professional mood when he spoke again.

"How's your leg?"

"Oh, much better actually! My brother said that the cast was straining it, so he took it off for me, we'll have another one done tomorrow," she frowned wondering why she was sharing that much with him.

"I'm glad you worked things out with him, it sounded like you were arguing back at the hospital,"

Summer's hand that was still on her neck scratched at the skin there nervously, "He was rude to you back then, and… I was rude too,"

"Rude…" he said as if he was testing the word out and finding it lacking.

She scratched her neck harsher, "Rude, and unprofessional… It's why I wanted to personally apologize to you today, but you were preoccupied,"

"Don't come by my office tomorrow,"

Summer felt a jolt of embarrassment right then.

"It's too much on your leg, if you want something, I'll come to see you instead,"

"Er…" She wanted to say something, but nothing came out.

"I came by your desk a while after my meeting with Andrew was over, by the two of you seemed to have left already,"

Summer's eyes widened, the two of them left after working hours were over, she idly wondered if he expected his employees to work 24 hours the way he seemed to do.

"Are the two of you dating by any chance?"

"Um…" the call was going in some strange directions, and Summer didn't exactly have an answer to that, "Maybe?" She bit her lip, wondering if that was even allowed in the company rules.

"By the time I was out today, everybody was talking about the red roses Summer Taylor received,"

She suppressed a groan, "I'm sorry…" she trailed off thinking that she should've disposed of them on the spot instead of just leaving them there to rotten.

"What are you sorry for?"

Summer thought about what would be the polite thing to say in that situation, "For the inconvenience,"

"I accept your apology. You should've signed the paper back then. But that's water under the bridge, okay?"

She nodded, wondering if he called her just so she wouldn't make another scene in front of his office tomorrow, the idea was disheartening. But then he inhaled deeply and exhaled, and she wondered if he was smoking.

"I called to ask you something urgent regarding the event,"

Summer was glad to hear that, "Please! Go ahead," she said with a smile now.

"Who will be your escort?"

"Excuse me?"

"If it's not too late, I'd like us to go together. It will be easier that way for both of us,"

She let go of the breath she held, 'He's just being practical,' she thought to herself, "Then it's a date!" She said jokingly, but as soon as her ear heard her words, she facepalmed herself.

Valentine chuckled, "Alright, sweet dreams then, Summer,"

"Sweet dreams, Valentine,"

She was only able to fully catch her breath a couple of minutes after that call ended. And if she had to be honest with herself, Summer found herself looking forward to that yacht event.