Chapter 5

Soon after Aunty Aiko left, I turned off my Xbox and started playing my favourite guitar.

I can play the piano, violin, and guitar but I play the guitar and violin much better. Florence is the complete opposite of me. She plays all those instruments but plays the piano much better.

After some minutes, I heard another knock on my door. "Big brother!" my dear sister called from outside. "Can I join you?"

"Come in, princess."

The door opened and my little sister stepped inside. After seeing me, she grinned and rushed toward my bed before hugging me.

"Hey, why do you miss me so much?" I chuckled as I put down my guitar. "We saw each other earlier."

"I miss you all the time!" she cooed. I smiled at Florence.

I stared at the little girl I love more than anything in this world and the only person keeping me together.

"Can you play me something?" Florence requested.

"Of course." I smiled and grabbed my guitar again. "What do you want?"

"Fur Elise." Florence innocently answered.

I smirked at the girl. "Are you trying to make things harder for me, you cheeky thing?"

"Well, Fur Elise isn't just played on the piano, you know," she smirked. "And I think a performing arts student such as yourself should--"

"Okay, I'll play it for you." I sighed. The things I do for her.

Florence got comfortable on my bed as I tuned my guitar.

After I was satisfied, I began playing.

(A/N: Here is what Hunter is playing.)

(https://youtu.be/3kjEvg_ZkgI)

Florence closed her eyes and enjoyed the music I was playing.

Though I look calm, I was having quite a difficulty playing this piece. I can barely play Fur Elise on the piano let alone the bloody guitar.

But anything to make Florence happy.

Florence was deeply enjoying the music. She was swaying her head from left to right with a small smile on her face.

After finishing, Florence clapped her hands with a big grin. "You sound better than before!" she exclaimed. "I wish I could play the guitar as good as you!"

"You're a little Mozart on the piano, Florence," I said and ruffled her hair. "You don't need to be good at guitar."

Florence giggled in response.

"You know..." I spoke again. "It's been quite a while since we last went out together. How about we go to the shopping centre? Just the two of us."

Maybe some quality bonding will help distract us from everything.

"Yes!" Florence excitedly answered. "But will Aunty Aiko allow us?"

"I'll be taking care of you, princess." I smiled. "I'm sure Aunty trusts me enough to keep an eye on my little sister."

"Alright then! As long as you won't mind having me with you, brother." she smiled.

Soon after, we both got ready and bid our aunt goodbye. She instructed me to keep a watchful eye on my sister to not lose her and urged Florence to behave.

Aunty was also nice enough to give me a few extra quid to spend on our day.

My family keeps a very low profile and tends to stay away from the eyes of the public, hence why we hardly ever do public appearances and we value our privacy.

All of our social media accounts are under aliases that we had to memorize so we could tell who is our family members and who are random strangers.

So, we have little to no trouble at all going out into public because people hardly ever recognise our faces.

Since I don't have my driver's license yet, one of our drivers drove my sister and me to Westfield Shopping Centre. Before he left, I instructed him to come back at around 3 PM.

"So, where to first?" I asked my sister.

"Toy emporium!" Florence immediately answered with her arms in the air.

"You'll just look at toys and walk out without buying anything. How about the arcade?"

"You have no room to complain! All you ever do there when I'm with you is waste your tokens on the crane game." Florence pouted. "And you never win and we walk out empty-handed."

"Okay, how about we go to the arcade first and then we go to a toy emporium?" I suggested. "And then after, I can go get you some ice cream. I'll buy you two if you want."

"Deal!" Florence exclaimed with a cute giggle.

I was initially going to save up my money to buy a new controller but making Florence's day is much more important.

...

"This again?" Florence groaned upon seeing me walk to a crane machine after purchasing our tokens.

"Look, I promise I'll win something this time," I assured her. "And I'll give you whatever toy I manage to pick up, alright?"

Florence deeply sighed before nodding her head.

I inserted one token into the crane and began playing.

My focus was sharp as I slowly moved the crane to the right with the joystick.

I scouted for what toy is best to pick up before spotting a bright red, stuffed, medium-sized bear that oddly looked like Florence in the middle of the box.

"I don't think you're going to get this one," Florence spoke.

"Just have some faith in me, princess," I said and carefully positioned the crane right above the red bear.

After some nervous contemplating, I pressed a button that dropped the crane and thankfully the claw managed to grab the bear.

I grinned after seeing my progress. "You got it!" Florence exclaimed with her hands clasped together.

"See? What did I tell you?" I confidentially said with a smirk.

Using the joystick, I carefully dragged the crane holding the bear to the hole. The claw dropped the toy through the hole and I immediately grabbed it from under the machine.

The bear was very soft and even had a bow.

I bent down and gave my sister the toy. "Here you go." I smiled as I passed it to Florence.

The little girl accepted the toy and stared at it with stars in her eyes. She then took the bear into her arms and tightly hugged it.

"I love it! I'll name her Cherry!" she exclaimed. "Thank you so much, Hunter!"

Florence wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed my cheek. "Hey, anything for you, princess." I gently answered with a smile. "Now, let's play a few games."

The entire time we played, Florence refused to let go of the bear. She was hugging it with one arm the entire time.

Even when I offered to hold it for her, she still insisted on carrying it herself.

Something tells me that she will be very attached to that toy.

I don't buy her toys very often. I buy her food. Sweets in particular (we both have a huge sweet tooth). Mainly because I could afford them better.

By the time we finished in the arcade, I kept my promise and took my sister to a toy emporium.

"Oh, look at that!" Florence exclaimed and ran to a large dollhouse.

"Hey, don't run now!" I scolded and hurried after her.

The two of us stared at the large dollhouse which made me pray that Florence didn't want it after seeing the price.

"I thought you didn't like dolls?" I questioned.

"I don't but this dollhouse looks very pretty!" Florence explained in a bubbly tone as she held her bear by its hand.

She walked around for some minutes before spotting another red bear in the stuffed animal section. The bear was larger and seemed prettier and more high-quality.

"That bear looks so cute!" Florence fawned.

I looked at the price. It was slightly outrageous for a stuffed toy but Florence seemed to like it a lot.

"Do you want it?" I asked. "It looks better than the one you're holding."

Florence contemplated for a moment before answering, "No. I already love this one especially because you won it for me, brother! So, no toy can be as better as this."

I felt my heart melting from her sweet sentence.

"I want something sweet. Let's go get that ice cream you promised!" Florence requested.

"I thought you wanted to look at toys?" I questioned, confused.

"I already got a toy from you, so I'm super happy now!" she giggled.

I chuckled and patted her head. "Alright, let's go."

"YAY! ICE CREAM!" Florence exclaimed and ran out of the shop, making me gulp and rush after her.

"Hey! I told you not to run, Florence!" I scolded as I tried to catch up to her.

"Try and catch me, big brother!" she teased me and blew a raspberry before picking up her pace. I felt my face pale due to the fear of losing her in the shopping centre.

And this is what it feels like to have a little child as your sibling. You often fear they will tangle themselves in the most tightest situations and inconveniences.

But regardless, I played along and tried to catch the little rascal.

"I will gobble you up once I get my hands on you!" I said in a deep voice and made weird sounds to interpret a monster.

Florence smirked as she continued to run away from me.

I don't know what is it with her, but her little legs can make her run faster than me. I suppose as someone far better than me in fighting, combat, and trains more regularly, I should not be surprised.

I managed to catch up to her, making the girl reachable to me. I extended my arms and picked her up by the waist.

"HA! I caught you!" I teased and lifted her high in the air. Florence loudly yelped but was replaced by a loud and bubbly giggle.

We received a few odd looks from the people around us but neither Florence nor I could give even two shits about them.

I'm quite short for my age (160cm), but the height difference between me and Florence is vast (she is only 110cm), so I'm able to pick her up without any trouble. Although, Florence is quite heavy for her height and she isn't even chubby. Other than her cheeks and thighs.

"Now, let's go get ice cream before people mistake me as a pedophile." I said and put her down.

"What's a pedophile?"

"Creepy old men."

We began walking to her favourite ice cream shop while Florence happily skipped in front of me and talked to Cherry.

Odd, I haven't felt...happy after the funeral. Until now when I finally got a chance to settle down and spend quality time with my beloved sister.

All my friends are in the US, so I don't get to see them whenever I come back home. So, as of now, Florence is my only friend. Not that I mind.

Anyway, by the time we arrived at the shop, I got Florence a table where she could sit while I ordered.

I ordered her caramel ice cream with chocolate chip and I got three mint candies from the jar at the counter because I am lactose intolerant and the nearest bathroom is on the next floor of this shopping centre.

"Here you go." I smiled and placed the cup of ice cream on Florence's side of the table before sitting down across from her.

"Thank you, Hunter!" she cooed and immediately began eating as I watched in envy while eating my mint candy.

"Would you like some?" Florence asked.

"You know I can't have that, Flory." I chuckled

"If only I could cure disorders, then you wouldn't have to worry about what you eat." Florence sighed.

"Don't feel guilty, princess. I'm not upset with you." I reassured. "And I won't die if I don't eat dairy."

Florence's expression turned gloomy upon hearing my sentence related to me dying.

Dammit, now you did it, you foolish bloke...

"I'm sorry..." I apologized and took her small hand in mine. "I didn't mean to--"

"It's alright," she assured me and continued eating her ice cream.

Bloody hell. I feel guilty for saying that to her with our current position.

I have to watch my words more carefully...

Florence must have sensed how I was feeling. "You know, Mummy and Daddy would have scolded you for letting me have ice cream before lunch." the girl chuckled. "They would have said that I was spoiling my appetite."

"Well, it isn't the first time I gave given you sweets before a meal," I smirked. "And where is my thank you?" I teased.

Florence giggled as she playfully rolled her eyes. "Thank you for ruining my appetite all the time, big brother."

Well, I'm glad to know that she's doing better than I am.

I smiled and patted her head from across the table. "That's my girl."

After we finished our food, we still had about an hour left before lunch, so Florence agreed to accompany me to a game shop.

I felt a little bad because I thought she was very bored the entire time but she did help me find some games I could buy in the future.

"How about this one, Hunter!" Florence spoke and held up an Animal Crossing game.

I laughed. "You know I do not play games such as that, Florence," I said.

"Oh, right." Florence nonchalantly said. "You like games with weird creepy old men and women in barely any clothing on the boxes."

"You mean shooter and RPG games, you cheeky devil." I chuckled.

After we were done in the game shop, we decided to eat lunch a little bit early since we were getting a tad bit hungry.

I ordered at a restaurant both Florence and I liked. The food was delicious and the bill was enough for me to afford.

After lunch, I bought Florence desserts from a pastry shop near the restaurant. Florence had a large cinnamon roll along with chocolate cake, her favourite pastries.

Florence has an oddly very high metabolism. No matter how much she eats, she just never seems to get fat and I can assure you that that girl is never full.

The entire time she ate, I was drooling over the red velvet cake inside the glass display at the counter, especially because I love anything red velvet, especially cake.

For obvious reasons, I couldn't eat here because I am more than sure that every pastry in this shop contains lactose. So, I was stuck sipping the almond milk I ordered.

It's always difficult for me to find desserts that don't have lactose. The cooks back at the mansion don't put anything dairy in my food because of my digestive disorder. So, I can usually only eat sweets from home.

My sweet tooth doesn't help my cravings whatsoever. I always have to read the labels at the back of food boxes before eating or buying them.

I remember my classmates back at Juilliard would always tease me by eating pastries in front of me. I would respond with either, "Fuck you" or "I hope you all choke."

"Hunter, I think I saw a sweet shop nearby earlier," Florence explained. "If you want to have dessert, you can buy some sweets there! As long as they don't have lactose..."

"Alright, let's check after you finish eating." I smiled.

It took her roughly thirty minutes to finish, but we immediately left and found the sweet shop Florence was talking about.

It was large and sold all kinds of sweets.

The prices were rather expensive, so I only bought cotton candy in a cup and a bag of jellybeans. Jellybeans are dairy-free, right?

"I think I have what I want," I spoke. "Let's go sit down for now."

"Alright!"

We found a good bench outside the shop and so that's where we rested while I ate.

"I'm having a lot of fun, big brother!" Florence smiled as she played with Cherry on her lap. "It's been so long since we last spent time together outside."

I haven't been my best lately, so I wanted to make it up to her today.

"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself," I said with a smile as I took off the lid of the cotton candy.

"Though, I'm sorry that you had to spend so much of your money on me today," Florence said with a sad tone.

"Hey, don't feel bad, princess," I told her. "You know I would do anything for you. And I'm just glad that I managed to see you smile today, especially with everything that has been going on lately..."

Florence stayed silent for a moment before speaking again. "I never got to ask, Hunter... Have you been...doing alright after our parents passed away?" she asked as she looked into my eyes. "You're always focusing on me, and I'm worried that you may not be taking care of yourself because of that..."

My eyes widened at her question and I didn't know how to exactly answer without making her worry even more.

"I've been trying to take care of myself," I spoke. "And I've been managing...just alright. But you are my main priority, Florence."

I cupped her face with one hand and gently caressed her cheek with my thumb. "You are all that I have. You are my entire world, princess. So, I promise that I'll take good care of myself so I can be here for you."

Florence then wrapped her arms around my neck. "I don't want to lose you, Hunter." she quietly said. "But...most importantly, I don't want you to lose yourself to me. So, please just...prioritize yourself as well."

I don't know why, but I felt tears in my eyes after her sentence. "Hey, don't make things sentimental now." I teased and sat her back down. "I already told you, you needn't worry about me, princess. Your big brother will be alright."

"Promise?" she asked with hope in her eyes.

I gave her a half-genuine smile and said something I probably shouldn't have.

"I promise."