Your secret is safe with me

If he had just admitted to not having sisters, then it could only be the first reason.

A total player. She decided. To think she had rated him quite highly as well. His score was rapidly slipping in her books and she couldn't help but to look at him with disdain.

Jin glanced at her amusedly, his dark eyes shining brighter than the stars. "But my Dad's brother has four daughters, so although they're technically my big cousins but they're kind of like my real sisters."

"Oh." Sefi was stunned, she certainly wasn't expecting to hear this but it all kind of made sense now. So he wasn't a player after all.

She nodded before asking, "do they spoil you then?"

Usually, the only boy in the Asian family got spoilt rotten. Her big brother was a real-life example of this. According to her parents, he could do no wrong. Not that he would do anything wrong anyway. He was perfect to a fault. She blamed it as the reason why she had no luck with men because no one could measure up to him. He was tall, smart and good looking. And he treated women well.

"On the contrary. They boss me around." Jin laughed. "When I was younger, they used to dress me up as a girl and make me join their tea parties and paint my nails with pink nail polish.'

Sefi laughed out loud. That must've been some sight. She thought, then glancing at him up and down, she assessed his height. He was pretty tall, at least 6 feet, or maybe a bit more. It was hard to get over the image of him in a dress.

"You do have the legs for it." She joked. But it was true, he did have long and straight legs, similar to those catwalk models.

"Cheers," he grimaced, which only made her giggle harder.

She winked at him as if to say, "don't worry, your secret is safe with me".

Jin looked at her, uncertain whether to laugh or cry.

"Why is he called 'Tank'?" She tilted her chin towards the golden retriever and asked curiously.

Tank heard must've heard his name was mentioned because he immediately doubled back, circling around their legs in excitement.

Sefi stroked his head and his luscious fur coat. He was such a clever dog.

"Because he weighs more than 40 kilograms, and is built like a tank." Jin smiled.

"Oh." Sefi nodded, that made sense. Although this golden retriever was huge, he had a gentle temperament.

She must admit, it did catch her off guard when the golden retriever suddenly appeared out of nowhere. But he was a gentle giant, he wouldn't hurt a fly. He was so well behaved; he didn't bark or growl at anyone.

Look at him now, chasing a butterfly without a care in the world. He was so adorable; how could anyone not love him.

"Surely he wasn't more than 40 kilograms when you first got him?" She asked, suddenly seeing the flaw in his reason.

"Of course not, he was a tiny puppy when we first got him, you could carry him inside the palm of your hand."

"Then why didn't you call him 'cupcake' or 'little dumpling'?" She asked. If she had a puppy, that's what she would call it.

"He is supposed to be a boy you know," Jin laughed, "it's hardly manly if he is called 'cupcake' is it?"

She could see where he was coming from and joined in with the laughter. "Says the guy who used to cross-dress!" She teased.

"It was all touch and go, to be honest, I could've turned out to be gay you know." He joked.

Sefi looked at him seriously for a moment, "are you?"

"No, of course not," Jin shook his head, "I like girls."

Sefi smiled knowingly. Of course! How could she have been so stupid?! That was like one of the biggest reason as to why some men were good around girls! She could've kicked herself for forgetting that one. It was because they were gay! They didn't see girls as love interests, just BBFs!

She had a lot of male gay friends at University, not at school though, but that was because she had gone to a girls' only boarding school. All her male gay friends were funny and good looking and charismatic. They had immaculate tastes when it came to clothes, they smelled good and they all had the best skin.

Jin was ticking all the boxes. But she got that he probably didn't want to come out yet. The whole Asian parents' thing. It was fine, she understood.

"If Tank has a litter of puppies, I can give you one if you want?" Jin suggested.

Sefi looked at him sadly and shook her head, "Thanks, and as much as I would love to but I'm afraid I can't."

"Why not?" He asked. If she wanted one, then surely, she could.

"I don't know how to take care of a puppy."

The sad truth was, she wasn't even in a position to fend for herself, let alone a tiny puppy. Maybe the old Sefi would've jumped at the chance, she had always imagined herself turning into this strong and independent woman that had an amazing career, lived in a stylish apartment and took her cute little puppy out for its daily walks, but that was all the past. This new Sefi...well, this new Sefi was turning into someone she barely recognised.

She seemed to have lost the things she used to take for granted before her rebirth, from her identity to her purpose in life, in fact, it wasn't that long ago when she had even lost her voice!

You'll get everything back, she reassured herself. Just like how you got your voice back. Slowly and surely.

"Are you ok?" Jin asked and a concerned look flashed across his handsome face. He could see she was going through some internal emotional turmoil.

Sefi pursed her lips into a grim line, unsure how to answer the question. Did he want to hear the truth or the good old "I'm fine" line that everyone blurted instantly as if they were all on auto-pilot?