Chapter 17 The Overprotective Brother

"Boyfriend?" EG shouted. "Since when did get a boyfriend, Ana? Is this why you haven't been texting me?"

"EG-"

"So what, we don't talk for a while and you decide to get back at me by getting a boyfriend and not telling me about it?" EG continued. "I thought we were close, Ana. How long have the two of you been dating? How long have you been hiding this from me?"

"Elmer-"

"Does Lance know? Lance deserves to know just as much I do," EG continued. "How well do you even know this guy? How did you guys meet? How many dates have you been on? What dates have you gone on?"

"Elmer George-"

"Is this because Lance got engaged? You don't want to be the last one married? Oh God, am I going to be an old maid? But I'm a boy. Am I going to be lonely with a bunch of dogs while you and Lance have families?"

"ELMER-"

"I need to start dating! How do I meet girls? Do you think I can get in contact with my old girlfriend from High School? No, that would be weird. Should I start online dating? How did you two meet? Who even are you?"

"ELMER GEORGE BARNES!" I screamed.

"WHAT?" EG screamed back.

"Calm down," I said calmly. "Murphy, here boy!"

Murphy walked up to me, stopping to sit and my side. I picked him up and handed him to EG. EG took the dog graciously and held him against his chest.

"Why-"

"Take Murphy and calm down," I said. "Now let's go sit down and talk about this."

"Can I leave?" Namjoon asked.

"Go sit your ass down," EG growled as he pointed at the couch. "The three of us are going to have a chat."

"Sure thing," Namjoon shrugged nonchalantly as he walked over to the sofa. I raised my eyebrows at him only to have him ignore me. EG followed Namjoon and glared at his back. I rolled my eyes as I shut the front door, and walked over to the sofa.

EG sat next to Murphy's bed on one end of the couch, still glaring at Namjoon. Namjoon was sitting at the complete opposite side of the couch and stared out the glass doorway to the balcony not caring about EG's glare. I sighed and sat in the corner seat, a true neutral.

"So," EG started. "Who are you?"

"My name is Namjoon Kim. I'm Ana's boyfriend."

"Do you have a job?" EG asked.

"I own many buildings around the city," Namjoon said only telling him a half-truth. It was obvious that he couldn't tell him about his true job as a mafia boss.

"Young wanna-be millionaire?" EG asked. "Seriously? Ana can do much better than that."

"Well, not really a wanna-be," Namjoon shrugged. "You see, I own the Wings Building. It was my Father's before he died. But since his death, it came under my responsibility. And the Wings is just one of the buildings I own."

"Is that how you got Ana to go out with you? Oh you see this big building, it may be compensating for something, but I can treat you right."

"EG!" I shouted, shocked at his statement. Namjoon just laughed at it, causing EG to continue to glare at him. I shook my head as I placed it in my hand.

"That's a good one, EG," Namjoon said once he was done laughing. "But I can assure you I'm not compensating for anything. If anything, it's equating to something."

I took my head out of my hands to give Namjoon a unbelievable look. He just winked at me with a smirk.

"How did the two of you meet?" EG asked. He began to stroke Murphy like he was a villain stroking a cat.

"Well . . ." I trailed off. What was I going to tell him? I haven't thought that far.

"I can tell him," Namjoon said to me. I stared at him wide-eyed. What was he going to tell EG? "One of the buildings I own, has the nightclub The Galaxy Illusion hosted out of it. And it just so happens that Ana's first case led her there. I just happened to be there looking at a bad waterline to see how much it would cost to fix. When I saw her there, I thought she was beautiful and I just had to talk to her. So while she was waiting for the security footage, I went over and talked to her. And by the time she had to leave, I had gotten her number."

I stared at him wide-eyed. It's almost as if it actually happened. I would have believed it, if I actually knew the true story.

"Cute," EG said. "What's your favorite thing about my sister?"

"Is this the part where I'm supposed to slip up and say her ass?" Namjoon asked. "Because my favorite thing about Ana is her ability to make anyone around her feel like the world is better than it is."

"She's always been able to do that," EG said. "Because of that, each of us were able to get through our mother's murder."

"I wouldn't expect anything less from Ana," Namjoon smiled at me which caused me to blush. "Ana told me that you're a lawyer. Is that because someday you hope you'll be able to put your mother's killer behind bars?"

"I know I'm going to put him behind bars," EG said seriously. "Whoever the bastard is. Did Ana tell you why she wanted to be a homicide detective so bad?"

"She wanted to be like your mom," Namjoon said. "She was a homicide detective. Ana looked up to her so she wanted to have the same job she did."

"That's half of it," EG said.

"EG. Not now," I whispered.

"No, I want to hear what the other half is," Namjoon said.

"Ana was devastated when our mother died," EG said. "And she was even more devastated when we were told the case went cold. She became a detective because she believes, once a killer, always a killer. If she catches enough killers, one of them will be the man who killed our mother."

"Is that true?" Namjoon asked me.

I sighed. I didn't want Namjoon to know that, especially since he's a mafia boss and he's used to killing - or ask someone to kill - anyone who gets in his way.

"Yeah. But-"

"How long have you two been boyfriend and girlfriend?" EG asked.

"Like exactly?" Namjoon asked. EG nodded. Namjoon looked down at his phone to check the time. "Twenty-three minutes."

"What? Seriously? You made it official today?"

"Is that so hard to believe?" I asked. "It's been three weeks since we've met. We didn't automatically just skip straight to the romantic, couple stuff."

"So you guys haven't slept together yet?" EG asked.

"Oh, no, no, no," I said the same time Namjoon said, "I've dreamed about it."

"Namjoon!"

"He wants me to be honest," Namjoon defended himself.

"I'd rather him be completely honest than lie to me. And of course a guy would dream about a girl he's interested in," EG shrugged.

"Thank you," Namjoon said.

"Don't think I like you, just because I agreed with you. I might start liking you when you get the okay from our Dad," EG said.

"Okay, when can I meet him?" Namjoon asked.

"Wait, you want to meet our dad?" EG asked as he leaned closer to him.

"Namjoon, I don't think that's a good idea right now," I said.

"No, I want to meet your Dad. I can clear my schedule for any day," Namjoon said.

"So how about we do dinner tomorrow?" EG asked.

"Tomorrow?" I whipped my head to EG. "So soon?"

"Sure, why not? Namjoon said he can clear any day, right?" EG said.

"Dinner would be great," Namjoon said. "Why don't we invite Lance and his fiancé as well?"

"Namjoon-"

"Great idea. I'll text everyone and ask them if they're free tomorrow."

"EG-"

"Perfect," Namjoon said. He stood up and continued to say, "Now, I better go. You had something to talk to Ana about, right? I'll see you tomorrow, Ana. It was nice to meet you, EG."

"You as well, Namjoon," EG said politely . He nodded his head to Namjoon. I could tell he didn't really like Namjoon. It was obvious to anyone who knew EG that it was just and act.

"I'll walk you to the door," I said, standing up. I walked behind him and watched as he opened the door.

I held the door open and gazed at him. He turned around to gaze back at me.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered.

"Are you still okay for me to come over tomorrow to watch a movie?" Namjoon whispered.

"You could wait outside the building for him to leave. Then you could come back in," I whispered the suggestion.

"Tomorrow, Ana. Besides, I better go see if everything is okay at work," Namjoon whispered.

"Okay, bye Namjoon," I whispered.

Namjoon leaned over and kissed my forehead.

"Bye, Little Detective," he whispered against my forehead.

Before he could walk away, I grabbed his hand to pull him back to me. I stood on my tip-toes to kiss his cheek. He smiled as I got on my tip-toes, causing me to end up kissing his dimple. Once back on flat feet, my face got red. His dimples were so perfect.

"I like your dimples," I said not thinking. I walked Namjoon's ears begin to redden. He let out a nervous laugh.

"Well kiss his dimples and get back in here. The ice cream is melting," EG said from inside my apartment.

"Bye, Ana," Namjoon said.

"Bye, Namjoon," I said. And with that, he began to walk down the hallway. I slowly closed the door, watching him go.

"You two are whipped! That whole honeymoon phase is real!" EG called out with ice cream in his mouth.

"How many times have you been told to swallow before speaking?" I shouted at him and walked over to him.

"Too many times," EG said after he swallowed his mouthful. "Now get over here and help me finish this before it melts."

He held up a pint of Strawberry ice cream. I ran over and picked up a plastic spoon that he brought over. I sat down next to him which made him to move the ice cream closer to me.

"So what did you want to talk about?" I asked before digging in.

"It's about a family I'm defending," EG muttered. "The mom's ex-boss raped her and her teenage daughter, on separate occasions. He's been accused of rape and sexual harassment a multitude of times before, but this woman is the only one who's been willing to testify through his entire arrest."

"Good for her, put the bastard behind bars," I said as I took a spoonful of ice cream.

"Yeah, it's great, until yesterday," EG said.

"What happened? Did they pull out?" I asked.

"No. They still want to testify," EG nodded. "But a couple days ago, he found them at the grocery store and told them that if they don't recant, he'll make them. The women called the cops, but they did nothing. And yesterday, they received a letter in the mail threatening them, they went to the cops again. And once again, they've done nothing."

"Seriously?" I asked. "He's not in jail?"

"He posted bail. Yeah. But they're worried, and I'm worried. They don't know what he's capable of," EG said. "So I was wondering if you could get a detail put on them. Like a single car outside their house or something."

"I don't really have the power to do that, EG," I said. "But I can talk to my Captain and see if I can get a detail put on them. But I wouldn't be too confident."

"Thanks, Ana, I really appreciate it," EG said. He took a large spoonful of ice cream and stuffed it in his mouth. Once he swallowed it he spoke again, "And there's something else."

"Oh no," I said.

"I've started looking into mom's case again," EG said.

"Elmer!"

"Anastasia!" EG mocked.

"I thought Dad didn't wanted you to continue looking into it?" I asked.

"I know, but now that I'm a lawyer, I've gotten a few favors," EG said. "I can actually find the man who took our mother from us. Ana, this is what we've been waiting for. We can finally have some closure."

"We've all talked about this, EG. You're the only one who hasn't found closure. Dad doesn't need to believe that the killer can be found," I said. "He'll get his hopes up once again, only to have his heart broken again. Remember how broken up he was when he found out that the case was being closed? I don't want you to reopen that wound."

"I'm not going to tell Dad," EG said with a roll of his eyes. "Only once the guy is caught, I'll tell him."

"If you catch him," I said.

"You know for an optimist, you have a pretty negative outlook on this," EG said.

"Is that my defining attribute? It seems like everyone has been saying that about me," I asked.

"It's a big part of your personality, Ana. It's a good thing most of the time. I mean Namjoon seems to like it."

"Okay stop."

"What? You're dating now. There has to be some attraction between you two. I mean, you like his dimples."

"Shut up!" I slapped his arm.

"You know, whenever I imagined you're future boyfriend, I didn't imagine someone like Namjoon. I never knew you were attracted to Asian guys."

"Lance said the same thing."

"You told Lance?"

"I told Lance about our first date. And to be completely honest, I didn't think we were going to get further. Ugh, now I have to admit that he was right."

"He usually is."

"Don't remind me," I groaned.

EG and I continued to talk until we finished the ice cream. EG then had to leave so he could get to work early tomorrow. I gave him a hug as he left my apartment.

As I got into bed, I couldn't help but remember my time with Namjoon today. And it was obvious to anyone that I was falling in love with him.