Chapter 20

Yrene's PoV

I lay in bed that night. Thinking of how his touch, even in my deranged state of mind, had managed to somehow bring me back to reality, made me realise that the gravity of the step I was about to take.

Never before had anyone been able to drag me out of my dark moods as easily as his touch and his soothing voice had, not even Nick.

And never before had I as sincerely apologised to anyone for my acts as I had to him. To think that all of this had happened subconsciously made me understand that to say I did not have feelings for Chase Drew, my maths teacher, would be an absolute, white lie.

The whole night I spent fidgeting in utter restlessness as I thought of how I would face him tomorrow especially after having identified my sinister feelings for him. At about 3 a.m I am finally drift off into an uneasy slumber, a pair of the most beautiful hazel eyes swimming vividly in my dreams, only to be awakened three hours later by Raymond and Michelle.

Groaning, I open the door and let them in; as per usual Ray was already dressed in business attire and Michelle was in her silken nightgown still. I groggily open my eyes to see that both of them had perched themselves on either corner of my bed. Ah, Ray had put on his 'I'm fucking serious about this' face. Interesting.

As I wipe the last remnants of sleep away from my eyes, Ray begins to speak,

"Nene you know we love you right?"

I nod my head mutely trying to shake away the sleep that fogged my brain,

"Good. I just want to tell you that whatever happens just think of it as a new beginning and a decision taken for you to be much happier and for your benefit. Mom and Dad love you too and they'd never want to harm you-"

I can't take it anymore, we were alone in my bedroom, surely my parents were not around, hence they wouldn't care, not that they did anyway and before I can stop myself I blurt out,

"Yeah right!"

Ray pinches the bridge of his nose and takes off his glasses,

"Nene please. I know they haven't shown it much but it's the truth, they want you to be happy and would do anything for you except make the wrong choices. Please understand this, I'm begging you."

"Ray you're the closest thing I've had to a parent my entire life, you attended most of my parent teacher conferences! You sung me to sleep at night every time I had a fucking nightmare! Not my 'parents'! Ray you stood by my decision to become a mechanical engineer rather than persue business like mother and father wanted me to, you stopped them from imposing their personal choices on to me like they did with you! yes, you tried to persuade me into agreeing with them but you never, never, forced me to do anything! Ray, you should know better than anyone that the most parent-ly thing they've done, the only parentlike thing they have done is given birth to me!"

I am extremely enraged at this point and can easily bash someone's head in, sadly the only people in front of me were the ones I loved. Ray looks like he is about to cry but somehow holds it in as he speaks again,

"Yrene, forgive me for everything that I've done and for everything you might feel like I had a part in. I'm sorry for how you're going to feel when certain decisions about your life are brought into light; but when they are please for the love of God, for the sake of our love don't deny them. I know this is too much to ask of you but I also know this that you won't ever let me down." He holds my face i his hands, directly looking into my eyes, " Yrene trust me, have faith in me. I would never choose wrong for you. Ever."

I am so confused by these sudden statements that all I can do is let out a strangled whisper,

"What decisions?"

When he doesn't answer and hangs his head low, having removed his hands from my face, I look over at Michelle, who like her husband has also started looking in the opposite direction.

And now I am very scared, almost hyperventilating, so I question them again,

"What decisions Ray? Michelle what the fuck is he saying?"

I am screaming at this point but the only response my brother can muster is,

"Mother and Father will let you know very soon. As soon as they come back from Milan." Ray gets up and hugs me tightly to his chest,

"Don't worry about it. It's not even going to be as bad as we might have made it sound. Although, I do admit it's going to be a little shocking. Remember to think carefully about it later, take your time and we will by all means stand by whatever decision you end up making, we will also help sway our parents too, if need be. Just promise me you won't outright refuse it, that you'll think about it."

Beyond confused and finally thinking it cannot be more than my father asking for me to be paired up with another designer to work on a new collection instead of letting me doing it myself like I had asked, I let the matter slip, I mean I had too much on my plate already and could not deal with it as of now. I trust Ray and if he says it is not as bad, then it might not be as bad.

Ray kisses my forehead, affectionately, before exiting while Michelle stays behind. I look at her wearily, she has a predatory, excited gleam in her eyes that I know means having to deal with her for a long time, I groan and flatly tell her,

"Mishy, darling, I'm not your husband, he literally just left. Run after him and maybe sneak in a quickie before he leaves, can't have you looking like that all day, can we?"

I make light of the situation, implying that she looks turned on, only to see her blush furiously but nevertheless matching my tone of sarcasm, adding,

"Nene even you know your business minded brother wouldn't agree for having a quickie especially when he's already dressed in his Dior," she mimics Raymond's pronunciation," pant suit."

Both of us burst into fits of uncontrollable giggles before she turned to me and said in a matter of fact tone of voice,

"Yrene... Please can you wear this top I made for my new collection with Michael Kors to school today? Pretty please with a cherry on top? You can style it on any way you want because I know that for some odd reason you don't like wearing sleeveless but pleaseeeeee?"

She continues, begging for an extremely long time and I, having found in myself a shred of pity, decide to wear whatever she is suggesting.

We are going to the designing room when I hear my two brothers bickering. Typical. I roll my eyes and am about to walk away when I see Ross pull Ray forward by the collar of his Dior suit,

"Trust me when I say that I would turn the world upside down for her, no matter the consequences."

His tone is so threatening and possessive that it scares me a little too.

"Ross I know and I love her just as much but-"

"There are no fucking buts and believe me, I will stand by her every decision without giving two flying fucks about what Mother and Father say."

"I will too."

"You fucking better, asshole."

With this Ross pushes him away and Ray stumbles back a bit before getting his briefcase and leaving.

What the fuck was that about?

Was it about whatever decision that was going to be made about me?

I am once again left confused by the exchange as well as more scared than ever about this decision, whatever it was, but nevertheless I decide that I am not going to worry about it till it has been placed in front of me.

Yes. I was going to worry about my crush on my maths teacher instead. For now.