SINFULLY YOURS

Chapter 51: Chapter 51. So Familiar

Chapter 51. So Familiar

Rosa closed her eyes and breathed out. She tilted her head to the side.

”It’s, uh...” she began, opening her mouth.

For a few minutes, Don stared at her inquisitively, craning his neck to get a look at her expression, trying to understand what the hell was going on in her head and what she was thinking.

She chuckled and shook her head. ”You shouldn’t bother about it,” she said quickly.

He frowned in disappointment.

”Just forget about what you saw. It’s nothing,” she said quickly.

He scoffed. ”It’s not nothing,” he said. ”Come on, Rosa, we are family here. Why are you keeping this from me? It seems like you are in trouble. It looked like she was actively threatening you.”

”I’m not in trouble,” she said.

”Then why were you crying?” he snapped. ”You are clearly not in a good mood. I’m sure if I hadn’t come here, you would have probably stayed at the corner, crying all the while waiting for your friend to come and pick you up,” he said, staring at her. ”Why do you have to keep things to yourself?”

She turned to look at him. ”Why do you care?”

”Because we are family,” he replied.

She scoffed. ”Yeah, family doesn’t look at its other’s naked parts,” she snapped.

He clamped his mouth shut. ”I told you that was a mistake,” he replied.

She didn’t say anything. She closed her eyes and breathed out.

Jesus, he’s right, she thought to herself. I shouldn’t have lashed out at him like that.

She groaned at it. It was an honest mistake. She closed her eyes and breathed out. I shouldn’t have made such a big deal out of it.

”I’m sorry,” she said.

He didn’t say anything. It was already clear she had annoyed him.

She shook her head. ”Look, I’m sorry.”

”It’s okay,” he replied, jaw shut.

She slowly turned her head to look at him, but he wasn’t looking at her now. He was staring at the ground. There was displeasure in his eyes.

”I don’t blame you. You sound like you are frustrated and you are being bullied a lot, and you just don’t want to talk about it. It’s fine, but I want to let you know that whatever you are going through, you are not alone. You do not have to handle everything all by yourself. I’m here for you if you need help. You can easily come to me, and I will help you in any way I can.”

She looked at him, suddenly feeling her heart getting warm at what he said.

He stared at her. ”Do you hear me?” he asked.

Her eyelids fluttered, then she slowly nodded her head. ”Yeah,” she said softly. ”Thank you.”

He chuckled.

She avoided his gaze, fighting the smile that was twitching at the corner of her lips. Then she looked down at her fingers and fiddled with them.

”Well, great, now you are turning shy,” he said.

She scoffed and rolled her eyes. ”I’m not,” she replied.

He shook his head and relaxed back against the railing where they stood.

She turned her head to look back at him. He was staring far ahead at the road, watching the rows of cars moving to and fro. She traced the sharp lines of his jaw, the sturdiness of his nose, his hair falling perfectly in magnificent waves over his eyes.

Oh Jesus Lord, what the hell are you doing, Rosa?

She blinked and quickly looked away.

”Um,” she started talking.

Don turned his head to look at her.

”She was just trying to be controlling,” she said softly.

He frowned. ”Controlling? In what way?”

She breathed out. ”I, uh, all I can just say is that my stay in that house was not totally a peaceful one. I mean, the incident with Mac is a very big proof,” she said, turning to look at him. ”The blood feud runs deep down in their family.”

Don frowned as he observed her.

”It’s nothing serious,” she said quickly. ”I don’t want us to think too much or dwell on that.”

He scoffed. ”Nothing serious? Are you for real?”

Just as he said that, they heard the vibration of a vehicle across the road that instantly swerved in their direction. They turned and saw Mia’s car getting close.

Rosa smiled. ”Well, Mia is here,” she said quickly. She turned to face him, gripping tightly onto the handle of her bag.

Don observed her. She seemed excited to leave almost immediately. Yep, she was clearly avoiding this conversation. He stood upright and placed both of his hands into the pockets of his coat, but he didn’t say anything.

”So I guess I will see you later,” she said. Then he saw her frown and shake her head. ”Oh, actually, I don’t think I will be able to see you later. I guess we can only meet in school.”

He raised an eyebrow. ”So you are not going to even think of visiting me?” he asked.

She scoffed, scratching at her neck. ”Well, if I have the chance. You know how lectures have been. Things are not really so smooth and easy, you know, and practicals and all those things could get me occupied.”

He scoffed and shook his head. ”You do know that I’m aware of the school’s schedule. It’s not really that tedious,” he said.

She blinked rapidly, making it obvious that she had been caught in a trap. She quickly turned around. ”See you later,” she said quickly.

He stretched his hand toward her, but she was already going. He paused and clenched his fist tightly.

Mia stepped out of the car, smiled at her, and helped her put her luggage in the boot. Then Mia turned to look at him.

”Hello, Mr. Don,” she said, and then she waved.

He chuckled in amusement and waved back.

Then both of them walked around the car. He saw Mia whispering something in her ear as she opened the door for Rosa. Rosa looked at her with disbelief. Mia tilted her head in a girlish manner and winked at her.

He scoffed and shook his head. What a good friend she is, he thought.

They both stepped into the vehicle, and after a few minutes, the car swerved away from where it was, joining the rest of the cars on the express, disappearing into the distance until it was finally out of view.

Then he frowned, clenching his teeth tightly, a lot of thoughts crisscrossing through his mind. He blinked.

A particular sentence that had stuck to his head when the woman was still talking with Rosa kept echoing in his head: The Foster Foundation in charge of your scholarship funding.

He tilted his head to the side. What was all that about? he asked himself. So annoying that she wouldn’t even tell me anything.

He dipped his hand into his pocket and took out his phone. He typed briskly on it, then placed the phone against his ear, keeping his other hand in his pocket as he walked about, pacing to and fro, ignoring the passersby on the sidewalk close to the bus stop.

The phone instantly clicked.

”Hello, boss,” a voice whispered in reply from the speaker.

He breathed out. ”Yes, are you still at the office?” he asked.

”Yes, boss, I was about to close, probably in the next thirty minutes. Do you need anything?”

”Yes,” Don replied. ”I need you to help me do a full, detailed background check on the students on the foster list of the school, you know, like those that are under sponsorship funding. I need you to find those that are under a foster organization and, you know, get me every single piece of information you can about Rosa Lin’s funding.”

”Okay, sir. I just did a quick background check and I found Rosa Lin, and I can see that she’s under the Lee Foster Foundation.”

”Is that so?” Don asked.

”Yes, sir.”

”Okay, research every detail you can and send me the details as quickly as possible before the end of the day.”

”Okay, boss.”

The call disconnected, then he shoved his phone back into his pocket.

Her words replayed back in his mind: ”She has been so controlling, and let me just say my stay in the house hasn’t really been a peaceful one.”

He tilted his head to the side. What did she mean by hasn’t been a peaceful one? What the hell has this girl been going through at the hands of the Lees all these years?

He turned his head back toward the express, looking in the direction where Mia’s vehicle had vanished. I am seriously not going to rest until I figure out something about this, he thought.

Just as he was thinking, he caught a whiff of a dark figure hiding behind a lamppost. The figure was dressed in the same stylish dark, long coat that reached down to his legs. Don frowned, tilting his head to the side. The figure was angled as if resting casually against the pole, but the side of his head looked like he was trying to peep at him, like he was trying to catalog him.

It was weird because despite the brightness of the sun in the evening, he still couldn’t find it easy to see the face of the figure clearly. He tilted his head to the side, trying to catch a better look.

At that exact same moment, the figure moved away from the lamppost with a speed that was definitely beyond what any human eye could catch—except his, because his biology was not completely human.

He saw the figure move with the blur of the wind running across the road, phasing through countless cars until it finally materialized on the other side of the express, then disappeared down an alley.

His heart raced. He blinked rapidly.

Am I seeing things? he wondered.

A frown creased his forehead. He tilted his head to the side as he looked at the alley where the figure had gone. What the hell was that? And why did the structure of his body look so familiar?