Wade and Wayne almost fell face first when the door was opened from the inside.
Seeing the two fools who came crashing inside, Reuben quickly held Lina's waist and pulled her out of harm's way.
"What were you doing outside my room?" Lina separated herself from Reuben and stood with her hands placed on her hips.
The twins glanced at each other before they turned to Lina with an adorable smile.
'What drama queens!' Reuben mocked them when he saw how they acted like children in the presence of their little sister.
Thinking of 'little sister', he remembered an important detail about her.
"Weren't you fat earlier, kitten?" He blurted out and turned to face the twins who gasped in horror.
They shook their heads to indicate that he better shut up but unfortunately he did not.
"How do you know about that?" Lina faced him with curious eyes but kept her seething anger hidden.
'I made sure that no one would know about my past so how does Ruby know about it?' She then directed her eyes towards the only two people who could have leaked this information to him.
Facing Lina's scowling eyes, the twins shook their heads vigorously.
'I saw her with my own eyes but it's not the time to reveal that episode to her.' He thought while gazing at her face.
Reuben rejected the idea of telling her the truth and then went to the most practical reason for him to have knowledge about this.
"Your brothers were the ones who told me about this. They went to great lengths to describe how ugly and fat you are." He pointed his finger at the two clowns and tossed the entire blame onto them.
'What are you saying, you idiot!?' Wade glared at his best friend for stepping on a landmine and dragging them along.
Wayne and Wade had maintained their statement that Lina was still obese even now which was why Reuben often referred to her as 'fugly' whenever she was mentioned in their conversations.
'At that time, I was pissed at her for the past but not anymore. I wouldn't mind even if she puts on weight now.' He nodded while imagining a plump version of Lina as he fed her desserts to fatten her up.
'What is that weirdo thinking about?' Wayne glared at the man who was making a strange face while staring at their baby sister.
Lina was oblivious to the imaginary weight that she had put on thanks to Reuben's efforts.
She glared at her brothers with furious eyes to show her dissatisfaction with their behavior.
"I'll deal with you later. I hope you enjoy watching the horror movie compilation I have made for you." She sneered at them and chuckled menacingly as she watched their faces pale.
Reuben's eyes trembled for a split second before he went back to his neutral face as though the thought of horror movies had not affected him in the least bit.
"And you!" She turned around to face the other man with a scowl on her face.
"Day 1 of courting me and you have already lost valuable brownie points." She clicked her tongue and shook her head.
Reuben's eyes widened after she spoke and felt like hitting himself for the big mouth that he had.
"Courting? Aren't you already dating?" Wade was confused when he heard her complaints.
"Did you dump this trash already?" Wayne was bolder with his words and he did not bother about the glare that he was rewarded with.
'Any man who hits on my sister is human trash!' He harrumphed and stepped towards her.
"My good Nana, you made the right decision! You don't know the diseases that he's hiding from us. You wouldn't want to get infected by being close to him." He whispered in her ear and then pulled her away from him.
"The man whore is telling me that I have diseases? That is laughable!" Reuben scoffed and shook his head.
"Who are you calling a man whore!?" Lina raised her brows at him and gave him a threatening glance.
Wayne noticed how his sister was defending him and was overjoyed.
He hugged her tight and kissed her on the crown of her head.
"My Nana loves me the most!" He exclaimed while rubbing his cheek on her head.
"Let me go!" Lina's muffled voice was heard because her face was currently stuck to his chest.
Wade noticed the difficult situation that she was in and knocked his older brother on the head.
This made Wayne realize that he had been squeezing her a little too tight and instantly released her from his chokehold.
"You okay, Kitten?" Reuben pulled her into his arms and held her cheeks to make sure that she was fine.
What greeted him was the tiny face that had turned red due to lack of air and her eyes were watery.
Frowning while watching her gasp for breath, he looked up and glared at the culprit who had caused her this problem.
"Don't hug her so tight the next time!" He warned the other man and then turned his attention back to her.
"I'm fine." She waved her wrist to show that she really was alright.
She then stepped away from Reuben and went back to her brother who was sulking like a child.
"You were just too excited and did not mean it." She smiled at him and patted his head.
Wayne's pout turned to a smile and just as he was about to hug her once again, Wade held his arms to stop him.
Feeling the glare of two men on him, Wayne sneered and put his hands down.
"Can we leave now? I have an announcement to make." She gestured to the door and they all silently followed after her.
Though they were curious about what she wanted to announce, they waited until they reached the hall.
This was not because the twins were patient but because no matter how hard they tried, neither Reuben nor Lina would give him any clue about it.
Back in the main hall, Stacy sat sipping warm tea with her uncles when she saw the rest of them appearing.
She glanced at Lina and then at Reuben.
Seeing them so close and casual with each other she decided to get Lina alone to find out all the gossip about what had happened between them.
Lina and Reuben once again stood before her family members and this time they were not holding hands.
Seeing the distance between them, Ace and Pat were rejoicing because this could only mean that they had broken up.
"We are not dating each other." Lina declared and heard joyous squeals in response.
She raised her brows when she saw how happy they were that she had ended things with Reuben.
But Reuben was not one to let him have such happiness for too long.
He gritted his teeth when he saw their glee and decided to do something about this if he really wanted a future with his Kitten.
"We are not dating because I have to court her and then we will begin dating." He smirked as he dropped this bomb on their cheerful atmosphere.
In the next moment, the room went silent once again.
They alternated their sights between the two people standing and finally focused on Lina, waiting for her to shed some light on the real truth.
"We decided to get to know each other and if we like who we really are… Then we might date." She authenticated his claims which made their faces droop.
Reuben was especially loving the sad and gloomy faces of his best friends because they had lied to him on purpose.
'They told me that Kitten was still fat and this made me lose points. I will get back at them for this!' He scoffed and then looked at the elders.
"But baby-" Patrick spoke up to show his disagreement with her plan of action but halted when he felt Ace's hand on his chest.
Ace sighed when he heard her explanations and then nodded his head.
"If that is what you have decided then we will support you." He smiled at his beloved niece.
Lina broke into a wide smile and then turned to Reuben with raised brows.
'That is how you handle my family members.' She wiggled her brows but froze when she heard almost every single one of them clearing their throat.
"Children, it's late already… Why don't you go back to your room and call it a night." Ace suggested and received a nod from everyone.
'Yes, quickly kick this man out so that we can talk to Nana!' Patrick agreed with Ace's advice.
"Reuben, you should also be getting back home now." Wayne pointed to the door and rudely asked him to leave.
However, he had forgotten that a man courting a woman could do ridiculous things to impress her.
"I did not drive my car here and I'm too drunk to drive anyway. I think I will stay back here for the night." Reuben blinked his eyes and looked at Lina to see her reaction.
'He did come with us in the car and it's already pretty late now.' She nodded as she too agreed with his idea.
"Uncle Ace, can he stay back?" Lina turned to the head of this household with pouted lips which she knew that he could never bear to reject.
Just as she had thought, Ace gave her a nod and then glanced at Butler Mo who immediately got to work.
In a few minutes, a room was prepared for Reuben and he was asked to follow the butler.
Lina waved him goodbye and then walked to her room with Stacy following after her.
Wayne and Wade gave each other a silent nod before stalking in the direction that Reuben had left.
Whereas Ace and Patrick sat in the same places as they stared into each other's eyes.
"Why did you agree with her? You know that she is too young to date!" Patrick brooded because Ace had snubbed him when he was about to forbid her from seeing Reuben ever again.
"What? You want her to secretly meet him in hotels and other places where they will be all alone?" Ace sneered at his beloved Pat who would turn an idiot when it came to their niece.
"I agreed with her plans because this way we know what they are up to and we can act accordingly to block that Ming boy from getting close to her." He snickered in a low voice.
"Oh, you are so hot when you make such evil schemes!" Patrick pounced on him and began to kiss him senseless.