"Yeah. Sean is right, Carla, even a child has a bigger insight than you. Couldn't you be more open-minded?"
Terence looked at Sean appreciatively. It looked like his future brother-in-law had so much potential. After all, Sean conveyed his thoughts in a more sensible manner.
A vein popped out of Carla's temple. That was it. These two were getting on her nerves. She balled her hand in a fist and pounded on the dinner table.
She barked, "What the hell you two are doing?
Sean, a 10-year-old kid shouldn't be worrying about marriage especially mine!"
Then she turned to Terence, "And you, mister, just because I kindly let you stay here doesn't mean you can do anything as you please! Just stop talking nonsense. I'm done!"
With that, Carla stormed off as she went to her room. The two boys jumped up a bit when she slammed the door.
Terence shrugged and wrapped his arm around Sean's shoulders, "See? Girls get really shy and when they get really shy, they get irritated. From now on, we will only keep this to ourselves. Got it?"
Sean nodded in agreement with determined eyes.
He chirped, pumping his fist into the air, "You are right, Terence!"
When Carla had gotten back into her room, she plopped down on her bed and stared at the ceiling.
Carla was starting to smell something fishy about Terence. What did Terence want from them in the first place? It wasn't like he only stayed because he planned of keeping Sean company.
In order to avoid going out of her room and seeing Terence, she decided not to shower until it was very late.
She glanced at her cellphone. It was already 10:30PM.
Thank God! She couldn't wait any longer! She changed into her pajamas and crept out of her room.
She took a peek and sighed in relief when she saw no one at the living room. Maybe Terence was in Sean's room.
She tiptoed to the bathroom and noticed that the light was still on.
"Anyone in there?"
She asked but nobody answered from inside. She thought probably Sean forgot to turn off the light again, and so she turned the doorknob and went in.
"Ah! Oh my Gosh! A pervert!"
Carla screamed and quickly covered her eyes. Terence had just finished bathing and was already drying himself.
He spoke up, "You know, I waited for a long time for you to get out of your room to take a shower. I figured that you weren't going to come out so I helped myself."
"Then why didn't you say something when I asked if someone was inside?" Carla turned back and slammed the door behind her.
'Ugh. He's so stupid! Like, I already asked who's inside and he didn't even reply!'
"Well, I have the right to remain silent. Besides, this isn't the first time you saw me naked," Terence wrapped a bath towel around his waist and walked out.
At the first night he arrived at her home, she saw him butt naked.
"I didn't mean to see you naked around that time!" Carla exclaimed, trying her best not to kick Terence's ass.
Terence dried his hair with a towel and squinted at her, "It doesn't matter whether or not you meant it. You saw me anyway and that's what matters."
And it was true that it happened that she saw him butt naked.
Carla went speechless as the man started to pace around her house. She sighed deeply, trying to suppress her anger and turned her attention to the bathroom.
Terence finally stopped on his tracks. His eyes trailed at the bathroom's direction. Behind its frosted glass, he veered over a slender graceful figure. The sound of the shower came from it, bringing him out of the daze.
He wasn't the type to get impulsive.
Yet he noticed that he was becoming more and more impulsive around Carla.
When 20 minutes had passed, Carla walked out of the bathroom, wearing a towel on her head and her bathrobe. She tiptoed to her room like a thief.
When she finally got inside the room, she started to sigh in relief.
Terence was sitting in the living the room and was typing something in his lap
top. He heard her door click and shook his head.
He murmured, "If I want to get in, I will get in. Not even a hundred locks could stop me."
The next day, it was already afternoon when Sean finished his classes.
He went to play basketball with Terence in the playground of their neighborhood.
Carla didn't go back home right after work. Since she thought it was still early, she went to the mall and started browsing some toy shops.
It was going to be Sean's birthday on Sunday and it was already Friday. As his sister, she wanted to prepare something as gift for him.
Every year, she would cook his favorite food and buy a small simple cake. But Sean was turning 10 years old, so she wanted to prepare something special for him.
She was much older than Sean. Not to mention, they had a rather large age gap and she watched him grow up everyday.
After their parents passed away, Carla assumed all the responsibility for Sean.
"Hello, sir, how much is this?" She pointed at a remote-controlled toy airplane. She remembered the time Sean would beg her to buy that for him but she would disagree since it was too expensive.
"Oh, this one? This drone is the latest model of our brand. It's on for 999 dollars. If you would like, you can come in and take a look. You can also choose from any other models,"
The shop assistant replied, smiling.
Carla went inside the shop to walk around. Her eyes widened when she saw the prices of those toys! Some could cost from 3, 000 up to 8, 000!
The one she saw at the window seemed to be the cheapest one.
"I'll just take the model like the one outside your window," she pointed at the toy.
Considering her financial condition, she had to go with the cheapest one. For her, 1000 dollars was already too much.
Back in the residence estate, Carla asked the doorman to keep the gift until Sean's birthday. She wanted to keep it as a surprise.
As she was walking upstairs, she noticed many people running towards the basketball court. Most of them were girls.
"Abby? What's happening? Is there anything there?" Carla quickly grabbed Martha's second daughter Abby. Martha lived in the same building as Carla.
"Well, I don't exactly know the details but there are rumors that a big star came to our neighborhood. So I followed them to see it for myself," Abby replied.
After she said that, she ran along with the others towards the basketball court.
Wait what? A big star? Visiting the slums?
What a ridiculous rumor!
Carla didn't believe it at all and was very skeptic about it.
Then she just shrugged and followed the crowd. It wouldn't hurt if she needed to confirm the rumor with her two own eyes, right?
The basketball court was suddenly jam-packed. Almost all the people in the neighborhood went there to see what was going on.
Carla made her way onto the edge of the court, bumping onto the crowd. Then she saw a familiar man who was dribbling the ball. He was followed by a shorter young boy who was trying to think of a way to steal the ball from him.
Her mouth dropped when she finally recognized these two men inside the court.
'T-Terence? Sean?' she thought.
"Oh my gosh! Terence is so cool! I love him!"
"Wait, does he even loves you?"
"Of course! He loves his fans so he must love me!"
"Oh yeah? Do you know him? Could you introduce me to him?"
"Of course not! I am not sharing my Terence with anybody!"
Carla listened to the banter of two young girls. She looked at the fully packed basketball court, clicked her tongue and shook her head.
Why do these people have to be so zealous toward some good-looking guy.
'They are just some bumpkins who don't really have an idea how the world works!' Carla thought to herself, frowning.
"Carla!" 'Oh God!' Carla deadpanned.
Sean's sharp eyes caught the sight of his sister standing in front of the crowd. He smiled, wiped off the sweat from his forehead, and waved at her fiercely.