In Love With My Evil Stepbrother

Midnight Date I've imagined a million times what it would be like when we meet again. Maybe at our family gathering, maybe at a friend's party, or maybe even at my wedding in the future.

But I've never thought about this, with him sitting there with his beautiful new girlfriend, andstanding there all embarrassed like a clow This can’t be any NOTIC But unlike me, he doesn’t seem surprised at all. lle simply looks atcalmly, as if we just saw cach other this morning “Babe,” lis girlfriend pouts. “This is the stupid waitress | was talking about. She ruined the outfit you gotand Hocuts her off, “Natalia.” He isn’t pretending that he doesn’t know me, as | thought he would be.

But he used to call“Nat” and not “Natalia.” Then he stands up from his seat and leans forward, givinga gentle hug. | can smell his scent, the familiar scent of mint and woods, but this hug feels very strange. His hug used to be full of passion and energy, but now it’s polite and aloos.

“It's been a long time,” he rises up and smiles at me. “How have you been?” How have | been? | have been terrible. For the first year we parted, | would think of him every single day and would relive all those happy and heartbreaking memories again and again. Every day was like hell And then when | finally managed to move on, | have lost the ability to love again, | thought it would be hard for him too.

But now he proveswrong He seems perfectly fine with seeingagain, as if he has already forgotten all our past. And that makeslike a fool trying to avoid him all these times. | don’t know how to react. So | can reply lowly,”...fine, | guess.” His girlfriend seerns even more surprised than | am, “Wait Eason, do you know her?” But Eatson simply ignores her and keeps staring at me, “You've lost sweight. | heard that you are studying at NYU now, then why are you working here? Really? Chut chat? I can’t do this with him “...I have to make a living Non all of us wis born with a silver sin.” llonce out a smile. ” Now please excuseMiss, here’s the blanket you asked for.” | shove her the blanket and turn around to leave | can feel his gaze followingbehind my back, but | don’t dare to look back | flee all the way back to the changing room and find a quiet corner to calm down. My heart is thumbing so wildly in my chest that | think I'm going to throw up the next second.

| really wasn’t prepared for this. First my landlord showed up huntingfor rent, then | missed my bus and was late for work, and | ran into him with his new girlfriend, Bad things just keep coining atlike a rolling snowball.

I let out a frustrated low groan. God, | don’t want to go back out there and face them.

Suddenly, the door to the changing room flies open and another waitress walks inside. She seems surprised seeingcrouching down at the corner, “Natalia? What are you doing here?” “Nothing. Just taking a short break,” | reply dryly. “OK...but don’t let Lori find you. She is a total nutcase today.” | liesitate for a while and ask her, “Hey can | switch table with you? Just for this one tand I'll cover your shift later if you needto.” She givesa look of disbelief, “You wantto take over the table that you messed up?” Not going to happen then.

“... Never mind,” | smile bitterly. “Guess I'll have to face it myself.” After putting myself together, | go back waitressing. | put on my poker face and bring up their food, introduce their dishes and make my exit as quickly as possible. Eason sits there quietly the entire time, though | can feel his girlfriend’s hostile gaze clasinglike a dagger.

When | appear again to serve their main course, his girlfriend finally can’t help it and breaks the silence, “you are Natalia, aren't you?” I nod, “Yes iniss. So here we have your main course, a Dry-aged Muscovy Duck coupled with “So he said you were his stepsister?” she cutsoff, defiantly. “How cI never met you before?” My jaw tenses. She won't lethave my peace.

So | straighten up and look down at her before saying, “I AM his stepbrother, present tense. My mom is still married to his father.” 1 A hint of anger appears in her almond-shaped eyes. | quickly carry on before she loses it, “And how long have you been dating again? | don’t know you, so | assthis is a recent thing?” She hits the table hard with her hand and snaps, “Is this how you treat your customer? First ruined my dress and then talk back to me?!” “My apology, Miss. | thought you were talking toas my stepbrother’s girlfriend. Well, if you are only a customer, | won't disturb you any further. Please enjoy your dinner.” I'm pretty proud of myself about this specch, which clearly pissed her off bigtime. She tightens her grip on the knife as if she wants to stabin the heart. Then she snaps her head around to Eason and grits out, “Babe.

Aren't you going to say something?” | hold my breath involuntarily. Is he going to scoldfor offending his girlfriend? Feeling nervous, | take a quick peek at him and find him staring atintently, his green eyes glearning under the lights beautifully. He doesn’t seem mad.

| really wasn’t prepared for this. First my landlord showed up huntingfor rent, then | missed my bus and was late for work, and | ran into him with luis new girlfriend. Bad things just keep coming atlike a rolling snowball.

| let out a frustrated low groan. God, | don’t want to go back out there and face them.

Suddenly, the door to the changing room flies open and another waitress walks inside. She seenis surprised seeingcrouching clown at the corner, “Natalia? What are you doing here?” “Nothing. Just taking a short break,” | reply dryly.

“OK...but don’t let Lori find you. She is a total nutcase today.” | hesitate for a while and ask her, “Hey can | switch table with you? Just for this one tand I'll cover your shift later if you needto.” She givesa look of disbelief, “You wantto take over the table that you messed up?” Not going to happen then. “...Never mind,” | smile bitterly. “Guess I'll have to face it myself.” After putting myself together, | go back waitressing. | put on my poker face and bring up their food, introduce their dishes and make my exit as quickly as possible. Eason sits there quietly the entire time, though | can feel his girlfriend’s hostile gaze chasinglike a dagger.

When | appear again to serve their main course, his girlfriend finally can’t help it and breaks the silence, “you are Natalia, aren't you?” I nod, “Yes miss. So here we have your main course, a Dry-aged Muscovy Duck coupled with “So he said you were his stepsister?” she cutsoff, defiantly. “How cI never met you before?” My jaw tenses. She won't lethave my peace.

So | straighten up and look down at her before saying, “I AM liis stepbrother, present tense. My mom is still married to his father.” A hint of anger appears in her almond-shaped eyes. | quickly carry on before she loses it, “And how long have you been dating again? | don’t know you, so | assthis is a recent thing?” She hits the table hard with her hand and snaps, “Is this how you treat your customer? First ruined my dress and then talk back to me?!” “My apology, Miss. | thought you were talking toas my stepbrother’s girlfriend. Well, if you are only a customer, | won't disturb you any further. Please enjoy your dinner.” I'm pretty proud of myself about this speech, whicli clearly pissed her off bigtime. She tightens her grip on the knife as if she wants to stabin the heart. Then she snaps her head around to Eason and grits out, “Babe Aren’t you going to say something?” | hold my breath involuntarily. Is he going to scoldfor offending his girlfriend? Feeling nervous, | take a quick peek at him and find him staring atintently, his green eyes gleaming under the lights beautifully. He doesn’t seem mad.

Then | hear him ask me, “Have you had dinner yet Natalia?” I'm stunned. Then | quickly bite down my lip to stifle a laugh. He ignored his girlfriend, again.

I know it’s really disrespectful, but I still can’t help but feel a triumph feeling fill up my heart. From a peripheral look, | can see his girlfriend widen her eyes in shock.

“Not yet,” | say.

“When are you getting off from work?” he asks slowly, as if every word he says weighs a ton.” Maybe...I can take you out for dinner?” And that is my wake-up call.

God, what am | doing? This is Eason! The person who playedlike a fucking toy and broke my heart. He has already walked out of my life and is currently sitting here with his hot girlfriend. What makes him think that he can askout for dinner? He doesn’t have the right, not even as my stepbrother.

The smile on my face faints away.

“You ARE having your dinner sir.” | remind himn coldly, “And | get off at midnight so you shouldn't wait up.” Then | give a quick nod at them before turning away. | don’t know what Eason is trying to do, and | won't bother myself trying to find out.

The rest of the evening flies by. | got busy elsewhere and when | finally returned to Eason’s table, they had already left.

“Generous tipper,” the waitress who helpedcollect their bill givesa jealous glance.

| open the bill and find that he tipped almost 50%. Did he forget how to do math in these three years? “What did you do? Flirt with him a little?” the waitress asks me. “Don’t be stupid. His girlfriend was right there.” | sigh and murmurs, “...Though honestly, | don’t understand mysell.” He just left without a word of goodbye, not that | want to talk to him again though. I just find this very unlike him.

The old him would make snasty jokes about how much | have changed and keep pesteringtill I lose my temper. But now, he simply left a generous tip and walked away. | don’t know how | should feel about that.

Maybe he really is treatinglike his stepsister now. | take a deep breath and try to ignore the complex feeling in my heart. He is doing the right thing, keeping distance with me, and | shouldn't feel sad about this anymore.

H#HH#H# When my shift ends, Lori callsinto her office. “You messed up big ttoday.” She squints atwith those little black eyes, “They customer filled a complaint before she left. Do you have anything left to say?” | swallow hard and try to sound as sincere as possible, “Lori I'm sorry. I'll work harder and take on more shifts to make it up. | was not feeling well today because my landlord” “Stop!” she balls her fist and snorts. “I know you girls’ tricks. It’s always something, your horrible laudlord, your abusive boyfriend, sick siblings? ‘Those lexcuses ain't working for me. You are fired.” “What?!” | cry out | can’t believe this. One mistake, and she is going to fire me?! “But you can’t! | was a loyal employee and | worked so hard” “You worked so hard till today! Do you know the lady asked the restaurant to pay for her ruined dress? Do you know how much that costs? | can’t afford to have another mistake like this from you in the future. You should feel relieved that I'm only firing you and not asking you to pay for the damage. Now get out of my office. GO!!” | bite my lips as hot tears fill my eyes. | know | should drop all my attitude and beg hier with my life, but my pride gets in the way. Before she scolds atagain, | turn around and leave her office.

When I walk out of the restaurant, it’s already midnight. And it starts to rain. The rainy night in New York is freezing cold and the worst thing is | don’t have my umbrella with me.

I slowly crouch down under the roof, watching the raindrop drippling down in front me, as a strong wave of tiresand exhaustion washes through me.

Today | got fired from the restaurant and have no money to pay for my rent. | don’t even want to go back to my apartment - the landlord might still be there waiting for me.

How can people’s lives be this different? | walked away from my painful breakup with nothing but pain and scars, and I'm still alone and broke now. But Eason seems perfectly well...he even got hotter over these years. It’s not fair.

I'm still caught up in my moment of sadness when suddenly | hear footstep approaching me. Looking up, | find a man walking through the rain with an umbrella in his hand. He comes toand puts his umbrella above my head to shielterfrom the rain. | am so shocked at the moment that | am not even sure if this is a dream.

“Just got off from work?” he asks.

I blink hard a few times and blurt out, “What are you doing here?” | thought he left with his girlfriend a long tago.

He crouchies down in front oftill our eyes are about the slevel, while still holding the umbrella for me. A faint but gentle smile appears on his lips as he says, “you said midnight. | can wait till midnight.”