In Love With My Evil Stepbrother
Chapter 71

Chapter 71

Midnight Date I’ve imagined a million times what it would be like when we meet again. Maybe at ourfamily 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, and me standingthere all embarrassed like a clow

This can’t be any NOTIC

But unlike me, he doesn’t seem surprised at all. lle simply looks at me calmly, as if we just saw cachother this morning

“Babe,” lis girlfriend pouts. “This is the stupid waitress I was talking about. She ruined the outfit you gotme and –”

Hocuts her off, “Natalia.”

He isn’t pretending that he doesn’t know me, as I thought he would be.

But he used to call me “Nat” and not “Natalia.”

Then he stands up from his seat and leans forward, giving me a gentle hug. I can smell his scent, thefamiliar scent of mint and woods, but this hug feels very strange. His hug used to be full of passion andenergy, 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 I been?

I have been terrible. For the first year we parted, I would think of him every single day and would reliveall those happy and heartbreaking memories again and again. Every day was like hell And then when Ifinally managed to move on, I have lost the ability to love again,

I thought it would be hard for him too.

But now he proves me wrong He seems perfectly fine with seeing me again, as if he has alreadyforgotten all our past. And that makes me like a fool trying to avoid him all these times. I don’t know howto react. So I can reply lowly,”…fine, I guess.”

His girlfriend seerns even more surprised than I am, “Wait Eason, do you know her?”

But Eatson simply ignores her and keeps staring at me, “You’ve lost some weight. I heard that you arestudying 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.” Ilonce out a smile. ” Now pleaseexcuse me Miss, here’s the blanket you asked for.”

I shove her the blanket and turn around to leave I can feel his gaze following me behind my back, but Idon’t dare to look back

I flee all the way back to the changing room and replace a quiet corner to calm down. My heart is thumbingso wildly in my chest that I think I’m going to throw up the next second.

I really wasn’t prepared for this. First my landlord showed up hunting me for rent, then I missed my busand was late for work, and I ran into him with his new girlfriend, Bad things just keep coining at me like arolling snowball. I let out a frustrated low groan. God, I 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 seemssurprised seeing me crouching down at the corner, “Natalia? What are you doing here?” “Nothing. Justtaking a short break,” I reply dryly. “OK…but don’t let Lori replace you. She is a total nutcase today.”

I liesitate for a while and ask her, “Hey can I switch table with you? Just for this one time and I’ll coveryour shift later if you need me to.”

She gives me a look of disbelief, “You want me to take over the table that you messed up?”

Not going to happen then.

“… Never mind,” I smile bitterly. “Guess I’ll have to face it myself.”

After putting myself together, I go back waitressing. I 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 I can feel his girlfriend’s hostile gaze clasing me like a dagger.

When I 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 cuts me off, defiantly. “How come I never met you before?”

My jaw tenses. She won’t let me have my peace.

So I straighten up and look down at her before saying, “I AM his stepbrother, present tense. My mom isstill married to his father.” 1

A hint of anger appears in her almond-shaped eyes. I quickly carry on before she loses it, “And how longhave you been dating again? I don’t know you, so I assume this is a recent thing?”

She hits the table hard with her hand and snaps, “Is this how you treat your customer? First ruined mydress and then talk back to me?!”

“My apology, Miss. I thought you were talking to me as my stepbrother’s girlfriend. Well, if you are only acustomer, I 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 gripon the knife as if she wants to stab me in the heart. Then she snaps her head around to Eason and gritsout, “Babe. Aren’t you going to say something?” I hold my breath involuntarily. Is he going to scold me foroffending his girlfriend? Feeling nervous, I take a quick peek at him and replace him staring at me intently,his green eyes glearning under the lights beautifully. He doesn’t seem mad.

I really wasn’t prepared for this. First my landlord showed up hunting me for rent, then I missed my busand was late for work, and I ran into him with luis new girlfriend. Bad things just keep coming at me like arolling snowball.

I let out a frustrated low groan. God, I 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 seenissurprised seeing me crouching clown at the corner, “Natalia? What are you doing here?”

“Nothing. Just taking a short break,” I reply dryly.

“OK…but don’t let Lori replace you. She is a total nutcase today.”

I hesitate for a while and ask her, “Hey can I switch table with you? Just for this one time and I’ll coveryour shift later if you need me to.”

She gives me a look of disbelief, “You want me to take over the table that you messed up?”

Not going to happen then. “…Never mind,” I smile bitterly. “Guess I’ll have to face it myself.”

After putting myself together, I go back waitressing. I 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 I can feel his girlfriend’s hostile gaze chasing me like a dagger.

When I 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 cuts me off, defiantly. “How come I never met you before?”

My jaw tenses. She won’t let me have my peace.

So I straighten up and look down at her before saying, “I AM liis stepbrother, present tense. My mom isstill married to his father.”

A hint of anger appears in her almond-shaped eyes. I quickly carry on before she loses it, “And how longhave you been dating again? I don’t know you, so I assume this is a recent thing?”

She hits the table hard with her hand and snaps, “Is this how you treat your customer? First ruined mydress and then talk back to me?!”

“My apology, Miss. I thought you were talking to me as my stepbrother’s girlfriend. Well, if you are only acustomer, I won’t disturb you any further. Please enjoy your dinner.”

I’m pretty proud of myself about this speech, whiclı clearly pissed her off bigtime. She tightens her gripon the knife as if she wants to stab me in the heart. Then she snaps her head around to Eason and gritsout, “Babe Aren’t you going to say something?”

I hold my breath involuntarily. Is he going to scold me for offending his girlfriend? Feeling nervous, I takea quick peek at him and replace him staring at me intently, his green eyes gleaming under the lightsbeautifully. He doesn’t seem mad.

Then I hear him ask me, “Have you had dinner yet Natalia?” I’m stunned. Then I quickly bite down my lipto 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 aperipheral look, I can see his girlfriend widen her eyes in shock.

“Not yet,” I say.

“When are you getting off from work?” he asks slowly, as if every word he says weighs a ton.” Maybe…Ican take you out for dinner?”

And that is my wake-up call.

God, what am I doing? This is Eason! The person who played me like 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 himthink that he can ask me out 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.” I remind himn coldly, “And I get off at midnight so you shouldn’t waitup.”

Then I give a quick nod at them before turning away. I don’t know what Eason is trying to do, and I won’tbother myself trying to replace out.

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

“Generous tipper,” the waitress who helped me collect their bill gives me a jealous glance.

I open the bill and replace 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 rightthere.” I sigh and murmurs, “…Though honestly, I don’t understand mysell.”

He just left without a word of goodbye, not that I want to talk to him again though. I just replace this veryunlike him.

The old him would make some nasty jokes about how much I have changed and keep pestering me till Ilose my temper. But now, he simply left a generous tip and walked away. I don’t know how I should feelabout that.

Maybe he really is treating me like his stepsister now. I take a deep breath and try to ignore the complexfeeling in my heart. He is doing the right thing, keeping distance with me, and I shouldn’t feel sad aboutthis anymore.

###

When my shift ends, Lori calls me into her office. “You messed up big time today.” She squints at me withthose little black eyes, “They

customer filled a complaint before she left. Do you have anything left to say?”

I swallow hard and try to sound as sincere as possible, “Lori I’m sorry. I’ll work harder and take on moreshifts to make it up. I 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 lame excuses ain’t working for me. You are fired.”

“What?!” I cry out

I can’t believe this. One mistake, and she is going to fire me?! “But you can’t! I was a loyal employee andI 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? I 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 ofmy office. GO!!” I bite my lips as hot tears fill my eyes. I know I should drop all my attitude and beg hierwith my life, but my pride gets in the way. Before she scolds at me again, I turn around and leave heroffice.

When I walk out of the restaurant, it’s already midnight. And it starts to rain. The rainy night in New Yorkis freezing cold and the worst thing is I 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 waveof tiresome and exhaustion washes through me.

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

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

I’m still caught up in my moment of sadness when suddenly I hear footstep approaching me. Looking up,I replace a man walking through the rain with an umbrella in his hand. He comes to me and puts his umbrellaabove my head to shielter me from the rain. I am so shocked at the moment that I am not even sure ifthis is a dream.

“Just got off from work?” he asks.

I blink hard a few times and blurt out, “What are you doing here?”

I thought he left with his girlfriend a long time ago.

He crouchies down in front of me till our eyes are about the same level, while still holding the umbrellafor me. A faint but gentle smile appears on his lips as he says, “you said midnight. I can wait tillmidnight.”