The Stepbrother’s Hidden Desires

After dinner with his parents and a short walk, David had already returned home. He took a shower and went back to his room, taking out the collection of poems from the bookshelf.

The title page bore a line of elegant handwriting – “To my dear David.” Running his fingers over the text, he still felt a faint ache in his heart.All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

Lola was a sensitive and delicate person. She liked poets that David didn’t particularly care for, feeling that their work was too heavy with melancholy. But at that time, he liked her and told her he liked those poets too.

She didn’t believe him, and insisted he tell her his favorite poem. In the end, she laughed at him and exposed his lie. After class, he deliberately went to the bookstore and bought a collection of poems. He spent a week memorizing all the poems in the book, perhaps that’s when he truly captivated her.

Opening the book, he was greeted by a slightly yellowed photo of himself and Lola as teenagers, both wearing school uniforms. Her hand was tucked into his arm, her eyes blinking as she smiled in the sunlight, playful and adorable.

Back then, everyone teased them, saying it was a wedding photo. He was quite proud, saying they would eventually take wedding photos anyway, so it might as well be sooner. She blushed in public, and he thought, life isn’t that long, he should cherish her.

But there wasn’t a lifetime. She remained forever at eighteen. Another face floated into his mind, with a similarly shaped face, but arrogant and unruly. Two distinctly different people, yet he was increasingly unable to distinguish between them.

In the past, it was always Lola taking care of him, doing many things for him, and ultimately sacrificing herself for him. Now, it was him taking care of another girl. He couldn’t help but attribute everything he owed Lola to this girl.

The little rascal any worse than you, did you send her to me to settle the debt?

He whispered softly, unsure if he was asking the girl in the photo or himself.

Suddenly, his phone rang, breaking the silence in the room.

Snapping out of his reverie, he glanced at the phone screen, feeling a strange sensation in his heart. It seemed that every time he mentioned her, her call would come.

Knowing she was alone in Magic City for the festival, he couldn’t help but worry, but he forced himself to ignore her. He missed Lola, and seeing Annabel always brought him some comfort, even if she did nothing.

“David,” her voice sounded somewhat slurred, “I’ve had too much to drink. Can you come pick me up?”

That sentence instantly dispelled the sadness that lingered in his heart. Glancing at the time, it was eleven o’clock already, and the dormitory doors were closed. Yet she was still out drinking!

The noise on the other end of the line suggested she was most likely at a bar.

David gritted his teeth, “I’m in Eastdown, how am I supposed to pick you up? It’s the middle of the night, and you, a girl, are out drinking. Is that appropriate?”

The voice on the other end mumbled, “Oh, you’re already home, forget it then.”

As soon as she finished speaking, she hung up. This wasn’t the first time she caused trouble at a bar, and David inexplicably began to worry again. He tried calling back, only to be hung up on, just like last time. David cursed under his breath, “little rascal.”

Deciding to ignore her, he waited for half an hour before dialing again. This time, she answered.

Worried she might hang up again, he said urgently, “If you dare to hang up on me again, see if I’ll ever bother with you again!”

Laughter came through the receiver, “I’ll do as you say, I won’t hang up.”

Then her voice softened, “David, my legs are too weak to walk. What should I do?”

A male voice called her name from the background, “Annabel, it’s your turn, hurry up.”

David frowned, “Who let you go drinking? And who are you with?”

“It’s a holiday, I’m out with classmates. I’m not in high school anymore, why can’t I drink? Let me tell you, I’ve already outdrank two guys.”

David couldn’t help but laugh at her audacity. How could she not worry at all about getting drunk and taken advantage of?

“No more drinking. Tell me where you are, I’ll send someone to get you.”

She stubbornly replied, “I want you to come. If you don’t, don’t bother sending anyone else.”

David suddenly felt that her dad’s discipline was completely justified. He closed the book in frustration, accidentally creasing the yellowed photo. It was the only picture of him and Lola together, and he felt heartbroken.

His tone turned stern as he spoke to the culprit on the other end of the line, “I’m in Eastdown, how do you expect me to come get you? Fly over there? ”

His voice was harsh, and Annabel could probably tell he was genuinely angry. “I was just joking, I can make it back on my own.”

Almost shouting, David demanded, “Stop the nonsense and give me the address!”

There was a knock on the door from outside. “What’s going on, son?”

Tomorrow was Lola’s memorial day, and during these days every year, David was always very silent. His parents were also cautious around him, and the atmosphere at home was always tense.

Covering the phone, David suppressed his anger and called out to his mother outside the door, “Nothing, mom.”

Once he heard her footsteps fade away, he returned to the phone, his voice tense, “Give me the address!”

She gave him the location, her mind still clear enough to know where she was.

“I was just joking with you. I can make it back on my own.”

David was furious, “Just stay put!”

His roommate, Perez, didn’t come home during the vacation, and David didn’t feel comfortable leaving Annabel with him, a guy. So, he called his college friend Elaine, who was a graduate student.

By the time Elaine brought Annabel back to campus, it was already early morning, and she called David.

“Thanks, I owe you one.”

“Sure thing. Is this girl your girlfriend? I didn’t expect someone so pretty to be so feisty.”

David sounded anxious, “Did she get into another fight?”

“Yeah, but this time she was the one throwing punches. Some guy was probably trying to take advantage of her, and she almost beat him to a pulp.”

“How is she now?”

“She’s okay, just seems a bit down, feeling pretty sad. There’s no one else in the dorms except her. You should give her a call and comfort her.”

David sighed, “She’s such a troublemaker.”

Elaine couldn’t help but laugh, remembering the brooding bald guy from the night before. She then asked David, “What’s her relationship with Christopher? I noticed his right-hand man, Boris, always seems to be following her around.”

Elaine had met Christopher a few times because of her sister. Boris always stood a few steps away from Christopher, looking menacing. He was both an assistant and a bodyguard, said to have followed Christopher abroad and was fiercely loyal to him.

David’s heart skipped a beat. “I’m not quite sure about that.”

Now, the hottest topic online was Christopher’s serious injury from falling off a horse while filming. Could it be related to the Green Family? In the end, emotion got the better of him, and he opened his phone in the middle of the night and booked a train ticket back home for the next afternoon.

The next day, David rose early and bought a bouquet of roses near the station. As he was about to leave, he remembered Annabel saying her mother loved flowers, so he went back and got a bunch of hellebores before heading to the cemetery.

He placed the hellebores at Essem’s grave. “Annabel is doing fine now. Don’t worry.” After standing there alone for a while, he turned and walked toward Lola’s grave.

He spent the whole morning there. As he was leaving, he glanced at Essem’s grave and saw a familiar figure standing in front of it: Thomas’s assistant, Liam.

They coincidentally made eye contact, and Liam gestured for him to wait. After saying something by the tombstone, Liam strode over to David.

Seemingly aware of David’s confusion, Liam said, “Her mother entrusted Bella to me before she passed away, so I came to visit. The flowers were from you, right? Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“I was actually hoping to talk to you. Didn’t expect to run into you here.”

As they walked down the steps together, Liam asked him, “Here to see your girlfriend?”

David felt uneasy. Liam’s tone wasn’t questioning; it was affirmative, indicating that he knew everything about himself’s background. Had the Green Family already investigated him thoroughly before selecting him to be Annabel’s tutor?

Taking a drag from his cigarette, Liam’s gaze pierced through the rising smoke. “You guessed right. After your professor recommended you, we looked into every aspect of your life, your experiences from childhood to adulthood, your temperament, your character. Because what Mr. Green entrusts isn’t just a troubled girl; it’s the heir to Green’s Enterprises. Naturally, we had to be cautious.”

David knew without Liam saying it how influential Green’s Enterprises was in the business world.

A hint of resentment brewed in David. He retorted sarcastically, “Should I feel honored then?”

“That’s not what I meant.” Liam paused, giving him a meaningful look. “Mr. Green has thought of everything about you, except one thing: your first love resembled Bella. And people develop feelings, especially young folks like you.”

Liam saw through David, revealing the one thing David least wanted to admit to himself, but he couldn’t refute it.

“David, I admire you. In this materialistic society, there aren’t many who maintain such sincerity. If you were to be my son-in-law, I would be very happy, but for the Green Family is not suitable. Annabel’s future husband needs a strong background, financially and socially, to match the Green Family. He needs to be capable of supporting and defending Green’s Enterprises because her future opponents will be formidable.”

He left the rest unsaid, but David understood his implication-they were worlds apart.

“You’re pursuing graduate studies, and Annabel worked hard to get into the university for you. She’s stubborn, and her family can’t control her. So, I hope you stay away from her. Annabel is Mr. Green’s only bloodline, and she’s too important to Green’s Enterprises. She’s too significant to be overlooked. So, ignore her, and consider it for your own sake.”

“Is this Mr. Green’s intention?”

Liam nodded. “I’ve been with him for over a decade, and I know him well. Bella likes you, and even for her sake, I’d advise you not to offend him.”

David scoffed. Did these high-ranking individuals have no feelings, no love in their hearts? Were they willing to send their daughters to prison just to cultivate the successor they wanted? Wasn’t Annabel too pitiful in this situation?

David believed he had never harbored any inappropriate thoughts about Annabel or Green’s Enterprises. Yet, Liam’s words still left him with an inexplicable sense of bitterness and desolation.