Chapter 7: Diane's Siblings

• Diane’s P.O.V.
• Glancing over my bedside table, I grabbed my cellular phone to look at the time. It was already six in the evening. I set aside my thoughts because I had to go to work. My duty was every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday, from eight to ten in the evening. Today was Saturday. The two-hour duty plus the time I spent commuting were nothing compared to what I could earn for these hours.
• My head still hurts because we spent the night at the house of my classmate and friend, Karen, to finish our thesis. We were three in the group, and the other one was Lorenz. It was just a documentary thesis for now, but the final defense would happen in the next term.
• The school administration had decided to implement a thesis for the first time in the Accountancy course, and it was just too unlucky for us that it happened on our batch. I got home by ten in the morning, and I slept past one in the afternoon due to the extreme heat, although it was already September—the start of supposed to be cold ‘ber’ months.
• After dragging myself away from the bed, I went straight to my comfort room. I bathed for almost an hour and prepared myself to go to work. Wearing a black sleeveless lacy top, I paired it with a white blazer and faded blue pants.
• I have shoulder-length wavy hair and just let my strands fall freely while smiling at my reflection in the vanity mirror. Having been blessed with large breasts at size 36B, as much as possible, I didn’t wear anything that would potentially expose my cleavage. I just put on some face powder and lipstick, and I was all set.
• My room was located on the second floor of our bungalow house, and when I went downstairs, I went to Mom’s bedroom first to check on her. It was a good thing that she was already sleeping soundly.
• After that, I went to the kitchen and ate the food that Mom had prepared for me—it was rice and fried chicken. Most likely, my two siblings were already done eating because there was a pile of dishes again in the sink. I ended up washing them because I didn’t want to see anything dirty.
• I was about to leave when I saw David Cristoff in our small living room—he was one of my siblings. He was second to me, and our youngest was Denise Camille. All of our names began with the letters D and C. We couldn’t blame our mom though. Our mom, Cecille, might be really in love with Dominic, our late father.
• “I’m currently running for the class valedictorian, big sis!” he announced while winking at me.
• “Really, Dave? Wow, that was indeed great news! You will surely get a full-scholarship grant in college… and of course, you should go to a better university than the Quego del Mar Public University. I’m so proud of you!” I ecstatically told him. At the same time, I messed up his hair. It was already evening, yet his hair was still gelled and on posture as if he would court a girl by this time.
• At least, the hard feeling of studying and working at the same time was somehow lessened because of what my brother had told me. It was such a nice feeling that my siblings were not rebel and disobedient, even though they could sometimes forget to wash the dishes. Because of that, my headache suddenly left me, and I was ready to enjoy working again. David would soon step into college, so I had to earn more money and continue to do my best.
• Of my two siblings, only David knew that I was a club dancer. I let him know the situation, and despite his young age, he quickly understood it. I also promised him that once I graduated from college, I would stop working in the club and would become one of the sought-after accountants in the country.
• He would like to stop going to school to help me with work, but that was one of the things that I would never allow him to do. I told him that he could do that when he finished college too.
• On the other hand, Denise was too young to understand these kinds of things. Maybe, time would come that I wouldn’t be able to do it alone, that was why I didn’t have the right to complain about going to work. I had to save for her future… for their future.
• “Hey, sis! Can you stop it?” David whined while fixing his hair that I slightly ruined. I smelled my right hand, and my nose creased upon smelling that the hair wax he used seemed to be stuck on it.
• “Why? What about it? Can I no longer caress my brother? Hmpft! It was about time to sleep, so do you still need to fix your hair like that?” I wanted to laugh, but I chose to pout my lips to signify that I was quite fretting over his reaction. “Please be honest to me, David. Are you courting someone?” I asked after.
• Denise unexpectedly appeared out of nowhere and interfered with our conversation. “Big bro already has a girlfriend, big sis! Believe me, he even went to that girl’s house,” she divulged to me while her round eyes seemed to dilate and grow much bigger than usual.
• Then, I threw David some menacing stares and spoke to him seriously. “Hey, David Cristoff! Why don’t you focus first on your studies before you decide to have a girlfriend? The odds will be greater that instead of being the valedictorian, you will end up going back to being a fourth-year high school student! Can’t you see? I don’t even have time for that so-called love life, and here you are, trying to precede me? Stop thinking about that love life, okay? After all, that can wait. Are we clear?” I sermonized him.
• “Did you really believe Denise, sis? Helena is not my girlfriend! She was so peevish and couldn’t even last a day without avoiding me. She always tended to walk out! And one more thing, I went to their house because we had to work on our Annual Camp project. That’s it, nothing more and nothing less!” David’s face flushed as he tried to explain his side. Yet, he sounded too defensive. I couldn’t stop him from growing up. My brother looked more of a teen now.
• “Mom was already asleep. Have you ensured that she took her medicine on time?” I changed the topic.
• “Yes, sis. Do you still have doubts about me? You know that you can count on me for such things.” David nodded at me, but his eyes were looking at Denise intently. It was as if his eyes were threatening her with the words, “Get ready with yourself later!” 
• Our youngest sibling just stuck her tongue out to David before she said, “Of course, why would you even forget? You also took care of your crush and gave her medicine, correct?”
• I just laughed at them. These two were so naughty! That was the reason why even though I would always wake up in the middle of my sleep when these two quarrels, it was just okay with me. We would always have a squeaking parquet floor, most especially a creaking sound of our wooden ladder, every time these two would chase each other.
• Denise and I’s bedrooms were upstairs with our own comfort rooms, but we were sharing the same terrace. Mom and David were sleeping here on the ground floor, and their rooms were adjacent to one another.
• Only Mom’s bedroom had also a comfort room, so David had to use the main comfort room near the kitchen to attend to his needs. David preferred to be downstairs because he promised to protect us in case bad people would break-in. But I prayed to the Lord that it would never happen.
• Sometimes, my brother was so mature to think and analyze things. But often, he was tremendously childish. No matter what, I was so proud of him.
• “Alright! Dave, you know what to do, okay? I’m already home by eleven o’clock. Lock the door since I always have my spare keys. Do not concentrate on being a hottie! Watch over Mom and Denise,” I reminded David.
• Then, I kissed them both on the cheek. “Hmm, how fragrant my baby sister is!” I tickled Denise over the stomach. She was laughing out loud, but she actually smelled of sweat, most especially her underarms.
• “Don’t you want to be sent off by your handsome brother, sis?” David asked before he placed his thumb and forefinger below his chin doing a handsome sign for me.
• Honestly, it looked like I wasn’t older than him. He was frequently mistaken as my boyfriend every time we went to the market. He was even taller than me. I was five feet and seven inches in height, while David already stood at five feet and eight inches. And he was only sixteen.
• It was five months ago when I bought him a motorcycle as his birthday gift with a condition that he would be extremely careful in using it. It was a good thing that the Governor of Quego del Mar had lowered the age of those who could have a motor license to sixteen.
• David even perfected the non-professional written and actual examination for teenagers, so he immediately obtained a license. It indeed reduced his commuting fees and the hassle of going to school—resulting in his extra time to be allotted to his assignments.
• “Hey! Not because I bought you a motorcycle, you will enjoy riding it even at night. Don’t bother, okay? I’ll just commute. Just go to bed early because you have to wake up at two in the morning for your Citizenship Army Training. You know how much we care about the C.A.T., correct? You can’t fail it, Dave,” I told him.
• “Okay and acknowledged, sis. Don’t worry, being the Corps Commander, I will never fail our father. Take good care, huh? Oh, by the way, I think you have a visitor outside. The sports car was splendid, an eye-catching one, and it looked like the owner was a big shot! One day, I’m going to have that kind of car too.” David bade me goodbye before he turned to Denise. “Hey, you’re being talkative makes me want to tear off your tongue with scissors! Come here,” he jestingly warned Denise before he chased her in the living room.
• I did not pay any attention to what they were doing and just wore my four-inch heels on the main door, left the house, and went straight to the gate. I might have joined them and forgot to go to work anymore if I would stay here longer.
• Then, I saw the black sports car that my brother was talking about. The windshield was tinted, so I could not see who was inside of it. Although I was curious enough, I ended up ignoring it.
• Perhaps, my brother thought wrong. Whoever drove that car was not my visitor. I didn’t know anyone who might own that luxury car. Or maybe, it was a neighbor’s visitor because it was parked opposite our house.
• Before I could finally get out of our gate, the sports car already left. When I came out of the gate, I almost tripped upon a bouquet of beautiful red roses placed on the asphalt cement. I scanned the whole area as my head moved sideways because someone might have made a mistake in leaving these flowers here.
• As I picked it up, I noticed that there was a white card attached to it. I couldn’t stop myself from reading whatever was written on it:
• “Now that I found you, I will never let you go. Not now, not anymore.” —L
• My forehead creased into a furrow. Are these roses really for me? But who could be this L that would give me these flowers?
• Oh, right! Could it be Leandro?