Broken Hearts

by S. G. Sonysa

  She also told me that Chase and Cameron were not very close. I heard when they were all kids Kate used to hurt him so he wouldn’t play with Chase. I thought the twin bond between Chase and Kate didn’t let anyone come close to both of them. They were inseparable as kids.

  My mother-in-law had requested me to bake lemon tarts because it was Cameron’s favorite dessert. I was quite good at baking, and the credit for that went to my grandma. Amy helped me in the kitchen, but she had other chores to do so she left. I was left alone waiting for the tarts to bake.

  The alarm beeped indicating that the lemon tarts were done baking. I slipped my pink baking mittens on and pulled out the tray from inside the oven then set it on the counter to let it cool.

  I would have baked chocolate chip cupcakes today if my mother-in-law hadn’t requested me to bake lemon tarts. Actually, chocolate chip cupcakes were Chase’s favorite, and I loved baking them for him. I remembered his granddad told me how much Chase liked everything with chocolate, so I started baking chocolate chip cupcakes.

  Last week, I served some cupcakes during breakfast. He didn’t know who made them and thought it was from some bakery. He kept eating them while saying how good they tasted.

  I felt giddy when I heard his praises. So it had become kind of a daily routine for me to bake chocolate cupcakes for him. I had noticed whenever Chase found cupcakes during breakfast, his eyes turned alive, and his face morphed into happiness.

  I was daydreaming again about Chase and his beautiful smile when the sudden noise of someone clearing his throat startled me, causing me to jump. My hands slipped and landed on the hot tray. I hissed in pain and looked up to see the culprit who caused me this stupid burn, but I found myself frozen on the spot. Someone was standing in front of me with a gun in his hand targeted on my head. His face was covered with a black cloth except for his pretty blue eyes and brown hair.

  At that moment, I was scared out of my wits.

  I panicked and looked around the kitchen in the hope of finding something to scare the guy, but to my utter luck, I didn’t find a single thing, not even a butter knife to stab him in the eye.

  He suddenly moved closer to me, scaring me more.

  “Don’t come close or I will…” I searched my brain for a good threat that will scare him off.

  “You’ll what?” he asked me, sounding amused.

  “I’ll throw this hot lemon tart on your face.” I inched my hand near the lemon tart.

  “You are so cruel, but you have a very innocent face. Do you use this innocent face to deceive people?” the stranger asked, walking closer to me.

  I kept my mouth shut because clearly my threat didn’t affect him and my words would only amuse him.

  “And for your information lemon tart is my favorite,” the guy said, looking at the lemon tart then glancing back at me.

  “Not extremely hot, I guess? Do you want to taste it hot this time? It will burn your mouth,” I said sarcastically.

  I was never sarcastic, but today it came naturally.

  “I would love to taste it if you promise to feed it yourself in my pretty mouth,” the stranger said, taking another step closer and blocking my way so I couldn’t run out of the kitchen.

  “Stop there.”

  He rolled his eyes at me and took my hand where it was burned. The small red mark was clear. He traced his finger on it, making me hiss in pain.

  Before I could shout for help, he asked me, “Who are you?”

  I was baffled at his question, I had been living here for months, and he was asking me who I was.

  “Well, are you not going to answer me?” he asked me.

  Instead of answering him, I glared at him in anger and encouraged myself to give him a piece of my mind when he rudely interrupted me by placing his finger on my lips.

  His thumb ran over my lower lip making me shudder while his eyes pierced through mine.

  “How sad, a pretty girl like you is going to die today,” he said, pointing the gun at the center of my forehead.

  I closed my eyes ready to meet my maker. After facing so much in life, this was how I was going to die because of some stupid burglar who entered the house and wanted to get rid of me.

  If I died today, I would regret not telling Chase how much I loved him and wanted to spend my life with him. The only good in this situation was that maybe after all this time I would finally be free from all the pain and could meet my mother in another world.

  I waited for the pain, but the pain of getting shot in the head never came, and I opened my eyes. My breath hitched when my eyes landed on the brown haired blue-eyed boy. He was standing so close to me, and his face was so near that I could clearly see his long lashes and plump lips. The mask that was hiding his face was now ripped off. His eyes flickered from my eyes to my lips for a millisecond, and I sucked in a breath.

  Suddenly, the realization dawned on me that this boy was not a burglar, but Cameron.

  “Cameron?” I said his name.

  “Oh, God! Your face was priceless,” he mumbled and started laughing.

  The first thought that came to my mind was this boy didn’t know how to make a first impression. From now on I was going to dislike him for lessening ten years of my life by scaring me to death.

  Then an awesome plan formed in my head to get my revenge on him for his stupid prank. I started to pretend that I was crying because what he did has scared me. It was my first time to fake crying, but I just had to imagine the most emotional scene of my book and that brought tears to my eyes, automatically.

  Now I had his complete attention. He was looking at me in complete panic.

  “Hey, are you alright? Why are you crying?” he asked me.

  I didn’t answer him and continued fake crying some more. The tears did the trick, and he started rambling, “It was just a prank, a joke. I’m not going to harm you. Please, stop crying. I’m sorry. Just stop crying, pretty girl.”

  Cameron looked quite ready to beg me if I continued my act. Before I could tell him that it was only a joke, he hugged me, and I was not expecting a hug.

  I turned frozen due to shock. Well, if it helped you to understand my situation better then let me inform you that I had never received a hug from anybody except obviously Chase, which happened just two weeks ago and I was still getting used to everything.

  After a few seconds, he pulled away, and I started laughing. Now he was the one who had a priceless face. The confusion was clear on his face. He looked shocked and realized what I just did with him.

  He smiled in amusement while my laughter turned into giggles. And that was when his mother entered the kitchen and squealed with happiness at the sight of her son.

  She hugged him and dragged him out of the kitchen into the lounge where Chase and Kate were playing a video game. Hearing the commotion, my father-in-law also came out from his study and hugged his son. I was just watching the family reunion with a satisfied smile on my face.

  Everyone in the family hugged him and asked him a few questions, which he answered with a smile.

  Then he turned to his mom and said, “Mom, you didn’t introduce me to this beautiful girl.”

  My face exploded with a blush at his compliment because no one had ever called me beautiful, not even Chase.

  Suddenly everyone was silent and was looking at him.

  “Cameron, I told you that we have a new family member in our family,” my mother-in-law said.

  “Yeah mom, you said something like that, so who is she?” He was frowning this time.

  “Cameron, actually Chase got married a few months ago. She is Hailey, your brother’s wife,” my mother-in-law said with the smile.

  He stared at me in complete shock and then glanced at Chase. Chase clenched his jaw in anger like his mother just insulted him by reminding him of the marriage. Cameron, on the other hand, looked hurt, maybe I imagined it.

  Cameron then smiled, and said, “I guess congratulations to both of you. Hailey, it is nice meeting you
,” he said, staring at me.

  I nodded my head and mumbled, “Thank you.”

  With that said, he went upstairs to his room.

  Chapter Nine

  Getting Ready For My First Party

  Hailey

  I was staring at the TV and remembered the month Cameron and I spent exploring New York. For the whole month, Cameron and I were inseparable. He became my best friend, and I was given a chance to experience something I had never experienced before: friendship.

  Every day, he would take me out to see new places. The first day, we went to Central Park then we ate dinner in Cameron’s favorite fast food place. The second day, he took me to The Empire State Building, which was beautiful. Another day, we went to Manhattan Skyline, and that was how I spent the whole month with him and experienced new things in the world.

  The last day of his stay here was eventful. He took me to see the Top of the Rock, and we stayed there until sunset. Around eight o’clock we had dinner in a nice restaurant.

  I still remembered what happened that day when I came back.

  [Flashback]

  I entered the house with a silly smile on my face because of Cameron’s stupid joke. I never felt so happy in my life, and no one ever attempted to make me happy, but Cameron did, and it meant the world to me.

  I was going upstairs to my room when I felt a presence behind me. I turned around and found Chase looking at me with anger. He took a step forward, and I took a step back from him. It went on until my back was plastered to the wall. He took that as his advantage then trapped me there, by placing both of his hands on each side of the wall.

  “I’ve noticed how you’ve been spending a lot of time with my brother,” he said, sounding bitter.

  I felt my heart pounding at the nearness of our bodies. I could feel his breath fanning my face. He looked angry and jealous.

  “I… I went to see the Top of the Rock then…” I said, stopping in the middle of my narrative.

  “What Hailey?” He gritted his teeth.

  “Then we had dinner,” I said, waiting for his response.

  “From now on, you will not go with him anywhere, especially not on dinners.” He stared into my eyes.

  I nodded unable to speak under his commanding gaze. He was scaring me, and I hated that I felt scared of him.

  “Answer me,” he said.

  “I w-will not go anywhere with Cameron,” I stuttered.

  “Good,” he said, staring into my eyes.

  I was waiting for him to step back and leave but he kept staring at me. I didn’t know what came over me and why I did what I did, but I kissed his cheek.

  Chase’s eyes widened, and I was ready to melt in shame at my brazenness.

  “I’m sorry for going to dinner with Cameron. I didn’t know it will make you angry,” I blurted out while Chase was still staring at me with wide eyes.

  Chase took a step back from me and looked around like he was expecting someone to come out and tell him it was a prank.

  “No, I… I’m not angry at you. I just don’t like… it when you both go out,” he said, putting his hand over his mouth.

  I stared at him in confusion. Why didn’t he like it when Cameron and I went out? My mother-in-law told me that Cameron and Chase were not a fan of each other, but I didn’t know Chase would react so mean towards his brother.

  Cameron was such a sweet soul.

  Chase took a step back from me and left me. I shook my head then went to my room.

  ***

  From that day until today he had been ignoring me like I had some contagious disease. I didn’t mind if he ignored me, but he had been playing with my heart. He would smile at me one minute and would glare at me the next.

  “Hailey, can you take this hot chocolate to Chase’s room. My poor baby has been studying all day for his upcoming exams.” My mother-in-law handed me a mug. “Good night,” she said, patting my shoulder and leaving me in the kitchen with the mug in my hand.

  I wanted to tell her that she should take this hot chocolate to her son’s room because he had been ignoring me and I had been avoiding him after the embarrassing incident, but I stayed silent.

  Sighing, I went upstairs to his room and knocked on his door, but he didn’t open it. I was ready to go back down when he opened the door.

  His hair was tousled, and his grey eyes were sleepy. He was standing shirtless in front of me, dressed only in his dark blue pajamas. Suddenly, my throat went dry, and my hands started shaking.

  He looked baffled to find me standing outside his bedroom at ten in the evening.

  “Hot… hot chocolate,” I said, offering him a mug.

  He looked at it but didn’t take it.

  “Put it on my bedside table,” he said, stepping away from the door.

  I nodded my head and entered his room then placed the mug on his bedside table.

  My eyes went to his messy bed where few books, sheets, and pens were scattered around. I glanced at Chase who was yawning. He looked too sleepy to clean his bed himself.

  I turned to him and saw his eyes dropping due to sleep.

  “Do you want me to make your bed?” I asked him.

  “No, I will do it myself.” He yawned.

  “It’s fine.”

  I removed the books, papers, and pen from his bed and placed them on the study table in his room then I arranged his pillows.

  “It’s done, you can sleep now,” I said and turned around to find him gazing at me.

  I felt uncomfortable under his intense gaze. He took a step forward, and my heart started to beat faster.

  When he was standing mere inches away from me, he said, “Thank you.”

  I nodded my head at him, and then he did something, which left me shocked.

  He placed a kiss on my left cheek, and I shut my eyes. The feeling of his soft lips on my skin made me shiver from inside. He didn’t remove his lips for a few seconds letting me relish this new feeling. I felt my legs wobble and then butterflies erupted in my tummy.

  When he moved away, I opened my eyes and found him staring at me with a smile on his face.

  “Good… Good night,” I said and escaped from his room.

  When I was inside my room, I touched my face where he kissed me and smiled.

  ***

  Chase

  I woke up and sat on the bed then my eyes landed on the empty mug of hot chocolate that Hailey brought last night for me. I smiled thinking about her. She was so innocent and pure. Her reactions were amusing, and I loved it when she blushed. She thought I didn’t notice the shy glances she threw my way, but I did. I noticed how she looked at me and took care of all the small things that I liked and disliked.

  Hailey might not say that she liked me, but her actions betrayed her. I could see that she had started to develop some feelings for me and I might have started to feel something for her. I didn’t know what I should call these weird feelings. When she blushed at my single glance, I liked it. And when she went out with Cameron, I hated it.

  I didn’t know when she made me addicted to her attention. I hated it when my parents didn’t give me the attention that I needed. My mom used to keep herself busy with her friends and going out with them while leaving my other siblings and me to be looked after by maids or Granddad. My father always stayed busy in running the business deals, but he would take weekends off for the family.

  My siblings and I grew up without receiving attention from our parents. Cameron turned into a rebel and gained all the attention he wanted from our parents. But I knew as well as others that he didn’t deserve the kind of attention that he gained. When they realized that they couldn’t control him from becoming the person he was turning into, they sent him to boarding school.

  On the other hand, I never rebelled against my parents or their rules. I tried to gain my parents’ attention by being the perfect son they wanted. I had never done anything that they didn’t want me to do. When I secured the seat in NYU and selected business as my major, I f
inally got my parents attention. My father started to ask me to accompany him to his office. I got the chance to spend time with my dad, and mom started to stay home. She realized that it was time to free Granddad from extra responsibilities and took part in the household chores.

  I loved my parents. They were not bad parents, but they made thousands of mistakes while raising us. They never let me decide for myself. The day I was born they decided that I would pursue a business like my dad and granddad. They never allowed me to make my life plans. Instead, they told me what I was supposed to do with my life and what I was not supposed to do.

  When my granddad told me his last wish about seeing me married, I wasn’t prepared. It was new for me, something unplanned and I felt scared because somehow I had become the guy who feared the unplanned. This marriage with Hailey made me fear about my future plans, and it scared me.

  What would happen if my life wouldn’t go according to the plan my parents made for me?

  The feelings of attachment with Hailey, enjoying her company, or getting distracted because of her were never included in the life my parents planned for me. I was supposed to graduate and take over my dad’s position as CEO of Edwards Investing Company after his retirement. He was preparing me to become a man he would feel proud, and my granddad trusted me that I would make him proud like my dad did.

  My mother loved me because I never did anything that she didn’t want me to do. Hailey was never part of the plan, and I needed to keep it that way. I needed to stop all these silly feelings towards her. I didn’t want to get distracted from the main goal of my life.

  My parents’ dreams were more important than my own. Hailey was nothing but a beautiful distraction, and she would destroy me if I didn’t push all these feelings away.

  ***

  Hailey

  I was in my room reading when Kate barged into my room.

  “Dad wants you to come downstairs,” she said then left.