HOW YOU LIKE THAT | JENLISA

Chapter 105

Jennie

The funeral was held in the family's chapel by the cemetery.

Who would have thought that this would happen? There were two white coffins lowered into the ground which were supposed to be for me and Lisa. Lucas hadn't cried a single tear. He looked like a broken doll.

Lisa had injuries on her face, and people who we didn't even know, were in the house paying their respects and discussing about the horrific events. They looked sorry for Lisa who was going to be killed by a power-crazed, half-brother.

Lucas had opted out of the funeral all together. He wanted to be cooped up in his bedroom, reading comics, and Lisa hadn't pushed him to attend. She'd told me to let him be. I'd seen the sadness seeping in the child's eyes and I knew that he needed time to grasp everything.

Nichkhun had given him shooting training since he was ten, for emergencies which requires him to defend himself. The irony of that was kind of sick.

Grandpa Marco Snr. was also downstairs. Jackson stayed close to the old man, but Grandpa Marco Snr. didn't seem to care about what was going on. He was going on and on about something. Bambam and his girlfriend Mina were huddled in a corner and I'd seen him hug her close, intimately close, as she consoled him. No matter how evil Nichkhun was, he was still Bambam's half-brother.

"Are sure you don't want anyone to stay here with you?" I asked when I went to Lucas' room to check on him. He had the haunted look; the child had killed his own brother. He was trying really hard to act tough. He sniffled, "Jen, are they going to send me to prison?"

I closed the door behind me and went to his bed, where I wrapped him in a hug. "No, of course not. It wasn't your fault, Lucas. Nichkhun would have killed us. You saved our lives."

His large emerald eyes stared up at me, and the similarity with his brother was disturbing. He would grow up to look like Nichkhun, but we would make sure that he was a better man, one who didn't live with greed, and the hunger for power.

"You promise?" He asked with his pinkie out.

I nodded, "I promise."

"Is Lisa sending me away to boarding school? Nichkhun told me that she was going to do that."

I shook my head. "I wouldn't let her send you away."

He raised his pinkie again. "You have to double pinkie promise me."

I tangled my pinkie with his again. "Double promise."

He hugged me again suddenly, and then a loud wail filled the silence. I held on to him until he had no more tears left. He needed someone to give him a bit of maternal love and attention, and I could become that someone.

I went to look for Lisa later but couldn't find her inside the mansion. Then someone told me that they'd seen her walk outside.

Finally, I spotted her. She was sitting by the lake all alone, staring at the serene water ahead. She had taken off her blazer jacket, and sat wearing a dark shirt and slacks, with a few buttons open at the collar and tousled hair. Even with the injuries on her face, it gave her a rugged look. It would have been inappropriate, but I had the sudden desire to kiss her.

I sat down beside her and we stared at the lake wordlessly.

She offered me a flask. "Want a sip?"

I smiled, while taking it from her. I took a gulp, and the alcohol burned my throat. I handed it back to her.

"I should have tried harder to help him." Lisa told me.

I placed my hand over hers. "He was beyond help, Lisa. You can't feel guilty about this."

She nodded, while taking another sip. "How's Lucas holding up?"

"He cried earlier."

"That's good. He shouldn't bottle up his feelings. He likes to act tough, that little one."

"He was worried that you'd send him away to boarding school, said that Nichkhun used to tell him about it, all the time."

"Well, you should have told him that he won't be attending a boarding school. He'll be going to a military school instead." I stared at her in horror. She looked back at me and we burst out laughing. After she recovered, she said, "Nichkhun liked to threaten him with things like that to keep him in line, and I don't think that's a very effective method in disciplining a child. Things are going to be different from now on because I'll be in charge."

"I know that he was your brother, Lisa, but I'm not sorry for what happened. You almost died at his hands!"

She didn't answer, and we sat there in companionable silence.

"She came to me that evening."

I looked at her in question.

"Sorn." She said, "She told me that Nichkhun was planning to make a move, unless I give her my word that there would be a truce. And you know what? I told her yes. I told Sorn that I didn't want violence and I was ready to let it all go, if they moved out of the family mansion to another one. We can co-exist no matter what, so I gave her an ultimatum, and she agreed."

"Then what happened?"

"Instinct, I guess. I knew Nichkhun was hell-bent on killing me." She closed her eyes for a moment, as if she was trying to find the courage to speak. "I knew what Sorn was wearing. I gave you that nightgown on purpose." She turned her whiskey eyes on me. "I got my half-sister killed. Isn't that fucked up?"

I closed my hand around hers. "You did what you had to do, to keep us alive."

She picked up our linked hands and kissed my knuckles, with tears streaking down her face. "I promise you, Jennie. I won't fail you again. I will love you like you deserve to be loved. I will worship you like you're my queen."

I inched closer to her and put my head on her shoulder. "I'm just glad that it's all over."

"Yeah, me too. This is going to be a new beginning." She smiled warmly, "You've tolerated a lot of shit on behalf of my fucked-up family and I'm going to make it up to you, for the rest of my life." She sneaked a glance around to make sure that no one was looking and then brought her lips down on mine.

It's as if that she could read my mind.