"Please this way. The family is waiting inside"
Mr. Ken says with a worn-out smile but he is happy in a certain way, the kind you know when you hear their voice.
I wonder if Jason has his mother here or not. Otherwise, how would they be ready to spend their Christmas away from their own family for the sake of their job? My case stands as an exception though.
Mr. Ken walks us through the path that leads to the main house.
We follow him.
Jason is quiet and so is Carter.
We walk into the house and he takes us to a huge living room, more like a hall.
"Look who is here"
Nate stands up with a pleased expression.
"How have you been?"
Nate asks walking towards Carter.
I try shifting in the corner but Carter's hand grabs my wrist preventing me from moving away.
I look back at him.
He is not looking at Nate. His glance is fixed on the carpet beneath us instead.
Nate gives out an awkward laugh.
"I'll take that as a good sign for now"
Nate says looking at me.
My eyes shift back to Carter trying to observe his body language as much as possible.
His breathing is unusually time-consuming.
His grip on my wrist tightens sometimes and loses at times.
He does not for once look at the people in the room.
"Let me introduce you all. She is Vivian's psychologist, Erica Martin and they are our uncle and aunt. Unfortunately, our cousin, Grace could not get back here this Christmas"
Nate says.
I nod.
They smile.
I look back at Carter because right now several questions are circling my head.
"Our grandma is there upstairs. She cannot walk these days. We all call her Nanna. You should too"
Nate says again with a smile.
For the first time, Carter's head swings up and his hand frees mine.
"Vivian loves her the most after our-"
Nate stops in the middle and I mentally frame the rest of the sentence.
Vivian turns around and walks out of the room.
"Not now"
Nate says walking a step ahead towards his leaving brother.
Carter does not listen anyway.
I walk a step behind him but Nate holds my wrist from behind and I turn around with shock.
He leaves my hand shortly after with an embarrassed look.
"Sorry"
He apologizes quickly moving a few steps back.
"You all came all the way here by road. You must be tired of the long journey"
He says.
"That's fine"
I say politely.
"Take some rest before the evening party, Miss Martin. I invited you on my own so there is no need to push yourself too hard. I will manage Vivian in the meantime"
YOU ARE READING
𝐂𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐋
Romance𝘈 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘢 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘵. Erica Martin works as an intern at a clinic under Dr. Thomas who was once a successful clinical psychologist in his time. Erica was leading a pretty normal life leaving that one incident a year...
