Underestimated Heiress

CHAPTER 19 - Siblings

Jess went to her room, she was lying on her bed and was thinking about her new mission. She knew it would be very difficult but she wanted to get some information from their parents. She thought of including Ethan in her plan, she sent a text message to Ethan, "Walk with me tomorrow after breakfast towards the lake, I want to take a small stroll in the garden but don't want to do it alone."

Ethan was in his room playing the same video game in which he lost to his dad. He was upset about losing an opportunity of 'no work and only play', a kind of holiday and most of this was happening because of his sincere sister. He was lying on the bed, on his stomach, dressed in his pajamas when his phone pinged, the phone was next to him and 'sis' popped up. He was curious to see what his sister wanted to say. He read the message and replied, "Forget it, I am upset with you and will not be doing any favours" and then he sent another message, "at least for a few days." He didn't want to be rude to his sister when she was sick, he felt bad when he sent 1st message so he quickly sent another message.

Jess smiled when she saw Ethan's 2nd message, she thought, "he is so cute, he can't even act being upset. Such a softie, how will he handle things in future." Jess's smile disappeared when she thought about the possibility where people might take advantage of her brother because he is so softhearted. She replied to Ethan,"Please, what if I faint due to weakness and there is no one around to find me in time." Jess felt bad that she was emotionally blackmailing her brother.

Ethan replied faster than before, "take 4 servants with you. I am sure they will also be able to carry you back in the house and inform us if you faint."

Jess's guilty thought vanished when she saw the reply, she was feeling sleepy and wanted to finish this conversation, "Monkey, I have to discuss a secret with you and need a quiet place where no one can hear us. You know our servants are loyal to our parents, they will not hesitate before sharing any details they hear. I don't want to take any risks"

Ethan took a while before he replied back, "Ok."

Jess took a sigh of relief, finally her brother had agreed to meet. She will have to think this through before she executes it, she might not get another chance for a very long time so there was no scope for mistakes.

Next day, Ethan and Jess went for a walk near the lake. Ethan asked Jess, "So, did you only make 'secret' as an excuse to make me walk with you?"

Jess looked at him annoyed, she was waiting until they reached a quiet place but still her brother acted so dumb and asked her this question where they could be heard by anyone. She replied, "I have nothing to say, how can you be so dumb?"

Jess was trying to hint Ethan to keep quiet, but he thought he was fooled by his sister and now she was mocking him, so he said, "Ok, I am going back, I don't want to walk with you." and he turned back.

"Don't you dare take a step forward! Idiot! don't you see our parents are still looking at us. Why can't you be a bit patient? They are already suspicious about us going on a walk together, somehow I made an excuse but now you are making things difficult." Jess said she was clearly upset.

Ethan turned around and said, "sorry", he made a sad expression like an emoji. He realized how serious Jess was, she was definitely not fooling him. They started walking towards the lake again.

Jess said after they reached close to the lake, "I want to know our parents' past. All we know is they fell in love and got married, then one day they felt like they should live on the farm that's why they moved here. But I feel they are hiding things from us, for example, yesterday during the race competition, mom said that we don't know anything about dad. What did she mean? I know it won't be easy to get our parents to tell us things that they want to hide. But I want to try, they will at least share a few things."

Ethan was confused, he had never given this a thought. He was still trying to remember what their mom said yesterday but he still agreed with his sister and asked,"what do you need me to do?"

Jess looked at Ethan and said,"I am still thinking, I am both afraid and curious. I think we should directly ask, they might answer, but we should not push too much. I want you to ask questions with me, if we both show some curiosity they might give us some answers. But be careful, don't cross a line and if you do, don't blame me if you are punished or scolded."

Now Ethan was scared, he thought, "Jess was trying to play with fire, why was she even curious?" Ethan started gritting his teeth, he was annoyed but couldn't do anything about it. He will not leave his sister to fend for herself but instead support her whenever she needs him. After a long pause, Ethan agreed.

Jess was still thinking about it, she was still not confident enough to do this but she was confident that she had to try. They both walked back, both lost in their own thoughts, their parents observed this and thought both of them had argued.

Soon it was lunch time and as discussed they were going to have a family event organized by Jess after lunch. Jess and Ethan looked nervous, they had multiple eye contact during lunch and they were abnormally quiet. This made both Jenna and Eric concerned, after a long silence, finally, Jenna couldn't hold back and asked, "Ok, spill out, what's going on?"

Jess and Ethan were terrified, they were not ready, their mom should not find out about what was going on in their minds. Their expressions scared both Eric and Jenna, Jenna asked, "what did you both fight about? You look so scared and nervous, please share your problem with us. We will try to help you."

Jess sighed in relief while Ethan answered quickly, "no, we didn't fight." Jess kicked Ethan on his toes, Ethan shouted, 'Ah!'

Their parents were now annoyed, Jenna asked in a serious tone, "what do you mean you didn't fight? If you didn't then what is all this about?"

This time Jess took an opportunity to reply before Ethan tried to give another stupid answer, "mom, what Ethan meant was, we had a fight but it was nothing serious and we resolved it."

"Ok, then why are you so quiet?", Jenna asked

"Because I asked for some time to cool down," Jess replied.

Jenna nodded understanding, but she was a mom, she still had her doubts but she decided to wait.

After lunch, Jess requested the family to meet in her dad's study. She chose study because it had soundproof walls and even if they shared a very important secret with each other, no one would be able to hear it. Jess looked at her dad as if seeking permission, Eric nodded in response.