Falling For My Stepbrother

Chapter 1

Falling For My Stepbrother

Chapter 1

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"Does anyone here object to the marriage of Elizabeth Mary and Jonathan Hanri?"

I object, I silently say, but I don't bother raising my voice. What are they going to do if I did? Stop the wedding? Unlikely. All I'll probably do is guarantee a two hour lecture from my dad when we get home.

My stepbrother, Luke, looks at me out of the corner of his eye, a smile gracing his gorgeous features. He knows what I said, and he is thinking the exact same thing. This is the closest we can get to an agreement, seeing as how he avoids me at all costs.

I slouch against my seat as I watch the wedding go on, nearly vomiting when they kiss. Sometimes, I hate my mom for leaving us like this. She's my mom, she was supposed to stick up for me nomater what. Instead, she left us for a guy she meet on the internet. I look at Elizabeth Mary, who is now officially my stepmom, and try to refrain from glaring at her. She will never be able to replace my mother.

My dad met Elizabeth Mary when he was admitted into a hospital a few days after my mom left. Elizabeth Mary was the nurse in charge of him, and they hit off. I figured that that transpired because my dad was heartbroken and he just needed a woman to comfort him temporarily. That temporarily just turned into permanently and forever, if the wedding vows are any indication.

I stand outside the brand new three-story bungalow my dad recently bought. It looks like a typical modern house, with a large front lawn and loads of glass mirrors. From the times I spent eavesdropping outside his study, I know that he managed to buy this at a very cheap price. My dad is in no way poor, but he'd rather save moeny than spend. I think its really stupid, because whenever he gives me money, it'll all be gone in a day.

"Are we ready to enter?" Dad asked, carrying Elizabeth Mary in his arms, bridal style.

"I don't think we'll ever be," I mutter under my breath. In all honesty, I'd rather go back to the condominium we stayed in before.

Luke comes up behind me and grins at my comment, showing his agreement. My dad is too excited about his new bride to bother making out what I say. He fumbles with the keys for a few moments before the door swings open and he runs in, carrying his bride straight to their room.

I don't want to be left alone outside with Luke, so I hurriedly walk into the house. This is my first time being in here, and its not bad. The house is already well-furnished, which shocks me because I expected to have seen an empty, dusty house which my dad will no doubt expect me to clean.

There's more new things here than old. I hardly see any of the furniture from our old apartment. I run my index finger over the table beside the sofa, not a speck of dust.

"It doesn't look bad."

I jump; Luke entered the house. Of course get did. This is also his house, but as long as Elizabeth Mary stays here, this will never be my house. I turn around and nod without looking him in the eye. This is his first time talking to me.

"Where's my room?" He asks.

I shrug, "How would I know? This is my first time being in here too."

He puts his hands in his pockets and leans against the wall, looking extremely sexy. I twist my hands nervously, afraid to move, in case he pounces on me with a verbal onslaught. We stay like that for some time, looking anywhere but each other. I finally give in to temptation and look into his eyes.

The first time I met Luke was when our parents broke the news of their marriage to us. From that time, I was captivated by his eyes. They are a unique electric blue colour that make me weak at the knees whenever I look at them. That's exactly what happens now. My knees start to tingle and I walk towards the spiral wooden steps to prevent them from giving way. As much as I want to, I can't stay here and ogle him the entire day.

"I guess I'll see you around," He says, catching me completely off guard. In case you haven't noticed, he and I aren't really on speaking terms, we're more on avoiding terms.

"Yeah," I reply after staring at him oddly for some time. Then, I rush up the stairs.

There are two doors on this floor. One of it has Luke's name on it and the other has mine. I suppose that the whole of the third floor is the room dad and Elizabeth Mary share. I debate if I should peek into Luke's room or not, but decide against it. I push open the door to my room and smile. Its a good thing that dad has taste.

The walls are painted an aquatic green colour and the floor is made completely out of marble with blue and green swirls in it. I absolutely love the ocean, and my room only reminds me of it. When you're living in a city, there are too much artificial resources for people to appreciate the natural ones.

I touch the aquatic blue comforter on my soft bed, but something catches my eye. A brown teddy bear is lying in the middle of the bed. It is frayed and has some cotton threatening to fall out of its ears. It looks absolutely out of place in my aquatic room, so I pick it up and toss it in the bin.

I walk over to my built in closet and sigh, maybe dad did spend a lot of money on this place. I have a habit of judging people without knowing the facts, and I'm afraid I did it again. I pull it open and nearly jump for joy at the array of clothing that is in here. Looks like this house isn't going to be that bad after all.

I sit at the dining table with a bored expression on my face. Dad tries to make small talk with Luke, but is making zero progress as he it flat out ignoring him. Elizabeth Mary is in the kitchen, cooking.

"Dad," I say, causing him to divert his attention to me, "When is Elizabeth Mary going to be done cooking? I'm starving."

"She'll be out in a minute, Caroline. Also, her name is now Elizabeth Hanri. You can also call her 'mom' if you like."

"She's not my mom," I warn him, "I like calling her Elizabeth Mary, thank you very much."

He sighs but drops the subject. He knows that I'm not agreeing to anything.

Elizabeth Mary comes in a few minutes later with a hot pot of lasagna in her hands. This woman is crazy; who cooks lasagna in a pot?

She sets the pot in the center of the table and smiles at us, "Dig in!"

Her enthusiasm is plain creepy. Dad takes some and sets it on his plate. I have to say, it doesn't look half bad. He starts eating and smiles at her, "This is delicious."

My mother was never the best cook, and when he tried her cooking, he always put on a fake smile and complimented it. This smile is different; its sincere. Just when I think that I can't hate Elizabeth Mary even more, she proves me wrong.

Luke is also digging into the lasagna, so I put some on my plate and try a spoonful. It's so delicious that I literally start crying. My mom could never cook well, but she can. How come she can cook and my mom can't?

I'm being irrational and I know it. I should give Elizabeth Mary a chance but I really don't want to. I only want my mom.

I can feel everybody staring at me, so I leave the table without excusing myself and go up to my room, ignoring my growling stomach.

When I turn on the lights to my room, I know immediately that something is wrong.

The teddy bear that I threw into the bin earlier, is lying on my bed.

 

A/N

Please vote and comment. I'm wondering if I should continue with this story. Let me know what you think.