Parrot (JaDine AU)

Chapter 9

Nadine's POV

"So tomorrow's finally the day." Sue said, grinning.

I just nodded. I bet she is more excited than I am.

"How do you feel?" Loisa asked me.

"I don't really feel anything in particular." I told her, without thinking. I regretted it at once when I saw her worried expression. She must know what this is for her brother. And she's worried of what this is for me. Honestly, I don't know myself.

"It's probably still not registering in her head." Sue said, giggling. "Tomorrow when you finally realized what really is happening, I bet you'd be overwhelmed." She said.

I just shook my head at her in exasperation and amusement.

"I'm really glad it is you..." Loisa suddenly said.

I smiled at her and nodded. "I'm glad it's your brother."

I'm surprised when I realized I wasn't lying.

"Can I ask you something?" I addressed Loisa quietly after a while. Both of us are watching Sue put on a facial mask. It was quite amusing, actually.

"What is it?" She asked back.

"I'm just curious... about you and Jerome." I told her.

She smiled fondly as I said his name.

"What about us?" She asked.

"How did you do it?" I said without thinking. I realized I might have sound rude too late. I looked at her apologetically, but she just shook her head, grinning.

"You heard from James about our parents?" She asked.

I just nodded.

She gave me a small smile. "I've known about their story since I was little." She said. "It's also what I expect would happen to me. And it really came. A proposal for marriage, covering a proposal for a merge."

I looked at her, waiting.

"I found out it was your company, and I thought it would be Daniel so I told myself I'm lucky. I've known him since he became friends with James. But then I found out that it wasn't him. He'd refused..." Loisa trailed off.

"It was... with Kuya Echo?" I asked, surprised. I never heard anything about this.

She nodded. "That was the original plan. And that was when Jerome confessed to me. He told me he'd have feelings for me for a long time, but he just didn't have the guts to say anything. He told me he regrets that because it seems it was too late. I told him it was too late from the beginning. But then..." She smiled a little sadly, playing with her fingers.

"My brother found out." She said with a sigh. "Suddenly he was in front of me, kneeling. He apologized for not being there for me. For trying to escape from our parents and leaving me behind. I never thought of it that way though." She said, smiling sadly.

"He told me I should be with Jerome. That he'd watched us and he knows there is something worth risking."

"And then he changed." She continued saying. "He started doing what our father always asked him. He didn't before. He was a bit of a rebel. And then he told father he wanted to be heir. My father was pleased, James had never shown any interest to the company. And that's how it became like this."

She looked at me. "I guess it's my fault. I'm sorry."

I shook my head at her. "It's not. And I realized, it isn't as bad as I thought it would be."

It was sometime after midnight when the two of them finally fell asleep. Moving carefully, I stood up from our bed. I still wasn't feeling sleepy. And I wanted to be by myself for a while, so I took my robe and silently walked out our room.