March 2011
C H A P T E R T W E N T Y T W O
T H E N E W N E W G I R L F R I E N D
"Katie, it's so nice to see you again." Katie jumped in surprise when she heard the familiar voice of Colin's older brother, Andrew, who had just walked up to her and stood beside her.
She was outside the huge house on the veranda that overlooked the huge grounds of the house when he spotted her and noticed she was alone.
"Hi Andrew, I didn't see you there for a minute." She laughed a little.
"Where's Colin?" He was surprised he had left her on her own.
"He's inside with um, Olivia." The woman's name burned her tongue, but she really wished it hadn't. "I just needed some air so I came out here."
"She's a real handful huh?" Andrew nudged Katie who clearly felt some kind of apprehensive talking about the subject. His light-heartedness calmed her down a little and she let out a small chuckle after he spoke.
"I don't think I should say." Katie raised her eyebrows then laughed again. Not only did she not think it was appropriate, she genuinely didn't know what to say about Colin's new girlfriend. Well, she wasn't that new anymore, they had been together since December. He seemed to be completely smitten with Olivia and everything about their relationship made Katie green with jealousy in the beginning, but right then she just felt deflated. Also, Olivia didn't seem to like Katie very much which also made it difficult for her to be around the couple.
"Oh come on, we're all thinking it. Colin hasn't figured it out yet but Olivia is really one to watch." Katie furrowed her brows at Andrew's forwardness.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Katie seemed a lot more offended than he had expected.
"Well... She's different to Laila, she's smart and she knows exactly how to make Colin do what she wants. She has him wrapped around her little finger. It's quite strange seeing my brother like that with a girl."
"I don't think we should be critiquing Colin's relationship. He's old enough to work things out himself." Katie didn't believe a word of what she was saying, but she felt the need to lie and pretend Colin had everything worked out- she didn't like how Andrew was already analysing his brother's girlfriend when he probably didn't know much about her. Maybe she was being over sensitive because of all the things Colin had told her about his over-bearing and criticising family but Andrew needed to reassure her he didn't mean to offend.
"My apologies Katie if you think I'm over stepping, but with Colin, sometimes you have to."
"I can't say I agree." She was still being polite while trying to express her opinion, influenced clearly by Colin because she had seen first-hand how affected he was by his family's constant criticism.
"Look, you don't know Colin like I do. I'm not like Kevin, I know Colin might have already tried to distort your view of me because he hates us all but I'm really just trying to look out for him. We all are, minus Kevin maybe..." he said the last sentence more so to himself than to Katie but she still heard it. "I don't think Olivia's good for him. Sure, she's not as bad as Laila but there's still something about her that just doesn't sit well with me. I'm trying to figure it out."
Katie understood although she refrained from voicing her agreement for Colin's sake. She felt like it would be betraying him to be talking behind his back about Olivia with Andrew. She did however, think Andrew was not like Kevin despite Colin tarring his whole family with the one brush. Kevin was mean and condescending, he always had something snide to say to Colin when he saw him but Andrew, he was different. Colin just hadn't figured that out yet.
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The CEO's Secret✔️
Romance"Please Katie, don't go. I need you, you're good for me." He begged desperately for her to stay. She was the glue that had been keeping him together for so long, if she left he could fall apart completely and be left a hopeless pile of dust that cou...
