Brother's Girl✔️

Trenta y cinco

Gabriel's POV

"If you want to look at is that way," Dominique said swinging her legs back and forth. These past few days, we have been spending more time together learning about each other. It was funny the things I learned about her that made me love her more. I looked at her across the balcony and smiled, she made me happy. Somehow I was happy after a long time. I found a reason to live on, "I think it needs to be looked at figuratively," she added. She then started giggling, I questioned why it was so funny. 

We were simply talking about her childhood. She sat on a chair across from me on the balcony making sure to keep our distance since it was still daylight. It was late in the afternoon, Matteo was not here, but Veronica was sleeping below us. My dad was here, I was certain of that. I told him I stopped seeing Dominique. I never cared about the rules, but this was a completely different situation, my dad was right about everything no matter how much I tried to convince myself I had reason. 

The small distance which was probably a few feet seemed like we were miles apart. I wanted her to sit next to me. I wanted to touch her, hold her, and hug her. I looked down at my laptop which was on my lap since I was supposed to be doing some work in lookup Pablo's right-hand man. I was searching his name up in a database, what surprised me was the fact that all I had typed on the search engine was Dominique's name.

I was a grown man acting like a schoolboy, I looked over at her. "You talk about your dad a lot," I told her. She nodded her head, "you've never mentioned your mom," she looked unease for a moment. 

"Haven't talked to my mom since senior year of high school, well at least not a pleasant conversation," she admitted. She got up from the chair and stood next to the railing. "I hated her after she cheated on my dad," she said. I couldn't help but think she was being a hypocrite since she was technically cheating on my brother.

Maybe her situation was different, I closed my laptop and set it aside. I stood up walking next to her on the railing. "You hate your mom for cheating on your dad?" I asked her looking into her brown eyes making sure she understood my point. She nodded her head and frowned. 

"Back then, it seemed black and white. My dad is a wonderful man, wonderful father. I watched my father work hard to get us over here to the states and when we arrived, he was working three jobs to put a roof over our heads and my mother repaid him by cheating on him?" She asked, "I was his daughter, that was the part I saw. I saw a hard working man who did not deserve what he received," she stopped. 

"Why did your mom cheat on him?" I asked her. I would have been mad too if she cheated simply for money when he was working hard to keep the family running. 

"She was in love," she said snickering. "She tried to explain the situation to me, but I ignored him. Apparently, the marriage had been failing for a while. She said it had become more of a job than a romantic relationship. She even said they stopped having sex which is not something a daughter needs to hear about her parents' relationship," she said. I chuckled, "she was in love, has been married for ten years with Camila's dad and they have a kid together."

"My mom sends me a Christmas card every year titled Merry Christmas from the Jones. Her daughter is the spitting image of my mom," she said. 

"Maybe you should talk to her," I suggested. It seemed like she missed the woman who was her mother. I do not believe the situation was black and white. We found ourselves caught in the same situation. All I could think about sometimes is if Matteo finds out even if we have not done anything physical. Would he be angry or sad? Would he punch me, want to kill me? The thoughts were endless, his reaction could be a range of things.

I've seen Matteo get mad before, but not how mad he will be about Dominique and I. I've seen Matteo punch a dad at the park because his son hit Veronica and he would not apologize. "And say what?" She questioned. "Oh hi mom, I know I called you a hoe, a slut, and a bitch, but I'm actually the same as you since I'm cheating on someone who cares about me?" She asked sarcastically. 

She looked at me and shook her head. A tear fell down her cheeks, I felt bad. I hated myself for being the person putting her in this position. I reached for her chin and wiped her tears away with my thumb. She pulled her face away from me. "Dominique, I'm sorry," I told her. I reached over and grabbed her pulling her towards me and giving her a hug. "I am so sorry," I told her again.

I wished I could say she was not her mother to make her feel better, but the truth was she was her mother. The saying was right for once, like mother, like daughter. "No," she pulled away, "you don't have to be sorry, this is my fault," she said.

"Your fault?" I asked her. She nodded her head.

"I am like my mother despite how much I try to deny it. I can't begin to imagine how you must feel about everything going on and I should not make you worry about me."

"Sweetheart, I'll always worry about you," I kissed her forehead gently. She stayed in my arm this time. We stayed in silent, I think we both had plenty to say, but we decided to enjoy the moment. The sun was starting to set and it created the most beautiful image in the sky. Different colors were visible in the almost night sky.

At this moment, everything felt different. We were two people who cared about each other watching the sunset. She was not my brother's girlfriend and I was not her boyfriend's brother; we were just two people who love each other and nothing more.