Chapter 2: Her Brother

702 11 2
                                    

Cover of the Korean version of this book on the side --->

"It is foolish to pretend that one is fully recovered from a disappointed passion. Such wounds always leave a scar." - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

* * * * *

Annie blinked her eyes fast as she registered the tall man standing in front of her. He squinted her eyes and glared at him before shouting loudly, quite attracting the attention of the customers. "What the fuck? What are you doing here, Mike?!" She demanded. Maybe it was the fact that he came all the way to her favorite coffee shop and meet her there, but then again, that reasoning still sounds weird.

It wasn't like she was angry or anything. In fact, to her, it was as if she was mocking her brother, even though to other people, it might look like she was starting an argument. Maybe it was the fact that he came all the way to her favorite coffee shop and meet her there, but then again, that reasoning still sounds weird.

"Wassup y-- Wait a second. Did you just curse? What the hell is that tone I'm hearing, young lady?! Is that the proper way to greet you brother who came all the way here to visit his super cute but annoying sister who's so snobbish and mean to his brother who's thinking of leaving right this instant?" Michael Clifford -- Annie's big brother and also known as Mike -- said, and was practically breathing heavily as he relayed his oh-so-speech in one breath.

He was definitely the master of blurting out things in one breath.

She straightened herself and picked up her things from the floor with the help of her brother. She took her belongings from Mike and huffed.

"What are you doing here anyway? Shouldn't you be at home? Your classes don't start till ten," she said, pertaning to Mike being a senior and her being a junior.

As a senior, who is soon-to-be-graduating, Mike only had a few classes to attend to. The downside at that is the fact that he had more priorities to finish aside from classes, like on-the-job trainings, outdoor seminars, graduation pictures, and so on. She was partly happy that she happened to see her brother though. After all, being a loner has some consequences, too, and two of them are the facts that you can't trust anybody and that you don't have someone to hang with during your breaks.

He gasped dramatically, "You don't want me here?! What the hell, Annie. I'm hurt." He briefly looked at her back, noticing the curious glances of the boys inside the coffee shop. He glared at them, noticing how they were staring at his sister's body, probably thinking of perverted things.

'Men,' he thought, 'Oh, wait. I'm one of them.' He mentally patted his back for realizing that. If Annie heard this, she would've slapped the back of his head instead and lecture him for being the stupidest person on Earth.

She rolled her eyes and glared intensely at her brother. She knew better. He's not likely go to school this early just to visit her. He's not the study-type of person. As much as she was partly happy to see her brother, she was pissed. She knew that he came for something as his actions seemed otherwise -- he was really awkward and suspicious based from Annie's analyzation, and oh-boy, one should definitely that as she's most keen from her observations.

Mike raised both his hands in surrender and sighed, "Fine, whatever. I didn't come here to visit you. I came because the guys wanted to meet in that shop over there in thirty minutes since it's the first day of classes. I was about to enter when I saw you practically running for your life, so I purposely bumped into you and--"

"You what?!", she shrieked, "Wow I can't believe you're really childish, and to think that you're my brother. And I can't believe that you're still hanging out with those... with those... people. I already told you, they're bad influences. Just you wait, till I tell this to mom and dad. You're so dead."

Mike rolled his eyes. "Whatever. That's not gonna change my decision. They're my friends and not yours," he said, sighing before contuing, "Why do you hate them so much anyway? They're good guys. You haven't even met them in the first place so don't judge them." He said.

"I don't need to meet them to know their way with people. They're flirts. They practically flirt with every female specie they lay their eyes on. They are stupid and they just fool around. I won't be surprised if you're already like them, or maybe, you already are!" She turned her hazel eyes into tiny slits, emphasizing how those boys were flirts as she accused her brother.

Mike deeply sighed. "Whatever. I'm going. Aren't you going to class?  It's," he glanced at his wristwatch briefly and added, "7:05 already. You're already late." He smirked at her.

She gasped, realizing the time. "Ya! Micheal Duane Clifford! I hate you! You made me late! Argh!" She gathered her books  to her chest and ran for her life, not before giving her brother a menacing glare.

Mike sighed, deeply. He was slightly mortified of the fact that his sister was still affected by her past. He couldn't blame her though. It really seemed like she went through a lot. He might not know the entire story, but from the looks of it, she was still devasted, and he wanted her out of it. He wanted his brother to be happy. He wanted to see her smile, even just one, and he was determined that his friends will make that happen. After all, the great Micheal Clifford couldn't do anything to change that, so maybe the whole group can.

"One day, I'll let you meet them. You can't always be that cold to everyone, Annie. I miss your smiles. You need to meet new people and learn to move on."

With one last final sigh, he went inside the coffee shop and sat on the table waiting for his friends since he arrived early.

* * * * *

Author's Note:

I'm going to share a trivia. I'm not actually a fan of 5SOS. Heck, I don't even know them personally; only be face, since the guys are particularly handsome especially one guy... Anyways, I won't be incorporating true life characterictics and personalities since, again, I don't know them personally. You can say that I admire them, but again, I'm not a fan. I'm trying to like them personally though as of now, since I've been reading 5SOS fanfictions here on Wattpad and they seemed like a happy bunch.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I did!

Bittersweet Coffee [A 5SOS, Luke Hemmings Fanfiction]Where stories live. Discover now