THE WAY WE STAY

Chapter 14

JANE'S P.O.V

"You've been coming home late for the past week."

Mark's voice echoed in the dimmed room when I entered the house. He was in the sofa playing game on his phone, waiting for me.

"It's late, indeed." I put my bag and washed my hands in the kitchen. "Don't you have morning class tomorrow?"

He shrugged, avoiding the question.

"I can't say I'm not worried. Where have you been, sis?"

"I'm at Riley's house looking for the twins." I stared meaningfully into his eyes. "Can we, uh, do this tomorrow?"

"Let's make you comfortable, then."

Mark helped to grab my bag and brought it upstairs. He even made sure that I have had my water bottle nicely placed next to my bed. He even kissed my forehead before left the room. The baby brother just knew how to comfort me without asking questions.

***

"Smells good," Mark jumped a couple of stairs to reach the kitchen counter. "Pancakes with blueberry!"

"Yes." I put two pieces of it on his plate. "Good morning."

"Whoa..." He always gave the same cute reaction everytime I made him his favorite breakfast combo. "Hmm..."

"Is it good?" I chewed mine and sat across the table.

"Thanks for this." Mark nodded. "But now I demand a payback for being a good boy last night."

"What about morning class?"

"What about Riley and the twins?"

I stared at my coffee cup. "Cassandra had nosebleed at school about a week ago. Riley was alone, so I offered to help."

Mark nodded, though rather unsatisfied at my quick answer. That was also because he caught my stiff expression. He raised an eyebrow after, expecting more to my story.

"Markie, do you think you can help me?"

"About what?"

"Proving me wrong." I sighed.

"Something bad happened?"

"Rather my unconscious mind going crazy," I cleared my throat. "They mentioned his name."

"Gosh, not this again." Mark cleared his throat in tense reaction. "Don't be ridiculous, Jane."

"I told you, I know I'm being completely delutional to even think about it. But they mentioned his name."

"So what? What are the odds, anyway? Don't you think there are thousands of people having the same name in this town alone?"

He stared deep into me with those angry eyes. I knew Mark would not like it whenever I brought the topic. The past was never not dark to us when it was about him.

"Never mind, forget it." I avoided the eye contact and washed my dish.

"Hey... Okay I'm sorry." Mark walked up to me and held my hand. "What happened?"

"Yesterday's awful." I sighed. "I was accidentally trapped in their domestic issues. Something bad happened and his name was brought to the table."

"How so?"

"I'll tell you everything when it's time. But, didn't you ever mention about meeting Joe few months ago?"

"Yeah, imagine how I wanted to punch him-"

"Can you help me find out where he works?"

"Huh." Mark chuckled in sarcastic tone.