Nick glanced around as he sits on the table. He’s back in the restaurant where he first saw the mysterious woman. After Kevin and Audrey left, he also went out of the house to go to town. He wore a cap to hide his features and his slightly bruised face. Damn Kevin! He’s going to pay for what he did. He looked around again. He wanted to see her but that’s just it. He still couldn’t find the courage to walk over and introduce himself, which is unusual for him.
“Here’s your order, Monsieur.” The waiter said and placed Nick’s food on the table. It wasn’t long before since he started eating his food when the waiter went back and gave him a folded piece of newspaper. “This is for your reading pleasure, Sir.” The waiter bowed and left.
“Huh?” Nick frowned. He didn’t ask for the paper. He looked around and saw the woman he came to see. She’s not looking at him, as she is busy clearing up her things and standing up. He didn’t realize that she’s here all along. He watched as the woman leaves the restaurant. Shaking his head, he turned to the newspaper in front of him and that’s when he saw her.
There’s a one-third column space on one page and it belongs to the woman. Her name is Sophia LaCrouix. Nick raised an eyebrow. Her last name is French. Hmmm. She’s a columnist in Paris’ leading newspaper. He continued to read as the column’s subject for the day is about the influence of political families in the society. Thankfully and surprisingly, the article was in English. And she’s a good writer. He wondered why the waiter gave him a copy of her column. He probably have noticed him there everyday and thought about helping him know about Sophia.
“I wasn’t surprised that you’re reading the newspaper because a Harvard graduate like you should, but a French newspaper? You never cease to surprise me, Nick.” AJ said, coming out from nowhere. He invited himself to sit in front of Nick.
“Why are you here? Aren’t you going to a friend?”
“I just did and then I saw you chilling out in here and decided to join you. I don’t want to go home yet and see Kevin. Fuck that man. He pissed me off.” AJ muttered.
Nick only shrugged as he drinks his Coke. AJ takes the newspaper and tries to look at it. “This is insane. I can’t even understand this. How could we have different languages? It’s just making the world a complicated place.” He shakes his head. He took a cigarette and started smoking. “I just got this silly thought. Kevin just can’t be our brother. How could Dad produced a barbaric son like that?”
Nick smirked at AJ’s chattiness. He looked at his brother. “You know what? For the first time, I agree with you.”
“Am I a genius or what?”
“You’re a what.” Nick chuckled. “So, what do we do?”
“Nothing.” AJ takes a drag on his cigarette.
“Oh, come on!”
“I’m not a bad person, Nick. Besides, you’re the one he hit not me.” AJ laughed. He pulled down Nick’s cap, covering his face.
~~~
“No kidding,” AJ is laughing hard when Nick told him that Paris asked him out before he flew to France. “She did that? She’s really unbelievable!”
“Paris?” Howie raised an eyebrow. “She’s like almost any other women you’ve dated, Nick.” Audrey, who’s just silent all throughout her brothers’ conversation, just listened. So did Kevin, who is sitting quietly beside her.
“Hey, that’s not true. Ingrid Phillips was a nice woman.” Nick frowned. He lights up another cigarette.
“The deceased didn’t count,” AJ rolled his eyes. Nick’s girlfriend died in a car accident after she’s been with Nick the night before. It was all over the news as the sixteen-wheeler truck ran over her car and crashed it into pieces, including her.
“Why is it always me? How about you, AJ? You change girlfriends almost frequently too.” Nick pointed to his brother. “Aside from that, you’ve been doing coke.”
“Hey! That’s foul. I’m not. I’m clean!” AJ stood up. “I’m may be looking like this with all the tattoo but I’m clean.” Of course, he is. He’s a businessman and he doesn’t want to do anything that may harm his name and reputation to his clients and colleagues. They respected him in LA.
“Really?” Brian smirked. Kevin shakes his head. The tension around them is heating up once again.
AJ turned to him. “What do you mean by that, huh?”
“You looked like crap and dirty and you’re telling us that you’re clean. Come on,” Brian smirked again.
“Brian…” Howie warned as AJ walked towards their brother and pulled him by the collar of his shirt.
“Fuck, you don’t know me, Brian!” AJ said between gritted teeth. He felt Howie held his arm to stop him. “Shut up, Howie. You should go back to your mama, you mama’s boy,” he smirked at that.
“Mama’s boy?” Nick teased. Howie frowned and punched AJ on the face. Soon enough, the two found themselves engaged in a fight. Nick was just smirking then turned to Brian. “Hey, Brian. You don’t look like a PE teacher. You’re too small to be one.”
“Really? What about you, pig?” Brian pushed him. Nick’s face reddened at that. Pig! This little man should know who the pig is. He hit Brian on the face and received a blow in return.
When Kevin and Audrey saw what’s going on among the four, they stood up and tried to break the fight. They were like kids, picking up a fight and calling each other names. Audrey tried to stop Brian and Nick but was too afraid to get involved as well. Kevin saw her and pulled the two apart. And then, punched each one on the stomach to weaken them. He did the same with Howie and AJ. Kevin thought it’s the end as he watched them writhe in pain. But he didn’t see it coming. The four of them lunged towards him and got him down on the ground.
“We had enough of you, you asshole!” Nick screamed in anger as they hit Kevin altogether. Audrey yelled for them to stop. Kevin struggled to free himself away from them. Their sister tried pulling each one away from the eldest one as tears continued to flow down her face. She yelled for Oliver and the other servants in the mansion to help her.
“Stop it!” Audrey tried again. But they won’t listen. “Alright, you won’t stop? I’ll leave and I won’t tell you where I’ve gone. It doesn’t matter if there are men in town, probably bad people. I’ll go on my own.” She immediately ran out of the house. When her brothers registered what she said, they stopped. But she’s already gone.
