Chapter 5. The Phone (1)

At night, Carl finally returned to his home. He looked over at his brother’s house which was bustling with loud music and laughter. He was throwing a party.

His brother was an outgoing person and very popular among the girls. Although they shared many features which they inherited from their father, their personalities were totally opposite.

Zach was always the troublemaker in the family because he was their grandmother’s favorite. When their mother died after giving birth to him their grandparents took him and raised him until he was three years old. Then their father married their stepmother and brought him back to the mansion.

Although he was an aloof person, Carl deeply cared for his little brother because he always reminded him of their mother who he inherited his bubbly personality from.

***

Inside Zach’s house, the partying was going on at the swimming pool area. Several girls were clad in tiny bikinis that barely concealed their bodies. And men were in their swimming trunks, some of them were inside the swimming pool while others were drinking at the poolside.

A girl with a petite figure suddenly ran to Zach’s side, she held his arm and shouted in the midst of the loud music.

“Brother, Brother, Big bro is back,” she said, excitedly pointing to the other bungalow where a black sedan was packed all of a sudden.

Zach was seated on the poolside and drinking with some friends when Lucy suddenly ran to his side.

He stood up and looked over his brother’s bungalow and saw him coming out of the car. He sprinted to the fence excitedly and called out in a loud voice waving his hand. “Big bro, Big bro.”

Carl was thinking about the girl he met earlier that day while looking at the damaged phone that he took out of his pants pocket.

“Clara Yang,” he whispered and smiled to himself.

He was still daydreaming when he suddenly heard his brother calling out. And quickly, he hid the phone in his pocket and frowned then looked up.

Zach noticed his brother shuffling some pink device in his pocket. He looked on excitedly and instantly activated his paparazzi mode. He jumped through the small fence and rushed to his brother’s side.

“Big bro, what was that? What was that?” he asked excitedly.

It must be something important that was why his brother was hiding it from him.

“Nothing,” Carl replied curtly and turned around to enter his home.

Seeing his brother about to leave without satisfying his curiosity, Zach quickly devised a plan and anxiously said, “Big bro, come join the party. There’s a lot of alcohol and…” He paused and think for some seconds, then smiled devilishly.

“Lucy is also here, see?” he said, pointing to where Lucy was sitting with some of her friends at the poolside.

Zach knew his brother was overprotective of Lucy and hated to see her partying especially when there was alcohol. And she had already drunk quite a lot after seeing that she was swaying already. ‘Hehehe, Bro, I got you now,’ he thought mischievously.

He had invited his stubborn stepsister to the party to play a prank on her. He was planning that after she got drunk, he would take her picture and threaten her to give him the car their big brother bought for her or he would send the pictures to their father.

Although he was older than her, they always acted childishly playing pranks on each other now and then. The last time she secretly put a bug in his shoes when he went to the mansion and made him a laughing stock in front of all the servants. Now was the perfect opportunity to have his revenge.

When Carl heard Zach say Lucy’s name, he looked up at where he was pointing and spotted Lucy sitting at the poolside with a sleepy expression.

He glared at Zach and sighed helplessly. He knew immediately that he was trying to play a prank on her again, they were always like that, acting like children.

He walked to the other bungalow and went straight to where Lucy was sitting with Zach trailing behind him.

When he reached the poolside, everyone instantly became quiet. Everyone knew this cold and aloof brother of Zach. The ruthless CEO who didn’t mingle much with people.

They didn’t dare utter a word, he looked like he was in a bad mood, no one wanted to be a scapegoat. And those that were sitting beside Lucy scrambled off.

Lucy had already started throwing her drunken fit which made it difficult for Carl to carry her. While he was struggling to pick her up, Zach secretly put his hand in his pocket and removed the pink phone then he quickly hid it behind him.

When Carl finally managed to carry her, he gave Zach an ‘I’ll deal with you later’ look and walked off to his house.

After he left, everyone heaved a sigh of relief and they continued with their party.

Someone came and stood beside Zach who was already gloating over his success while looking at the pink damaged phone happily like a trophy.

“Dude, you’re in trouble,” he said in a sympathetic tone. He had seen it when Zach removed the phone from his brother’s pocket.

He knew how Zach’s brother deal with him because he had witnessed it before. He shivered when he remembered the look on the man’s face.

“Hehe.” Zach chuckled. “He’s my brother, he’s not gonna kill me,” he added, still looking at the phone in his hand.

His friend shook his head and sighed. ‘Zach will never learn,’ he thought. And he left him to continue partying with the others.

After the party was over, Zach excitedly went inside his home. He took a bath and changed into comfortable clothes.

He took out the damaged phone with awe and lay on his bed looking at it carefully. “Hehehe, what is Big bro up to? This is obviously a girl’s phone,” he murmured and tried to switch it on.

***

When Carl entered his home, he took the already sleeping Lucy to one of the guestrooms and wiped her face with a wet cloth before tucking her in bed.

He came out of the room and went to the master bedroom, then he took a shower and changed into a pair of black pajamas that made his fair skin look paler, and his black hair which was still wet dripped droplets of water onto his face making him look celestial.

While drying his hair, he remembered the phone that was inside his pocket and quickly went to remove it while smiling and thinking about the girl.

He picked up the clothes and felt the pockets but found them empty. And his expression instantly darkened.

“ZACH.” He growled.