"Licia, where's Susie? Is she alright?

" His voice softened, and there was a hint of a plea in it., My heart squeezed at the sound of him calling me Licia again., Just then, the door to the examination room swung open, and there was Susie, walking out. I handed her the phone,

"It's for you.

", Susie took the phone, a bit startled, and placed it to her ear. I moved a bit away but could still hear her,

"I got a bit of motion sickness from the flight, and Licia was worried, so she brought me here for a check-up... No worries, the doc said my heart's fine, just need some rest.

",

"I know, with Licia looking after me, what's there to worry about... Bro, I made it clear, she's the only sister-in-law I recognize. If you try swapping her out, you're losing me too...

", Susie's words made my chest swell with emotions, and I had to breathe deep, like a fish gasping for air.,

"...Bro, trust me, I'll take good care of her too...

", Susie raised her voice a bit on the last bit, making sure I heard her., This girl was breaking her back worrying about Ernest and me, but what she didn't get was love isn't something you can force with a helping hand.,

"Licia, you alright?

" Susie came over to ask me., I had managed to compose myself and looked at her,

"Me? I'm fine. How about you? Feeling better?

", She handed me the report,

"See, told you it was nothing. But you had to spend the money to make sure.

",

"I'd rather spend it than have your brother on my case if anything had happened,

" I joked.,

"He wouldn't dare. You're more precious to him than he is to himself,

" Susie never missed a chance to build up my relationship with her brother., I didn't respond, just took her back to the hotel., In the night, as Susie slept, I found myself wide awake, scrolling through my phone. There were several unread messages., Fanny: Any romantic encounters?, Fanny: Send a pic., Fanny: Haley Perez's kid got, discharged, weighed in at 5.7 lbs et, The couple was ecstatic. That deadbeat mom hasn't visited even once. , Fanny: Attached a photo, a chubby-faced baby that bore a resemblance to Haley., I closed the photo and snapped one of the sleeping Susie, sending it to Fanny: My romantic encounter., Fanny didn't reply, but I scrolled through other messages., Grant was wondering why I hadn't responded to his earlier messages., I chose to ignore him, moving on to see a message from a stranger., I didn't recognize the name, as I usually had everyone saved under their real names. Thinking it was some ad, I was about to delete it when I saw:

"Looking forward to our snooker match, girl.

" , Immediately, my thoughts flew to that guy Brown who had been pestering me. Hadn't Ernest just dealt with him? How was he daring to bother me again? , And how did he even get added to my contacts?, As I was about to delete him, a new message popped up from his end., I paused, curious to see what else he had to say.,

"Welcome to the beautiful Houston.

", Reading this, a chill ran down my spine. It meant Brown knew I was here., Search the website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.