Evan's POV

"Evan!" I closed the file on hearing her voice. Just the person I was expecting.

"Kate. You made it." I forced a fake smile on my face to greet her. She gave me a 'are-you-serious' look before pulling the chair and taking a seat.

"Of course I did. You called and I had to. Besides, it's not like I am living in some other state." I let out a small chuckle.

"So nice of you." Obviously she didn't get the sarcasm behind my praise.

"That requires you taking me to lunch. What about we go to-" She was cut off by a knock at the door.

"Come in." A small smile fell on my lips on seeing Brae at the door. She looked between us before instinctively taking a step in.

"Should I come back later?" Though she asked, I knew not even a bit did she want to leave.

"Yes."

"Of course not." Kate looked at me in surprise, shocked that I would allow her to interrupt us.

"Come in." Brae gently closed the door behind her and walked straight towards me. She took me by surprise when she bent her head down and attached her lips to mine. I kissed her back, enjoying the territorial side of Brae. I pulled away and smiled at her.

"Hold on. What's happening?" Kate's voice brought our eyes back to her face.

"We happened to have solved our differences and now we are back together." Her mouth hung open at my words, like she couldn't believe her ears.

"What!?" She almost shrieked.

"You don't seem too glad." The mock in Brae's voice was too hard to not notice.

"Of course not!" She snapped at her.

"I thought my happiness will make you happy. You're my friend right?" I asked in the most innocent tone.

"I am your friend and that's why I am not happy. I can't just let you get back with that bloody gold digger. She is-" She cut herself off, seemingly some kind of realization sunk in.

"She told you, right? She fed you with all those lies." So her act wasn't over yet!

"Lies?" I raised a brow at her.

"Yes, Evan. I know what she must have told you. She had threatened me to stay away from you or she would tell you that years back I was the one who jeopardized your relationship." I couldn't help but chuckle. It took her a second to fetch up a lie, a poorly structured one though.

"Sorry but threats? I thought that's your thing." Kate shot a venomous glare at her before looking back at me.

"Evan, you have to believe me. I would never-" I cut her off when I played the voice recording on my phone.

"I didn't separate them sweetheart. Brae's credulous mind did. She is suffering because she is stupid and as for Evan, he isn't suffering now. He doesn't need your stupid sister when I am there for him."

"Because I love him ! And Brae deserves this for interfering in our lives. She shouldn't have been there in the first place and Evan would have been mine."

I hit the stop button and the room was met with instant silence. Her eyes were trained on the phone in my hand.

"I believe you, Kate." I was waiting for her to say something, cook up another excuse and shift the blame.

"What? You don't have anything to say? She folded her arms against her chest, a hard malicious look coming over her face.

"So, you are picking up from where you left, I guess. Am I getting an invite to your wedding?" Brae let out a humorless chuckle.

"Are you seriously asking that? When we decide to get engaged, you'll be the last person on the list of invitees to the party. Maybe I can make you a doggie bag." Kate's face flushed with anger at her words.

"Well you couldn't do anything when all these years I was successful in throwing you out of his life." Though her comeback made very little sense, she looked satisfied.

"You seriously didn't think that you're getting away with all this with just a bit of humiliating exposure within closed walls, did you?" I asked in a low cold voice. It was strange how weeks back she was such an important person in my life and now everything about her disgusted me to the core.

"Well how exactly do you plan to punish me? Enlighten me." I acknowledged her with a condescending sneer.

"Let's not spoil the fun. You'll see when it happens." The falter in her confidence was evident in her face.

"I am your friend, Evan." She shouted, desperation dripping from her voice.

"You are anything but. You're just a backstabbing bitch." Brae snarled at her.

"I did this to save you from this filthy woman."

"Shut up! How dare you speak to her like that standing in front of me? I felt Brae slip her hand into mine and intertwine our fingers in an attempt to cool me down.

"See yourself out of this building, right now." With a clenched jaw and furious eyes, she stormed out of the cabin. Looking back at Brae I found her still staring at the floor.

"I wanted to see her behind the bars. Only if I had some proofs of her blackmailing!" Brae huffed before I saw her sinking into some deep thought.

"Brae?" She blinked before turning her gaze towards me.

"Yes?"

"What's wrong?" She furrowed her eyebrows, confused.

"Nothing's wrong?" She tried to play it off with a casual chuckle. I tilted my head slightly to the side showing my clear disbelief.

"I wasn't thinking about anything in particular. I just zoned out." Her shrug didn't make it any more believable. I gripped her chin and made her face me.

"The truth, Brae." She looked into my eyes and let out a sigh.

"It's nothing. I just... it's really stupid." I held her hand in mine and pulled her closer.

"I want to know what you are thinking." She still looked conflicted.

"I am just a bit nervous, I mean it's…. you know.....I just don't want anything coming in between us again. I am probably being paranoid." She stared at me with her lips pressed tightly together. I gently removed her hair behind her shoulder before cupping her cheek.

"Nothing's gonna come between us again. I promise." I said, looking straight into her eyes. Something told me it was exactly what she wanted to hear.

………………..

"Spill, already." I said, pouring the milk in the bowl of cereal.

"What?" Bri looked up from her phone and gave me a confused stare. I carried my breakfast and the sofa and sat down beside her.

"I don't get it." I rolled my eyes before chewing down the cereal in my mouth.

"Right. You don't understand. I'll be more clear. What's the deal with you and Ryan?" At my question she went back to lean against the sofa.

"What about him?' She scrolled through her Instagram feed, showing disinterest.

"Are you two dating?" She absent-mindedly looked at the spoon in my hand before giving a small shrug.

"Uhm yeah… I don't know." I sat the bowl down before sitting straighter.

"Let me guess. He hasn't asked you to be his girlfriend yet." Bri gave me a blank stare.

"Bingo." She muttered with the minimum enthusiasm.

"He will."

"Maybe he won't."

"Why will you say that?"

"We went out a few times. Maybe he isn't into me like I'm into him and he doesn't know how to break it to me because he most probably doesn't want to hurt my feelings." This overthinking. Yep! She is definitely my sister.

"Or maybe he is just as chicken as you are." She passed me a bored look.

"Why don't you ask him to be your boyfriend?" Over excited, I slapped her arm a little too hard, receiving a hard glare from her.

"I can't." She muttered.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"If he doesn't feel that way for me, I will just make things awkward. With him being your boyfriend's brother, it's not like I can just unfriend him and happily avoid him for good." She exhaled deeply before sinking down more into the sofa. Though she had a point, I couldn't believe that he didn't like her, not after I saw him staring at her the way he did.

"But I think he does like you." We both stared at each other before we went back to looking at the ceiling.