Chapter 21

SOMA:

“How many times do I got to tell you to knock before you enter, Cassie? I could be in the middle of something, you know,” I say to my indifferent sister who just barged into my office as usual. And just like how her timing is always wrong, I’m drowned in a lot of files to tend to, which means she is about to intrude upon my work.

Cassie takes a seat across my desk, and I can tell from the way she is staring at me now that she is not going to give me a reaction that she cares that she just barged in on me working. Get used to her, Soma!

“Pfft,” I can only scoff as I look down at the load of files in front of me ready to be worked upon. Or should I say to be continued?

“What’re you doing?”

“What do you want?” I choose not to respond to her question by throwing a question back at her in place.

“Nothing...”

Her direct response has me looking up from the files to stare at her in bewilderment. I mean, she just said she was here for nothing. Pretty much strange to me, I must say.

Does she or does she not have a motive for being here? My sister never invades someone’s busy time for nothing. She sure does have something she is not spilling out.

“You mean you have no reason at all for being here?” I try not to exude the anger that came with the slight frustration laced in my voice.

“If you put it that way, it would seem like I’m jobless whereas I’m not.”

“But you just said yourself that you have nothing to say or do by being here,” my eyes blink from the fact that I’m still trying to comprehend what she wants. “Look, I’ve got no time for this bull crap. There’s a ton of unfinished business left for me to handle so you better get to the point of being here or get out,”

“And who says I actually do not have anything to say or do?” she frowns a bit at me, but there appears to be a tease involved and I know Cassie never gets into things like this except there was something big involved. “One good piece of advice from me to you: Don’t overwork yourself. What if I told you it’s past your break already?”

“What!” Instantly, I glance at the digital clock to realize that she was right. It was way past the time I should have taken a break. “I was so engrossed in the files that I didn’t think to check for the time,” At the same time I decide to put the files aside, and to make it seem like so, I push them away. Then I say to Cassie, “You’re here for something, right? Then get on with it,”

Before she could even start to talk or anything, I have taken a hand up to the side of my brows to try to suppress the throb that I was starting to feel around there. It wasn’t something serious but the slight massage was enough to make me feel better.

“So what exactly is someone from the Dark Moon pack going to be working with you on that I do not know of?”

My eyes were closed already, so I have to open them immediately to get my head wrapped around the question Cassie just asked.

“What is that?” Okay, I was not deciphering yet because of the throb in my head and so was forced to loosen the ponytail made on my hair. I then flip the hair to get a few of the tentacles off my sight.

“And the funny thing is that I never heard of it until yesterday,” she chips in and I still have no idea what she means.

A little annoyed, I tell her, “Can you just go straight to the point? I’m not getting anything from all you’ve been saying,”

“Luis, or whatever his name is. The wolfling you introduced to me yesterday. What’s the deal between you two?”

Thought she has been putting me in oblivion, but I just realized that I damn well forgot about the whole thing that happened yesterday. Luis was here, and Cassie was too. He arrived here when I was in the middle of a conversation with my sister and it allowed her to meet with me in a rather uncomfortable situation.

I would have thought that she would for once not try to attach much to it. But Cassie’s inquisitive behavior was unmatched. Should have known better not to react in the most awkward way when she was still here with me then.

A shrug escapes my shoulders. “It’s nothing much,” I say, trying to make it sound like nothing she should think about. “He’s more like a business partner,”

“And do other business partners make your heart go wild when you’re around them?”

“Wh– What are you talking about?” Confidence, Soma. Confidence.

Cassie smirks in a taunting way, and affirmatively, I can tell she got me already. “When was the last time you got this awkward when talking about a man? Or when last did you even feel so uncomfortable at the mere fact that he was around you? I’m pretty sure you did not realize your emotions were not put in check yesterday so it was everything I needed to know there was something out of place around here,”

I shake my head because I don’t see myself getting out of this questioning anytime soon. And after what happened between Mark and me, I don’t think I want to talk about my plight with anyone else even if it is my sister here.

“Have you had anything to eat, Cassie?”

“Nope,”

“Then go get something to eat,”

“I’m not hungry.”

Holy cow, why can’t she just take the bait?

“You sure you don’t want to grab a bite now? Time’s running out,”

“Except you’re inviting me out which is clear that you’re not, then no. I can always grab a bite whenever I want to,”

I scoff. “This being your father’s company does not mean you should do things you want as you like. I don’t see myself doing that. Why should you?”

“You tell me,” and she frowns deeply before switching to a smile. “So you’ve successfully diverted the initial topic of discussion. Smart move there, big sister.”

“Have I?” I feign ignorance at her supposed accusation which was entirely true.

“I can see through your pretense, Soma. For you to even try to switch from what we wanted to discuss means there is something big involved that you don’t want to talk to me about. And I can promise you that I’m listening,”

“Listening to what? I never said I wanted to discuss anything pertaining to what you think might be going on.”

“I do not think something is going on. No, I know something is going on,” she says this while shaking her head. “The best thing you can do for yourself is to start spilling because you are not going to be doing anything else here until you do so,”

Do you know what the craziest thing can be in one’s life? Being surrounded by people that are as stubborn as hell. People that are always hell-bent on something. People really adamant on an idea that you could eventually get choked by it if care is not taken. That’s my bloody situation.

Mark, Cassie, even my mother — they were all the same. You try to avoid something they are very much interested in and get ready to be propounded with questions and possible speculations about the issue. So much that you might end up telling them everything without sparing a detail.

“But I’m telling you now that there’s nothing. Can’t you take my word for it?” I ask her, getting ready to give her the stare to prove that there was nothing to talk about.

“Don’t even go there,” she suddenly says.

“Go where?”

“Don’t try to do what you intend doing. I know you want to give me the usual make-believe look but it’s not going to work this time around because I know you are covering something up,” she almost yells at me, making it sound like an order as she dishes out her words at me and I an forced to roll my eyes because she actually got me there. Having a sister like her cannot be entirely called a blessing.

“Whatever you say does not change the fact that there’s nothing to talk about. Don’t stress over it, girl,”

With a finger, I push a few strands of hair away from my face and then try to lean back on the chair but stop when she speaks.

“I think I’m just going to make guesses about what is going on. Although I would say I have the biggest guess to confirm the situation with you,”

My brows were raised questioningly. “And what might that be?”

“That Luis is your mate,”

How in the world does she know this? Wait, did Mark tell her anything? I don’t think he would try such a thing. We just even discussed it last evening so wouldn’t it be a little early for them to go over this?

She already mentioned that she wanted to take a guess, but how the hell would a guess land her to the less probable answer? There’s something off about this whole thing.

“How can he be my mate? Do you know what you’re saying, Cassie?” was my defense to counter her supposed guess.

“At least I got a reaction from you which means I might be right. Is he or is he not?”

“He’s not. And don’t ask me about it again,” My eyes go up to the clock again and it told me I have given her more time than I could spare so I tell her, “You need to leave me now. I’ve got no time left for a discussion,”

“So you thought I was all jokes when I said we are not leaving this until you explain what is going on?”

“The hell’s wrong with you? Can’t you see I’ve got a lot on my desk?”

“Not my problem,” she says with a shrug. The nonchalance she was exuding was enough to let me know she was not going to let this slide.

“Get out of my office, Cassandra!”

She instantly rebuffs, “You would have to kick me out ‘cause I’m going nowhere,”

“Fine then. Luis is my mate. Happy now?”