Chapter 15 My Brother Albert: A Frivolous and Rude Jerk

Elena Romano's POV:

This guy was kinda frivolous and rude.

He didn't seem like he belonged to the Garcia family at all. He was even ruder than me and didn't give a damn about it. "Hey, why don't you come to the garden? The sun's about to rise, and you can catch it from here."

"No, thanks. I didn't see anything earlier." I was being cautious.

"Come on, I said I don't mind. The sunrise is beautiful. Don't you wanna see it?" Albert kept shouting at me.

His loud voice was gonna wake everyone up, so I gave in.

Plus, I was curious about the sunrise. Albert's words got to me.

In the messy neighborhoods of Chicago, you had to be on a really high rooftop to see the sunrise. But working all the time, I never got the chance.

The sun was a symbol of hope, but I never got to see it rise.

I wasn't sleepy anymore. I threw on a coat and snuck into the garden.

Albert was already lounging on a chair, looking super comfy. He waved when he saw me.

I kept my distance. "Thanks for the invite."

"Don't be so distant, Elena. Don't you know we're twins?"

"I really didn't."

"That hurts. Guess Mom and Dad didn't introduce me properly." Albert shrugged, but he didn't look hurt at all.

His shirt was open, showing off his chest muscles, and I even saw some kiss marks.

I looked away.

If Isabella saw this, I couldn't imagine her reaction. But maybe she was used to it.

"Sorry you had to see that. Are you shy? I thought living in Chicago, you'd be used to seeing stuff like this. Didn't expect you to be so innocent."

"Why would living in Chicago make me used to seeing stuff like this?"

"Because on your first day home, you dressed like a hooker?" Albert said it so bluntly. I thought he was insulting me, but he didn't look like he was mocking, just stating a fact.

He wasn't home on my first day back. Who told him what I wore?

I snapped, "If you don't know how to greet someone, just shut your annoying mouth."

My opinion of Albert tanked, and I started regretting coming to the garden.

Maybe the Garcia family didn't talk about him for a reason. He was like a street thug or a hooligan.

I added, "If you called me here to humiliate me with lies, congrats, you succeeded. You really disgust me."

"Calm down. I didn't mean to. Okay, I'm sorry, Elena. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"Well, if you didn't mean to, you wouldn't have said that. Your explanation makes you sound like a brainless idiot. I don't care which jerk told you this, it's not a joke, it's not funny." I glared at him. "Are you an idiot?"

Albert didn't get mad at all. He just thought for a moment and then shrugged it off. "If you think so, then I'm an idiot."

His attitude made it hard for me to stay angry.

This guy was definitely an oddball, not just in the Garcia family, but in general.

It was hard to piss him off, and hard to have a normal conversation with him. In his eyes, only you were angry.

I felt like a clown arguing with him.

The sun had already risen, but I lost my excitement for the sunrise and felt really upset.

I went back to my room.

When it was time for breakfast, I ran into Albert again at the dining table.

He raised an eyebrow, like he wanted to say hi, but I acted like I didn't know him at all.

Isabella chimed in, "Elena, this is your brother, Albert. I forgot to introduce him earlier. He's not home much."

"Mom, don't be so cold. I'll be around for a while now, so I'll have plenty of time to get to know Elena and build a good relationship."

"No, thanks. I don't think we need to build a good relationship."

My resistance made Isabella look at me. "Have you two met before?"

"No."

"That's right."

I shot a look at Albert. "Who greets their sister with an offensive joke the first time they meet?"

"Don't be mad, Elena. I already apologized." Albert's tone was almost whiny. "You can think I was tricked. I had no bad intentions. I was just curious."

Yeah, right. Albert seemed more like a con artist than a brother.

I had calmed down a bit since then. I knew some of what he said was true, but I was still pissed.

I needed some time to change my attitude towards him, so I just snorted and ignored Albert.

Isabella didn't ask what happened. She seemed to know Albert pretty well.

Probably because Albert had caused a lot of trouble before.

James, on the other hand, was surprisingly calm and restrained about Albert's sudden appearance, unlike his anger last night.

When Albert greeted him cheerfully, he just frowned. "Where's Sofia?"

"She'll probably be out with friends today and come back late." Albert answered. He seemed to know Sofia's whereabouts better than the maids.

James looked a bit annoyed. "Why do you know where Sofia went?"

"Because I saw her this morning." Albert turned around and winked at me.

When I looked at him confused, he lost interest in continuing the conversation and sighed.

There was an extra set of tableware on the dining table, and the maid didn't take it away since Albert said he brought a friend who would be here soon.

James asked who this friend was, but Albert didn't answer.

This made James really mad, but he seemed to have no way to deal with Albert. "Your guest is quite slow."

"For important occasions, it's always good to let him freshen up and dress up." Albert looked at me. "Do you remember the guy who heroically saved you last night?"

James and Isabella also looked at me.

Everything happened so fast last night. They were busy comforting the guests and didn't see clearly who picked me up.

"It was William McDonald." I answered.

But this answer made Albert laugh like he heard the funniest joke. "Was it William McDonald? Oh my God. That's hilarious."

I glared at him, annoyed.

He was really a strange person.

After the party, my etiquette lessons were temporarily stopped. James asked me to spend more time studying, and I also needed to prepare for the interview. He didn't want me to mess up the Boston University interview.

I agreed with this.

The mistakes at the party made me more eager to prove myself. I didn't want my family to think I couldn't do anything right.

Maybe an acceptance letter would change my family's opinion of me?

I quickly finished my meal before Albert's friend arrived.

Albert tried to keep me, but I coldly refused.

Albert said, "Maybe you'd like to meet my friend. He really wants to meet you. Maybe you'll like him. He's much better than that idiot William."

"No." I had zero interest.