Jwei Lih’s note: so many things have happened and I don’t wanna talk about it… I’m depressed. So pleasure me by reviewing at least. Cameron reappears! And the last two characters (of the whole novel… that means no more suprises!!!) appear in the next chapters…

IX- Unwanted Tension…

Pepper was bored.

Keith was silent.

“Hey Keith,” she told him, “Can you please stop being a freak show and say something?”

“Why did you stop me?” asked Keith after a long while of awkward silence.

“I don’t like confrontations very much. They make me uncomfortable,” Pepper said as she lazed around on her side of the limousine. She took off her shoes and socks, and placed a pillow under her head.

“So you don’t find any of this strange or at least disturbing?”

“Why should I?” Pepper muttered, yawning, “So what if we have the same half-sister? Shit happens. It’s not like we’re planning to get involved or married or whatever… Now that would be strange and disturbing.” Pepper began to close her eyes, ready to drift off to sleep.

“Oh,” muttered Keith, “so… you’re not affected by any of this?”

“No,” she said, “I’m not affected by any of this. I mean… Sure the rush of memories gave me a headache and I really need to rest— but I’m comforted by the fact that I actually had a life… The only things left for me to figure out are three things: one, what really happened to me that made me this way; two, what really happened to my parents; and three, why you let me stay in your house.” She yawned again, “now… I’d like to sleep for the rest of the trip home if you don’t mind.”

“Ugh… sure… do you need anything else? Another pillow?” asked Keith.

“That’s okay mother, I’m fine,” muttered Pepper, “just stop talking please.”

Keith moved over to where she laid down and stroked her hair with his fingers.

“What the heck are you doing Keith?” demanded Pepper, “do you have some sort of hair fetish I don’t know about?”

“We sleep together in my room, did you think I wouldn’t notice Anna sneaking in there to stroke your hair? … and… I remember your dad playing with your hair while we— uhmm— went out… to the park, remember? Your dad and my mom… You and I… We…” Keith stopped and decided to move back to his side of the limousine, “forget it. Let’s just sleep or something.”

Pepper’s eyes shot open, all thoughts of sleep slowly disappearing into thin air. She couldn’t remember a single time that Keith was ever uncomfortable with anything or anyone. She knew that he was always a smooth talker and someone who always got what he wanted if he just asked for it.

So why is he stumbling with his words?

“Hey,” she said, “is there something you want to tell me Reynolds?”

“I’m just a bit worn out too I guess,” said Keith, scared to look at her. He knew Pepper always had this uncanny ability to know what people thought about her just by looking at them.

A smirk tugged at the corners of Pepper’s lips. “Do I make you uncomfortable Keith?” She looked at him playfully, scooting over to his side.

Fortunately for Keith, Williams pressed the red button and spoke through the intercom, “Sir, your mother called. She said that she’s worried you took off so hurriedly before speaking to her.”

“Just tell her that I’ll call her when we get home,” said Keith, “thanks.”

Pepper was beside Keith and staring at him keenly.

“What?” asked Keith; feeling anxious for the first time in his life. He loosened the collar of his shirt a bit and looked up.

“Did you think, for a moment, that I’d think we were real cousins?”

“We are real cousins. Your mother and my mother are second or third-degree cousins, thus making us third or fourth-degree cousins… So that’s not entirely untrue is it?” He unconsciously reached for a bottle of water inside the limousine’s mini-bar and drank from it.

“So, if we’re cousins… you won’t mind if we continue sleeping together? But this time, on your bed?”

Keith choked and almost spilled water all over the seats.

Pepper laughed out loud and hopped back to her seat. “That’ll teach you to disturb someone who wants to sleep so badly.” She lay on the pillow and after a few minutes, her breath evened out (she was officially asleep).

Keith smiled at her slyness and slept.

---

(Somewhere in another city.)

The rain poured heavily and Cameron Mendez closed his tinted car window. He had been staying in the same spot for two hours, waiting for a certain blonde to reappear.

He was released from the hospital ages ago but he wanted to keep a low profile. He needed to know why Christine was acting so strange the last time they were together— and why Pepper chose to live with Keith instead of him.

He could deal with Pepper later.

He watched as Christine hailed a cab, and decided to follow her. He was lucky enough to have found her today— he’s been searching for months and he stumbled upon a classmate of hers, who told him she was called Sara (as in Sara Miles)there.

After a few minutes, traffic lights and drunk drivers, the cab stopped in front of an all-ladies’ dormitory and Cameron maneuvered his car behind the cab.

Christine opened her black umbrella and stepped out of the cab, unaware that Cameron was right behind her. She started walking toward the glass door and reached for the handle, that’s when she saw a figure reflected on the glass. She tightened her grip on her umbrella and was prepared to fight whoever was there.

Cameron gripped her wrist before she could respond and spun her around to face him. “Why have you been hiding from us?” he demanded.

“Let me go,” muttered Christine, “or I swear I’ll scream.”

Cameron looked around to make sure no one was watching, put his hand over her mouth and dragged her to his car, leaving the umbrella forgotten in the pavement. He got into the car with her and locked the doors.

“Why are you doing this?” asked Christine, looking as though she was about to cry, “I just want to be left alone…”

“What happened to you?” demanded Cameron, “you said you were going to live with us in Oakwood Drive, what has changed?” He didn’t let go of her wrists and he knew that it would eventually hurt if he didn’t stop, but he was frustrated. He had been looking for her all these weeks and he’ll be damned if he went back to his place without answers.

Christine said nothing.

“Tell me the truth Christine.”

Christine just hung her head as tears silently fell down her cheeks.

“Please… I need to know why dammit. You said you’d stay in Oakwood. What’s changed?”

“Nothing’s changed!” cried Christine, “that’s precisely why I left! Nothing’s changed! Keith still likes her more than me and probably even loves her but I don’t want to admit that. There. Happy?”

“Of course,” muttered Cameron, “Keith’s always your reason for everything, isn’t he?” He wasn’t jealous, just irritated that Christine had to go this far, do these things, just to disappear from someone who hadn’t even noticed that she left.

“What do you mean?” asked Christine in a choked voice barely above a whisper.

You're trying too hard to be a part of someone that has no concern for you... you're running away from a person who didn't even notice you were gone... Cameron thought.

“It’s nothing. You can leave now if you want.” He unlocked the doors and released his hold on her wrists.

Christine hesitated before she reached toward the handle. “This could be the last time we’ll see each other you know,” she muttered sadly. She wanted to pull the handle but she couldn’t. She didn’t want to leave him when he’s the closest thing to home she’s had in a very long time.

Cameron didn’t say anything. He just waited for the car door to open so he could be at peace and drive back home. He knew nothing he could say would ever make her stay. He felt helpless, to say the least.

Christine leaned back and rest on the black leather that covered the seats. She closed her eyes, sighed and cursed, “Dammit. I can’t find it in my heart to leave you like this.”

“Like what?” Cameron asked.

“All miserable-like…”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“So, what now? Don’t you have a curfew of some sort?” asked Cameron.

“I do… and I’m kind of late now. So… I guess I’m going to wherever it is you’re going.”
---

“Mr. Reynolds,” Anna, Keith’s maid, greeted him at the door, “your father’s doctor called. He says he needs to speak with you as soon as possible. I took down his number and left it on your nightstand.”

“Thank you,” said Keith, “and don’t tell anyone else about this.”

“Yes sir,” she said, bowing for the last time before heading to greet Pepper.

Maybe my father’s illness has gotten worse? He thought as he went to his room to change. I’ve always known his lifestyle would kill him but… why would he want to see me now— after all those years of awkward meetings and insincere Christmases? Why now… just when I’ve gotten used to not having real parents?

He thought about this for a while as he removed his shirt and entered into his closet. Did he want me to meet his mistress and make me support her and her child who’s my age? I don’t even remember their names. This is frustrating. Seriously.

Keith frowned as he threw his shirt in the laundry basket. He was just about to remove his jeans when he heard a cough on the door.

“Are you still thinking about it?” asked Jae, she was still leaning against the entrance of Keith’s closet.

“Do you ever knock?”

“You left the door open…” she said, “what’s there to knock? And besides, I was worried about you cuz… You never used to leave the door open.”

“It’s nothing. Just leave.”

“You can’t just ask me to leave… I know that having a half-sister is too much to swallow…”

“It’s not about that,” interrupted Keith, “you don’t know anything! So please just shut up and leave me alone.”

“Fine,” muttered Pepper, turning around and closing the closet door. She noticed the sticky-note on the nightstand near the telephone and memorized the numbers on it. This might give me some answers as to why he’s so touchy.

---

When Pepper reached her room, the one she hasn’t been using for quite some time already, she wrote down the numbers (in her head) on a sheet of paper. 555-8090…

I know this is none of my business… but…

She picked up her phone and dialed the numbers.

“Hello?”

“Hello? Good afternoon,” said Pepper, imitating Sarah (Keith’s secretary) “this is Keith Reynolds’s secretary. He asked me to inquire who the caller was.”

“The doctor was expecting his call… but he is out as of the moment, attending to his patient. Would you like me to give you his mobile phone number?”

“No. It’s alright. Thank you.”

“Okay. I’ll tell the doctor you called.”

Pepper hung up and sighed.

Doctor? Is Keith okay? Is he sick? Is he dying???

---

OMG!!!!! I’m almost done!!! Yippeeee!!!