CHAPTER 8

ROHAN slouched on his brother’s couch the moment he arrived at his house. Raphael immediately offered him a drink that he gladly accepted. He didn’t say anything to his brother yet, but it seemed that he already had a hint of why he was there.

“Hey, did Mom mention anything to you?” he asked after taking a sip of his whiskey.

“Like how you throw a fit after finding out her conditions so that you’ll go on a date?” Raphael was grinning from ear to ear. “It looks like I’m going to keep my sports car.”

“This is not the end of me,” he told his brother through gritted teeth.

“Okay.” Raphael just shrugged and took a sip of liquor. “What are you going to do now? Because it seems that Mom cornered you, little brother.”

Rohan heaved a deep sigh and stared at the ceiling. “I think I need a break… I need time to think and lay out my plans for my counterattack.”

“Can’t you just follow our mother’s wish?”

He turned in his brother’s direction with furrowed brows. “Why? Is she sick and dying?”

“She’s not. Come on! She’s strong as a bull for her age. Didn’t you hear her joke about planning another pregnancy?” His brother sat beside him. “Maybe Mom’s just… worried about you. You’re the only unmarried one in the family, and both our parents are old. I bet she’s worried that no one will take care of you in the future—”

“I can take care of myself—”

“I don’t believe you!” Raphael smirked. “Remember when you had flu, and you begged me to come to your penthouse to bring you some food because you hadn’t eaten for a couple of days? Is that what you call taking care of yourself?”

“I’m sick back then.”

“And you’re not as strong as you think you are in times like that. And besides, what’s wrong with married life and building a family of your own?”

Rohan was the youngest of all the Collins siblings, and their parents had him a little late. He grew up with his nannies and tutors, and his siblings were already busy building their careers back then, so he grew up alone. Because of that, he thought he could manage to live on his own, that he didn’t need anyone to lean on. But when he grew up, his parents and siblings kept pushing him to see the world that didn’t even bother him for years. They wanted him to socialize and bring people into his life.

“I need some alone time,” Rohan said after a few moments. “I need solace.”

“Then go give yourself a vacation.”

He turned to his brother. “Should I go overseas?”

“Nah, that’d be a hassle.”

He gave it a thought and realized that Raphael was right. “Do you have any idea where I should go?”

“Hmm…” His brother scratched his chin and acted as though he was thinking critically. “How about… our villa on the island? It’s been a while since we last went there.”

His forehead creased. They own a private island with a humongous villa where they used to spend most of their summer vacations back in the day. It was a calm and refreshing place. Sometimes her mother let that villa be used for recollections. It had been a while since he last heard it was used.

“I thought that property had been sold.”

“Sold? Nah! Mom would never sell that island. You know the old ones are too sentimental about everything.”

“But I don’t have any contact with the caretaker—”

“Leave it to me, bro.” Raphael patted him on the shoulder. “I’ll call Eddie for you, and he’ll prepare everything you need.”

He let out a sigh of relief. “All right. Thanks.”

Beaming, his brother fished out his phone from his pocket and started tapping on its screen.

“I thought you were calling the caretaker. It seems that you’re just texting.”

“Can you wait?” Raphael said without looking at him. “I’m just answering my wife’s text. Gah!”

He just laughed at that and raised his hands. “Fine.”

“How long do you plan to stay there?” his brother asked after responding to his wife’s text.

“A month or two?”

“Are you sure about that?” Raphael asked in disbelief.

“Yeah. Why?”

“I’m just making sure because you know there’s no phone signal in that island, no internet or mobile data. Though there’s a satellite phone for emergencies. What would you do there in a month or two when you’re alone?”

“It’s not your problem, okay?” Rohan waved his hand. “Just call Eddie, tell him to prepare everything, and bring a month’s stock to the villa.”

“Fine. Fine.”

Raphael put the phone on his ear and talked to the caretaker. He gave Eddie the instructions, and now the only thing left to do was to pack his bag and hide on the island.

“Ah, and please be sure that Mom wouldn’t know about this.”

“Don’t worry, bro. This is just between you and me.” Raphael winked at him.

“Good.” Rohan nodded consecutively and rose from the couch.

***

IT WAS almost sunset when Rohan arrived at the island dock. Eddie, their caretaker for almost two decades, brought him there.

“I’m good from here,” he told the caretaker after unloading his luggage from the boat.

“Are you sure? Your luggage is a bit heavy.”

“I can manage to bring them all to the villa.” He turned to the scenic view of the sunset behind them. It’s getting dark, and it’ll be hard for you get to get home at this rate, so you better get going.”

Eddie smiled at him. “Okay.”

“Here.” He took out his wallet and gave him some pocket money.

But the caretaker wagged his hands. “There’s no need for that. I’m well compensated and—”

“No. Consider this as my tip for taking me here.” Rohan put the money in the caretaker’s palm.

“T-thank you,” Eddie said shyly. “Anyway, I’ll be delivering the dairy and fresh goods every Sunday morning. Will that be okay?”

He just gave him thumbs up and picked up his luggage; then he headed to the villa. It was quite far from the dock area, but Rohan didn’t mind walking that far. Thankfully, it helped him to burn the extra calories he earned from his stress-eating days ago.

Rohan put the luggage down upon reaching the front gate and fished the remote control from the pocket of his cardigan that Eddie had given him earlier. But no matter how many times he pressed the open button, it wouldn’t work.

“Damn it… is this functioning or not?”

But Eddie didn’t mention anything about a broken front gate. Sighing, he picked up his luggage and decided to just use the back gate. And just like the front one, it didn’t open when he used the remote control.

“What the hell is happening?” Rohan could only groan out of frustration.

His family had a lot of money. How come they couldn’t afford to pay for the gates’ maintenance? And now, he was left with no choice but to climb up the gate to get in. Good thing he was fond of mountain climbing for the past years. Though climbing the gate made him look like he was a culprit.

Ah, so much for dreaming of an escape and break from his mother, who kept pestering him to enter married life.

Rohan let out a sigh of relief when the back door opened without any problem. He didn’t have to break in just to enter the villa.

“Maybe the manual locks are still better than the high-tech ones,” he muttered as he strode to the fridge.

He grabbed a canned beer and chugged it down to quench his thirst. Rohan then took his luggage upstairs. Everything in the villa was sparkling clean, and the place looked as pristine as it was before. He must commend Eddie and his family for doing a great job of maintaining the villa in that state.

However, Rohan was stunned the moment she entered his room, the same room he had been using whenever he was at the villa.

“What the hell is this?” he exhaled sharply.

There was a ginger honey tabby cat lying on his bed, grooming. The cat didn’t seem to notice his presence either because it wouldn’t even give him a glance. There were also make-up and other feminine things scattered all over the room. Rohan even saw a red bikini hanging on the edge of the bed. And as though he was compelled, he picked it up and gave it a look. Good thing it hadn’t been used; he could still smell the scent of detergent used to wash the piece.

And then, the cat growled.

“Easy… I’m not going to kick you out… yet.”

He must have known who the intruder was. Raphael didn’t mention anything that someone was staying in the villa. His brother said it hadn’t been used in a long time.

He rushed out of the room and went downstairs to get the satellite phone that had been nesting in the living room. And just when he was about to make a call, he heard the sound of splashing water from the pool.

Rohan ran in the direction of the main door and opened it. He then saw a woman swimming back and forth in the pool.

“Hey!” he called loudly.

The woman stopped swimming and turned in his direction, making his eyes almost jump out of their sockets. It was Yvonne, swimming naked. Yes, he noticed that because the sun hadn’t fully set yet. When she noticed him staring intently at her, she immediately crossed her arms to cover the top of her exposed chest and dipped herself up to her neck.

“Rohan… what are you doing here?” Yvonne asked afterward.

“I should be the one asking you that.” He pressed his lips firmly. How come she was there? “This is my family’s villa. This island is private, so how come you got here?”

Rohan heaved a sigh and turned around.

“Get out of the pool and get dressed. We need to talk.”