On the ne, Bryce was tucking Estre in with a thin nket when she stirred and woke up. Seeing
Bryce steadfast by her side, Estre, with half-closed eyes, muttered, “Why didn’t you catch some Z’s?”
Bryce chuckled, “Watching you sleep was enough rest for me.’
“1
Estre yfully kicked at him, and without taking offense, Bryce simply patted his leg and said, “We’ll
bending soon.”
While handing Estre her down jacket, he added, “Put this on when we get off.”
“Sure,” she replied, lifting her hand, “Water, please.” Bryce immediately unscrewed the thermos and
ced it in her hands, almost to the point of personally feeding her.
After hydrating, Bryce offered her some dried prunes, “Want some of these?”
Estre eyed him suspiciously from head to toe as he offered the prunes. Why was he bringing out
prunes all of a sudden?
Catching her wary look, Bryce popped a prune into his mouth, “If you don’t want them, I’ll eat them
myself.”
Seeing Bryce munch on the prunes, Estre let go of her doubts and took one for herself. As the two
chatted and snacked on the nuts and dried fruit, the nended smoothly. The passengers began to
gather their belongings, and Bryce stuffed the remaining snacks into a bag and helped Estre into her
jacket.
“Estre, your brother is one of a kind, treating you like you’re some sort of queen,” Logan joked,
although he was well aware of Estre’s rtionship with Jason.
Bryce, grinning like an idiot, joined in, “Ain’t that the truth. Estre and I are twins, born from the same
womb.”
After Bryce’sment, some of Estre’s colleagues actually believed him, expressing their surprise,
“Estre, you’re twins? But looking at you two, you do look alike. You’ve got some strong genes in your
family.”
“Of course, there are no ugly ducks in our family,” Bryce boasted proudly.
Estre couldn’t be bothered to stop his ramblings and let him spin his tales.
Once they dened, the chill outside was biting, as sharp as a knife against their faces. Thankfully,
Bryce hade prepared with all the essentials, including hats and scarves. Estre’s female
colleagues were visibly envious and kept asking Bryce if he was single, hinting at their interest in him.
Bryce, shameless as ever, even added them on Messenger. Estre looked at him with disdain, “Show-
off.”
09:02
Bryce casually draped his arm over her shoulder, “Estre, are you worried they’ll snatch me away from
you? If you’re scared of losing me, I’ll just unfriend them all.”
“Don’t.” Estre waved him off. “Keep them as a distraction, so you don’t cling to me all
the time.”
After she spoke, Bryce tightened his embrace.
“Bryce, you numbskull, you trying to choke me?” Estre protested. They had a history of roughhousing
since childhood. Bryce would often tackle her, and once while she was watching Cole fish, Bryce
pounced from behind, sending them both tumbling into the pond. She had swallowed quite a bit of
water that day.
Back then, they were only six years old.
After scolding Bryce, Estre turned to him, “Prepare yourself. Jason’sing to pick us
up.”
Bryce adjusted her scarf, arm still over her shoulder, nonchntly replying, “I am not afraid of him.
Worst he can do is beat me up.”
Ever since he could remember, Jason had been roughing him up, mostly for things involving Estre-
like the time he led her to catch snakes, resulting in a snake bite, or when they climbed over a wall to
skip school, and she dislocated her arm. Bryce had been the cause of too many such incidents over
the years.
Every time Estre got the short end of the stick, Jason wouldy into Bryce. The pond incident had
earned Bryce a particrly harsh beating. Bryce was no stranger to tough
love.
“Your arm’s heavy. Take it off,” Estre grumbled.
N?velDrama.Org is the owner.
But Bryce only held her tighter, “You can’t despise me. You’re not allowed to.”
Estre rolled her eyes, “You’ll squash me.”
Eventually, after Estre kicked him a few times, Bryce released her.
As the group made their way out of the terminal, Jason was nowhere to be seen. Instead,
it was Drew who hade. Estre couldn’t help butugh at the irony, feeling no real disappointment,
just a sense of the absurd.
From a distance, Drew spotted Estre and Bryce emerging, and hurried over, “Ms. Estre, Mr.
Bryce.”
Bryce, pulling his suitcase, peered past Drew, “Where’s Jason? Didn’t he say he would pick us up?”
Drew replied, “Mr. Jason had some urgent business and couldn’t make it.” He then added, “By the way,
Ms. Estre, Mr. Jason asked me to take you back to Sandalwood Oasis. He said to wait for him at
home, and he’ll be there as soon as he finishes up.”
09:02
r
Bryce, hands in pockets and with a frosty tone, “Tell Jason, if he’s not man enough to keep his word, he
should stop making empty promises.”
With that, Bryce grabbed Estre’s wrist,. “We’ll go back on our own.”
Drew stepped in front of them, “Mr. Bryce, Mr. Jason really had an emergency. He’ll head straight to
Sandalwood Oasis after. It’s cold today, and either waiting or hailing a cab is inconvenient. Let’s just go
back to Sandalwood Oasis, shall we?”
They had a lot of luggage, and Drew’s argument made sense. Estre knew well Drew’s work style; if
Jason tasked him with something, he would see it through at all costs. Plus, their colleagues from the
law firm were there. It was best to go back and talkter.
As for Jason’s proposal a chat; Estre had thought it overst night. It was indeed time for them to
have a calm discussion and part ways amicably. So, watching Bryce pack up, Estre simply said,
“Let’s head back and talk there, Bryce.”
Drew, relieved that Estre was being reasonable, quickly helped Bryce load his suitcase into the car.
On the drive back, Estre didn’t ask what Jason was up to, and Bryce, catching her cue, didn’t bring it
up either. When Estre started to nod off, Bryce gently supported her head, letting it restfortably
against his shoulder.
Drew and the driver sat in the front, neither daring to ask questions nor speak out of turn.
An hourter, the car rolled into Sandalwood Oasis. Bryce escorted Estre inside, finally feeling a
weight lift off his chest.
Marie politely invited him to stay for dinner, but Bryce declined.
Sensing that Bryce was not very talkative on the way back, when Estre saw him of the door, she
asked, “Bryce, do you know something?” His demeanor during this busi trip was different from the
usual Bryce.