CHAPTER 9

I stretched as I woke up from my slumber, without the most annoying thing on earth waking me up. Another good thing about yesterday was that it was a Friday, which means today is a Saturday and I neither have to see Aiden nor got to school. I looked at my digital clock on the table beside my bed

8:15

I signed. Why can't I be one of those guys who wake up at around twelve, two or something like that? There is so not much difference between waking up during weekends and weekdays for me

Grudgingly, I got up from my bed and went downstairs

"Hi, mom. Good morning" I greeted my mom and sat beside her on the sofa

"Morning, sweetie. How was your night?" she asked

"The night was okay but not the morning" I told her

"Why the night and not the morning? Morning signify a new day with new activities"

"I woke up 8:15"

"And?"

"What the difference between waking up today and waking up on Monday?" I asked her

"Well, on Monday, you would have already been at school, leaving for school, or almost at school at this time but, you just wake up at this time on Saturdays" she said

I groaned

"Wow, thank you, mom. I had no idea" I said sarcastically and sunk down into the chair

"Eddy is still sleeping, right?" I asked

"Definitely. You don't plan to stop calling him that, do you?" she answered and asked

"No, why should I? It's so much fun" I said standing up

"Are you going back to sleep?" she asked when she saw me climbing the stairs

"I can't but, I also can't be the only one awake at this time" I said

"I'm also awake"

"Add unwillingly to the statement"

"You woke up by yourself"

"Yes, unwillingly"

"You are sure a type of girl" she said shaking her head

"I know and I also know that y'all love me with my whatever kind of girl" I said and continued my journey to his room

"Eddy!" I called and jumped on him the moment I opened the door but, he just tossed me to the ground

"Ow" I said as I stood up

With determination, I got on his bed and started jumping

"I'm going to fling you out of my room if you don't stop" he warned

"You can't" I said and continued

After a while, he sat up

"What do you want?" he asked

"Wake up" I answered

"You want me to wake up?"

"Yup"

"Only that?"

"Yes"

"Okay then, I'm awake so can you please leave my room?" he said

"You're awake?" I asked

"No, it's my spirit talking to you"

"Tsk" I said and left the room but before, I fully descended the stairs, he closed the door and locked it

"I guess you forgot your brother can always go back to sleep whenever he wants" my mom said

"Why aren't we the same?" I asked as I fell on the chair

"Want to be twins with him?" she asked

"No way" I said

"Just my unlucky parts" I added

My mom laughed

"That's right" I said after a moment of silence

"What?" my mom asked

"Where were you when I returned from school yesterday?" I asked

I didn't add when we also came before school closed

"An interview" she answered

"For which job?"

She smiled

"Guess" she told me

"Mom, if I knew, I wouldn't be asking you" I told her

"Tsk. Anyway, it was for an event planning company"

"Really?"

My mom has always love planning events. Even when we were celebrating something, we left it all to her and she never did disappoint

"Hmm, I was checking online when I came across it. I love it and the payment was also catching"

"Wow, how do you think your interview went" I asked her

"I think I did great but, I hope he also thinks so"

"He?" I asked

"Yes. Apparently he's the CEO"

"Is he single?"

"Sorry?"

"Is he single?"

"Why are you asking?"

"For you to answer"

"Well, I'm not sure but, I don't think so"

"Why don't you think so?"

"Well, there was no picture of him with a woman and I didn't see any ring on his wedding finger" she said

"Tell me about him" I told her

"Why?" she asked

"Just tell me" I told her seeing something

"Well, his name is Lucas Rodrigo. He's Italian"

He's also Italian, good

"He's forty-six"

My mom's forty-four, two years difference is nothing

"He's tall, I guess he has a visible muscular build and well, I don't know but, why are you asking all these questions?"

"He's okay"

"Shannon, what is going on in that head of yours?" she asked slowly

I smiled slyly in my head

"Nothing for you to worry about. Which position did you apply for?"

"It wasn't an interview for the post you want. Due to your results, they will assign you to where they think you are fit for" she said

"Well, I hope they see you as the best"

"I hope so too but, I'm nervous about what you're thinking"

I just smile and stood up

"I'm going to shower" I said with a thought in my mind

You're been on your own, mom, for way too long. Your daughter's on the rescue

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"You're finally awake" I told my brother as he came down the stairs

"You're talking as if I've been sleeping since forever" he said

"It's almost two, in the afternoon" I said

"So?"

"No comments. But, you might want to go and shower"

"Why?"

"Kim may knock on the door any moment from now"

"You should have told me earlier" he said going back to the stairs

"Did you embarrass yourself in front of your crush or do your have any traumatic moment when you were small? Why do you always want to impress people?"

"I don't have anything like that"

"Then why?"

"I don't know, I just do" he said and went up the stairs

Not long after he went upstairs, Kim, probably, knocked on the door

I should have just kept quite and not told him

The pleasure of seeing him run upstairs ....

After the second knock, I went to open the door and I wasn't wrong

"Hey" I greeted her

"Hi" she greeted back

"You're quite early"

"When it's already almost two?" she asked

"Can I come in?" she asked when she was already in

"No" I said and locked the door

She smiled

"Shannon, who's there?" my mom asked descending the stairs

I waited for her to completely descend and see Kim before I said anything

"Mom, this is my friend, Kim. Kim, this is my mom" I introduced them to each other

"Nice to see you ma'am" Kim greeted

"Same here and just call me Bianca" my mom said smiling, obviously happy that I have a friend that comes over

"Sit, sit" my mom said

"No need, mom, we are going upstairs"

"I see. Okay then but, if you need anything, just say it. Okay?" my mom said to Kim

"Sure, thanks Bianca" Kim said and I took her upstairs

"I like your mom" Kim said when we reached my room

"I know, I like her too" I said

Kim looked at me

"You're unbelievable" she said and headed towards my bed

"Can I sit?" she asked but, once again, she was already sitting down

"Do you usually do something before you ask for the permission to do it?" I asked her, also sitting

She shrugged and smiled

"So, what do we do?" she asked

"I don't know. You where the one who suggested we meet up to know more about each other"

"I was and you agreed"

"Is it too late to do the opposite?" I asked and she playfully smacked my arm

We both laughed and then she got up

"Hi, my name is Kimberly Choi. I'm 17 years old which means I'll soon be an adult and that's giving me mixed feelings" she said in an official manner and bowed

I also got up

"My name is Shannon Salvatore. I'm also 17 years old which means I'll also be an adult and that's also giving me mixed feelings" I copied her and also bowed

We laughed and went back to the bed

"I've been wondering and you're Italian, right? I mean your last name sounds like an Italian name, or is it just Salvatore?" Kim asked

"I'm Italian" I told her

"I knew it" she said

I chuckled at the way she said it

"With your accent, if one didn't know your name, you will be mistaken as a full Turkish, so, I guess you've been here for a long time, right?" she asked

"Yeah, all my life. My mom came here when a year after she had me"

"So, you're just an Italian by birth?" she asked

"We moved here but, she made sure I never forgot where I came from"

"Meaning?"

"Meaning that I know everything about my birth country, I have the accent and I know the language fluently and completely"

"Wow, so you can speak their language in their accent?" she asked, obviously excited

"Il mio nome è Shannon Salvatore" I said with the accent

"You just introduced yourself in Italian, right?" she asked

"Yeah" I said proudly

She smiled

"What of you?" I asked her

"Sorry?"

"Since your last name is Choi, you must be Korean, right?" I asked her

"Yeah, my mom is Korean while my dad is from here" she said

"Our dad are both from her, it seems" I said then realized something

I arched my brows, confused

"Choi is my mom's last name, we use my mom's, not my dad"

"Is your mom ...?" I stopped

I wasn't sure I had the right to ask her that

"She isn't divorce" she said

"Ah, I see"

"And that is why I don't get it" she said

"What do you mean?"

"If they aren't divorce, why are we using my mom's and not my dad's. And that's not all, it's as if they just swapped bodies; my mom is like the one in charge of the house while my dad just stands around like he's dumb" she said sadly

I hugged her