🎲🎲🎲 More than a game
→→→ Jilting the tits ←←←
🀄🀄🀄 Prologue 🀄🀄🀄
Watching her brother grin like a fool as they approached his best friend’s house, Hailey’s heart thumped against her che-st violently, she was about to break her sweet younger brother’s heart. For a long time, she and her other sister had watch him d@t£ the trash and trust his so called best friend in silent. They didn’t want to hurt him so they kept shut but it had gone far enough. Hailey knew their meeting time, all their locations and favorite h0tels. Their favorite place was his house, he lived alone because he feels like he’s a big boy. Her brother’s best friend was a backstabber and slow poison. She looked over at Hadley who had the same pained look on her face, they both knew what the heartbreak would do to him, Hans had always been the soft hearted one in the family.
They were triplets; Hailey, Hadley and Hans, they loved each other so much. At least at first the girls loved bullying him, but changed after he left and refused to come back. It was until their first year in highschool that they lived together again. Their father bought a house for them and made them live together on their own, to make them independence. Since then, they had been living the way they liked, not in a bad way. The girls had everything, loved and pampered their brother who was the youngest amongst them, protected him with their lives, but the one thing they couldn’t protect him from was the coming heartbreak.
But they would try to mend him fas-ter than anyone can say Jack Robinson.
‘Hans,’ Hailey called softly, clasping her hand with his. He looked at his sister from un-derneath his lashes, a charming grin on his face. She took in a sharp breath; he was always so unintentionally S-xy, the exact replicate of their father. They also looked like their father but with a little t©uçh of their mother and femininity. ‘How do you feel?’ She asked shakily.
‘Happy,’ Hans smiled. ‘I haven’t seen Ivan for a month now. You know we left for the training without telling him, he must be really mad.’
‘You know, sometimes in life, we are met with things we don’t expect, faced with heartbreaks that can break us…’
‘Yeah, yeah, you have been telling me this for three days now. Are you sure everything is okay?’
Hadley gulped drily and chuckled. Luckily, the elevator doors p@rted. Their hearts beat fas-ter, it was time. ‘You better go and don’t knock or speak, just walk in there and scare him.’ Hadley said faking a giggle. He nodded and ran into the hallway, heading straight to Ivan’s ap@rtment door.
‘God, I can’t believe we are doing this,’ Hailey muttered. Hadley placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. ‘We better get there,’ she took Hadley’s hand and pu-ll-ed her out of the elevator. They hurried into the open ap@rtment, running up the stairs where they were hearing voices. They got to the be-droom, Hans was standing at the door frozen in shock as he looked into the room. They c@m£ behind him, looking at Ivan and Hans’s girlfriend stare back at Hans nonplussed.
‘Hans,’ Hadley whimpered, seeing her brother completely paralyzed by shock. Of course they knew he only had a crush on the girl, but the real pain would be from his best friend; they had grown up together, he trusted Ivan with his life.
‘And what is the meaning of this Ivan and Maggie?!’ Hailey shouted, pla-ying shocked as well.
‘It’s none of your business,’ Ivan huffed. ‘He wasn’t taking care of her so I did it for him.’ They had br@zen up about it. Deciding their brother had seen enough, they dragged him out of the house, almost crying with how stunned their brother looked.
The first phase of ma-king their brother strong and not a pushover was done. Time for phase two.
🎲🎲🎲 More than a game 🎰🎰🎰
→→→ Jilting the tits ←←←
🀄 Book one 🀄
🎀 Hailey’s standpoint 🎀
I knocked on Hans door gently, hoping he would answer this time. He had been locked up in there for weeks, refusing to go to school for almost a month now. He nee-ded to be in school, Ivan was going around showing off Maggie and boasting that he was now the new king because Hans wasn’t coming back. Which is true, Hans will never go back there for fear of seeing them together and getting his heartbroken allover again. Ivan alre-ady took over the football team, he was the co captain in a sort of way so now, he was acting as captain. Hans nee-ds to come back before his reputation is completely crushed.
Ivan even had the right to say “and he calls himself a Kendrick.”
That is a big insult! Even our younger brother has more guts than Hans. ‘Hans, you nee-d to go save your reputation!’ Hadley shouted, pounding on the door.
‘Lee, that isn’t going to work out.’ I sighed, everyone calls her Lee so you will see that name more than Hadley. You know Lee as in Hadley with an “e” instead of a “y”.
‘We have to do something!’
‘We shouldn’t be worried about Hans’s reputation, we should be more worried about his health and emotional stability.’
‘What are we suppose to do now?’ She whispered. ‘This isn’t what we planned.’
‘Let’s go out, Melody is waiting for us at the shop.’ I said lowly. Melody is our cousin, our mother’s older sister’s second daughter. She’s very calm, doesn’t speak much but each words made so much s-en-se. She’s pretty cool and just like her name and her father, she’s a music lover. The only scary thing about her is the blue headed p@n-ther that never leaves her side. If that cat didn’t have a licence to move around freely, I would have bought a gun.
‘Maybe she can help us think,’ Lee suggested.
‘Maybe,’
~
~
~
Lee and I walked into the ice cream shop, Melody loves coming here. Her father opened the sto-re just for her, to work when she isn’t off on tour. Bluey, her p@n-ther saw us first. She ran to us, moving like she was jumping on air. I don’t like animals, they creep me out, especially wi-de ones. That’s unfortunate because Hans have two annoying monkeys; a vervet monkey and an all-white spider monkey. Lee keeps a bunny as her best friend. Bunnies are so dumb.
‘Hi Blue,’ I said nervously, shifting away from her. She ru-bbe-d herself against Lee who giggled. Bluey’s rules are simple:
1. I t©uçh you but don’t you dare t©uçh me or I’ll bite off your f!ngers.
2. Don’t t©uçh my property, especially my toys.
3. Don’t stand too close to Melody, she’s off limit.
4. Don’t t©uçh my hair, it’s sacred.
5. Don’t approach me when I don’t approach you.
6. If you don’t know me, don’t call my name, you don’t deserve to.
7. Even if you know me, as long as I don’t like you, don’t call my name or look at me.
She’s such a snub and she don’t like me. She’s nice to Lee but love Hans and my younger brother. Everyb©dy else is forbidden, including Melody’s siblings. ‘Hey girl, where’s Melody?’ Lee asked. Bluey growled. ‘We just wanna talk, plea-se? It’s about Hans.’
She turned and ran towards the kitchen. We followed her to the kitchen; Melody was busy mixing creams while the other chefs made other types of ice creams.
‘No Milan, don’t mix the blueberry and kiwi flavour together,’ she called as calmly as ever. She looked at us and smiled. ‘Hey cuz, what’s up?’
‘Hans, that baby is up.’ I grumbled.
‘Oh, Bethany, can you come help me handle the mixer? I have to take this.’
‘Okay ma’am,’
‘Thank you,’ we watched her leave the mixer to the sink to wash her hands. Lee pu-ll-ed me out, we took a booth and sat down to wait for her. We waited for over six minutes before she c@m£ out with a tray of three good looking ice creams. ‘Here you go, my latest ice cream sundaes, try it.’
‘Ice cream isn’t our problem,’ I huffed. Lee happily took mine and hers. I glared at her.
‘What? You are not in the mood, I am. I am always in the mood for ice cream,’ she said with a childish pout. I sighed.
‘Save some for me,’
‘Okay.’
‘Now,’ Melody said, picking up her spoon. ‘What about Hans?’
‘Ivan, we showed him what Ivan really is and now he won’t get his f-king as-s out of his room!’
‘Hmm, have you tried talking to him?’ She asked as she excavated her ice cream.
‘Three weeks,’
‘Words?’
‘Motivational quotes, movies quote, nothing is working!’ I yelled in frustration.
‘Hmm,’ she tapped her spoon on her chin. ‘Maybe he doesn’t nee-d quotes, he just nee-ds action.’
‘Meaning?’
‘You know he’s mommy’s pet, he won’t listen to anyone else except your mother when he’s like this.’
‘I don’t want to involve mom,’ I said as I leaned back on my chair.
‘Hans nee-d to get back to school,’ Lee said with mouth full. ‘Ivan is ruining his reputation.’
‘Hans nee-d to go back and act like he don’t care, intimid@t£ Ivan. You all have that intimid@t!ngaura alre-ady, especially you and him. He just nee-ds to use it…’
‘Especially me and Phoenix,’ I corrected. My younger brother is as annoying as he is scary… Or maybe because Hans is too nice.
‘Oh, the thing is Maggie, that girl is jilt and must be dealt with. Even if I don’t like the idea, Hans nee-d to stab them both where it hurts more, like their pride. He nee-ds to find a way to kill two birds with one stone.’ Melody suggested.
‘Hmm,’ I stro-ke my chin. ‘Find a way to break the jilt and crush Ivan at the same time. He can do that in so many ways, he’s better than him. The only thing now is finding a way to pl@yboth of them. Lee, any idea…’ I frowned when I saw Lee l!çk!ng the cu-ps. ‘You finished it!’
‘What? You wanted some?’ She asked as she continued l!çk!ng a cu-p. ‘Mm, so good…’
‘We are not getting anything out of her, she’s the dumb one in the family.’ I scoffed. Lee snorted.
‘Me and you are blockheads, you blockhead, I blockhead, end of story.’
‘I’m smarter than you are,’
‘Smarter doesn’t state intelligence. What is 2+2? You don’t know. When I was your age, I could solve anything. Just look at yourself Hailey, you don’t even know how to spell your name.’ Lee boasted.
‘Should I spell it on your face?’
‘Shhhh, don’t speak rudely to the mother that gave birth to you, okay?’ I rolled my eyes, she’s annoying. ‘Melody baby, the sugar in my tea. Won’t you give me more ice creams?’
‘I’m afraid I didn’t make…’
‘Are you gonna eat that?’
‘Yes, I…’ Lee took it with a grin.
‘Thank you very much for sacrificing for a sister, you are blessed. You are not like some stingy people I know,’ she eyed me and hissed, rolling her eyes away. ‘I didn’t mention a name, I only said people. It’s a good thing the stingy people know themselves.’
Melody chuckled lightly. ‘Is the ice cream more important right now?’
‘Is it my fault he wants to kill himself? If I die, he would still be wallowing. Don’t worry, by helping myself with this ice creams, his stomach will get full as well. Right blockhead?’
‘The conclusion to this discussion is I should first use mom to get to him?’ I asked, ignoring Lee.
‘But first, must come up with a good plan t…’
‘Good afternoon,’ someone greeted Melody. My eyes averted to her.
‘Wow,’ was all that left my mouth. The girl was small bodied with violet hair dye and cute glas-ses. She didn’t look like your usual nerd but with her dress code, I could tell she was something related and a su-cker for anything related to purple. Her hands were decorated with different purple related colours of beads and br@ckets. Her n£¢k was coated the same way and then her outfit was a purple jodhpurs, a silly yet pretty lilac shi-t and white Nike sneakers. Her weaved belt was white as well. Her hair was packed into a ponytail, a long swishing ponytail.
‘Who’s the purple unicorn?’ Lee asked blankly.
‘Oh, that’s Iris Hathaway, she’s a new girl.’
‘Iris, she should have been named Violet,’ Lee said with mouth full.
‘She’s beautiful, cold looking,’ I said abs£nt mindedly. My br@in was trying to register where I’ve seen her before, somewhere around. ‘Does she attend our school?’
‘Nay,’
‘She looks really familiar…’
‘You see the reason why I say you are a blockhead? A dunce? I stand corrected. A br@iny kid like me would be fast enough to place something. That’s the girl we once saw Ivan with, the one he likes a lot but she hates him, is that unicorn… Hey! I’ll call her that. Hi unicorn!” Lee shouted, waving at the girl as she opened the kitchen door. The girl looked at her and smiled delicately. Lee giggled and grinned at me.
I rolled my eyes. ‘Why does she hate Ivan?’
‘Again, you don’t have s-en-se,’ she said with a pitiful shake of her head. ‘How am I suppose to know? Why should I care?’
‘Tell me I don’t have s-en-se again and I’ll punch you,’ I threatened. She made a dumb face and mimicked me silently. I rolled my eyes.
‘Look guys, I nee-d to head back to the kitchen,’ Melody said, standing up. ‘I know you girls can think of something, you’re both smart when you put your heads together…’
‘Exactly!’ Lee exclaimed, cl@pping her hands. ‘This is the exact words I told her years ago!’ She said really loudly. ‘I told her to re-move her head and sew it to mine, so we could think better and fas-ter, but she refused. Look where it has landed us now, two brilliant minds separated from each other’s… Point of correction, one brilliant mind separated from the peanut size br@in.’
Melody laughed and shook her head. ‘Don’t vex me Lee.’ I warned.
‘Why wouldn’t I? re-move your head I said, nooooo, you said. What use are you if you can’t sacrifice your head for me? Two heads are better than one they said, I’m trying to help you seeing as you don’t have anything in there. Just look at who I’m trying to manage…’
‘Lee,’ I snapped.
‘What? You want to beat me?’ I face palmed myself. She shift the glas-s cu-p to me. ‘Use this to sma-ck yourself, it’s more effective…’
‘Shut up Lee,’ I whined. She’s impossible to deal with. She pinned herl-ips and smiled wi-dely.
‘I’m just going to keep shut because I don’t want you to drown this place with your tears.’ She innocently put her scoop of ice cream into her mouth.
‘Remind me to tell Phoenix you killed his spider,’
She g@sped, throwing her spoon away. she quic-kly did the sign of the cross. ‘May his creepy soul rest in peace. Tell him I killed his creepy pet, and I’ll tell him you were the one who advice dad to seize his credit cards.’
‘Well pla-yed sis, well pla-yed.’ I sm-irked, leaning on the table. Melody was alre-ady gone.
‘Well, I learnt from the best.’
⚡ Han’s standpoint ⚡
‘fv¢king open this door Hans and pay me back your…er my money!’ Phoenix shouted, hammering on my be-droom door. I wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone, wasn’t crying, just frustrated.
Ivan was my best friend, he was like a brother to me. After mom s£nt me to live with dad’s old grandmother or whatever she is, I was all alone. Phoenix lived opposite grandma’s mansion, he was the only kid in the neighborhood, the only one grandma let me pl@ywith. We had been friends since I was two. How was I suppose to know he envied me? How was I suppose to know that all these while he had been finding joy in breaking all my relationsh!ps?! I spent three days wallowing, used that to find out everything, used five to beat myself up for being a fool and the rest to rack my head on how to repay him back for his generosity. I didn’t even care about Maggie, never liked her.
‘Hans, don’t fv¢king keep me standing here like an as-s waiting for fv¢k! I nee-d my money back!’
How did that small thief get into my house again?
‘Hans!!!’
‘Get out of my fv¢king house you worm!’
‘I’m not leaving this house until you pay me back my money.’
‘I didn’t take your goddamn money!!!’ I roared. He kept quiet for a while.
‘Why are you shouting at me? Did I say anything wrong? I only asked for my money,’ he said softly. ‘Bro, are you okay?’
‘No, I’m not fine! I’m frustrated!’
‘Okay, open the door so we can talk d!¢k to d!¢k,’ he pleaded. I sighed and stood up. Phoenix is two years younger; sixteen. But he fv¢king acts like an annoying kid every single time! I love him though. ‘Hans open this door before I call mom!’
‘Shut up, I’m coming and st©p yelling like a girl,’ I huffed. I unlocked the bolts and walked back to my big gray king size be-d. My hands were in my pockets as I dragged myself there.
‘Wow, you look like someone ran you over with a car.’
‘Wow, I’m still alive.’ I said sarcastically.
‘Unfortunately.’
‘Phoenix,’ I sighed, falling back on my be-d. ‘What do you want?’
‘I’m broke, I nee-d money. Dad won’t give me another dime, the old man said I’m a money wasting machine.’ He said upsettingly.
‘You are,’
‘I am not. When he was my age, didn’t he spend his money on women and fashion too? I nee-d to look good, spend his money on latest items to impress the ladies. Why am I his son if I can’t spend his money? He’s rich.’ Phoenix shrugged as he ran his hand into his hair. I rolled my eyes and look at my roof; a picture of my baby sis staring back at me. Mom accidentally got pregnant again, had my cute five years old sister. Her smile brou-ght a smile to myl-ips too.
‘What money do I owe you? The last time I checked, I started paying your bills since dad cut you off last year.’
‘Let’s talk about who’s paying whose bills later and talk about what is up with you,’ he sat on the be-d. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Ivan.’
‘Is he dead? It’s been a while I attended someone’s funeral…’ He grinned when I glared at him. ‘Sorry, go on.’
‘Ivan have been the reason for my constant relationsh!pfailure, my badluck.’
‘Not your bad luck, his and am I suppose to be surprise? I’m not.’
‘How many people knew about this?’ I asked frowningly.
‘How about everyone. That stupid broke as-s dude have been taking money from you. You are too generous Hans, too caring. Anyone can literally just come to you and say “hey Hans, good evening. My mom is sick, I nee-d…” And you will cut the person off by saying. “s£nd me your account details.” You are generously foolish… I mean foolishly generous. I remember the first time we went out together, the amount of people you st©pped by to dash out money. That is what Ivan have been doing, extorting money from the exploitable idiot.’
‘You know I can break your jaw, right? I might be soft hearted but that doesn’t mean I don’t know how to break someone’s spine.’
‘Break me and mom kills you… The thing is that you nee-d to st©p being so soft hearted. Know when to say no, when to snub and be stingy like me. I can never give anyb©dy anything, not even a cent…’
‘And that is why you are completely broke,’ I chuckled.
‘That fact isn’t proven bro, you can’t prove that.’
‘Hmm, I want to pay Ivan back.’
‘Revenge?’ He asked grinningly, he loves people’s suffering. Reason number five why dad didn’t mark him in any of his important properties. ‘I can help with that. You can start by returning to school and showing them a new Hans, one that would remind them whose son you are. I can’t f0rç£ you to be stingy like me, it takes years of practice for such an important job…’ He patted himself on the shoulder. ‘But you can remind Ivan that he is nothing but a scra-p picker, your doormat. He must worsh!pyou!’ I sma-cked the back of his head. ‘Sorry, forgot you are not man enough… I’m sorry!’ He shielded his face as I sat up to punch him. I dropped my hand and knocked his head. ‘Ow! My beautiful br@in!’
‘Phoenix!’
‘Okay, fine! Geez! Boys and their temper,’ he shifted far away from me. ‘I said boys, you are a boy and me a man. Cool, right?’
‘Phoenix,’ I said, holding back my annoyance. ‘Do you have an idea or not?’
‘As you make him k!ssyour feet, pl@ya get back game.’
‘What game?’
‘You know that girl he likes? The one whose face we didn’t see because of her hood?’
‘The one he doesn’t know we are aware of?’ He nodded. ‘You want me to pl@ywith her feelings by d@t!ngher?’
‘Not like that. How about I find out all I can about her, then you can use her weakness to get her to d@t£ him temporarily to hurt Ivan and Maggie. As reward for my ha-rd work, you pay me good money.’
‘That is a…’
‘Brilliant idea!’ Hailey skrie-ked, walking into my room. Oh great. ‘I never knew you had a br@in in there Phoenix…’
‘Ironic,’ Lee sang innocently. Hailey glared at her. ‘What?’ She asked innocently.
‘Ignoring her. You find out all you can and leave the agreement to me. I do have a nice sway with people.’
‘This is going to backfire… Lee why are you dragging me?’ I huffed.
‘Come, I want to bathe my big baby.’
‘Lee, I have hands, st©p trying to bathe me.’
‘Can I give you a shave then?’
‘Lee!’
TBC
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