BEAUTY MARKS

3. DRIVE

No one understood why he picked such a dangerous job, and Dyan wanted to know more like many people in his family. The man's silence drove his sister up the wall.

Even in the dark, Dominque distinguished his sister's eye roll, "yeah, yeah, and what do you do in all the foreign countries?"

Dominque glanced away from the steering wheel to give Dyan a deadpan stare, "do you really believe I'm gonna tell you?"

His job was not what embarrassed Dominque; he was part of a renowned Intervention Forces of the GIGN. Some compared the elite police tactical unit to the SWAT, but they differed in many points.

Most of Dominque's missions concerned infiltration. The man put himself in risky situations for the adrenaline surge. It was a game for the man when he enrolled. He took out his frustration during his missions. During his permissions, he visited other countries where the beast in him began to calm.

Meeting people who didn't even know if they would be alive the next day or whether they'll have the opportunity to find a few bread crumbs to eat made Dominque realize that his heartbreak was a grain of sand comparison of what people could face in life.

Now the man dreaded to be asked why he was back in Paris. It relieved the man to see everyone accepted his excuse, which consisted of saying he was on an extended leave.

"Dominque, is everything okay? I mean, I haven't seen you more than five times in the last four years, and here you are full time."

They weren't twins, but Dyan could tell something was up.

"I told you everything is fine; I needed a break."

"You need a break, Mr. Miguens."

Dominque turned to face Dyan, "aren't you glad to see me?"

"You need to follow my prescriptions."

"Yeah, butㅡ."

Dyan didn't know what to think; her brother was there, yet she felt something was different about him. One thing was sure Hye Ju didn't appear to fill his thoughts. Dyan still remembered when she met the girl and how, for the first time, she saw the face of her brother in love.

Dyan never thought she would hear words such as, "got to go, Hye Ju is waiting for me, or you're a girl, do you think Hye Ju would like this?"

If one day Dominque needed a witness, Dyan could testify that her brother loved the woman to death. Also, it was because of what she did that Dominque fled.

Even now, as Dyan watched the road while her brother drove, she could not help but resent the woman.

A minute of silence passed, and Dominque glanced at Dyan, "I'm glad to be here. I'm looking forward to meeting my niece."

Dominque didn't want anyone to worry. He hated seeing people making a fuss around him. The Miguens family were the let's panic kind. If anyone found out about his health, his parents would fly back. The aunts would be at mass every day. And everyone would squat his home as if he was on a death bed.

The man preferred avoiding the hassle even if the doctors told him that the chances of compatibility with a family member were high in case of a transplant.

Dominque accepted the eventuality of having an operation, but he refused to deprive any loved one of a kidney.

The transplant was something Dominque didn't wish to think of; he prayed the dialysis would be efficient and that his kidneys would recover.

++

Dominque drove Dyan home, where her fiancé welcomed them. The scene where Etienne kissed and gave his sister a back hug while he held Dyan's stomach seemed surreal for Dominque.

Dyan was twenty-one when Dominque left. Now she was twenty-five, and she was going to have a baby with a man her brother only met twice since his return.

Etienne worked for the French VICE channel as a content translator.

Where a high percentage of women chose men who resembled their father or brother, Dyan was part of the few without any daddy or bro-con issues.

Etienne was terrible at sports, and he never hogged the remote to watch a football match. The man didn't work out; he was tall, lean, sandy blonde, and blue-eyed, which contrasted with all the Mediterranean men in the Miguens family.

Also, Etienne was an atheist. The fact didn't bother Dominque, but he knew his parents and remaining grandparents from the old generation of believers would flip tables.

The build-up of brotherly protectiveness amplified as Dominque watched his sister's and Etienne's interaction. Kisses and more kisses, Dominque felt as though he regressed to the state of a child disgusted by the overflow of love.

Yet it reassured Dominque that his sister chose a decent man who had nothing to prove except showing Dyan how much he loved her.

"Eh, people, like I'm still here," he pointed at himself and nodded.

"Oh, Dominque, sorry," Etienne's radiant smile was too bright for the man who decided to bail out before the couple's marshmallow love gobbled him up.

Dominque threw his sister the keys, which she chucked back, "you can keep the car. I'll use Etienne's."

Dominque stared at the keys in his hand, hesitant he looked at Dyan, "why?"

"Take the car; you are covering my lessons. I don't want to hear you got to class late because you got stuck in a Uber or the tube. So take the car."

Dominque couldn't back out; he tossed the keys in the air and caught them, "Okay, I'm out, take care."

"Dominque, don't forget the next class is on Tuesday at 8 PM."

"Okay, see ya."

"Yeah, see you, Dominque," Etienne added.

The man who felt like a third wheel went to the door, and all he heard as he left was, "do you think your brother likes me?"