ENG - My best friend's sister ᵐᶦᵏᵉʸ ˣ ᵒᶜ

61

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I spend the rest of the day with my brother, checking on his injury, just going for a walk or fooling around. In the evening I lie in bed and am overjoyed to be in my own bed again. I press my pillow against me and am about to fall asleep when the sudden vibration of my mobile phone wakes me up again. A little irritated and tired, I feel for the device on my bedside table and look at the screen. It's a message from Mikey. With curious eyes still dazed from sleep, I open it and begin to read.

Mikey
Come to the park in 10 minutes, if you don't come, I'll show up at your place. ;)

Immediately I am sitting candle-degree in bed, my eyes wide open, staring in disbelief at the news. It's half past ten at night and he still expects me to go outside now? A disbelieving laugh escapes my lips as I think about how Kenny will never let me go. How does he think that?
Sighing, I drop back into bed and think, but can't come to a decision. Finally I get up and put on some sports clothes. If Kenny is still awake and asks - and I know he will - I will simply tell him that I feel the need to go for another jog. It doesn't sound that implausible in the end. One last glance at the phone in my hand, a deep breath, and I'm ready to leave the house.

As I literally tiptoe out the door, my hand is already on the metal of the door handle when suddenly the light in the hallway comes on. Shock sends my pulse racing as I turn and look into the sombre, uninviting face of Kenny, who stands with his arms crossed.
"Where do you think you're going at this hour?" he asks me. The coldness in his voice sends an uncomfortable shiver down my spine as I quietly blurt out, "Jogging?" making it sound more like a question.
"Jogging? At this godforsaken hour?" he repeats sceptically, raising an eyebrow reproachfully. My uncertainty increases, but I try to cover it with a silent nod and reply, "Can't sleep, I'm certainly tired enough after my run!" My brother sighs heavily, steps dangerously close to me and leans forward to look me intensely, almost menacingly, in the eye. However, I cannot withstand his domineering gaze and let my eyes wander around the area.
"You're lying," he states icily, making me wince again.
"N-no, really, I'm not," I stammer as I notice the palms of my hands start to sweat with nervousness. My brother narrows his eyes and looks at me even more sceptically than before, saying, "Then why the hell would you want to sneak out?"
Again I wince barely noticeably and swallow hard again before stammering to myself, "Didn't... want to wake you...?"
"Well, if that's the case, I'll go with you. I need to get back into shape anyway, the injury has put me out of action long enough," he says, disengaging from me and immediately starting to put on his shoes. Looking at him in disbelief and with wide eyes, I shake my head as I reply, "You really don't have to, I can take care of myself."
"It would be irresponsible of me to let you out alone at this hour. Or are you planning to meet someone secretly?" he confronts me directly, looking at me kind of angrily. "Have you met someone in this camp? Someone who is now pushing you to make such unreasonable decisions to leave the house in the middle of the night?" he drills on, with a sharp look. I swallow the lump in my throat that suddenly forms. As if in slow motion, I shake my head and murmur softly, almost desperately, "I just want to go for a jog."

He then steps in front of me again and pats me on the shoulder with a smile. "All right then, let's go," he says cheerfully, grabbing another key and opening the door, already walking out. I scratch my head and sigh, then follow him, backing out now would definitely be too conspicuous. Outside, we both stretch for a moment until he asks me, "Which way?"
I shrug slightly and look around before saying, "I would have gone my usual route through the park." It's not entirely a lie; in fact, I always walk through the park. But the thought of Mikey showing up there and Kenny seeing him.... My thoughts are abruptly interrupted when my brother gives me a playful push to get me moving - symbolically telling me to start walking. And I do. I start jogging towards the park, my brother effortlessly beside me. Neither of us says anything, but inside my mind is racing. I am really extremely worried about how my brother will react.

Since the park is not particularly far from us and we can reach our destination even faster by jogging, we arrive quickly. With every step we get closer, my nervousness grows. I try to look out for Mikey as inconspicuously as possible. It doesn't take long before I spot him out of the corner of my eye: he is sitting on a bench and looking at his mobile phone. A stabbing pain runs through my heart at the thought that I can't just walk up to him.
"Mei, wait a minute," my brother snaps me out of my thoughts. He holds me by the upper arm, which slows both of our pace and finally brings us to a halt. I look at him questioningly as I try to calm my frantic breathing.

He points his finger directly at Mikey and says, "Let's go over here for a minute," before walking straight towards him. Tensely, I watch him go and my heart speeds up abruptly. I fervently pray that Mikey will find a good excuse in a flash as to why he is in the park at this hour. With hesitant steps I follow my brother and we finally stop right in front of Mikey.
Confused and surprised, he looks at us. I hide a little behind my brother, give Mikey an uncertain smile and shrug my shoulders apologetically. Obviously he understands quickly what is going on.
"What are you doing here at this hour?" my brother asks directly as he sits down next to Mikey on the bench.
"Took care of some people nearby. You finally slacked off when I was absent for a paltry two weeks," Mikey replies with surprising composure and without giving it much thought.
"I got stabbed, in case you forgot," Kenny argues, seeming to buy it without hesitation.

Shaking my head, I stand in front of them both and look at them incredulously. One dumber than the other, in my opinion.
"It's getting late, you can crash at our place. Mind you, my little sister wanted to go for a jog first," my brother begins, drawing my full attention. My eyes alternate back and forth between him and Mikey, and Mikey seems to be thinking about it.
"Why not, it's so far to my place, I don't really fancy it," Mikey replies, standing up with a jerk and stretching.

We then finish our round of jogging together and walk back afterwards.
"Now I'm tired and can sleep. Good night," I say goodbye to both of them directly, yawning playfully as I just want to get to my room as soon as possible. No sooner have I closed the door behind me than I lean against it, exhausted, and let out a stressed sigh. This is not how I had imagined it, but now it's too late to change anything. I change my clothes and drop onto my bed. I'm a little sad that our meeting didn't work out because my brother really wanted to be there.

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