𝐃𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐁𝐲 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 [𝐃𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐁𝐲] 💗

Chapter 5

On the third day,

He rose like a bonafide freckled Jesus. In his sleeveless sweater and knee-length shorts, he finds his 'family' on the beach enjoying the Global Warming set upon them.

They're having fun, he thinks. The De Vera brothers are playing Volleyball, and Valentina is cooking again. Even Aldrynon Wyner proved to be consistent, wearing a dress shirt and tie on a freaking beach.

Suddenly, Tyler was spotted by Valentina, who lit up and waved her arms at him. "Tyler! Tyler, sweetie! Come enjoy the beach, I cook American ocean meat!"

It's seafood. Tyler shook his head, but Valentina ran up to the beach house and dragged him to the grill, handing him a pair of tongs.

"Uhhh..." Tyler looks just as confused as a turtle in a crocodile pen.

"Okay, look... you should turn the squid every something-minute until it is change color, okay?—Hey! You! No, chair should be over there—!" Valentina quickly left him for the gardener, and Tyler stood there poking the meat with his claw-tongs.

I should've stayed in bed and rotted. He thought with such a gloom expression.

Looking at where Xavier was snorkeling, he was kind of tempted to join since the beach had a ton of stuff to poke fun at. For example, Xavier is now waving a starfish around exclaiming, "Ryland look, I kidnapped Patrick!"

Tyler sighed, poking the grilled squid. He looks at them. "You guys are lucky you died together."

"Tasty fishes get eaten, beautiful fishes get imprisoned in an aquarium." Ryland appeared beside Tyler and stared at the food, the freckled Wyner surprised at his sudden presence.

"I don't get it," Tyler said softly.

Ryland wasn't surprised he didn't get the metaphor. Instead of degrading Tyler's intelligence, he took another pair of tongs and flipped a squid over. "It'll be burnt if you don't turn it."

Tyler snorted. "If you had a cooking show, it'll be for sleep ASMR." He giggled since Ryland's voice is so soft and smooth but flat and monotoned at the same time. Tyler starts to flip the squids one by one.

Ryland shrugged, "I guess it'll work for putting my hostages to sleep."

"Pft," Tyler snorted. "Dark humor."

I wasn't joking, the silver-tipped de Vera thought.

"So uhm..." Tyler cleared his voice. "You're ready for being a CEO? What about college?"

"I get my degrees by just taking the exam. It's easier to study a whole course subject every two weeks than waste a year."

Tyler felt like Karen from Mean Girls in the presence of Neil deGrasse Tyson. Tyler was smart for sure, he was willing to work for grades. But Ryland doesn't ever need to lift a finger or a brain cell for it; he lives to put Einstein to shame.

"Aren't you going to work at your father's company?" asked Ryland. "You're taking up Business and Accounting, right?"

"Yeah, about that..." For some reason, Tyler was coerced into opening up just a little bit at the guy who actually had the decency to strike up a conversation with him. "I only took that course because I was supposed to be CEO. Now that you're here, I realized that I never even wanted those classes."

"Then? What are you going to do?"

"Go through with it, I guess. After all, I am Kappa Aegis' Treasurer. It'll be of use," Tyler answered without ever meeting Ryland's eyes.

Suddenly, a fork with a whole grilled squid appeared in Tyler's vision. "It's cooked," Ryland said.

"What?"

"Taste it," Ryland's fork shook in front of Tyler.

"Why?"

Ryland rolled his eyes. "Just taste it to see if it's not poisoned, since it's Mom's cooking, after all."

Tyler bit a tentacle with his teeth, but surprisingly it wasn't hot. He ended up consuming the whole thing including the stuffing.

"Mmh! This is tasty! Your mom cooks so well..." Tyler blushed over his freckles, and Ryland even admits it's cute.

"This is her third time trying to cook squid. You should have tasted the first try, it was garbage."

"Hey, that's your mom."

Ryland raised an eyebrow. "So? No one is entitled to compliments if they don't deserve it." He then pulled a squid out that's been resting under the electric fan.

"Try this one, it's spicy."

Meanwhile, Xavier floated with only half his head over the surface. Why is Tyler so happy with Ryland? He basically hates my brother. Ryland is like the second King of the Marauders, and no one hates the Marauders as much as Tyler does... Xavier's mouth blew bubbles from underwater.

He felt something heavy on his chest, and it's not the air that keeps him floating. His muscles were tensed... watching Tyler bite that squid that Ryland offered, laughing afterward. Since when did they get along?

But no... he has to hold back. He doesn't have a choice. They're going to be brothers. Xavier knew he had to avoid Tyler. He had to avoid this feeling of both dread and pleasure. He had to stay away from it all. 

For Tyler's safety.