Brotherly Love

Chapter 5

Lydia woke up with a start.

The sun was too high, she observed. Then it hit her.

'Rea!' She screamed and clumsily jumped out of bed.

'Reaaaa!' She continued screaming and run towards her daughter's room.

She forced Andrea's door opened but was met with an empty room and a neatly laid bed.

'Mum?'

'Aahhh!' Lydia jumped out of fright and turned towards the direction of the voice.

'O Nana! You scared me! Where is your sister?'

Nana stared at his mum with a puzzled look.

'Mum, its past 8 am. Rea leaves for school before 7:30 am.' He said.

'O my goo.....it's 8 am?!' I am late!'

Nana was transfixed. He didn't know if his mum was upset that his sister had already left for school or that she was late for work.

'I have to leave for work.' She said while walking briskly away.

'Please make some time and talk to your sister ok. I am sure she is having guy issues at school and she needed to talk to me. You are old enough. You can help her, besides you are a guy.' She continued.

Nana shook his head in disbelief. He couldn't believe his mum couldn't even make time to talk to Rea, even if she wanted to speak about something as trivial as guys.
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Andrea was excited and bubbly. So much that her friend noticed.

'Shheesshh girl, what's new. You look and sound like you just stepped out of a dream.'

Andrea continued to smile widely.

'Serwah...' She began,

Serwah waited eagerly for Andrea to finish her sentence.

Andrea looked up from the book she had been drawing little hearts in and stated,

'I am in love.'

Serwah threw her head back and laughed hard.

'Really? Who is he?'

Andrea froze. Was she supposed to tell Serwah that her new found love was her own brother? Her blood brother.

'Who is he?' Serwah repeated after a few seconds of waiting impatiently.

'Does it matter?' Andrea asked defensively

'Well...I don't think so.' Serwah shrugged and replied.

Andrea smiled.

'Well, I really love him and I don't want to lose him.' She said.

'Is he handsome?' Serwah enquired.

'Of course!'

'Well, if you don't want to lose him then you need to do stuff to keep him.'

'Stuff like?'

'O come on Rea! Don't tell me you dunno what to do to keep a guy in your life. Are you that ignorant?' Serwah asked arching her eyebrow in the process.

'What if I don't.'

'Well, you need to show him physically that you care and also let him have your body. That's what my boyfriend told me when I asked him how I was to show him I loved him.'

Andrea remained silent and stared at her book.
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Lydia was swamped with work. There seemed to be no breathing space lately, not for herself much less her children. Her boss had just called from Johannesburg to inform her that her services were needed there in 24 hours.

She had tried to call Nana but couldn't reach him.

Lydia had rushed home to grab some clothes and was told, by the gateman, that Nana had stepped out a few minutes earlier. Lydia told Abu, the gateman, to inform Nana that she would get in touch with him later in the evening because she was travelling.

Abu had nodded in agreement and closed the gate behind madam's car.

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Nana was bored. He had tried contacting his close friends to see if they could have a night out, since it was a Friday, but to no avail. One had a date with his girlfriend and the other two couldn't be reached.

He didn't feel like playing any games this night so he decided to join Andrea in the hall. Maybe she would tune into a horror movie so they could amuse themselves and he could even offer to make microwave popcorn so they eat with ice cream. That would surely excite her-he knew.

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Andrea sat staring at the TV. She wasn't interested in what was being shown because her mind was so filled up with what she could do to get Nana's attention. She had almost taken a pen to jot down her ideas and cancel out the ones that looked absurd but refrained from doing so.

'Rea, are you up for popcorn and ice cream?' Nana said, cutting into her thoughts.

'Huh?'

'Would you like some popcorn and ice cream?' Nana asked again, walking up to the centre table to take the remote and surf through the channels.

'Sure!' Andrea replied with enthusiasm and jumped out of the couch heading towards the kitchen.

Nana smiled and shook his head. She hadn't even waited for him, even though he suggested the whole idea.

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Andrea snuggled warmly beside her brother as they watched the latest James Bond movie. It seemed no tv station was showing any horror movie so they both settled for James Bond.

Andrea's mind was still racing. She didn't know whether to lift Nana's hand and place it on her bare thigh since she was in shorts and most of her thigh was exposed. Or lean harder into him.

In the end, she took his hand from her shoulder, leant closer into him and allowed his hand to linger on her fleshy thigh. It felt good to have him hold her like that.

Her mind strayed to images from porn material she had seen on Nana's laptop a few months back. She had never tried kissing anyone and wondered how that would feel. She sighed loudly.

'Are you OK?' Nana asked with concern in his voice.

'Yep, I am fine.' Andrea replied.

'Isn't it weird that we haven't heard from mum till now?' Nana asked.

'Uhhh...I dunno.'

'I tried calling her but it didn't go through so I sent a text.'

'Ok'

'Rea, are you sure you are OK?'

'Yes...can we please not talk about mum..please.' Andrea pleaded.

'Sure, if that's what you want.'

There was a pause.

'Can I sleep in your room tonight?' Andrea asked in a shaky voice.

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Nana was disturbed.

He didn't understand what Rea wanted anymore. From his encounters with ladies, he knew this was what they did when they wanted attention or something more.

And now she had asked if she could spend the night in his room. He wanted to decline but remembered what had happened two nights ago. What if she ended up crying herself to sleep or worse. Again, he remembered what his mum had told him that morning about being available for his sister so she could talk to him. What if she opened up more while in his room about what had been eating her up.

'Sure, you can spend the night in my room hun.' Nana replied.