Marry me

Chapter Fifteen.

"Belle!" Crystal squealed as she opened the door. She jumped and gave me a bone-cracking hug.

Wow, welcome to Seattle, Isabelle.

"Whoa!" I let out obviously caught off guard. I almost fell over, but I regained my balance before I could topple over and hugged her back. "Damn girl. What are you, huh? An elephant? Don't crack my spine, I'm still young." I choked out and she loosened her grip on me, still hugging me. I chuckled into her light brown hair. God, I missed this bitch.

"I missed you so much." She mumbled into my shirt and pulled away. Her contagious wide grin stretched on her face made a grin clamber its way to my own face.

"We video-chatted yesterday, idiot," I swatted the upside of her head playfully and she laughed, murmuring something incoherent. "But I missed you too, cupcake."

Her eyes flickered to Mr. Asshole behind me. She discreetly waggled her eyebrows at me and the very infamous you've-got-to-tell-me-every-single-detail expression was clearly written on her face.

"Crystal, this is-" I wanted to say Mr. Asshole but I decided against it. My lips thinned against my will and my eyelids twitched. I was only going to say this once. "This is, uh, my fiance. Uh, um. Ivan?" It sounded more like a question so I cleared my throat awkwardly. "Ivan, this is my sister." I felt a twinge of guilt somewhere in my chest but like I always did, I ignored it.

Crystal's eyebrows furrowed at the awkward tension that filled the atmosphere and the uneasiness laced in my voice. "Um, okay. Hi, brother-in-law to be."

I wanted to palm my forehead but I refrained. Ah, dear sister, prepare some tissues because Mr. Asshole will soon reply sarcastically. I averted my eyes from her piercing gaze and fixed it on the white walls. I waited for his usual snarky and sardonic response.

It never came.

I knitted my eyebrows and turned my head to him. Suffice it to say that he was literally sizing up the house, swallowing up the surroundings with his stupid yet beautiful grey eyes. Handsome grey-eyed crapwipe.

Crystal tapped my hand, pulling me out of my thoughts. 'What?' I mouthed discreetly to her.

She glanced at Mr. Asshole, who was still clearly oblivious that all attention was focused on him. "Is he mute or just deaf?" she stage-whispered. My eyebrows went skyward for a moment before lowering, I made a quick side-glance at Mr. Trevelyan and breathed out a little sigh of relief. Thank macaroni, he didn't hear her.

I nudged the side of his stomach –with my elbow– and winced a bit. He should be dubbed Man of Steel, not Ivan Trevelyan. I wonder whether he's a robot. But I guess my nudge was worth it because he snapped out of his daze and I saw him dig holes into the side of my skull that was visible to him.

Back at you, Mr. Asshole.

Crystal seemed to have noticed our little exchange because she made a sound at the back of her throat that sounded like an uncomfortable cough. "Uh, Isabelle? You didn't tell me he was deaf."

I pretended to choke on my saliva. "He isn't," I said in between coughs. "Right, Mr– I mean, Ivan?"

I think he just pretended to ignore my statement because he turned to her and gnashed his teeth so hard that I heard it. "Hi," Mr. Trevelyan said, uninterested. I nudged him again.