CHAPTER 3: (You already put a ring on it)

JULIAN'S POV

I went back to the living room to get my last suitcase and soon enough, I was jumping into the shower. I was going to unpack much later.

After staying there to my heart's content, I heard Kara's voice yelling my name, telling me to come to the dining table.

I dug out my phone and sent a quick text to Joey letting him know I had arrived and was safe.

I towel dried my body and my hair, then slipped into a grey singlet over black joggers then walked over to the dining room.

I saw her seated on one of the sofas in the living room, with her eyes glued to the laptop on her lap. The TV was turned on but there was no volume.

I opened up the covered plates, revealing some beef and veggie frittata. It was loaded with ground beef, red potatoes, zucchini, tomatoes and fresh basil.

A small plate containing tiny taco beef tarts were placed at the side as an appetizer. It was a Mexican dish and I had never had one of those.

It sure looked tasty and when I took a bite of the beef, I thought I was going to roll my eyes to the back of my head. I wanted to devour everything in an instant. But I wasn't going to let Kara know how good her food tasted.

At least not right away.

Joey got himself a bad ass cook!

"Uh I've not really eaten these before, do you have a different food?" I said loud enough for her to hear.

She raised her head to look up at me.

"Have you tried it and you didn't like it?"

"Yep."

"Then maybe you should order take out. I won't be making lunch till its 2pm." She simply said and returned her eyes back to the laptop.

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KARA'S POV.

Who did he think he was? He could not even thank me for making that delicious food for him and there he was asking for another?

I couldn't help my straight forward replies as I was irked by him. Maybe I ought not to and maybe it was my stupid hormones making me act out more than I should.

I kept a track on my period and I knew it was gonna come in like two days. Before my flow, I usually had mood swings and got grumpy. Day one was usually a near death experience.

By day two, I still wanted to kill everybody including my cute ass hubby.

He knew how I got and tried as much as possible to stay out of my way while also trying to make me happy by buying all my cravings or gifts.

By day three, the pains would have subsided and I was gonna be back to my normal self. At least 85%.

I typed away in my laptop with my total attention on it. And I didn't even notice when Julian slipped on the chair adjacent to mine.

My eyes glanced over to the table and I saw that he had cleaned up after himself. He was lucky he did, else I would have given him a piece of me.

Wait, what was he doing?

He had found the remote, flicking across channels until he finally settled for one with football on air.

He increased the volume. Very loud.

Did this guy have an ear problem or something?

"I can't concentrate with that distracting me." I told him.

"I wanna watch the game. I'm bored. You can go to your room if you want to," he said dryly, his eyes not leaving the television.

I glared at him wanting to slap his cute stupid face. But instead, I jumped on my feet with my laptop in my hands to the direction of the room.

I was not up for a verbal exchange and I had work to do. He could eat the room for all I cared.

"Que molesto humano," I said in Spanish with a huff. He obviously heard it.

"What was that?" He called after me but I ignored him and walked off.

I had just called him an annoying human but I knew that he didn't understand it anyways.

It was San Diego after all. I had lived here for the most part of my life and learnt how to speak Spanish even though I wasn't a native.

I couldn't wait for Joey to get home so I could ask him directly how long his brother was gonna be spending in the house.

I carried on with my work without any hitch. I only left my room after two hours to make lunch and when I saw Julian sleeping on the couch.

His lips were slightly parted and he looked like an angel as he slept peacefully. If only he was actually an angel!

I tapped him on the shoulder and he reluctantly opened his eyes, then rubbed them. Poor guy. He looked tired anyways.

"You should go sleep in your room. Lunch would be ready in the kitchen whenever you wake up and need it." I told him.

He didn't say anything and then stood up, walking over to his room.

Well, at least he didn't make an annoying comment.

After I had made lunch, I resumed work and the day went pretty fast.

Before I knew it, it was 7:30pm.

I heard some voices in the living room which indicated Joey was back. I walked briskly to the living room to find both brothers in a warm embrace .

JULIAN'S POV.

It was until I saw Joey in the flesh that I realized how much I had missed the bastard.

We were engaged in a warm embrace, slapping each other's back at the same time.

His wife was definitely taking good care of him. He was looking healthy.

Not that he didn't before now, but, you get the gist.

We immediately started talking when we noticed Kara walking up to greet Joey. She kissed him shortly on the lips and proceeded to take his jacket and his briefcase.

"How was work babe?" She asked.

Joey replied with a smile, "Couldn't wait to get off from work so I could come see you."

I saw her dimple flash in her cheek as she grinned. She was grumpy a while ago and now she was smiling like a little child that had been given sweets.

Oh whatever.

"Let me go fix dinner for you," she offered.

"Yes please," Joey replied touching her shoulder affectionately. "I'm starving."

She disappeared into their bedroom after that and we got seated on the couch.

"How was your trip?" Joey asked me.

"Ah.. It was tiring and boring. I was relieved when I finally saw Kara at the airport."

"Man, you look so good. Its so good to see you," Joey commented. "How's New York?"

"Thanks bro. Yeah New York is pretty okay. A lot hasn't changed. Although, you should go pay a visit to your parents. Its been a while you've been there and they miss you."

"Don't they miss you too?" Joey narrowed his eyes at me.

"We're different. Even though I don't live with them anymore, I still go over to see them once in a while."

"Yeah yeah," he nodded. "I just have a very busy schedule I couldn't neglect even for a second."

"Yeah, you're doing well for yourself. I love your house by the way. But the room, I need to fucking change the color. Only that I'm not going to be staying here too long."

He chuckled. "I totally forgot about the painting. Sorry about that. Hey, how's Mandy by the way?"

"She's still in Paris doing her business," I replied tapping the bridge of my nose slightly. "She sends her love though."

"That's great. When is the wedding?" He asked with a teasing smile.

"Whoa, slow down, I haven't thought about that yet,"

"You already put a ring on her finger. You're engaged, man" he hit me lightly on the chest with the back of his palm.

"I got her engaged because I saw how much she wanted it. I love her, but marriage is not just in the cards for me right now. Or even till the end of this year." I answered honestly.

Yes I had a fiancèe. A rich one at that. Way richer than me. Since I met her, she had been nothing but good to me. And she had helped me a lot. To also clear my debts.