-I-

"Why not?" Luuk pestered me for the nth time.

I was so exhausted, with him and with the journey. The trip back to Manaus took us five days. Then we had a twelve-hour flight, and Luuk just had to be so annoying and energetic the whole way. I just wanted to lie down, rest my aching leg, and sleep. My leg was killing me. I had been trying to avoid Oxy since I changed my medication, but I just had to take them again two days ago.

Despite being ten years older than me, Luuk had never been tired to the point that he would shut his mouth. When he talked, he talked as fast as Ben Shapiro. Having to listen to him talking, sometimes I felt like I would get a brain aneurysm. For the past three days, he had been inviting me... soliciting me into spending Thanksgiving with his family when I told him I would not go back to Lisbon.

Is this what they meant by love is blind?

"Why would I celebrate it when I have nothing to be thankful for?" But here I was. Sitting in a café in LAX, waiting for Luuk's sister to fetch us. He had a talent for coaxing me to dance under his fingers.

"Even me, querido?" He pushed the coffee tumbler aside and leaned over to me.

I could smell the Americano on his breath. Not preferring coffee didn't stop me from wanting to taste it on his tongue. My heavy gaze dropped to the black AX eagle on his chest as my heart fluttered from my shameless thoughts.

His shamelessness has rubbed off on me.

"What do you mean?" I asked, hoping my voice wouldn't give my fluster away.

The two teenagers at the next table were stealing glances at us—at Luuk. Of course they were. Women stared at him all the time. Deep down, jealousy filled a tiny spot in my heart. But there was nothing I could do about it. I couldn't chide them for finding him attractive. Even I still couldn't wrap my head around the fact that someone like him chose someone like me out of all the women he could get.

"Am I not something you can be thankful for?" He traced a finger on my cheek so gently, as if I would drop like dominoes if he touched me any harder. "I know I thank God I found you." With the same gentleness, he kissed the corner of my mouth.

A spasm of heat warmed my face. He was too much for my heart. Luuk did and said things that made me have constant gooseflesh. I would've never thought someone as insensitive as him would sound so lovely when he wanted too.

I peeked into Luuk's pale blue eyes. I really wanted to try to be myself, but I couldn't believe I was swept into this relationship with him. Luuk didn't know who I truly was. It wasn't fair for him. I was lying to him.

Aarón had told me last week that I wasn't lying, that I simply didn't have a chance to tell him the truth. But wasn't it the same? Lying and not telling? Both hurt people.

What have I done?

"It's not like that, Luuk." I pushed his shoulder weakly. "I—"

"Key!"

Luuk pivoted around at an incredible speed, and I peeked over his head when he stood. I barely saw what was happening until arms with Pandora bangles dangled around his neck.

"I can't believe I would miss you this much." A girl whined into his shoulder.

Luuk kissed her cheek and temple. He hugged her again. Only then I saw her face. Except for their gender, she looked like Luuk. Like a twin. But instead of blue, she had brown eyes.

"Jesus, Milada. You know how worried I was when you didn't answer my calls last month? I couldn't sleep at night worrying about you." Luuk sniffled.

"Awe, don't cry, Brother. There, there." She patted Luuk's head and held him arms length. Then she gasped. "Key!" she shouted and held Luuk's face. Everyone in the café stared at us. "What did you do to your pretty face? Oh, no! Now I can't brag to my friends about the pretty brother in my family." She whined and banged her forehead against Luuk's shoulder. "How can you injure your face? It's the only good thing about you..."

I scanned the airport. A dozen people chuckled before they continued doing their stuff.

"Don't shout. Jesus. Forget my face." He gasped and pulled out Milada's tongue.

A diamond stud adorned the center of her tongue. It looked pretty on her.

"The fuck did you do to your tongue?" He paused for a dramatic effect before he hissed, "Don't tell me you got a tattoo too."

"No!"

But her pale face gave her away.

"You really took advantage of my not being here to do reckless stuff. Oh girl, I swear to God you're so grounded once we reach home. I can't believe Alex is this irresponsible to let you off the leash while I was away."

I wanted to say something against his tyranny, but it wasn't my family issue, so I continued sipping my iced tea.

Milada raised her eyebrows. "I drove for an hour just to fetch you and you're—"

"You drove for an hour 'cause you drive like a geezer."

"The traffic was congested, you meanie."

He scoffed. "Your lie doesn't work on me. I raised you from day zero, Sister. Don't change the damn subject. Now tell me how the hell did you get the brilliant idea to go to Slovakia alone. Who's that sleazebag you made friends with? It's a guy, isn't it? Did you forget what happened to me in Europe? Didn't you learn anything from my mistakes? Do you want to get—"

"Shut up, Luukie. No one likes you if you talk like only your opinion matters! I'm not a kid. I'm eighteen."

"It's your opinion that doesn't matter, stupid girl." Luuk tugged her hair with two fingers. "Just shut up and listen—"

She pinched Luuk's mouth and stared at me. "Who..." She looked at Luuk.

My stomach twisted from inferiority. Milada was stunning. Her wavy blonde hair touched her breasts. Her black skinny jeans hugged her long legs. She stood at the same eye level as us.

Luuk pulled me closer and said, "Introduce yourself, baby." He kissed my temple.

Milada's hands flew to her mouth to stifle her scream.

I didn't need to look at the mirror to know that my face was burning red up to my hairline. I wanted to bow, mainly to break the eye contact, but Luuk pulled me up.

"Don't bow to this kid."

"I... Yes. Hi, I'm Jona. Jona da Graça. Nice to meet you, Milada." I smiled. "Luuk didn't lie when he said you look like his twin."

"Yes, I'm glad that's all I share with him. That's the best thing about him... his looks," she said dreamily. She then grabbed my wrist and gaped at me. "So the angel that can freeze Hell exists. And the angel is male. Wow." Her breath smelled like strawberry. "Wow."

"Sorry, what?"

Luuk ruffled my hair. "I told her once that the day I found a life partner would be the day I meet an angel who can freeze Hell over." Luuk took my rucksack and passed it to me.

My mouth hung open. A life partner...

"So you're celebrating Thanksgiving with us? Please please please please say yes!" Milada hugged my arm and beamed as she tilted her head in front of me. Her hair flowed down her shoulder. "I handpicked the cranberries myself and hurt my finger. Look!" She showed me her bandaged index finger. "I'll be sad if nobody is there to appreciate my cranberry sauce."

She's cute. Another manipulative, attractive Smit.

We walked amid the bustling exit.

"You know that you have to cook it for it to be your sauce, right?" Luuk scoffed. "You don't cook."

She rolled her eyes and beamed at me. "So? You're joining us?"

I pushed the hair that got into my eye. I needed a hair cut. "Yes. You should know your brother always gets what he wants."

"Really? You think so?" She tapped her matte pink lower lip. "I'm the one who always gets what I want. He'd be the one who always gave them to me. I'm his precious baby sister, you see. He's old enough to be my dad, and Dad is rarely here in America, that's why he thought he has the veto on me sometimes." She clicked her tongue. "Anywho, we'll cook the cranberry sauce together! It will be my sauce this year, Key." She nudged Luuk's arm. "You cook, Jona? Asian people are good at cooking, right? And what are you? Korean? How old are you? You look young." Then she looked at Luuk. "You're not committing an unspeakable crime here, right, Brother?"

Luuk rubbed his ear and answered with a tongue click.

"I'm older than you think I am." I laughed. "I'm Japanese. Half. And yes, I know how to cook. Though I'm sure it has nothing to do with being Asian."

She threw the car keys toward Luuk when we reached the deserted valet parking.

Luuk stood behind a silver Maserati hatchback. "I just had a twelve-hour flight, Mil."

"I just had a feeling you'll nag me for driving like an old woman, Key." She opened the back passenger door for me and climbed in after me.

"Oh, Mommy's gonna love you. Though she's not in America yet. She'll arrive tomorrow with Dad. Hey, did I tell you you look like Sen Mitsuji?"

"Who?"

I scanned the leathery interior. Just how wealthy are they?

"I'll show you later! Now tell me how Luuk coaxed you into falling in love with a jerk like him." She leaned on the leather seat, arms akimbo.

Milada didn't stop talking. She was through and through Luuk. The way she laughed, her smiling eyes when she grinned, the way she pronounced 'L' with that little twirl on her tongue, the way she rolled her eyes. She would lean between the front seat and argue with Luuk about her European vacation, then leaned back and talked to me when she got annoyed with him.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

Twenty minutes into the drive, Luuk steered into a one-way road and headed toward a mansion. I didn't give much attention to it until he drove through its opened wrought-iron gate and along the six-foot hedge on each side of its path.

I closed my mouth when I realized I was gaping. "This is your house?"

"Yes!" Milada said. "Well, technically, it's Alex's house, my eldest brother. Used to belong to my parents. Then they moved back to Rotterdam, sold the house to Alex, yada yada yada. This happened before I was even born into this ancient family. Meh. This family feels like a vampire coven. Everyone is old. Wait till you see Alexander, my eldest brother. I thank God I have Juliana to talk about millennial stuff. And now I have you too! But yes. It's the family house."

Except that it wasn't a house. It was a three-story Mediterranean mansion with a broad field on each side and a gray marble fountain in the middle. It took us twenty seconds to reach the main house from the gate.

Having a security company make them this rich?

The quote from Balzac suddenly clicked in my head. Behind every great fortune there is a crime.

It made my skin tingle with apprehension.

"Alex isn't home yet?" Luuk asked as soon as he killed the engine and stepped out of the car.

Milada looked at her gold watch. "He should be on his way. It's almost five."

"Let's go, querido. Come," Luuk said when he opened my door.

I took his hand and followed him inside. The entrance hall alone was as huge as my apartment. A three-foot black vase with an exaggerated purple flowery plant prettied the entrance. A crystal chandelier dangled from the high ceiling right above the vase, reflecting orange light from the setting sun on the white walls. Behind the glass wall opposite us, a modern swimming pool seemed like it was flowing into the darkening sea a hundred yards away. I stared at the bizarre multicolored geometric art deco along the wide stairs. It suddenly looked like an art studio. Or maybe a museum.

"Luuk, the house is pretty."

"Maybe." He shrugged. "Alex's wife, Juliana, is the one who designed the interior when they refurbished the house. Not her biggest fan, but can't deny she's good at arts and cooking." We entered a luxurious, modern living room. "Ah, speaking of the vixen," he whispered to me.

A petite lady in a seaweed green short dress walked into the living room from the other end. She put a steaming mug on the glass table and approached us. Like typical French women—a beautiful French woman—her pinkish cheekbones were high. Freckles peppered her light skin. Her eyes were as green as her dress, and her red hair curled down to her curvaceous waist.

She gave me a fleeting smile before she looked at Luuk. "Tu es à la maison. J'ai préparé le dîner. Alex sera un peu en retard aujourd'hui. Mangeons d'abord." [You're home. I've prepared dinner. Alex will be home late. Let's eat first.]

"Je vais l'attendre," Luuk replied. [I'll wait for him.]

I wasn't fluent in French, but I knew what they said.

"English, July. I failed French at school, remember?" Milada stood next to Juliana.

"Sorry." Her striking red lips widened into a grin. The small mole on the side of her mouth disappeared into her cheek. "Who's your friend here, Mil?" She looked at me with a polite smile. She spoke in flawless English.

"Eh, he's not my friend." Milada laughed as she flailed her hand. "He's Luuk's boyfriend."

Juliana's eyes widened as big as her mouth.

Everything was silent for almost three seconds.

"I... I apologize. Where are my manners? Ça, alors." Juliana rubbed her hands on her hips and offered one to me. "I'm Juliana. Luuk's sister-in-law."

I smiled and took her hand with a small bow. "Jona da Graça. Pleasure to meet you."

"Da Graça? Portugais?"

"Yes, you speak Portuguese?"

"Um pouco. Meu ex-namorado era Brasileiro," she answered in Portuguese, telling me her ex-boyfriend was Brazilian. "Speaking other Romance languages isn't that hard when you speak any one of them."

"Exactly. Though I'm not as good in French as you're good in Portuguese."

"Well, I'm flattered you find my Portugais good." She grinned. Her teeth lined up perfectly along her upper gum.

"Let's go upstairs. You can save the small talks for dinner." Luuk rolled his eyes and grabbed my hand.

"Excuse me," I said to Juliana and Milada.

"No problem. Go freshen up. I'll prepare the table." Juliana patted my arm.

We reached the elevator at the next parlor. The house impressed me too much by now for me to feel anymore shocked by the interior.

"I don't like you getting all chummy with her," Luuk said as soon as the elevator ascended.

"Juliana? Why? She seems sweet."

"She took away my brother from me. I don't need her to take your attention away too. She's a witch, didn't you see her just now? She acts like a goody two shoes one second, and all of you finds her sweet." He scoffed. "Preposterous." Luuk stormed out of the elevator and opened a huge teal door opposite of us, revealing... an apartment. "She will give you diabetes one day. Literally and medically," he added as we crossed the living room toward the door on the other end. He opened the door, revealing a huge round tatami bed.

I touched his arm. "She'll never take me away. That's ridiculous. You know it."

"That's what my brother told me." His eyes were red when he turned around. "Now look at him, fraternizing and copulating with her. I bet my brother enjoyed having me away for three months so he could have his honeymoon. See, he's not even here to welcome his allegedly favourite brother home."

If I had never seen him regressed, I would be appalled by how dramatic he acted. I wrapped my hand around his waist, despite it giving me goosebumps from how embarrassed I was. "I like you more than I like her."

"More than Chaves?" He hugged me, so tight I might fail to breathe any second now.

I nodded. "More than Aarón."

"More than Karma?"

"Well, that's hard..." I laughed.

"See? Even a beast bests me." He whined.

I touched the elongated raised scar along his cheek. My heart ached every time I looked at it. His perfect face was scarred because of me.

Love had been a dystopian to me ever since the people I loved died. Aarón couldn't reach the well I dug in my heart even after six years, but Luuk had wriggled into it in six weeks. I did not understand how it was possible, but it happened.

He leaned in and kissed me. Deep and long. "I love you."

My skin tingled from his words. It was the first time he outright told me he loved me. I wanted to be selfish for once and bathed in his love, as far as I could swim before the current drowned me.

"Luuk," I whispered into his mouth.

"Yes, love?"

I thought of telling him I loved him, but the words refused to escape my mouth. It felt unfair to us. So I kept it in my chest and kissed him instead.

-II-

"Alex!"

For the second time today, Luuk hugged someone. But this time, he was sobbing.

Alex was the tallest man I had ever seen in my life; as big as NBA players. The bald man next to his brother, who looked completely different from the family, was as big as him. They must've been at least six feet six.

"They have some... issues. Luuk and Alex." Milada held my arm as she stared at the two brothers hugging in the living room.

Luuk wrapped his legs around his brother's torso like the kid he was, crying into Alex's neck. Alex was rubbing Luuk's back as he sat on the brown velvet couch with his brother in his arms. They were talking so fast in Dutch.

"Yes, I know about his regression," I told her. I suddenly wanted to leave them alone, uncomfortable with the scene, feeling intrusive.

"You do?" She scrutinized me. "You really are special to him, aren't you?"

"I'm not sure if that makes me special." I leaned on the wall, staring at the dark sky. "I know because he regressed in front of me once in the Amazon."

"He did? What happened?" Her voice echoed in the big parlor.

"I'm... not sure. He had a nightmare, I think."

"They're grown-ups. Old men. It's creepy seeing grown-ups act like a ten-year-old. They need help. Professional help. They need a shrink."

Not wanting to talk about it, I asked, “Who's the other guy?”

The bald man with an impressively shiny head wore a black t-shirt that revealed his bulging muscles. He was carrying a handgun, looking from the black holster bulge on his left hip. Luuk gave him a one-arm hug.

"That's Dominic, our... well, he's family. He's Alex's assistant. Same age as Alex. He followed my parents from the Netherlands when they moved to America thirty-something years ago and has been living with us ever since. We're his adopted family."

"Jona." Luuk beckoned me over. He was drying his face with his shirt. "Come here for a while."

"Wait for a moment," I said to Milada. I had to force my weak legs to move. His brother looked like he could kill me with only his stabbing gaze. My heart thumped in my ears.

Dominic gave me a big smile. He looked like a thug, but his smile was surprisingly sweet and comforting.

"Brother, Dom, I want to introduce you to my partner." Luuk climbed down his brother's lap and pulled me closer. "This is Jona da Graça. Jona, this is my brother, Alexander. And Dominic. He works for us, but he's family."

Alex stood and scanned me. He had the exact same eyes as Luuk, although he looked nothing like him. Attractive, but not like his siblings. His jaw was chiseled behind his peppery beard. His pompadour was peppered white too. Shallow lines etched into his forehead and the corner of his eyes. If Milada said that Luuk could be her father, Alex could as well be Luuk's father. Then I remembered Luuk told me that they were nineteen years apart.

"Colleague?" Alex asked, more like demanded. His voice was so deep, it vibrated in my skull. The shoulder of his gray shirt was wet with Luuk's tears. A colorful tattoo of a dragon's head peeked from his collarbone.

"He's my boyfriend, Alex." Luuk squeezed my hand.

I introduced myself to Alex, wishing my voice didn't quiver as hard as my heart. He didn't take the hand I offered. Dominic took it instead as he slapped Alex's back.

"I never thought he would ever be with someone," Dominic said in an airy voice. "I'm glad he found you. You must be one hella person."

Luuk patted his brother's arm and said something in Dutch. Then only Alex offered his huge hand in reluctance. Pain traveled between my fingers when I took it, but Alex was the one who flinched.

He was disgusted with me.

"Luuk told me you are a martial arts instructor," Alex said as he sat down.

I almost choked on my saliva when he suddenly talked.

"Good Lord. Can you speak softer, Alex? Don't try to kill Jona already." Luuk rubbed my back. "You okay?" He pulled me onto the couch facing Alex and Dominic.

Alex cleared his throat.

"Yes, sir." I looked at Alex, but he didn't spare me a glance. He was looking at his watch. "I learned a few, but I teach karate to kids under twelve."

"Well, that fits." Alex scoffed.

"That's impressive," Dominic said a second after Alex said that, louder than him. "I taught kids Jiu-Jitsu ten years ago. Not an easy feat to teach kids. They absorb lessons fast, but they're hard to handle what it comes to discipline."

"Alex. I suggest you keep your presumptuous remarks to yourself," Luuk said.

"Alex can be an ass when he wants too. Don't take it to heart." Milada patted my shoulder.

"It's fine," I whispered to her and turned to Dominic. "The eldest kid in my dojo is twelve years old. Nobody pubertic. So I deal with raging energy, not raging hormones. So it's good."

Dominic chuckled and nodded repeatedly.

"Which dojo you work in?" Alex asked.

"In my own, sir. I have one in Redwood City and another two in Palo Alto. A partner of mine manages the Redwood City dojo, and I manage the other two."

"You barely look eighteen. You have three gyms?" This time, he looked at me, and I felt a big sense of achievement.

What's with this family and seeing me as a teenager?

"I'm twenty-four, sir. My foster father is a Jiu-Jitsu master. He lived at Stanford and had a dojo there. But he moved back to Lisbon, so I took over the place. And the business just... grew."

“What's his name? Your master,” Alex asked.

“Kurosaki.”

"Kurosaki? Kamenashi Kurosaki?" Alex asked, his eyes widened.

"Yes, sir. You know him?"

He probably did. Kurosaki-san was a second-degree black belt master. And only a handful of Jiu-Jitsu practitioners in America have a second-degree black belt to this day.

Alex seemed to warm up to me as we were having dinner (with the help of Dominic who kept pushing the conversation). Apparently, Kurosaki-san had been his Jiu-Jitsu training partner twenty years ago. Alex had a second-degree black belt in Jiu-Jitsu too. It wasn't surprising now to know how Luuk had reached a brown belt.

"I'll drive you to the combat center tomorrow. It will be the last day of training before Thanksgiving. You can look around the place. Stay for the holiday." Alex gave me a fleeting smile and headed to the kitchen with his empty plate.

For a second, I actually thought he was cute.

The other three Smits stared at me with wide mouths. Dominic laughed as he followed Alex to the kitchen.

"What?" I asked Luuk.

"He asked you to stay for Thanksgiving," Luuk said with a wide grin.

"You made him want to drive you somewhere," Milada said. "He never drives me anywhere."

"You made him wash his own plate. He only washes the dishes when he's in a great mood... which is very rarely," Juliana said.

I wanted to laugh from their response, but it suddenly frightened me. A heavy burden was lifted from my chest, but a subtle black hole tainted my heart at the same time.

Alex liked me.

That was the first warning that Alex would kill me when I broke Luuk's heart.