“Eva, you’re here,” said Brandon with a surprised look and a wide grin as he walked up to the gate.

I took a step back and watched Brandon approach us. For some reason, something in me felt uneasy as he got closer.

I wanted Eva and me to distance ourselves from him, but I knew that would be foolish.

For the first time, I felt like he was intruding, but that couldn’t be. This was not supposed to happen to me.

“What are you doing, dumbass,” I told myself.

“You already know this will not work, so let's just walk away. Eventually, this will pass,” I kept repeating in my head.

Eva looked at me with eyes that said, “Don’t you dare leave, Khyrum.”

But I was not going to stay.

As Brandon got closer, he made a straight line to Eva.

“Babe, you finally decided to come to the house,” he said as he went to grab her hand.

Eva looked at me as if waiting for me to do something, so I did.

“Yeah, she came over to see you, Brandon,” I said as I walked forward.

“I was just telling her I didn’t know where you were, but then you popped up, which is great as I don’t have to look for you anymore,” I said as I walked past them.

“STOP!” screamed Eva.

I froze.

“I hope she doesn’t do anything stupid,” I remember thinking.

“Is that all you are going to say?” she asked in a very agitated tone.

I looked at her for a few seconds before turning to Brandon. By this time, he was already slightly confused about the situation.

“Brandon, be a man and step it up with Eva,” I said casually before walking away.

I could feel Eva’s infuriated gaze on my back, but I wasn’t going to look back, not today or tomorrow.

“Of course, I’ll step it up, you fool. Who do you think you’re talking to?” said Brandon, also irritated but for a completely different reason.

“Come on, Eva. Let's go inside and meet my Mom and Dad,” he said as he grabbed Eva by the wrist and dragged her inside to the main house.

As they disappeared down the walkway, I could see Eva staring at me from the corner of my eye.

“This is for the Best, Khy. Let's leave it alone going forward,” I said, unsure if I could.

I walked back to my room and sat down at the table. For some reason, it was hard for me to concentrate. Those soft, firm lips kept coming back to me; I would see them whenever I closed my eyes.

“Come on, Khy, let's get back to our own,” I kept saying.

It took me longer than expected, but I could finally put away all those wayward thoughts.

“Let's see what skill I picked up from Thida.”

As I looked through my skills, I wasn’t surprised to find a fourth among them, but I was surprised to find out what the fourth was.

“Hmm…what is this? I was expecting minor restoration or something in that range... but I’ve never heard of the skill HEAL before,” I said, surprised.

“Let’s look in the Book of Chronicles to see if there is anything about this skill in it,” was the first thought that popped into my head.

I proceeded to get my PLE and pulled up the book. Diving right in, I went straight into the chapter about healing.

“Hmm…there is not much here; let me check on the next page.”

I turned the page in the PLE; the following few sentences caught my eye,

“On rare occasions when leveling up a second or third level healing skill, the healer can be blessed with obtaining the skill Heal.”

“This is already an enormous gain, as the Heal skill is scarce and unique, second to none. Heal is a Tier-One healing skill that can cure any illness and recover one’s health to 100 percent instantly. The Heal skill has no equal.”

“But it's only a tier-one skill, not a Titan skill; why?"

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"It’s what can happen if you keep leveling it up that makes this skill unique."

"Although it has never been verified, and it's only mentioned in a few ancient books, according to those books. If you can level up Heal, you get the Titan skill Resurrection.”

“Resurrection? That can’t be,” I said, almost falling from the shock.

I wanted to keep reading when suddenly there was a knock on the front door.

Knock, Knock, Knock.

The first thing that popped into my mind was Eva’s face.

I rushed to the door and opened it, only to see Malee standing there.

My face went from one of happiness to one of dismay in a second.

“Why the sour face, Khyrum,” she said, raising an eyebrow.

“Were you waiting for someone else?” she said sarcastically.

“Maybe a red-haired, green-eyed beauty.”

“Maybe you were hoping to get a kiss, just like the one at the front gate,” she now said teasingly.

I took a step back after hearing her.

“How did she know,” was the only thing that popped into my head.

I pretend to act dumb like I always do.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Malee,” I said, sounding disinterested.

“Are you here for a reason?” I continued.

“Hmm… don’t know, huh,” she said with a smirk.

“Well, I’m just here to let you know we will return to Riyadh in one hour.”

“Also, the Lord and Mistress want to talk to you,” she said as she turned and started walking back to the main house.

“They want to talk to me, what about?” I asked.

“I don’t know, they just said to call you,” were the only words I could pick up from Malee as she was already far down the walkway.

“What the hell do these people want now.”

“I’m sure it’s nothing good.”

With that, I followed Malee, who was already so far ahead that she had already reached the house.

As I walked closer to the house, I hoped this inopportune meeting would not involve Brandon and Eva.

I didn't feel like dealing with that drama today.

Walking through the kitchen, I spotted Thida preparing some snacks.

“What’s the atmosphere like out there, Chef,” I said.

She turned around after hearing my voice, looked at me, and just said one word, “Tense.”

I started walking past the cooking area as I headed to the hallway that led to the main living room, where all the family had gathered.

As I exited the kitchen, I heard Thida’s voice again.

“Khyrum, whatever they tell you, don’t take it to heart. You are a good kid; don’t fret the small stuff.”

I didn’t even turn. I raised my hand in an approving gesture and continued to walk.

Walking down the hallway, I reminded myself that this was only temporary.

I approached the living room and found Lord Ethian and his wife sitting on the main couch, talking to Brandon.

Elizabeth was sitting on a lounge chair beside them, looking at something in her CAD.

As I walked in, the first to notice me was Brandon.

“Hey, the loser is here,” he said in his usual snobby tone.

Elizabeth looked up at me, only raising an eyebrow before returning her eyes to the CAD.

“Brandon, he is like your brother; why do you treat him this way,’ said Ethian as he looked at his son.

“No, honey. He is not like his brother; he is more like a distant relative if that. I would put him more like a servant,” said Daisy begrudgingly.

“Yeah, like he could compare to me as a brother. No, he might be my servant if I let him in the future,” said Brandon mockingly.

I didn’t say much; I just heard them go back and forth. This was typical behavior for them. After a little while, I had enough.

“Excuse me, Mr. Richie, was there a reason you called me here?” I asked, a little inflamed.

“Is this the tone you take with this family?” came the voice of Elizabeth, the only person who hadn’t said anything so far.

“You are an ingrate,” she followed up, rolling her eyes at me.

“That’s enough, Elizabeth,” said Ethian.

“Khyram, sit down, please,” said Mr. Richie.

“I’m ok like this, Mr. Richie,” I said.

Bradon looked at me as if I had just murdered someone, and he was about to say something, but Lord Richie beat him to it.

“Ok, that’s fine too. So, let’s proceed.”

Everyone looked up, and the room quickly became silent.

“Khyrum, there are a few things we need to talk about before we head back to the capital city later today,” said Ethian.

I looked at him and then at the rest of the group before nodding in acknowledgment.

"First, I heard that you got accepted into the strike team. Is this true?” asked Ehtian.

I looked up at him and then at Brandon.

“How could this weakly decrepit nobody make the team before my Brandon?” Daisy's scornful voice came in not surprisingly.

“Yeah, I don’t see it either,” said Elizabeth.

I was about to say something before Brandon interrupted,

“He is a nobody that used a girl to get in; he has no backbone,” he said.

Both Daisy and Elizabeth looked at me as if I was a disease that needed to be eradicated from the face of the earth ASAP.

This family was like a pack of hyenas; if I didn't put my foot down, they would keep attacking again and again.

“No, I have not joined the strike team, and I have no intention of joining the strike team,” I said coldly.

“Secondly, I don’t have or need anyone to stand up for me.”

“Is that it?”

Ethian could tell Khyrum was getting upset and wanted to say something to help him, but what? His wife had always treated Khyrum differently and, for some reason, had taken a negative stance against him from early on. To make things worse, she also started influencing her kids, especially Brandon.

He remembered that years back, Brandon and Khyrum were like brothers. They acted like ones and even would say they were. But Brandon started changing when he hit puberty. His demeanor and temperament began to change. It was all thanks to Daisy.

“Yes, Khyrum. Give me a few more minutes of your time,” said Ethian.

“Ok, Mr. Richie”

After straightening out his thoughts, Ethian finally spoke again.

“Khyrum, you know we are one of the strongest, most influential houses in the Gravitaz Group. As such, we have certain appearances to maintain. It's imperative that we do this to maintain our status within the group.”

“One way of doing this is by joining forces with other strong houses. This is done either by marriage or partnership.”

“Take Elizabeth. She is already engaged to Briar from the prestigious Quarris family in our Gravitaz Group. In the same token, Brandon has also started courting Eva from Astren Group's Royal family.”

“To this, it's imperative that you understand boundaries and keep a distance from this girl,” said Ethian sternly.

I looked at him, and his eyes showed empathy, but then I looked at Brandon and Daisy, and both had a mocking, sinister look.

“Why do I feel like I’m played,” I thought.

I looked at them a second time, and then a third, and every time I looked at them, their faces kept changing, warping into mocking, deceitful, cynical, and scornful gestures.

Finally, without even me thinking about it, the words came out by themselves.

“I CAN'T DO THAT,” I said firmly.