Anais is with his brother Sam. Sam was laughing as they conversed, talking about how he is quite thirsty and wanted to order a cold drink. Anais agreed that it will be good to have a cold brew of their ice tea drinks. They were both laughing when suddenly someone splashed a cold drink towards her brother Sam. 
Anais eyes widened when he saw how drenched her brother is and she glared at the girl whose attention was on her brother. She was cursing him, talking about how he was such a playboy. 
“I should have listened to them and did not get my hopes up with you!” The girl spat at Sam before she took huge prance and walked away with half of the remaining drink on her cup. 
“What is wrong with her?” Anais asked and saw how his brother was smiling after he proceeds to look at her right after the girl was out of their sight. 
She looks at him and even urged him. “Explain this to me, please.” She told Sam. 
Sam shook his head before he pulled her through the elbow and went to have a sit. Anais was still on protest yet Sam guided her to take a sit, pulling a chair for her. 
He then moved and took the sit beside her. As he sat, he smiled at Anais. “That girl was obsessed with me. Too bad I don’t like her.” He spoke while grinning at her. 
Anais then flicked his forehead and the opening of her nostrils was flaring in irritation. “Did you actually play with her and her feelings?” She asked him. 
Sam’s smile disappeared when he saw how horrified Anais upon asking her question. “I did not. She was the one who constantly bugs me, I told her I don’t want her yet persisted.” 
Anais eyelids flickered alongside her eyelashes as she started squinting at her brother. “Are you sure?” She asked him in pure skepticism. 
Sam started smiling at Anais again. “Yes.” He then unzipped his duffle bag with him before he got out a towel. “I wonder what flavor was her drink. It tastes good.” He spoke while smiling. 
Anais can only stare at him in disbelief as she is seeing his brother smiling while wiping his face with a towel. “How about your shirt? You still got a basketball practice after this.” Anais reminded him. 
His face lit up and pulled something out of his bag. “I got a spare shirt with me for practice.” He then started smiling even more when he saw how Anais rolled her eyes at him. 
“But why did she act like that anyway? I mean… It’s not nice.” She spoke. 
“One can forget to act nice when they were in the verge of feeling their heightened emotions, Anais.” Sam told her with a smile on her face. “Besides, I think she had mistaken you to be my girlfriend that’s why she did that.” 
Anais had the look of disgust on her face. “Eww.” She spoke with great conviction. “How can you even say that? If she likes you, she would have known you have a younger sister.” She told him. 
Mark laughed at what she said. “But the problem is, she doesn’t see the face of my sister.” He spoke and moved his eyebrows up and down at her. 
“Are you sure that a lot of girls actually are into you?” She asked him. 
Sam moved his chin for a bit before he looked at her with an absurd look. “It’s all in the face, sis. Haven’t you forgot we share the same parents? How can you even question my good looks?” He asked her. 
Anais gave up and shook her head at the way how her brother is acting cocky. “You’re right. I can attest that both Mama and Papa have good features.” She spoke. 
“I’m sorry, I am a bit late.” Mark uttered. 
Anais’ head moved and there she saw him standing on the side with holding his backpack with only one shoulders. He was wearing his jersey and basketball shorts. He just looked like he was fresh out of shower. Anais tried her best not to compliment how he looks good at the moment and how she can smell his not so overpowering manly scent. It’s probably a cologne that had some lemon and mint in it. It suits him and it’s not even bad to be inhaled. Unlike her brother’s strong perfume. 
Anais looked at her brother on the side who just raised an eyebrow at her upon seeing her stare. 
Mark took the sit in front of them and then their eyes meet. He smiled at her and Anais did the same. 
“How are you today, Anais?” He asked her. 
“I’m good.” She answered. She hated herself for remembering something about how conversations flow between the two of them. But they don’t have any remarkable thing to talk about. Except for the fact that their conversation was more like this anyway. 
“How about you? How are you?” She asked him. 
“I’m really good. I sleep well. How about you, Anais?” He then asked her again. 
Anais’s brows furrowed and both guys suddenly laughed after her expression. 
She then moved her mouth to answer him when she stopped. She saw Veronica approaching their table and her eyes were already steadily staring at Mark. 
Sam started puckering his lips, pointing out to Veronica and Mark turned his head and then smiled at her. 
Anais was eyeing them and suddenly she felt the pain within her heart. She ignored the feeling and then she pulled her phone out and started to scroll on the Internet instead of letting her eyes settle on them and feel jealous. 
She suddenly heard Veronica asked for her number. And that made Anais stopped typing a message to her friend Howard. She pulled her phone down for a bit and lifted her eyes to see what’s happening in front of her. She saw how he was smiling at her, nodding her head and happily typed his number on the phone before giving it back to Veronica. Veronica was smiling back at him too. She felt a sting both in her heart and in her eyes. It’s painful to look at two people who seemed to have that much oozing chemistry. 
She eyed them and started to think on how even for being younger than Mark, Veronica is tall too. Their heights matched up with each other. She is also lean and has a great structure in terms of her physical body. Slim and slender while Mark is also lean and athletic looking. Anais tore her eyes off of them and busied herself with her phone. Her brother on the other hand took notice of it. 
A message pops up suddenly on the screen. Anais smiled when she saw Howard’s message. She ignored how she can hear Veronica excusing herself and addressing her statement of goodbye since her friends started to call her. And instead, she happily type a response to her friend Howard who just sent her a message of the place where him and his friend went out on a date. 
Sam’s face leaned to her as he already moved his chair closer. He looked at her phone screen and Anais gave his brother a stare. And even moved her phone to let him have more closer access. 
“See? I am not hiding anything, Sam.” She told him. 
Sam nodded his head, agreeing to her before he then smirk. “It’s alright, Anais. But you should not also hide it to me if that becomes your boyfriend.” He told her with a huge grin on his face. 
Anais looked at him in shock. She could not believe what she just heard from her brother. “I already…” 
“It’s okay… It is really okay with me, Anais. Just tell me if that becomes your boyfriend.” He told her again. This time he was smiling at her.
Her eyes had a confuse look. Her brother already saw that it was Howard she was chatting yet he’s acting as if she is talking to somebody else. She still saw Sam smirking before his head turned to look at Mark. He was eyeing them with an unfazed serious look on his face. 
Anais could not read him since he displayed no expression at all except for looking suddenly serious. 
Sam started to talk about their basketball practice and Mark answered, yet his eyes remained on her. She met his gaze yet she also equaled the same expression from him. Before she then tore her eyes away from him when she receives another message from Howard. 
Her friend was happy with his date and was even telling her an upgraded plans he had for the weekend to include the guy with them. She just laughed and started to type back. She started to tease him about finally having a boyfriend after years of being asked whether he is interested to have a girlfriend or not. 
“Your might shock your father when you suddenly tell them that one of your pals who visits your house was not a friend but your lover if you two happen to date each other.” Anais hit the send button and gave out a chuckle. 
She heard a whistle and see that it came from her brother. Yet she could not help herself but to see Mark’s expression. 
“He might have sent you something good, aye? Is he a smooth talker?” Her brother asked. 
She glared at him but then also so how Mark’s jaw moved and she saw how it clenched. She was taken aback when her brother stood from his sit and told them that he’ll have to go to the counter. 
“So, what do the two of you want then?” Sam asked them. 
Anais eyes looked at the menu list from the counter and then stared at her brother. “I’ll take their hibiscus refresher and a slice of the purple yam cake.” She told him. 
Sam smiled. “That’s a good one.” He looked at Mark. “How about you, bro?” He asked him. 
Mark removed his gaze away from Anais to look at him. “The same order as hers too.” He spoke…