Not long after, Amelie came back with two cups of hot chocolate, the steam rising faintly from them.

"Here you go, El... come on, let’s continue our next round of chatting."

"What else do you want to gossip about, Mel? Weren’t we supposed to talk about your mom’s surgery?" I said as I took the cup Amelie handed to me.

"Well... that too, El." Amelie sat back down beside me. "But let’s talk about something else too. Come on, tell me—why did you agree to accept my super-annoying brother’s proposal? I’ve actually been curious about that from the very beginning."

"Oh my gosh, are you seriously saying you’ve been curious from the start, Mel?" I looked at Amelie a little unsure.

She pouted. "Of course I’m curious. You were the one who said you didn’t like my brother and had no intention of getting close to him. So, why the sudden change of heart? I just don’t get it..." Amelie shook her head and smacked her forehead lightly.

"Well, to be honest, it all started because I wanted to help you. I couldn’t bear the thought of something happening to your mom," I admitted sincerely.

"Hmm, yeah, I figured. I kind of thought the same thing. You must’ve felt bad if something happened to Mom, right?"

I nodded. "I couldn’t stand seeing you so withdrawn, lost in thought because you were worrying about your mom."

"So... you don’t have any feelings for my brother? Is that it?" Amelie now looked at me intently, clearly waiting for an answer about how I felt toward her older brother.

Even though, in truth, I had fallen for Sebastian from the moment we first met. But of course, I couldn’t possibly explain that in detail. Because our first meeting wasn’t with me as El—but as Rosaline, or Rose.

"El?" Amelie called out to me.

"Uh, what?" I snapped out of my thoughts. "Sorry, I was just spacing out, Mel," I added.

"Ugh, what were you even daydreaming about... come on, answer my question already, El. Do you *actually* have feelings for my brother?"

"Um... to be honest, Mel... I-I do like your brother." I answered in a voice barely above a whisper.

"What? Seriously, El? Don’t lie just to spare my feelings, okay? Are you sure about what you just said?"

I nodded, trying to look as convincing as possible. "Really, Mel, I do have feelings for your brother."

"Wow! My brother really pulled it off—he actually made my best friend fall for him!" Amelie chuckled softly, then looked at me again, clearly not done asking questions.

"Since when?" she asked, smiling slyly. "I mean... when did you start having feelings for that prank king?"

I paused for a moment, pretending to think hard about it, though I already knew the exact answer.

"When was it... if I remember right, it was that night—when you introduced me during the campus tour event..."

"Oh my gosh! Are you serious, El?" Amelie laughed again. "That means you’ve been secretly crushing on my brother for a *long* time."

"Yeah... but it was more of an admiration, Mel. Your brother’s very charismatic. I’m sure there are tons of girls out there who wish they could be his girlfriend."

"Yep, that’s exactly how it is, El. So many girls have chased after Sebastian. It actually annoyed me, because they kept asking me to play matchmaker for them. Some girls even befriended me just to get closer to that prankster..."

Amelie sighed. "At first, I didn’t mind, El. They were nice and gave me snacks or gifts that were pretty expensive. I was still inexperienced back then, so I just accepted their gifts. But once Sebastian rejected their confessions, guess what? They turned on me! Even bullied me just because their love confessions got rejected. That’s also one of the reasons why I pretend not to know Sebastian at campus."

I inhaled deeply after hearing Amelie’s explanation. So that’s why she never mentioned Sebastian as her brother on campus. Poor Amelie.

"Mel... I’m sorry. I didn’t know you had such a sad reason for pretending not to know your own brother."

"What else could I do, El? I’ve been too traumatized by the bullying I experienced back in high school."

I could see Amelie’s expression change—she looked both sad and frustrated. It’s no wonder she’s still traumatized. What kind of siblings have to act like strangers when they should be close?

"So... Sebastian really is that charming, huh, Mel? So many girls like him... um, does he have a lot of exes?" I asked hesitantly.

Amelie suddenly looked at me with a slight smirk. "El, don’t tell me you’re jealous of my brother’s past," she said, sipping her drink.

"No! Not jealous—I just want to know, how many girls have actually managed to date him?" I tried to dodge the question. "It’s only natural to be curious, especially since you even got bullied just because so many girls liked Sebastian."

Amelie quickly shook her head. "Sebastian doesn’t have any exes, El. Seriously. He’s never brought a girl home or introduced anyone to me or Mom. Every time we ask, he just says he’s not interested in serious relationships—he says it’s too much trouble," Amelie answered earnestly.

"So what you’re saying is... he’s never had a girlfriend or even a crush?"

"Yep, as far as I know. Even though there’s a long line of girls who like him, my brother is the type who’s *really* hard to approach. Trust me, El. Why would I lie to you?"

"Maybe he just never told you he already had someone, Mel..."

"El, trust me. My brother’s not the type to hide things. If he *does* hide something, that means it’s really serious and important to him. But when it comes to relationships and girlfriends, I don’t think he’d ever keep that a secret."

I let Amelie’s words sink in. If that’s really true, then... could it be that Sebastian has never done *that* with anyone before? Oh my God, El... that means, what happened the other night... was actually his first time?!

Suddenly, I felt a deep wave of guilt toward Sebastian. I thought he’d done it with plenty of other women before.

Oh God, I felt so ashamed of myself. That regret swept over me like a wave, making me feel disgusting and sinful.

"El? Hello? Hey... why do you look so down all of a sudden?" Amelie squinted at me, noticing the change in my expression.

How could I not? I had just learned something that made me extremely uncomfortable.

"Mel... I feel bad for your brother..."

Amelie frowned. "Why do you feel bad, El?"

"Because I assumed he had a bunch of exes just because a lot of girls liked him..."

"Ugh, El, you’re such a softie!" Amelie laughed. "Why let yourself get all worked up about that? The most important thing is that *you* are the one who’s won my brother’s heart! That’s all that matters. Now let’s move on and talk about Mom’s surgery, okay? Talking about my brother isn’t fun anymore..." Amelie changed the subject, trying to cheer me up.

***