ROBBY

He watched Marco angrily stalked towards him. Again.

Robby braced himself for another blow but Marco stopped when he was a few inches away.

" You love her? " Marco sneered. " You know you cannot love her. "

They glared at each other.

" I asked you for one thing and this is what you do. " Marco seethed as he took a step forward closing in the gap between them. " I fucking trusted you. "

" I know, " Robby said quietly. He can taste the blood coming from the cut on his upper lip. " But you know I will never hurt your sister."

Marco gave a humorless laugh.

" How can I know? " Marco snarled. " If I'd known how you and the other bastards think then I shouldn't have ended up watching my sister fucking threw her life away. "

Robby saw Melissa winced.

" You know me better than anyone else, " Robby countered meeting Marco in the eye . " I will never hurt Mia."

" I am not going to take that risk again, " Marco pushed him roughly after saying that, his nose flaring in anger.

" Marco, " Mia said warningly. " It's not up to you to decide."

Mia was standing beside him facing her brother with a grim expression on her face as she locked hands with him.

Fuck, he loves her. Robby felt the feeling came rushing back in as he looked at her.

Robby reverted his gaze back at Marco and can see smoke coming out of his nose when he saw the two of them holding each other's hands.

" The hell it's not! " Marco growled.

He was clenching his fist that Robby can see the veins bulging from his arms. Marco was not used to anyone defying him, especially not his little sister.

" Robby is not Alfred Samaniego, Marc, " Mia glared at her brother.

" I will pretend that you didn't just say that, " Marco hissed, his eyes seething red.

" And I will pretend that you are not acting unreasonably, " Mia said hotly. Her eyes were flashing in anger.

" Unreasonable ?! " Marco scoffed. " Your sister and your best friend lied about dating and you want me to be reasonable?! There's a reason why I don't allow my friends to date my sisters and if you've only seen Iza when that bastard of a friend cheated on her, then you would understand why I am being this unreasonable! "

Robby saw Melissa sucked in her breath.

" That's not fair, " Melissa retorted, his face turning bright red from embarrassment. " That was long over so stop using me as a reference."

" Stay out of this! " Marco snapped at Melissa.

What was happening to Marco? Robby thought looking at his friend incredulously. He had seen Marco lost his cool several times but the way he was losing it with them now was beyond him.

Melissa didn't say anything after that and looked at the ground.

Marco's hard gaze fell on Mia.

" You lied to me, " he steeled his voice. " How am I going to take that? You lied to me every damned day that you were with him. "

"But how can I possibly tell you? " Mia said defensively. " You will never hear me out. You will never understand."

" You will need to stand on my grave before I will allow this to happen!" Marco snapped hotly.

" You cannot threaten us like that! " Mia cried our indignantly as she tried to free her hand from Robby's grasp so she can walk over to where her brother was standing.

But Robby wouldn't let her take a step closer to Marco. They were both temperamental, it's not impossible for the two of them to end up physically hurting each other.

As if reading Robby's thoughts, Marco glowered at him. " She's my fucking sister. You really think I'd hurt her?! "

" That's not-"

" Don't bother explaining, Robby, " Mia cut in. " He will refuse to understand whatever we say to him."

" What?! " Marco looked at his sister incredulously. He then shifted his eyes to Robby then back to Mia.

Taking a deep breath, he placed his hands on his hips. He glared at the two of them silently as if contemplating what to say or do next. And then, he did what wasn't expected of him, he turned and looked away.

Robby seized the opportunity to look at Mia who was wearing an unreadable expression on her face. If anything, Robby thought he saw her slightly cower at Marco's words.

He gently squeezed her hand but she didn't look at him. Her eyes were glued on her brother.

It was a while before anyone spoke.

" Let's go home, " Marco finally said as he turned to face both of them.

Marco looked exhausted. Robby realized. It seemed the angry banter took a quick toll on him.

Mia frowned. " I don't want to go home. " she told him unblinking. " I think I'll stay here for a while."

Marco inhaled sharply. Robby knew he was struggling to keep his cool.

" Don't make me do things that I'll regret later, Mia"

" What things? " Mia countered not leaving her eyes off Marco. " Beat Robby to death? Drag me to go home? What-"

" Mia, " Robby's voice was quiet when he cut in.

Mia's eyes snapped towards him.

If things went down between Marco and him, Robby thought as he held her gaze, that was not fine but it was acceptable. He broke his friend's trust and he will accept anything Marco threw his way without a fight. He deserved his anger and distrust.

But if Marco and Mia had a falling out, that was a different thing altogether. They were brother and sister. Things couldn't go down between the two of them. He couldn't live with himself if they never speak to each other again.

" It's okay, " he told her softly. " Go home. Everything's going to be alright."

Mia's face broke into a frown.

" I don't want to leave you like this, " she told him, her eyes searching his.

" I'm going to be okay, " Robby forced a smile. " Nothing that I can't fix."

" But Rob-"

" When does this fucking drama end?! " Marco snapped cutting off Mia's retort.

Robby squeezed Mia's hand and leaned over to kiss her forehead.

" I love you, " he whispered in her ears. " We'll be okay."

" Fucking unbelievable, " Marco muttered loudly, shaking his head in distaste.

Marco walked over to them and outstretched his hand to Mia. " Let's go, Mia. "

Mia stared at Marco's outstretched hand mutely, not making any move to take it.

" Go on, " Robby said quietly.

" But-" Mia started as she tightly held on to Robby.

" Go, " Robby cut her off, gently releasing her hand.

" Mi, " Marco prodded his sister impatiently. " Let's go."

Mia shot Robby a confused look before she took Marco's hand.

Robby watched silently as Marco led Mia and Melissa back to the path leading to the hotel.

Before taking another step forward, Marco turned to look at Robby unsmilingly.

" We are not yet through, Gonzales, " Marco's voice was cold as ice. " Stay the fuck away from my sister."

" Marco, " Mia said in a warning voice.

Marco turned to leave but not before giving Robby a disgusted look.

Robby saw Mia smile weakly at him and half raised her hand in a small wave.

And then, she was gone.

Robby heaved a big sigh when he was finally alone and wiped his face with his hand. He winced when he remembered his cuts and bruises.

That was not how he envisioned the night to end. And not exactly how they planned on telling Marco the truth.

While it felt like a burden has been lifted from his chest, he felt a different kind of boulder tugging on him.

Now that things were out in the open, he didn't know what was going to happen between Mia and himself. Marco was pretty livid with anger earlier and he knew that as Mia had predicted, things are going to be tough in the coming days.

Fishing for his mobile from his pants pocket, Robby sent a message to Mia.

" I'm sorry for tonight. We'll fix this. Everything's going to be okay. I love you Mia. Remember that."

He waited for a few minutes for her reply. She was usually pretty quick in replying.

But Robby never got a reply from Mia that night.

For the first time since Mia and he got together, he felt the gravity of what they have done.