Siana

Alex who was attentively listening to her before, now laughed at her remark and nodded his head. That was actually true: he chose to become a fashion designer instead of inheriting his father"s business. It turned out his cousin was not much different from him in this aspect.

He stretched his hand and dotingly patted Sia"s head with his heart filled with brotherly affection and his mind with a torrent of thoughts:

"Sia... you are a real wonder, aren"t you? It took you less than a day to cross all the barriers I have been carefully putting around my heart since years ago. Weirdly enough, I actually want you to settle down in my heart. Your energy is just so pure I feel like I am being healed just by that smile of yours.

So, I am letting you in. I just hope that you won"t break out."

Sia on the other hand was first startled and then smiled at her cousin rea.s.suringly as if she knew what was on his mind.

"Mission Alex: first stage: success!" she contentedly thought to herself...

After finishing their desserts they decided to visit some tourist attractions in the city as it was still afternoon. They had decided to visit the Dominican Central Gallery as it had one of the finest collections of art pieces in the world.

"You guys are too popular and too eye-catching and there are many people there. So, you have to go in disguise!" certain someone announced happily. "And being the nice person I am I will take care of it. Isn"t that great?"

"It sure is!" Ren beamed.

Will was also secretly feeling excited. But, even though he loved the idea of her doing something for him, for some reason he felt that something was wrong here. So he probed,

"What do you mean by "taking care of us"?"

"Literal meaning! I will do a makeover on you with the help of the wonder known as makeup!" Sia grinned mischievously.

Both Ren and Will initially felt a surge of giddiness upon imagining her touch on their skins. But their senses of danger, that were honed for years, were still making a lot of warning signals. They were happy but at the same time unsure as to what the girl was planning for them.

Nevertheless, whatever it was, they were ready to take the risk as long as it involved her.

However, the universe wasn"t on their side:

"No, Sia. You aren"t taking care of anyone. We all have skin masks that we can use and it should be fine. On the contrary, I am more worried about you. Hopefully, you haven"t forgotten about your own looks," came Alex"s firm voice.

Honestly speaking, he didn"t expect any less from Ren the playboy. Being in fashion industry, Alex himself saw all kinds of beauties and she still managed to amaze him with her looks. Sia"s beauty was a level higher than anyone"s he had ever seen before.

This was why he didn"t want Ren to come from the very beginning. She was here for a week and he was responsible for her. Even before Ren"s arrival, he could picture Ren almost drooling at his cousin. And here it was, happening right in front of him.

But what he didn"t expect was Will"s behaviour. Will was known for his cold treatment towards women. He dated only once and that was because of his family"s constant pressure. And he never even showed any emotion to his ex despite dating her for nearly 2 years.

But here he was, looking at Siana like he wanted to possess her. Even though Will was trying hard not to show his thoughts, they weren"t childhood friends just for show. He could see the slight changes in Will"s expressions and the ma.s.sive shift in his aura from that of a cold businessman to that of a lovestruck idiot.

And he could also notice the cold gazes that Will threw at Ren"s direction whenever the latter was trying to flirt with Sia. The only thing was that Ren was totally clueless to his warning stares.

Alex thought that "walking trouble" was the perfect description of her: instead of worrying about the impact she had on others she was thinking of ways to have fun.

Just perfect. Now he needed to protect his little sister from his own best friends.

Was this retribution for wrongly picturing her as an incapable, spoilt socialite before meeting her?

" But skin masks are itchy while makeup is so easy to wear. I promise I will not put much on your faces," reb.u.t.ted Sia while pouting slightly.

"Why do all the Illeses have to be so stubborn. Isn"t she only 21 or 22? Why can"t she just listen to her older brother?" Alex thought but said otherwise,

" Sia, makeup will take a while to put on and we don"t have that time. How about we leave it for the next time?" pacified Alex cursing at himself for not being able to say no to her.

"Promise?" asked Sia with antic.i.p.ation.

"Promise," answered Alex softly and turning to his friends asked in an a.s.sertive tone, "You okay with these arrangements, right?"

Feeling the shift in Alex"s tone they knew that the decision was non-negotiable. So, the two friends just nodded their heads like two kids being lectured by their parent.

Alex actually didn"t know whether to laugh or cry.

How dare his dad say that he wasn"t going to babysit?

On one hand, he was dealing with a wilful kid who was all about having fun and didn"t even seem to care about her influence on men. On the other hand, he needed to control his best friends who were constantly undergoing a transformation from puppies that sought attention to hungry beasts that wanted to devour the girl.

What do you call this if not babysitting?

Just great!