Angel's hair blew in her face as she walked alongside Eric down the lane of Central Park. She tried to tuck her hair away but the breeze passed again and her hair just as before, flew all over her face again.
A few strands of her hair flew into Eric's face who was walking beside her. Angel turned to look at him.
"I'm so sorry, Eric," said Angel, as she managed to tuck her hair behind her ear.
"It's nothing," he said with a bright smile on his face. "I kind of like your hair in my face."
Angel rolled her eyes. "Sometimes I wonder if you're human," she said.
"Oh, I definitely am."
Angel looked forward as she continued to walk with Eric and Oliver walking in front of them. It was such a lovely day to hang out at the park. The place was filled with people obviously walking around with a sense of relief from all the weekday pressure. Skaters skated past them, others were slowly riding around with bikes. Some were having a picnic and others were having a fun time at the lakes.
"Thank you for bringing me here," said Angel as she smiled at Eric. "I really needed the fresh air."
"And also the exercise," said Eric.
"Eric, can we get ice-cream?" Oliver asked when he saw an ice-cream man with his ice-cream stand selling ice-cream. "I really want one."
"I would also like ice-cream," said Angel.
"Okay, what flavour?" Eric asked as he started to remove his wallet from his pocket of his jean trousers.
"Chocolate."
"I like chocolate too," said Oliver.
"I'll get a vanilla," said Eric. "You two seem to be in a mood for chocolate."
"I just love chocolate," said Angel.
"I love it too," said Oliver as he smiled up at Angel.
The three of them approached the ice-cream cart and Eric payed for the ice-cream cones. They decided to sit on an empty park bench nearby close to the lake after a couple had just got up from it.
After finishing his ice-cream, Oliver asked if he could go towards the banks of the lake and look at the fish.
"Just don't fall in, I don't want to jump in the lake when you do," said Eric.
"Don't worry, I won't," said Oliver. He turned and walked away and headed towards the lake.
"You can be a little mean sometimes," said Angel.
"I'm not mean," said Eric as he ate away at his ice-cream cone. "Sometimes you need to be a little bit strict with him."
"Ya, you're right." Angel turned to look at the lake.
"Hey, what's on your mind?" Eric asked after he finished his ice-cream cone.
"Nothing," Angel replied as she went back to finishing her ice-cream.
"I know that look. Did you have a fight with Leo again?"
Angel turned to look at Eric with her eyebrow raised. "You're just like Carly always wondering if I ever got into a fight with him."
"Well, did you?"
Angel paused as she went through what happened earlier in the morning. "No, we didn't. Exactly, when I woke up, he and I talked in the kitchen when I was preparing coffee without any fight."
"You two had a peaceful talk? Well, that's nice."
Angel playfully smiled at Eric. "Don't make fun of me, Eric. I'm simply tired of always fighting and I told him that."
"What made you change your mind?"
"I remembered my late mum that morning when I decided to let go of the wheelchair and start exercising my legs. The last time I was with her, she told me to look after Carly. I realised that after the accident, I haven't been really nice to her. I'm supposed to take care of her even if it means supporting her decision to be with Leo."
"I know, you feel supporting Carly with her decisions isn't taking care of her, but as far as I've seen, you really are doing the best you can to protect her and be there for her."
"You think so?"
"I know so. You're the only person Carly has to family and if you aren't taking care of her, you two would be separated or something."
"Ya, I guess you're right. Agreeing to move into your home was only because of Carly. I had no choice when the bank took the house from us. I also have to be close so that she doesn't make a fool of herself in front of your family when it comes to Leo."
"And I'll admit, you're really being a good sister by doing so."
"You think so?"
"Angel, I know a caring person when I see one. You might be mean to Carly, but you're doing so just to protect her and be by her side. If that's not what a true sister is, then I don't know what is."
Angel smiled. "Thanks, Eric. You just made me feel a whole lot better about myself."
"I did?"
"Ya, you did."
Eric put a huge smile on his face. He placed his arm behind Angel on the top of the bench. He looked at her and Angel hadn't noticed that he was staring until she turned her head to look at him.
"What?" Angel asked.
"Huh?" Eric looked a little caught off guard.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
Eric straightened up and looked towards the lake. "Nothing."
Angel raised her eyebrow and didn't ask any further.
"What do you think they are up to?" Eric asked, still looking at the lake.
"Who? Carly and Leo?" Angel asked. "I wouldn't even want to know."
"Hey, Angel!" Oliver called out to her from the banks of the lake. "Come and take a look at this!"
"Oh, boy," Eric muttered to himself. "I hope he hasn't seen a jellyfish in there."
Angel laughed as she slowly stood. "There aren't any jellyfish in the lake," she said.
"Well, the last time we came here with my mum, there was one. According to him at least."
Angel shook her head. "You can be so mean at times."
"I'm just giving you a warning signal that my brother might be crazy," said Eric as he pointed a finger to his head, mimicking the wheels in the head spinning by making his finger go round in circles.
Angel just shook her head with a smile and went towards Oliver. Eric sat there on the bench looking at Angel the whole time even when she reached Oliver and the two stared at the lake. And he didn't seem to realise how much he was smiling at her the entire time.
***
"Where are we going, Leo?" Carly couldn't help but ask as she looked out through the window on the passenger side.
"Why do you keep on asking?" Leo asked, his eyes on the road and his hands on the steering wheel as he drove through the streets of New York.
"Because you said we're going to some place private where we can be alone. And as far as I can tell, New York isn't that famous for private places."
Leo smiled. "I bet you know where I'm taking you and you're saying that just to trouble me."
Carly smiled at him as she leaned back in the car seat. "Maybe," she said. "I hope you aren't taking me to the movies."
Leo raised his eyebrow. "The cinema isn't that private, you know? It's just a dark room filled with people watching a movie."
"And eating popcorn."
"Not everyone eats popcorn."
"How can you be so sure?"
"I, myself don't eat popcorn."
"Mmm. I was wondering why you didn't have popcorn with us yesterday when we watched the movie. Why don't you like popcorn?"
"I don't know." Leo shrugged his shoulders. "I do eat it, but not during a movie."
"Okay, point taken. Now, are we going to some fancy restaurant?"
"Again, not private," Leo chuckled.
"Mmmm." Carly continued to smile.
Leo's car soon turned round a corner after the traffic light and a few minutes later, he packed his car in front of an exquisite hotel.
"Oooooh, fancy," said Carly, as she looked inside the building through the window.
"You knew where we were going, did you?" Leo asked as he looked at Carly.
Carly looked at him with a goofy smile on her face. "No."
Leo didn't say anything as he got out of the car and Carly on the other side, also did the same. Leo gave his car keys away to a smartly dressed valet. He joined Carly as the car sped off to be packed within the hotel premises, underground.
"Shall we?" Leo asked as he held Carly's hand.
Carly smiled as the two of them walked up to the entrance glass doors of the building and the doorman at the building quickly held the door open for them and they walked right in.
All things seemed to be going well for the two love birds, or so they thought. Packed right outside the hotel premises across the hotel on the other side of the street was a black shiny Ford. The person in the car had coincidentally noticed Leo's car in front of their own at the traffic lights, and noticed that Leo wasn't alone but was with someone else, a woman. Being a little curious, the owner of the Ford decided to follow Leo till he reached the hotel. After seeing Leo disembark from the car with the woman and the two went in the hotel, the person decided to make a call on the phone.
"Hey, what's up? Aren't you supposed to be at work by now?" the person on the other side of the line asked.
"You won't believe who I just saw going into a hotel," said the person in the car.
"I'm not in the mood for a guessing game. Just tell me who you're talking about."
"I'm talking about Leo. And he's not alone."
***
"Yum, yum, yum," said Oliver as he took in the smell of the pizza in front of him.
"He really loves mac and cheese," said Eric as he looked at Angel who was sitting next to Oliver.
"I can tell," said Angel as she ruffled Oliver's hair. Oliver just smiled.
The three were at one of the best pizza parlours in town after they had visited the park. And they had ordered a large sized mac and cheese pizza. As soon as it was served they started to dig in.
"Mmmm, it's really delicious," said Angel after having one slice.
"And it's filled with extra cheese," said Oliver with a smile, "that's what makes it delicious."
Eric was just about to say something when his phone, that he placed on the table started to ring beside his plate. He looked at the screen to see who it was.
"Seriously," he rolled his eyes as he straightened up after seeing who was calling.
"Hope it isn't from work," said Oliver. "It's a weekend."
Angel smiled. "You're acting like a jealous brother," she said. "If you were a lady, it would have been something different."
"No, it's not work," said Eric as he continued to let the phone ring. "It's not important."
"Okay," said Angel as she looked at the phone and then at Eric.
The phone stopped ringing since Eric didn't pick it up. But seconds after it stopped, the phone went ringing again. Angel and Oliver both looked at Eric, who looked back at them after he noticed their eyes on him.
"What?" Eric asked as he shrugged his shoulders
"I think it's best you get that," said Angel. "Something tells me it might be important."
"From this person, I doubt it."
"Fine, if you don't agree, then don't. Though, you might miss out on something really important."
Eric gave in. Angel was right. He couldn't stop wondering why the person was calling. It was a weekend anyway and he hoped that whatever the person had to say was important.
"Can I take this call outside?" Eric asked.
"Sure, it's your call," said Angel.
"But you better hurry," said Oliver. "Or else Angel and I will finish the pizza."
"Don't you two even dare," Eric warned playfully. He quickly got his phone, stood up from his seat and left the two eating their slices of pizza.
Immediately he stepped out of the pizza parlor, he picked up the call.
"Eric," came Trina's voice. "How are you? I was so worried when you didn't pick up my call at first."
"I just had to because knowing you, you wouldn't give up calling," said Eric as he stared at the glass entrance door of the pizza parlor.
"You're right. I really needed to talk to you about something. I think I just made a big mistake."
Eric raised an eyebrow, confused with her last statement. "What are you talking about? What did you do?"
"Don't kill me for what I'm about to tell you, Eric," said Trina, sounding scared. "It's just that this is serious and you're not going to like it."
"Trina, tell me right now what's going on or else I might just end this call."
"Okay, okay, I'll tell you. And it's quite serious and I don't know what to do!"
"Trina, pull yourself together. Breathe and tell me what's going on."
"Okay," Trina took in a deep breath as Eric instructed her to. And when she was calm she told Eric all that he needed to know.
