Entangled With The CEO Brothers

“Pfft …” I spit out a mouthful of water and burst out laughing.

“Kevin, you have such a vivid imagination!”

He scratched his head in embarrassment, “I was just guessing.”

“Nothing to do with religion.” I smiled, “Something to do with previous experiences.”

“Is it convenient to tell me?”

I look at him.

The atmosphere is silent for a moment, but my thoughts remain active. The scene of six years ago appeared in front of my eyes again, Cameron and I, peacekeeping barracks behind the hillside creek, beacon days, we rely on each other …

For a long time I laughed softly and sighed, “Kevin, it seems to be sweltering even more in Alcostan.”

His eyes widened and he half realized what was going on.

However, I finally understood the poem, and now I know all the sadness, I want to say, but the sky is cooler.

…

The next day I left early in the morning and went around about three blocks to find the bazaar. Women here must be accompanied by an adult man when they go out, otherwise they are breaking dogma and will be flogged in the street. I wore a black burka like the local women and covered my face to avoid any trouble, and I asked Kevin to accompany me.

To be on the safe side, he also covered half of his face with a turban.

There were a lot of good things in that bazaar, from chic and exquisite totem jewelry to extremely ethnic clothing. These things were new to me as a foreigner, and I lingered at every stall, looking at everything and not wanting to leave.

I ended up buying some stationery, a bit of cheese and a local pie-like food called naan, and some silk scarves and veils.

The stationery was distributed to the students and the food and scarves were taken to the children in the orphanage. I heard Kevin say that the orphans here are mainly girls because there is also a patriarchal mindset here, and when war comes, families protect the boys first and the daughters are displaced.

“Laura, almost done?” Kevin urged me, “It was just dawn when we came out, and now the sun is rising … If we don’t leave, we’ll get into trouble if someone finds out!”

It was then that I noticed the time.

And Kevin was right, this bazaar is basically full of men, I’m a woman who’s already very noticeable, in case we’re found out again that we’re a foreigner and provoke any ethnic extremists, this trip really can’t be eaten.

“Alright.” I counted the things in my hands, “Let’s hurry back!”

“Good.”

However, before the two of us could get out of the marketplace, we heard a loud bang not far away, and then all the people around us crouched on the ground with their heads in their hands, and some of them ran to the opposite place in a panic, shouting something as they ran.

I was shocked, my mind went blank, subconsciously clutching Kevin’s clothes, looking around warily.

Several airplanes passed over our heads, their roar shrill and ear-splitting. There was more commotion in the marketplace, and I was knocked over several times, lost in a cloud of dust.

“Kevin …” The dust choked my eyes, making it difficult to even breathe.

“I’m here!” A hand grabbed me as I ducked toward a nearby stone house.

“What’s going on here?” I choked and coughed several times, “I thought this marketplace, wasn’t controlled by the rebels?”

Kevin gasped for air and pulled out his cell phone to make a few calls, his face then changed.

“Laura …”

My heart was in my throat, “What’s happening?”

“Let’s hurry back.” He spoke quickly, “The rebels have torn up the truce and raided civilian neighborhoods, and now there are heavy casualties.”

“What?”

“The place where we live …,” his eyes suddenly red, choking on his words.

I had a bad feeling in the back of my mind.

Luckily the bombardment didn’t last long, maybe a couple dozen seconds, and the world slowly quieted down. People poked their heads out and stood in the street whispering.

Kevin gave me a wink, and we took the opportunity to run out of the blocks and back the way we came.

But …

That road wasn’t what it had originally been.

The road, which was already rough, was now even more crumbling. The road was full of corpses, some of which were not even whole, with one arm in the east and one in the west, some of which were headless, and some of which had been blown in half, gurgling blood.

The road was dyed red with blood, the gravel became a hideous scarlet, and the smell of explosives and blood wafted through the air.

My legs gave out and I crouched on the side of the road, gulping and dry-heaving, tears welling up in my eyes.

“Laura, not here!” Kevin grabbed me up in a death grip, “Run!”

“I can’t run Kevin!” I covered my mouth, trying my best not to cry out, “Kevin … me, my legs are weak, I … ”

“Boom-”

Not far away, a fleeing man stepped on a landmine and instantly blew into pieces, a hand fell just in front of my eyes …

“Ah!” I lost my voice and screamed, covering my ears and crouching on the ground, the feeling of that moment was worse than death!

“Go, Laura!” shouted Kevin like mad, “What are you trying to do? You’re going to let the rebels run in and kill you, a foreigner? Hurry up and go!”

I used my last ounce of strength to pull myself to my feet, and ran forward after Kevin like a zombie … In front of me was a blood-red mass of airplanes, bombs, and dark mines … twisting and turning into a powerful monster, opening its bloody mouth and rushing at me! Carnival smile …

We passed the family that originally lived there, and their house had been leveled. The shrine was completely blown up, the two palm trees with yellowed leaves in front of the entrance were burned down to half of their original size, and the family, well, they were gone.

I burst into tears for a moment.

They were such a good family, they could have emigrated to other countries when the war came, but they stayed because of their loyalty to their religion and their love for the land. They did a lot of favors for the United Nations, and I heard that some of the previous groups of peacekeepers stayed with them, but what did they get in the end?

Families are broken and ashes are destroyed …

I couldn’t control myself and ran like crazy to that dirt and gravel. Just early in the morning, just before I left the house, the lady of the house was so uneasy that she asked me to take her homemade map with me to show me where to go in case I ran into an accident. That cute little girl in this house, personally gave me the naan bread she had for breakfast in her bag and told me to eat some when I was hungry …

“No, no!” I cried, frantically picking at the pile of gravel with my hands, as if that would dig them out and they’d still be alive afterward.

“Laura!” yelled Kevin from the door.

“Laura, get out here! We’re going to meet up with the UN troops!”

I couldn’t hear anything, and the ten fingers of my steak were dripping with blood, but it was as if I couldn’t feel the pain.

But then, a sudden force lifted me up by the waist, a familiar and warm embrace. I was stunned, tilted my head to see the gray sky, the sky beacons, bombs hissing, but that person’s face, is countless times in my dreams appear …

“Cameron?”

I was startled, as if I was dreaming, and subconsciously reached out my hand to touch his face …

At this moment, the clattering sound of machine guns suddenly came out from the next alley, each sound seemed to explode in my ears. Cameron hugged me and slumped on the ground, he used his body to protect me tightly, and behind him, there were more rows of bullet holes on the gray wall.

“Cameron, Cameron … “My heart was beating violently, shock and panic drained my strength, and the surprise of Cameron’s sudden appearance was more than I could bear. My strength gradually overdrawn, my consciousness is already blurred, but I can still hear myself murmuring, “Cameron, is it you … am I dreaming?”

“Don’t talk!”

I leaned against his chest and his low voice came into my ears along with a powerful heartbeat.

“I’ll take you somewhere safe.”

“Cameron,” my taut nerves snap instantly and I can’t stop the tears from pouring out of my eyes.

I thought I’d never see him again, but here he was!

When I woke up, I was already in the camp where the UN peacekeeping troops were stationed. Kevin looked at me from the side and shouted excitedly, “Wake up, wake up, finally!”

I slowly sat up with a splitting headache, my whole body even the cracks of my bones were aching.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

“What’s wrong?”

Kevin handed me a glass of water, “Big Star, you scared me to death! If anything happens to you here, George will kill me when I get back!”

“It’s okay.” I was so light-headed that I couldn’t muster any strength.

“Yeah!” Kevin was relieved, “Thanks to that Mr. Cameron!”

“Mr. Cameron …,” my mind shook as a scene from before I passed out slammed into my head. The bombing, the alley fight, Cameron shielding me with his body, leading me to escape from that place of wrongdoing …

Turns out I wasn’t dreaming!

“Where is he?” I grabbed Kevin by the hand.

“Where is he, where is Cameron?”

Kevin looked a little surprised when Cameron lifted the tent flap and slowly walked up to me with the potion in his hand.

I stared at him in awe, my vision blurring for a moment as a deep gash was torn in my heart.

Kevin silently retreated, Cameron sat on the edge of my bed and fed me the medicine one spoonful at a time. I was so focused on crying that I couldn’t feel how bad that potion was. I looked at him for a split second, and the aftermath of this robbery was like a dream.

“Cameron…” I reached out and finally touched his face. Very real, warm and soft, is a sharp angular face, handsome and more than a few vicissitudes.

He gently wiped away my tears, the knot between his eyebrows opening a little.

“I heard George say that you ran here alone.” He whispered, “Laura, you really don’t let people worry about you.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to worry you.” I cried and laughed, “Actually, I didn’t want to worry anyone, this operation was commissioned by the UN working group as a goodwill ambassador to do publicity … I really didn’t expect the rebels to be so arrogant as to unilaterally tear up the truce agreement … ”

“What are you doing running here for a good reason?” Cameron has a deep reproach in his eyes, “Don’t you just shoot your scene properly? Heh, what kind of goodwill ambassador? Do you still care about fame and fortune?”

“You know that what I care about is not fame and fortune …,” I lowered my head.

“Heh,” he laughed coldly, “still think you are six years ago that lone female reporter to break into the world?”

“Yes, I’m long gone from six years ago.” I said softly, “I’ve gotten lazy over the years and I don’t have that drive anymore. But Cameron, this place is important to me …”

“No matter how important, it’s in the past.” His eyes are indifferent and detached, “I heard the people of the working group say that they are ready to return one after another tomorrow, you also follow along to go back.”

“Cameron …”

“Don’t let your fiance worry.” He looked at me and said slowly, “He’s still waiting for you at Jerez State.”

My heart goes cold.

The word fiance he bites off.

Yeah, I was a married man. The original plan was to marry Rafael after that movie and never have anything to do with Cameron again. In fact, I was the one who gave up on him first. That day at Stella’s gravestone, he asked me to go with him one last time, and I refused.

Laura, you brought this all on yourself …

I forced a smile and tried to hold his hand again, however he deliberately kept his distance from me. It was like a wall had been erected between us, we could only see each other, but we could never cross the hurdle.

“When we get back, have Sunny stay with me for a while.” Cameron said, “You’re getting married, so you must have a lot of things to do and can’t take care of her.”

“She’s … now.”

“Yasmin is taking good care of her.”

I nodded softly, a pang of loss in my heart, “She’s about to forget about me as a mom, I guess.”

Cameron looks at me for a long time and whispers, “You’ll always be her mom, that won’t change.”

“Uh-huh.”

For some reason, I just wanted to cry. I thought I could go back six years by taking a trip back in time, but time is irreversible, and the people we were six years ago and the people we will be six years from now are long gone from the people we once were to each other.

…

Due to some coordination problems in the middle, we departed three days later. The airport had been repaired and this time it was possible to go back by plane.

I don’t know if it was on purpose, but Cameron’s seat was on the right side of the aisle, and Kevin and I sat on the left side. And Kevin had no intention of switching. He’s a smart guy, there’s no way he couldn’t see that Cameron and I were related, but he kept quiet the whole way.

That is, until there was an opening in the middle of the transfer when Kevin went out to get coffee for everyone.

He gave it to Cameron and then handed it to me. Cameron and I, however, asked in unison, “No sugar, right?”

Kevin froze and smiled slightly, “No, no.”

A little embarrassed, I opened my mouth to explain, “Cameron doesn’t like sugar.”

Who knew Cameron would say at the same time, “Laura doesn’t like sugar.”

Kevin was laughing his ass off at this.

Cameron coughed lightly and stood up, “I’m going out for a smoke.”

It wasn’t until he was gone that Kevin sat down next to me. “You two are so in tune.”

“Say what!” I cover up by drinking my coffee.

“This Mr. Cameron, he’s a big name in Jerez State, too.” Kevin looked at his far away back and sighed, “Jade tree, a talented man …”

“Know quite a bit!” I laugh.

“Don’t think I don’t know anything just because I work at the UN,” he comes up to my ear, “I probably know more about all this gossip than your fans!”

“I’m really impressed then.”

“He’s the reason you had to come to Alcostan this time, isn’t he?” Kevin’s eyes crystalized, “I know you were a reporter six years ago, was he here too? Are you revisiting your old stomping grounds, or are you just rekindling an old flame?”

“Kevin!” I glared at him.

He shrugged and shut up at the right time.

I felt uncomfortable as if I’d been poked and prodded with a secret, and took a big gulp of coffee. Kevin sat down in the window seat, clasped both hands behind his head, and closed his eyes comfortably.

He didn’t fall asleep, and not long afterward, as if talking to himself, he said, “I’m a gossip spreader, and I’ll gossip with you a few more times …”

“What?”

His eyes opened a slit and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly, “Any idea how Mr. Cameron found you?”