“You’re not my Julian, are you?”
Giselle’s words made Julian froze on the spot, mind scrambling as he processed the words, not daring to turn around to face her.
“What do you mean?” He asked, successfully managing to keep his voice under control.
Right now, they were in the penthouse in the hotel where Julian stayed when school closed on the weekends, the same place he woke up in when he first came to this world.
Giselle was seated at the counter in the kitchen area, her hair disheveled, eyes red and swollen from crying, looking at Julian like she was about to kill him.
Julian was standing in front of the cupboard, throwing water in a glass with his back facing her.
“Don’t play dumb with me.” She said, the tone of her voice rising.
“Who are you, and what did you do to Julian?”
‘She caught us, man.’ Julian mentally said, speaking to Mini-ball.
[Yeah, it seems so.]
‘What do I do?’
[I have no idea.] Though Julian couldn’t see it, he could hear the unbothered shrug of the ball in its voice.
‘Sigh… you can be pretty useless sometimes.’
Leaving his friend with those words, Julian finally turned around to face Giselle, a glass of water in his hands.
“You’re right,” he said, walking to the counter.
“I’m not your Julian.” He said down on a stool, directly facing her.
“The Julian you know is dead.”
“…”
Giselle didn’t say a word, simply looking at Julian with a neutral expression, already knowing that her brother is no more.
“…But you already knew that.”
He slid the glass of water closer to Giselle, leaving a wet trail over the smooth marble counter top.
“Who are you and why are you Julian?” Giselle reached out for the water, but had the same deadly stare on her face.
“Honestly,” Julian looked down at himself.
“I have no idea. I just went to sleep one day and when I woke up, this was who I became.”
‘There’s no way I’m telling her I’m from another world.’
Giselle took a sip of water, blue eyes staring at Julian from above the glass.
There was a lot of thoughts going in her mind, thoughts not even Julian could tell.
After drinking about half of the water, she calmly put the glass down.
“And where is Julian?” She asked, head turning side to side as if searching for something.
“Is he here right now?”
“…”
Julian was caught off guard once again, mind working overtime to find a way to get on top of the situation, but there was nothing.
Only thing that came up was that this woman came into this already knowing how the conversation was going to go and that he shouldn’t lie to her.
“…How do know?” He finally managed to ask.
“Cameras.” She pointed a finger upwards and swirled it in a circle.
“Everywhere.”
“That’s fair.” Julian nodded.
There was no arguing against that.
Then saw him waking up, throw up in the bathroom and hear him talking to something.
Julian wouldn’t even be surprised if there was a monitor out there somewhere keeping track of his vitals.
Rich people be doing things like that.
“So? Is he here?” Giselle repeated.
“Yep. He’s right here.” Julian pointed to his left shoulder.
“He’s like a little devil on my shoulder.”
“Can he hear me?”
Julian nodded before adding.
“He can see you too.”
“What possessed you?” She asked, her voice cracking, talking to Mini-ball even though she couldn’t see him.
[I’m sorry.] The regret and shame in Mini-ball’s voice was thick.
“He says he’s sorry.” Julian relayed.
“Why? Why did you do it?” Tears threatened to spill from Giselle’s tears, already welling up.
[…]
“He says nothing. Just sags his head in complete shame and regret. Thinking about what a stupid thing he did. Mind replaying the same word over and over again: ‘Idiot. Idiot. Idiot.’ Like a broken record.”
“…”
[…]
Mini-ball and Giselle threw Julian deadpan expression, as if asking: “Really?”
“Sorry.” Julian rubbed the back of his neck.
“I got caught in the moment.”
“Anyway,” Giselle turned her attention back to Julian’s shoulder.
“It was because of that bitch, wasn’t it?”
Giselle’s voice had real bite to it, face contorting into a ugly scowl that promised death.
“I told you nothing about being associated with that woman is good.” She continued her rant, sounding very angry.
“She will take and take and take, until you have nothing left to give. And when you’re done? When you’ve finally given her everything you have? You’d be lucky if she just discarded you like a used thing. She will take you like a wet cloth, and then twist and turn you until she’d completely dried out of every drop.”
[I’m sorry, alright?] Mini-ball rolled his eyes.
“He says he’s sorry, but with a attitude.”
“Don’t you give me a fucking attitude.” She pointed to Julian’s shoulders, anger turned to fury.
“I told you this would happen. I told you that that bitch is a good-for-nothing slut. But you didn’t listen, did you? You thought you were smarter than me. You thought you knew her better than me. And what happened, huh? She drove you to your death. That’s what fucking happened. And now you’re a fucking ghost watching some idiot live your life.”
‘What did I do?’
Julian felt in the wrong, but didn’t dare voice his thoughts.
He was kinda scared of the woman, making him catch the stray shots without doing anything about it.
“Huffff…” Giselle released a heavy breath to calm her emotions, swiping a hand to her already disheveled hair.
“What’s your plan now?” She asked, peeking through loose strands of silver hair.
“He’s going to help me play football, and I’m going to help him, help you.”
“And how are you going to help me?” Giselle sounded skeptical, but didn’t outright reject the idea.
“Don’t worry about that.” Julian said with a confident smile.
“…Right.” She wasn’t convinced but decided not to ask.
“By the way,” she continued, giving Julian a suspicious glare.
“Who are you?”
“You mean before I became Julian?” He asked, though it was obvious.
“Yeah.”
“I don’t remember much, just my name.” Julian lied through his teeth.
Julian decided against telling her that he is from a different world and just used the same excuse as all the main character’s from the novels he read.
The one where they claim to have amnesia.
And in every novel he read, the method worked, so who is to say that it wouldn’t now.
“You suck at lying.”
“…”
‘Right.” Julian felt stupid for lying.
‘She runs a multi-quantillion business empire, she would easily be able to tell when someone is lying.’
“I don’t suck at lying, you’re just very good at telling when people are speaking the truth.”
“…”
Giselle gave him a deadpan expression, a telling sign that she will not allow him to change the subject.
“Sigh.” A resigned sigh sounded from Julian’s mouth.
“I can’t tell you where I am from, because even I don’t know where it is. Like I said, I went to sleep one day and woke up in your brother’s body. The only thing I remember is my name and that I came from a place named Earth.”
Julian tried to be as vague as possible.
And even though he mentioned the planet he was from, Giselle won’t find such a place in this world and she probably won’t entertain the possibility that he was from a different world.
“That’s all I know. Genuinely.” Julian finished, sounding as sincere as he possibly can.
Giselle was silent for a moment, staring at Julian with untrusting eyes.
“Have it your way then.” Giselle pushed off the counter, bringing herself upright.
She didn’t trust Julian, not in the slightest, but she decided to let it slide for now since she could tell that he is at least a good person.
“I have to go now.” She grabbed her blazer from the couch in the living area and threw it over her shoulder.
“Tell Julian I said that I’m sorry I failed him.”
She climbed into the elevator leaving without another word.
“…She accepted it easier than expected.” He spoke once Giselle was out of sight.
[No she didn’t. She must’ve had urgent business, but we should expect twentyfour hour surveillance from now on.]
“You mean she’s going to hire a bunch of people to keep tabs on me all day everyday?”
Knowing that there is someone out there that is watching your every move, but being unable to point them out or doing anything about it is a scary thought.
‘Is this how woman feel when they are being stalked?’
[Yes.] Mini-ball nodded.
[You’re in the body of her brother, she has to make sure you don’t damage it.]
“I hear you.” Julian waved a dismissive hand.
“Anyway, tell me about this bitch you were talking about.”
[You’ll find out in due time.]
“Really, dude?”