“Kat, what a pleasant surprise.
You did not tell me you were coming.” Michael said, not the least bit surprised, as he leaned back in his seat, taking in his sister.
Looking at her now, he realized that she had changed a bit.
She looked taller, and her skin was very tanned now.
“Since when do I have to tell my baby brother that I’m coming to see him?” She answered, sitting at the edge of his desk.
Michael rolled his eyes.
“Don’t call me that; we’re adults.” “You’ll always be my baby brother, Mikey, even when we’re eighty years old.” “Did you spend the whole year lying under the sun in Spain?” Michael asked, unable to tear his eyes from her bronze skin.
Katherine jumped to her feet and began digging inside her bag.
“Why else do people go to Spain?” She asked with an eye roll before finally bringing out a small wrapped box from her bag and practically throwing it at Michael.
Michael barely caught the box before asking, “What the hell, Kat?” Katherine gave him a wink.
“A present.” Michael unwrapped the box to reveal a diamond-crusted wristwatch.
“Ta-da!
It’s the new design we’re working on, and you’re the first person to try it.” She said, excited.
Katherine was always this way whenever she talked about her business.
“I’m flattered,” Michael said, inspecting the wristwatch.
The watch was indeed nice.
It had this archaic look about it, which was sure to appeal to the rich folks with their love for old items, but the diamonds that crusted the silver frame of the wristwatch spoke of its worth.
And just inside the watch was the logo of Katherine’s jewelry company, a looping ‘K.’ “It’s really nice,” Michael said, trying it on.
“Pretty and fits nicely too.” Katherine nodded.
“Yeah, I was hoping you could advertise for me.” Michael rolled his eyes.
He knew that was coming, because the thing with Katherine was that she never did anything out of the goodness of her heart.
There was always a price to be paid.
“You have a very flawed idea of the concept called gifting.” Katherine gave him a ‘whatever’ shrug before taking her seat on his desk once more.
“I called mom that I was in town, and she said to visit and to bring you along.
Said you haven’t been home in a while.” Katherine said, the judgment in her tone very clear.
Michael let out a sigh.
“That’s because I’ve been busy?” Katherine shook her head and clicked her tongue like a disappointed mother.
“That won’t do.
You have to make time for her; she’s all by herself now.” “Then why don’t you stay with her?” Michael accused and was stunned into silence when Kat’s response was: “I plan on doing so.” Her expression completely serious.
Michael found that hard to believe because ever since she finished college, she’d been travelling from one country to the other, opening her store, and only dropping by to visit once in a while.
“I don’t believe you.” Michael voiced his disbelief, rising to his feet and walking to stand at the window that overlooked the city.
Katherine moved to join him, and despite the fact that she’d grown a few inches, she could still barely reach Michael’s shoulder.
“I’m being serious.
I found someone trustworthy to run the store in Spain.
Besides, I don’t have a store here, so I’ll open one and stay a while.” Michael considered her for a while.
Ever since their father died, they hadn’t truly been a family, not like they had ever been one when he was alive either.
When Father was alive, Kat was never around much because… well, because we did not have the same mother.
Our father was a man who could not keep his dick in one place, and he’d ended up impregnating his secretary while being married to my mom.
The whole thing apparently happened before I was born, and so I was told by my mother that father’s secretary didn’t want the child, and father did not want a scandal, so he paid the woman off but kept the child, telling everybody that he had chosen to adopt.
I was two when mother gave birth to me, and immediately Kat turned twelve.
He sent her abroad to study, and she only visited once in a while.
Despite the fact that my mother did not give birth to Kat, she loved her as if she were her own, and Kat loved mother too; she hadn’t even bothered to search for her real mother.
I took a long look at Katherine and found her deep in thought.
She’d obviously grown, physically and mentally too, apparently.
“Alright then, do you wish to go now?” A big grin started to form on her face, and I was startled when she grabbed my arm.
“Let’s get something to eat first; I’m starving.” She pouted, pulling me towards the door.
“Okay.” I conceded, and we walked out and into the elevator.
“I don’t like that secretary of yours,” Kat said at the same moment I said.
“I’m getting married soon.”