The Square Root

“Get up,” Tristan yelled, pulling the covers off me.

“Ugh! Leave me alone!” I yelled and tried to get the covers but I only felt my bare leg. I heard him chuckle, since my eyes were still tightly closed.

“Flight’s in 4 hours. Get up. You’re cooking,” he said.

“Fine,” I mumbled and got up, rubbing the sleep off my eyes and making my way to the bathroom.

“Where are you going?”

“Wait 20 minutes, I’m gonna go shower and dress up,” I said without turning back

“20 minutes?! I waited an hour already!”

“Then you can wait another 20 minutes,” I mumbled and locked the door to the bathroom.



True to word, I was done in 20 minutes and was already making pancakes. Stephanie was cuddling with my brother, which by the way made me want to barf. Big time.

“Here,” I mumbled and they both looked at me with their love struck faces. “Can you not? Minor in the room,” I mumbled.

Stephanie rolled her eyes. “You’re just jealous. You need a boyfriend,” she laughed and gave me a hug.

“Wow. I’ve been standing here for 20 minutes cooking and I just get my good morning?” I asked shaking my head. “What a bestfriend,” I mumbled.

“Hey, at least I can recognize you when you have make up on,” she smirked.

“Touché,” I laughed. “Speaking of my wonderful bestfriend, where is he?” I asked.

Stephanie looked at Tristan who frowned, then back at me. I raised an eyebrow at her. “He picked up Samantha,” she said.

“Oh, is she dropping us off?”

“Uhhh… No, she’s coming with us,” she frowned.

“What?” I asked horrified. “Oh, okay then.” I guess this isn’t going how I expected it to go.



“Ready to leave?” my brother asked. I decided to stay in my sweats and put on a decent shirt and a pair of comfortable shoes. Who was there to impress right? Well, unless their girlfriends were coming with - who is absolutely flawless.

“Yeah,” I mumbled and took the bags that we packed last night, handing them to Tristan.

“Take it easy sis,” he mumbled and took my bag with him downstairs.

“I’ll be there in a minute,” I said and phoned Kyle.

“What’s up girlfriend?” he chuckled in a girly tone.

I would’ve laughed if I was in a different position. “Nothing’s up. Everything’s down in hell. Just wanted to let you know we’re leaving now,” I said.

“You don’t sound excited,” he said, humour disappearing from his voice.

“I am excited,” I said sarcastically.

“What’s up?”

“Samantha’s coming with,” I mumbled.

“What?!” he asked, shock in his voice.

“Mhmm,” I mumbled.

“Well I don’t blame you for the foul mood then.”



“Okay, Uhh… Seating is Me with Stephanie, Jay and Hazelyn. It only goes by twos,” Tristan announced.

“Sam can take my seat,” I said monotonously

“Are you sure?” she asked me with her melodic voice.

“Yeah, we can just all talk as loud as we can anyways. Plus, I’d probably spend my time in the back – sleeping,” I shrugged.

My private jet, my rules. Daddy’s 16th birthday present. Wow, that sounded spoiled.. We’ve only used it a couple times, since mom and dad use it a lot for business purposes.

“Who’s jet is this?” Ryan asked.

“My sister’s,” Tristan said.

“Wow,” Ryan’s jaw dropped. “It’s better than ours.”

“Mr. Macintosh, Ms. DeLuca, anything I can get for you?” Janice, our personal attendant asked.

“No,” Tristan and I said at the same time.

“What about you Mr. and Ms. Dolciani?”

“Nothing at the moment,” Stephanie smiled, and Ryan just shook his head.

“Just let me know if you need anything. We’ll be stopping by New York for refueling, then we’ll be on our way to Milan,” she said.

“Milan?” Stephanie raised her eyebrow.

“My cousin wanted to meet you,” Tristan grinned at her.

“Aww, you’re so cute,” Stephanie cooed.

“Awww you guys are so icky!” I mocked.

“You need a guy,” Tristan glared.

“And you need balls to be a guy,” I glared back.

“Hey! You two. Stop,” Stephanie commanded.

I walked towards the back of the plane where there was a bedroom and a dressing room. It came in handy for the extremely long flights. I quickly stripped off my layers, leaving me in my sweats and shirt as I cuddled into the sheets.

I would’ve stayed on my regular seat on the plane, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep because right across the isle was Ryan cuddling with his perfect girlfriend, trying to fit themselves in one seat. Oh yeah, that’s how close and squished they were. So I got up before I could puke on my private jet. There was a knock on the door, and I called out for them to come in.

“Ms. DeLuca,” she started.

“Janice, what did I tell you?” I whispered to her.

“Right, your brother told me about your situation,” she smiled.

“No. I mean call me Hazelyn,” I smiled.

“Right, Hazelyn. Phone call,” she said handing me a phone.

I took the phone from her and she walked out. “Hello?” I answered.

“Your parents need you,” I heard Jeremy say.

“Why?”

“You’re on your way to New York right?”

“Yeah.”

“We’ll discuss it when you land,” he said.

“Okay,” I frowned and walked out back to my seat and handed the phone back to Janice. When I turned around to go back to the room, I saw that Ryan was already asleep with Samantha in his arms.

A couple hours later, we landed in New York and I started to retrieve my important belongings. “Where are you going?” Tristan raised an eyebrow at me.

“I gotta go take care of stuff,” I said emphasizing stuff. He raised an eyebrow at me, then his eyes widened.

“We have to talk first,” he said pulling me out of the plane. “Where are you going?” he asked again.

“Mom and Dad needed help. Plus Jeremy wanted to see me,” I shrugged.

“What stuff do they need help with?”

“Business stuff probably. I got it,” I shrugged.

“No, I’ll get Nate to fly here,” he said taking out his phone.

“No. I got it,” I said sternly. “I have my responsibilities in this company too,” I frowned.

“No you don’t. Your responsibilities in life right now is to have fun and follow what your heart desires,” he said.

“I can't for god sakes Tristan!” I yelled.

“Do you not understand Hazelyn?! If you start this now, mom and dad will think you’re interested and they’ve already talked about giving mom’s position to a female heir. It’s either Nate and I or you and I,” he growled.

“Then it would be you and I,” I said crossing my arms.

“No it wont, because Nate and I will take care of it!”

“I can't do it to Nate, T,” I frowned.

“Do what?”

“I know he doesn’t wanna get involved with all this business bullshit, and I know that you have your interests too, just leave it to me.”

“I promised you, remember?” he asked.

“Can we not right now? Let me take care of this and I’ll meet up with you in two days in London. It’ll give me more time to figure out how I’m going to deal with Ryan,” I said to him.

“Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you,” he glared at me and stomped back to the plane. I sighed and took my duffel bag and started walking to the terminals.

“Haze! Hold up!” I heard somebody yell, and I sighed turning back to Ryan.

“What?” I snapped

“Damn. Feisty,” he smirked. “Where are you going?”

“Taking care of stuff,” I shrugged.

“What? You’re not coming with?” he asked.

“I’ll see you guys there,” I said to him.

“Oh…,” he frowned. “Okay,” he said and I gave him a hug and walked away.

I didn’t even get in the building yet when Jeremy swept me off my feet in a hug. “Jesus Christ, let me down,” I chuckled.

“Girl, you look hotter than ever. What’s up?” he asked.

“I look like I just got out of bed,” I glared. “Don’t lie,” I laughed.

“I'm not,” he grinned. “Let’s go?”

“Yeah,” I smiled and he left. I followed him, right after looking back at Ryan who was walking back to the plane, his shoulders slumped.



We were in the car on our way to the hotel to get me dressed, since it was a meeting. For some kind of proposal of a new product. I sighed and looked out the window.

“Here’s the report and your mom wants you to present it,” Jeremy said.

I nodded and took the report folder from him and flipped through it. I finished it by the time that we got to the hotel and he ushered me into a VIP suite to get ready. 30 minutes later, I was up and running to wherever the meeting was gonna be.

I walked in and I was right on time - when they were starting. I was in my ‘professional’ mood, as I was introduced to everybody inside. There were about 20 people, not including my parents and I and of course, Jeremy. So around 24 people all in all.

They started talking about other stuff before I had to give my presentation. I gave it confidently and surely, with all the maturity I could muster up and the most professional way I could. Once I finished, they all just looked at me. “How old are you?” one of the men blurted.

“17 sir,” I said confidently.

Their eyes widened even more. One of them cleared their throats. “We will discuss about it, and we’ll let you know by tonight,” he said. I nodded and everyone left. One everyone had dispersed from the room. I gave a sigh of relief and sat on the table.

My dad started clapping. “A well presented proposal, Ms. DeLuca,” he congratulated me. “As always,” he grinned.

I smiled back at him. “Thank you,” I said.

“It’s great that you’re here,” my mom said.

“Yeah. I was on my way to Italy,” I frowned.

“Oh, that’s why you took the jet?”

“Yeah.”

“Who with?”

“Tristan and a few friends.”

“Oh, is Stephanie with you?”

“Here? No. With Tristan? Yeah.”

“Ryan?”

“Yeah.”

“Is he here with you?”

“No, he’s with his girlfriend,” I said.

“Wait, I thought Ryan was your boyfriend,” Jeremy interjected.

“I told you he was my BESTFRIEND.”

“I thought you were kidding. You guys were about to kiss when I left and before it started pouring rain,” he chuckled.

“No, we were getting up on each other’s face about something,” I smiled at the thought.

“So, you were here last month and you didn’t come by to say hi?” my mom asked disappointedly.

“I went to a meeting with Ryan,” I shrugged.

“Oh, he still running that Abercrombie store?” my dad asked.

“Yeah.”

“He’s a well raised young man,” my dad complimented.

“Sure,” I laughed.

“Really. He can support a family on his own. He comes from a good family background, he does well in school, and he has a great future. Plus… His parents are good friends of ours,” my dad continued.

“Dad, not this again, please? You just can’t choose who I’m going to end up with,” I frowned. This is the 3rd time they’ve done this. The exact reason why I don’t go to social gatherings, with ‘wonderful sons’ unless I’m with my brothers. Both of my brothers.

“I was just saying. I mean, I just want the best for my baby girl,” he grinned.

“Don’t even,” I scoffed.

“Fine, come to dinner with us and we’ll send you off to Italy by tomorrow morning,” my dad said.

“I’m going straight to London and keep Crystal’s mouth shut,” I mumbled.

“You still haven’t told Ryan?” my mom asked with a laugh.

“No,” I sighed.

“You gotta get to London before they do, or else you’re ass is dead,” Jeremy mumbled. I laughed out loud. He usually didn’t cuss.

“What about the stuff over there?” my mom asked suddenly.

I just shrugged. “I haven’t seen my friends in a long time since I left. I owe them an explanation and I can deal with it mom,” I told her.

“Good luck baby girl,” my dad said giving me a hug. “I know Jr will have your back,” he smirked at me.