The Angel Within

She was sleeping. Or, at least, that was what Runa had been doing until the pounding on her apartment door had woken her. She had no idea who it could be. It was four in the morning, for God's sake. Les would be at home sleeping off his night-shift and Uniteare. . Well, she hadn't seen or taken calls from that prying devil since she had left his house in a rush when he finally deemed her well enough to get out of bed. That had been four days ago. She'd missed school, but that was fine. Exams were over, so her grades wouldn't suffer much at all if she missed a few homework assignments.
But who in hell was at her door? It couldn't be Karen. She didn't even know where Runa lived, thank God. Maybe if Runa ignored it, the noisy pest would go away.
Runa snuggled further under her blanket on the couch and sighed in relief when the pounding stopped. Of course, the relief was short-lived considering the banging started a few minutes later.
Making a frustrated noise, Runa tossed her blanket aside and stood, running an angry hand through her hair.
"Yeah, yeah," she called to the bothersome bug. "I'm coming. Keep your pants on."
As she padded across her living room, she cursed whoever in hell was interrupting her sleep. It wasn't often that she slept like she had just been. In fact, it wasn't often that she slept at all. Not unless you counted the two days at Uniteare's . . . But that didn't mean anything. So she slept well in a bed? Who didn't?
Not thinking twice about it, Runa unlocked her door and swung it open, holding firmly to the knob in case she needed to slam it in the person's face for any reason. "Do you realize what time it is, asshole? Can't a person sleep around here?" Runa froze and straightened, rolling her shoulders back as her insides turned cold when she realized who was standing on the other side of her threshold. "Stefan," she breathed with a mixture of surprise and fear, her tone changing immediately. "Why are you here?"
Stefan--a forty-something man that was the only father figure Runa had in her life--gave a half-smile as he took her in. Runa never changed. She was as wild as ever. "My news is somewhat on the urgent side, but there is no need to get worked up over this. You're not going to have to go to the main house. However, I have a guest and would prefer that we discuss this inside."
Runa nodded, her brows drawing down. Stefan had a way of down-playing important matters, but she was sure that he would tell her if it was something bad. This didn't seem like something bad. She hoped, anyway.
She pushed the door open and stepped aside. "Sure. Come on in."
Stefan inclined his head in a slight bow out of habit. "Thank you." He glanced over his shoulder to the darkness of the hall. "Philippe, come."
Runa watched as a tall boy so obviously in his teens came out of the shadows. He had a nice face, or he would have if it didn't carry an expression of bitterness and anger. He obviously didn't like whatever it was that was going on with his life. Well, he could join the party. Life sucked, as Runa had found out early on. This kid, however, seemed to have just been slapped in the face with that fact. His brownish-red, curly hair that was a little on the long side was messy and his slate-grey eyes were red-rimmed from crying and lack of sleep. Oh, yeah, life was hitting this poor guy hard, and it made Runa feel awful, but what was he doing here?
When they were all finally seated in her living room on one chair or another, Runa sighed. "What's going on, Stefan? You don't just show up here without a reason. Out with it."
Stefan smiled fondly at her. "You always did like to get straight to the point." He cleared his throat, rubbing his hands on his black slacks in a nervous habit and straightened his shoulders. "There's no easy explanation for this, so I'll just say it blatantly." He indicated Philippe. "Runa, this is Philippe Geradine." Stefan's chocolate eyes stared seriously at Runa's. "He's your brother."

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Philippe hadn't seen pictures of her. He hadn't even known she existed until about a week ago. He also hadn't been told much, either, so he really had no idea what to expect when it came to his sister. Well, step-sister. Either way, he certainly hadn't been expecting the girl who had opened the door Stefan had been pounding on for fifteen minutes. But there she had been, leaning against the door jam with fiery, disillusioned and hard, dark eyes (one with a healing bruise around it) and even darker, messy hair that was longer than he'd ever seen on anyone. She was only wearing boxer shorts and a camisole that refused to keep its straps on her shoulders, but she had seemed for all the world like she was wearing armor. It was a frightening thing, to say the least, and he really wasn't sure what he should do or say, so he hadn't said anything.
Not yet, anyway. Instead, he looked around her apartment as Stefan explained about his circumstances. It wasn't like he needed to hear the story again. He was the illegitimate son of the Lovelette corporation. His existence hadn't been found out until his grandmother had passed away and sent a letter explaining that his deceased mother had been Runa's dad's lover. Now that all of his family was gone, he had nowhere else to go, blah, blah, blah . . . It was the same old story. All he knew was that he didn't want to be here. He wanted to go home and back to his grandma's gardens and the small town he'd grown up in for the past sixteen years. For all he cared, his "dad" could drop dead. He was the whole reason his mother had gotten sick.
"I see," Runa said solemnly. Her eyes flicked to his and Philippe felt like he was being seen through to his soul. "So you're my brother."
"That's what everyone is saying," Philippe snapped. "It's not like I got to choose my parents."
Runa's delicate brows rose. "No, you don't, unfortunately." She flicked her eyes to Stefan. "If I could, Stefan would be mine. Period." She turned her attention to the butler. "I'm guessing you haven't taken him to the main house, yet?"
Stefan shook his head. "I thought it would be better to bring him here first. Some things need to be explained. Madame and Sir aren't expecting him for two weeks."
Runa nodded. "Good thinking. I'll warn him what he's up against. He can crash here until he's expected."
Stefan stood and Philippe felt panic set in. Sister or not, he didn't want to be left alone with a stranger. Stefan was a stranger, too, but he was comfortable and safe whereas Runa seemed dangerous on some level. "You're leaving?" he asked a little fearfully.
Stefan smiled at him, patting his shoulder. "Runa's a good girl. I wouldn't trust her with you if I didn't think so. She'll take care of you. Don't worry. Besides, there are things that only she can tell you about your situation. You need to learn what it means to enter this family." Stefan's expression grew hard. "It won't be easy. They expect a lot."
"They expect perfection," Runa scoffed with her arms crossed.
"Just listen to her, okay?" Stefan pressed. "It's important that you take what she says very seriously. Runa hardly ever exaggerates."
Philippe felt a sliver of fear creep into his stomach. "What's going to happen to me?"
"Considering you're a boy?" Runa said with what Philippe thought was a bitter smile. "Nothing too bad. Just be thankful that your mother thought to give you a set of balls."
"Runa," Stefan said sharply and she shrugged. Stefan sighed. "You'll be fine, Philippe. Just remember to listen to her. She'll protect you."
With that last warning, Stefan left and Runa kicked the door shut behind him, locking every single one of the locks littering her door. She turned back to him and he swallowed, unsure what to do.
"Just breathe," Runa said as if reading his mind. Suddenly, she smiled at him and he felt worlds better. She was beautiful when she smiled. It softened her whole face. She gestured for him to follow her, picking up his duffel by the door. "Come on. You can sleep in my room."
"Where are you going to sleep?" he asked as he stumbled after her down the hall.
"Where I always sleep--on the couch." She pointed at the door at the end of the hall. "That's the bathroom." She stopped in front of the door before the bathroom and produced a key from her pocket, shuffling open the lock. "It's about time this room got used." She dropped his bag inside and flipped on the light to reveal a bleak space that was obviously not lived in. "Here you go."
"That's it?" Philippe asked, surprised. "You're just going to let a stranger into your house and give up your room to him? How do you know I'm not a bad person?"
Runa smirked at him. "That's easy. I trust Stefan. He seems to think you're a good guy, so that means you're a million times better than half the people in this town. That's good enough for me." She let out a breath. "Besides, it's nice to know I have a brother."
Surprisingly, Philippe felt his heart swell at that. He'd been an only child until a few days ago. To find out he had a sister was like a dream. He'd always wanted someone other than his grandma. Now he finally did. And she was nice. Mega bonus.
Runa turned to leave, but he made a sound, stopping her. "A-Aren't we going to talk?"
Her brows rose. "Not tonight. You're tired. Get some sleep first. We can talk later." She smiled softly. "We have a lot to catch up on, after all." She paused before closing the door. "By the way, don't touch the box on the table. That's private. Good night."
As she closed the door, Philippe took in a deep breath and sent a prayer up to his mom and grandma, hoping they were watching over him. Whatever he'd gotten himself into was giving him the worst chills in the world. He had a very bad feeling that the family he'd just inherited wasn't anything like the nice, rich families that vacationed around his town during the Summer. As he shucked his clothes and crawled into the unused bed that barely smelled of his sister at all, Philippe couldn't help but worry. However, knowing that he had a sister just down the hall who would help him adjust to his new life made it ten times easier to slip into sleep.

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Runa could smell something being cooked. Considering that she should be in her apartment, sleeping on her couch, that wasn't normal and it was enough to have her sitting bolt upright in panic thinking someone might have broken in. But ease rolled over her when she realized how stupid that thought really was. Who would break into someones apartment just to cook a meal? No one sane, that was for sure. It certainly wasn't Les, either. It didn't matter that he had the spare key, he would have knocked.
Runa pushed aside the blanket and stood, going around the hall and into her kitchen to see Philippe, her little brother, flipping what seemed to be French toast from a skillet and catching it easily. She sat at the normally unused dining table that was set for two and waited. When he didn't notice her, she got up again and walked to the fridge, pulling it open for a bottle of water.
"Woah!" Philippe yelped, nearly dropping the pan when he noticed her leaning against the fridge. His face was red in embarrassment. "H-Hi. I hope you don't mind that I used your kitchen. I wake up early and I used to cook for my grandma all the time, so I'm pretty good." He laughed a little nervously. "It's sort of a thank you for letting me stay here."
"It smells nice," Runa told him. She never had breakfast. Not unless it was some function her mother forced her to go to, and then she had to eat. It was weird to have someone in her kitchen other than Les. No one else knew how to use that stuff and she was always eating takeout, so it wasn't like she knew anything about cooking. It was a nice change, even if it was sudden. "You're free to use whatever you want in the apartment. What's mine is yours."
He flipped a piece of the toast onto a plate on the counter then buttered it. There were three on each plate now and Runa's mouth started to water. He handed her one and took the other, grabbing the syrup and heading to the table.
Runa watched him pour the syrup over his meal and then pick up his fork. However, he didn't dig in like she expected him to. So Runa took the syrup, used it and started eating, waiting for whatever it was that he wanted to say.
After a few seconds of silence and two bites in, he spoke. "Runa?"
"'Sup?" she asked around a mouthful of food. It was so delicious. Almost better than Les's cooking. Almost.
"How is this so easy for you?" he asked. "Aren't you surprised?"
Runa swallowed her food and cut another piece. "Not much concerning this family can surprise me anymore, so not really."
"You seem to hate them," he ventured quietly.
"You have no idea."
He swallowed and Runa tried not to sigh. This poor kid had no idea what the family was like and he was in for a rude awakening. It was going to be hard to explain to him how it all worked and what was expected of him. It was going to be even worse trying to teach him every little thing he needed to know before the month was out so that he would be "presentable" to them. And, in the end, he never was going to be.
Runa let out that sigh she'd been holding in and pushed aside the yummy meal. She placed her arms on the table and gave him a serious look. "Ask what you want to ask. I'll answer as best I can and then tell you what you need to know." She waved a hand. "You've entered hell, Philippe, and I'm sorry for that, but I'm going to do my best to prepare you for what's coming. My parents expect perfection and don't accept anything less. Getting up to what they deem 'perfect' is what's difficult."
Philippe nodded hesitantly. "Okay. Um. . Tell me about you. What was your childhood like? Are your mom and dad nice?"
Runa leaned back in her chair, tapping her fingers on the table. "If they were nice, I wouldn't have fought tooth and nail to get them to let me move into this apartment." At his wide-eyed fear, she redirected her line of thought. She was going to have to give it to him straight, and that didn't bother her, but there was no need to traumatize the kid. Her parents would do that enough without her adding to it. "My childhood was nice up until I was about twelve. There were parties and nice clothes, music, dancing, fun. Every day was like a fairytale. I had friends, too."
Philippe narrowed his eyes on her. "What happened when you were twelve?"
Runa didn't bat an eye. "Nothing you need to worry about." She took another bite of the French toast. "This is really good, by the way."
"My Mom taught me to cook," he said absently. "Why did you want to leave so badly?"
"Why did you decide to come?" she countered.
He turned cold eyes on her, his fist clenching in anger. "I'm going to take over the company and destroy it like he destroyed my mom."
Runa grinned. What a nice little brother. "Perfect. I can help you with that."
Philippe blinked. "You want to help me take down your father's company?"
"Hell, yeah," she said excitedly. She was itching to get started already. "They're assholes who only care about money and power. They should be knocked down off their horses and buried. Who better to do it than their own kids?"
His eyes narrowed. "What have you got against them that's so bad? Didn't you say you had a happy childhood?"
"Up to a point, sure," Runa admitted. "And then they showed their true colors." She waved the subject away with her fork. "If you want to wipe them out, I can help with that, but it's gonna take a lot of hard work."
"I'll do anything to make him feel even a fraction of what my mom felt when he ditched us," he said vehemently.
Runa grimaced. "We'll be lucky if he feels anything at all." She took a drink of her water. "First thing's first, you can't trust anyone but Stefan in that house. Me and Stefan are the only friends you've got in this town, so don't forget it."
"I can't trust anyone?" he asked, bewildered.
Runa let out a sad sigh. Already she felt as if she had taken this kid's childhood and flushed it down the toilet, but, of course, it was another "happy ending" their father had decided to throw on someone. "No, Philippe. No one. That's what it means to enter this household. That's what it means to be a Lovelette." Runa gave a sarcastically bitter smile. "Welcome to the family, little bro."