Chapter 43: 43.

(Picture of Ally Edison)

A/n: Sorry! This is mostly a filler chapter :(

We are left with only a few more chapters before we conclude the book! It's been a roller-coaster ride with I Hate My Brother, and I can't thank every single one of you enough for patiently waiting for me to update. Thank you thank you thank you for all the love!

❤️❤️❤️

• • •

We get into our individual cars in pairs, heading to a fancy restaurant for my birthday meal they planned. Drew brought along his date, Samantha, so that he wouldn't feel like a seventh wheeler. I, being generous like I am, lent him my car to drive so he didn't have to ride with Wayne this time.

"You spent a hella money on this, didn't you?" I berate Zac as he drives us to our destination.

He shrugs, smirking. "My girlfriend deserves the best in the world." Then he sighs. "Damn, I should've done this way earlier. Feels so good to call you my girlfriend."

I turn my head away from him, trying to hide the silly grin on my face that have been there for the past few minutes. God damn, I'm actually really doing this. Giving my heart and person to someone entirely again; trusting, hoping and praying that he wouldn't wreck me.

"Shy now, are we?" He teases me.

"Shut up."

He chuckles, answering my previous question. "It wasn't that much, really. And I bought all of those things on separate occasion. I just didn't think I'd give them to you all at once."

"You gotta stop buying me things, okay?" I grumble. I haven't actually opened up the presents, but good god, there were at least fifteen different bags in the trunk from reputable brands. I don't even think I did anything to deserve them in the first place.

"That's up to me to decide, don't you think?" He counters.

"People will start to think of me as a gold-digger." I sigh, looking away slightly embarrassed. Guess that's one of the cons of dating someone rich.

"Fuck what others think. There's no need to bother about their irrelevant comments. People will always have things to say, let them."

"It's not that easy... just promise, nothing extravagant from now on, okay?"

Zac glances at me, knowing he wouldn't win me in this anyway. He nods, leaning over to kiss me at a red light, concluding the subject.

———

I gasp, surveying the environment. This isn't just a restaurant! It has freaking stingrays and sharks swimming in a ginormous, circular tank that goes around the entire space—divers even going in there to feed the fishes at the same time we eat.

"I said nothing extravagant!" I slap Zac's arm lightly, still in awe. Not only that, Zac went all out to get us a private room where we have the most amazing view of the aquarium. The water in there so clear and blue, the fishes so bright and so many; it really feels like dining in the bottom of the ocean.

He wraps his arm around my waist, smiling sheepishly. "This was planned before you said that, baby. Besides, it wasn't just my decision."

Right on cue, the rest of our group enter the room and take their seats around the large round table.

"Holy shit!" Drew whistles. "You're spoiling the standards, bro." He jokes with Zac.

"Oh my gosh. He's truly outdone himself this time." Cass and Ally comes over to where I stand by the glass.

"Crazy, right?" I watch a school of clownfish swim pass. "This is beyond magnificent."

"Don't give me too much credit." Zac laughs. "I merely googled the place and paid for it. Wayne's the one who gave me the idea."

Wayne rolls his eyes when Ally looks at him surprised. "It's not that big of a deal. I'm an avid user of Pinterest."

The server then comes by to bring us our champagnes and start us with appetizers. Zac paid for our meal to be a fixed menu so we won't have to waste time deciding on what to eat.

We each have a bowl seafood chowder and a side of bread for appetizer. Surprisingly, it is a pretty regular sized portion instead of the tiny ones we usually see in high-class fancy restaurants. I was worried earlier that it would be a waste of money to eat somewhere so expensive and not feel full.

"I was thinking," Wayne says in the middle of scooping his soup. "Wanna go somewhere in the summer? Together?"

"Where?"

"I don't know. Florida?"

Cass and Drew both perk up at the mention of their home.

"Yay! Then we can all stay at my beach house. And we can go surfing, tanning and ogle at beach bods!" Cass says enthusiastically.

Zac looks at me, checking on my opinion.

"Yeah, of course. I'm in." I agree.

"I don't think I can, though." Ally sulks. "I've got work-"

"Oh, just take leave!" Cass nudges her as she sits next to her. "You're entitled to paid leave, Edison. Use it!"

The discussion of our trip continues as main course is served. All of us indulge in our plate of steak until I notice from the side of my eye that Drew's date's plate remains untouched.

Drew seems to notice my look and questions Samantha. "Not to your liking?" He raises an eyebrow.

"Oh, no, no." She smiles politely, putting down her phone to prick her fork in a broccoli.

"Oh, you don't eat meat." Drew makes an assumption.

"I do, actually." Samantha answers.

"Then why aren't you eating?" Carson asks from across the table, already gobbled up most of his.

"I'm on a diet." She says in all her glorious 24" waist.

Suddenly, the whole room freezes as if time stopped. We stare blankly at Samantha who's oblivious to our expressions. I gulp, looking back down at my plate. Why on earth would someone who knows they're on a diet still come for a lunch date, especially one that's paid for you. Literally all she has to do is to come and eat, and yet she's here wasting perfectly good steak.

But of course, Cass can never hold her mouth back. "Oh, for fucks sake..."

Guess this girl isn't going to last after today.

———

After stuffing ourselves up with all the food, the server eventually brings us a cake, my birthday cake, in the shape of grapes. Literally.

"Jesus Christ. Don't tell me this is grape flavoured." I glance around the group, not knowing who's in charge of the cake.

"Unfortunately it's not." Zac chuckles from next to me. "Can't find one. But it's red velvet. Your favourite cake flavour."

I can't help but to smash my face into his. Dear god. This man will most probably pamper me to death.

We spend at least ten minutes taking photos of the cake, with the cake and with each other, before they sing me the birthday song and I blow the candles. Twenty. I'm in the big two now, and I wish to really grow up and face life as it is. I can do this.

———

After fighting with my brother over the bill, Zac claims to want the rest of the day with me and they all agree to hang out and do their couple activities with no objections.

"Where are we going?" I ask him as we get into his car. He has folded up the sleeves of his shirt now, revealing those veiny arms I love so much that I can't help trailing my fingers on them.

He gives it a thought for awhile, probably savouring the soothing feel of my fingertips over his skin. "Wanna... come over? To my place?"

Crap. I still my movement.

The last time I stepped foot into his house, his bedroom, was the time when I witnessed him and another woman in bed. That image still vivid in my head.

But it's been weeks. I should get over it by now. Even if I can't, even if it's hard, I should at least start to try.

"Yeah, okay."

He smiles, pulling me by the back of my neck for a kiss. A simple peck turns into a heated make-out rapidly. In a blink of an eye, our hands have both wandered down to dangerous zones. Not wanting our first time in more than a month to happen in a car, I force myself to pull away first.

"Not here." I pant slightly, catching my breath. "Drive."

He didn't have to be told twice.

———

"Don't worry, I changed the sheets." Zac informs me when he catches me just standing at the doorway staring at his king sized bed.

He offered to bring up all the stuff from his car boot, so I came up to his bedroom before he did.

"I even threw those away and bought completely new ones." He says as he places all the bags down, beckoning me to come over.

"You didn't have to- woah, these sheets are so soft!" I exclaim when I sit my ass down on his bed facing him. The sheets are made of satin and feels cold and silky to the touch on my skin.

"Yeah." He grins, unbuttoning his shirt. "I bought two sets for your bed too. Open your gifts." He jerks his chin to the bags.

Within minutes, his entire bed is filled with everything he bought for me. True to his words, he did buy me the same set of satin bedsheets in purple and black for my own bed at Wayne's. There's also three sets of lacy lingerie from La Senza which he specified to only wear in the presence of him. In the third bag are Calvin Kleins that I wear on normal days.

Followed by a Louis Vuitton crossbody bag, gift cards to Sephora, Topshop and H&M, a thin diamond bracelet that actually twinkles, more jewelries, an entire bag full of various candies and chocolates, a really cute pastel pink Razer headphones, Victoria's Secret perfume sets, and even the latest iPhone Xs Max.

"Are you out of your freaking mind?" I gasp, inspecting the all new phone from its box. He even bought me AirPods to go with!

"I sure am." He grins boyishly, his arms clasped behind his head as he leans against the headboard.

"God! This is... this is too much! Too many! Too expensive!" I scope around helplessly, overwhelmed. I already gasped at the LV bag, then every following gift, but seeing everything at once scattered all over the bed feels even more insane.

"Don't you dare try to give it back." He warns.

"I don't even need most of these things! My phone still works perfectly fine, and so does my earphones. Baby... I can't-"

"Shhhhh. I give them to you on my accord, you just put them to good use. I don't want to hear another word about you not deserving it and shit like that. If I want to buy you something, you don't question yourself about it. Besides, yes I think you do deserve it. And you deserve more, way more than all these things that can be easily bought by money. And well, if you really feel so bad, you can always just repay me." He smiles slyly.

Already catching on to his hint, I bite my lip. "Repay how?"

"I think you already know how."

———

"Goddamnit!" Zac curses when one of our phones won't stop ringing, causing us to take a pause from our bathroom shenanigans. We've already done it twice on the bed and this is the third time in the shower in two hours. He's really trying to make up for all the time lost like he assured me.

"It's Ally." I announce when I step out to check my phone, looking at the caller ID. I gesture for him to turn off the water and answer her call.

"Hello?"

"K-k-kelsey?" Ally says in a shaky voice, making my body go into alert mode instantly.

"What's wrong? Tell me."

"T-there's been an a-accident."