From a distance away, a man and a woman who had been bickering stopped when they saw Dylan and his wife interacting with each other. "Jane." Yoseph halted his footsteps and called for Jane to stop. Jane turned and stared at him. "What is it? Are you tired already? I'm not even asking you to jog. This is just a morning walk—can't you walk for a little longer?" she said.
Yoseph shot Jane an exasperated glare. "Don't make me sound so weak," he muttered. She sized him up before responding. "Sure. You don't seem weak. You look pretty fit," she replied.
"Can't you have a proper conversation with me? You're always speaking in such a sarcastic tone, and you're always so rude with your words. No one in their right mind would enjoy talking to you!" he replied.
"I'm nice to others, and I have tons of friends. But, I'm only sarcastic when I'm with you, so I wonder… is it my problem or yours?" she hissed.
"…Do you see the way Kendall treats Dylan? You should learn a thing or two from her," he retorted. After that, he left her behind and took large strides ahead. I'm also polite when I'm with others. But it's almost as if I lose all my morals whenever I'm with Jane! So, whose fault is it? How dare she complain about me?!
Jane stared at the couple in front of her. Kendall had plucked a lotus flower and gifted it to Dylan earlier—Jane noticed their actions while she had been walking with Yoseph. After she heard what Yoseph said, she was utterly speechless. That whiny brat. He can just tell me if he wants a lotus flower himself. I can pluck one for him too! I can get him as many as he wants! If Old Madam Coleman blames me for it, I'll put the blame on Yoseph.
Yoseph had no idea how Jane was plotting to turn him into the scapegoat—he was walking in the direction of the couple. "Good morning, Dylan and Kendall." He greeted them with a smile. "Good morning, Yoseph. Where's Jane?" Kendall asked. She knew that Jane stayed in Yoseph's place while Mary lived in the main house. "I'm not her shadow. I don't know where she is," Yoseph replied coldly.
Kendall could immediately tell that the couple fought again. They grew up being close friends but were also each other's greatest enemies. For a while, they would be the most loving couple, and moments later, they'd seem like they were about to strangle each other. In Kendall's opinion, both Yoseph and Jane were amazing people, yet they seemed to show their ugliest sides when they were with one another.
Dylan gave his brother a side-eye. "You shouldn't get yourself so worked up early in the morning," he commented.
"I was exhausted, but Jane knocked on my door early this morning and forced me to accompany her for a walk. She doesn't get lost around here, so why did she need me to come out with her? I couldn't be bothered to join her at first, but she went to the kitchen and got a pan before slamming it against my door. She's so annoying. I wanted to continue ignoring her after that, but she threatened to light up some fireworks in front of my room! What sort of guest is she, Dylan? She doesn't act like one at all. How dare she treat the owner of the place like this?" Jane was the one who had forced Yoseph to wake up. Otherwise, he would've slept past lunchtime.
Just the thought of that scene made Kendall laugh. "Are you exaggerating, Yoseph? Jane's a really carefree and fun girl, and she knows her limits. So she wouldn't do such a thing," she said.
Yoseph scoffed. "She's nice in front of you guys, but she's horrible when she's just with me," he complained. "She dragged me out for a walk and even told me to prepare her some nice breakfast after the walk. She's speaking as if I owe her my life." Yoseph wouldn't stop complaining about Jane.
Dylan, who rarely made comments about anything, spoke in an icy tone then. "How dare she do such a thing? She doesn't respect you at all. I'll get Ronnie and Randy to go over and throw her luggage out. I don't want her anywhere near the Coleman Residence from now on." He pulled his phone out and pretended to call Ronnie after that.
"Dylan!" Yoseph immediately reached over to stop his brother from making the call. Dylan shot him a cold glare. "Hehe…" Yoseph responded with a bashful chuckle. "Hehe… I-It's fine, Dylan. Mrs. Morris is still here, and she's been good friends with our grandmother for many years now. Grandma is going to be mad if you do that to Jane."
Dylan continued in an aggressive tone. "Well, it was Jane's fault to disrespect you, wasn't it? It sounds like she keeps torturing you, so I thought that I'd stand up for you by chasing her out. I can help you talk to Grandma about it. No one should have the guts to bully my brother! Who gave her such courage?" Dylan brushed Yoseph's hand off before he tried to make a call again.
Once more, Yoseph tried to stop his elder brother from making the call. "She didn't bully me, Dylan. To be honest, I woke up before she came around. I just didn't want to speak to her—that was why she was so rude to me. Technically speaking, I was at fault too. If anything, I made a mistake first. I'm a man! I shouldn't be so petty over such things. Grandma is already mad at you after what you did for Kendall, so you shouldn't do anything else for me. It'll only make Grandma angrier. I'd feel bad if that happened," Yoseph insisted. He even turned to look at Kendall. "Please help me to advise Dylan, Kendall."
Kendall was enjoying herself. She knew that Dylan wouldn't actually chase Jane out of the house. As Yoseph said, Mary and Tilly had been good friends for tens of years, and it'd be wrong to ruin their relationship over such petty matters. Furthermore, Yoseph and Jane grew up being best friends. Since Dylan was only a year older than Yoseph, he probably spent a lot of time with Jane as well. If they were such close friends, it wouldn't make sense for Dylan to chase Jane out. Dylan was clearly fooling around with Yoseph.
"Yoseph!" Jane called from afar. The three turned their heads to see Jane walking toward them with a bunch of lotus flowers in her arms. "Should I tell her off now?" Dylan asked.
"Dylan!" Yoseph cried.
Dylan scoffed. "You're the one who's spoiling her, so you should deal with the consequences of that. I don't want to hear you complaining about this again."
Yoseph stared at his brother speechlessly. "Bring me back to the main house so I can greet Mrs. Morris, Kendall. We can go back for breakfast after that." Dylan was a thoughtful man—he wanted to give Jane and Yoseph the space to reconcile since Jane was walking toward them. "Okay." Kendall beamed as she pushed Dylan back to the main house. Dylan still had the lotus that Kendall gave him in his hands.
The couple walked past Jane, and Jane stopped to greet them before stepping aside so that Kendall would have the space to push Dylan along the pathway. When Kendall saw the bunch of lotus flowers in Jane's arms, she grinned and stuck her thumb out. Jane's face turned pink immediately. I… Hmm… I might have gone a little too far. After Kendall and Dylan left, Jane brought the bunch of lotus flowers over to Yoseph.
"Jane! You plant-murderer! Why did you pluck out all those flowers!" Yoseph could easily guess that Jane had plucked the flowers for him, and he was secretly happy about it. However, he continued to speak to her in the same rude tone. He picked on her the moment she walked over.
She stuffed the bunch of flowers into his arms. "Sure. I'm a plant-murderer. Do you feel bad about the plants? You can stick them back to their roots if you have the ability to do so."
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Love Knows No Bounds novel (Kendall and Dylan)
Beautiful story....