The next morning, I woke up warm, with heavy arms around my body, and legs completely tangled with another's. They literally tried to attach and mold themselves onto me. I let out a groan and tried to pull myself away. I turned my head and was met with the profile of a chiseled jaw and prominent nose. It was my brother, Aiden.

At that moment my cellphone went off, announcing that I had just received a text. I stretched my arm as far as it could go, furiously slamming my hand around looking for my phone, because I could not use the rest of my body. My brother was using me as his personal teddy bear.

You have another project coming up. Pack for two weeks. We're heading to the Big Apple. That's right, NEW YORK!

-Xiu Lei-

A groan brought me out of my thoughts.

"Hey." Aiden kissed my temple, his voice still hoarse from waking up. Ew, my brother needed to get a girlfriend....FAST.

"Do I know you?" I joked.

"Nope!" He gave me a wide grin.

"Aiden, there's this thing called a guest room, we have, like, SIX of those," I pointed out, simultaneously managing to release myself from my brother.

"But it was too cooold," he whines. Oh Lord help me, his childishness is killing me. Aiden was  2 years younger than me, though his looks said something else. He was tall and slightly muscular,  with ocean blue eyes, quite uncommon for an Asian but makes him all the more unique, along with a mop of untameable brown curls, traits he hansomely inherited from my father.

I on the other hand was an exact replica of my mother. With her straight brown hair and deep emerald eyes, she was quite the beauty. However, along with my mother's mesmerizing beauty I had also inherited another trait of hers– her height. Which made me 5' 3" to my brother's 6' 2", a very noticeable height difference.

"Deal with it!  That's how beds start out: Cold. Until we lay upon it for a while, then our body heat warms the bed." I said, rolling my eyes at his pathetic 'puppy dog' face. I'm practically immune to it. Sadly, I couldn't say the same for the rest of the female population.

"But who needs waiting for another bed, when you already warmed up this bed?" What a  fabulous excuse. Mental note: sign Aiden up for online dating website A.S.A.P, I thought.

"So who was that?" He snuggled into my shoulders, moving on from the previous subject.

"Who's who?" I asked, confused. What is he talking about?

"Someone texted you."

Oh, that. "Yeah, it was my boss."

"What did he want?"

"Nothing, he just told me I have an upcoming project in New York."

"Cool! But will Kris let you go?" Shoot! I forgot.

"I have NO idea." I fell back against the bed with my hand covering my eyes. I heard shuffling to my left and suddenly, a thud. My brother had fallen out of bed. I giggled.

"Ah, just like old times, no?" I , looking down at his figure from the edge of the bed.

"SHADDUP!" he shouted from the floor, causing me to burst out in laughter.

When he got up from the floor, he pulled on my arms and yanked me out of bed. As we walked down the hall towards the kitchen, I took a good, hard look at my brother. It's been a while since I've seen him. He's grown so much.

I wasn't going to deny that my brother was quite the looker, but I didn't want to inflate his already elephant-sized ego, so I quickly looked away before he could catch me looking at him. But before I turned away, I noticed something. "Hey, are you wearing Kris's clothes again?" I ask.

"Well I had nothing else to wear and I swear I'm not wearing YOUR clothes." He recanted, shooting me a pointed look. I laugh in response, the image of Aiden in one of my small pink tops and tutu from when we were kids flooding my mind. I would have to see him in that getup sometime soon.

Then my mind flashes to another memory, one that was much more recent.

"Remember what happened last time you wore his clothes and he found out?" I said, placing my hands on my hips. My brother just bashfully ran his hand through his hair and blushed. Idiot. Speaking of that incident a few years ago...

                                                                  

                                                                    ~Flashback~

 

Kris pulled into the driveway, cutting the ignition as he exited the car. He had recently come home from a meeting that didn't end till the wee hours of the morning, so the sun was only barely rising when he arrived. When he entered the house, he realized there were an extra pair of shoes. Mens shoes.

What. The Hell. Oh someone was definitely going to die. Kris, fueled with anger, confusion, and a twinge of curiosity slammed the door open and made a beeline towards the bedroom. He had to remind himself to slow down his pace and push down his anger, till he got all of the information. That proved to be much more difficult than he thought. It would have been simple for him in any other case, but this included Amy. His Amy.

No one messes with his Amy. She was his treasure, and his alone. So naturally instead of following his self-advice, he went with his instincts and rushed into their bedroom, only to find Amy coming out from their closet holding what looks to be his clothes. Her face nor her posture betrayed that anything was going on. Except he knew something was going on.

"Hi Kr-Kris!" That was her personal nickname for him. She acted as though it was any other day, as if there weren't another man's pair of shoes by their door. Well, two could play at that game. He went to hug her tightly and bent down to nuzzle in her neck, secretly sniffing her. Nothing, no scent that would have told him that she had been with someone else.

"Hm," was his silent greeting to her. However, she soon pushed him away, telling him to go take a shower.

"Then you'll feel refreshed!" she reasoned. He couldn't tell if she was overly happy, which was usually the case, or if she was hiding something.

"Oh, hold on, let me throw these out first." She entered the bathroom, tossed his clothes in the dirty bin and quickly left.

After making sure that Amy was downstairs making coffee. Kris the shower faucet, but instead of showering, he retrieved the clothes Amy was holding before and took a sniff. What met his sensitive nose, was not the smell of his beloved nor himself, it was a musky scent. Eyes turning a dark mahogany, Kris mulled over the thoughts of another male roaming among his property. What suicidal idiot thought it would be smart to enter his house, wear his clothes and hang around his Amy. This definitely did not sit well with him, but his mind kept creating compromising thoughts of his Amy and the unknown male.

Shuffling from the other side of the door drew him from his angry musings. He tried to listen over the sound of water cascading down and hitting the tile floors. Luckily his demon ears provided him just that.

"Now's your chance, while he's showering." So Amy did betray him! UNACCEPTABLE!

"Ya sure he ain't gonna jump out and kill me?" The unknown male spoke to Amy familiarly, too familiarly.

"Mm, 35 % sure." She knew him so well.

"Wait-WHA-" Out came Kris Li looking murderously at the duo. Aiden was ready to haul , but the look in Kris's eyes stopped him.

"Who is this, my dear?" His attention was on Amy, voice firm but laced with hatred and betrayal written clearly in his eyes. Amy was too stunned to answer. In his rage, Kris stepped menacingly towards her, ready to shake the answer out of her.

"Hey! Step away from her!" Aiden said, quickly moving in front of her to protect his sister. That action really didn't help because Kris only saw it as Aiden trying to take Amy away from him, which certainly was NOT going to happen. He was going to keep Amy with him forever. Amy MUST have a logical explaination, which he was trying to get out of her. Kris just tossed him across the room, dead set on getting to Amy. Seeing her brother get thrown into the opposite wall, broke her out of her frozen state. Amy ran towards him to make sure he was ok. When she saw that Aiden was in decent condition, she turned her glare toward Kris.

"WHAT THE HELL!" Adrenaline and anger kicked in, causing her to scream.

"WHO THE IS HE?!" Kris yelled back.

"MY BROTHER!" Small tears slid down Amy's cheeks. His agressive stance faltered. What? B-brother?

"Why didn't you just tell me that instead of trying to sneak him out?!" Kris's volume lessened greatly, but the angry tone was still there.

"Because I know you are just a jealous baboon, that would get caught too up on your emotions to actually comprehend the situation!"

Amy helped a sore Aiden up, picked up his bag, and led him to the door.

"Sorry for the trouble Aiden," Amy whispered, not knowing what else to say. Her range of emotions disabled her from forming the right words.

"It's cool, I know he'll be able to protect you...just very aggressively.You sure know how to pick 'em, sis."

Aiden turned to Kris next. "Hey I'm fine man, you have my blessing, though I'm afraid what you'll do if I don't." He let out a small chuckle at his own joke and left, limping pitifully down the long hallway. Turning to Kris, who stood behind her, Amy called him a reckless idiot and went back to the bedroom.

 

                                                                       ~Reality~

 

"You know, I was mad at him for 2 weeks and ignored him for a whole month." I mentioned.

"Seriously?! How did he react?" There was a mischievous gleam in my brothers eyes. I smirked.

"Like a whipped puppy."

Aiden burst out laughing. "Did you punish him?"

"Mhm! I made him sleep on the cold, stiff couch. Why'd you think we bought a new one?" I said. That made him guffaw even louder. Ok, Personality: Does not have manners, nor etiquette. Well, maybe it'd be best to lie on his profile for that dating site....

"Good thing we're friends now...though he still doesn't like me touching his stuff. Hey remember to wash these, please?" He turned his "puppy eyes" at me. I just scoffed at him.

"We'll at least your chances of living are now at 36%, and lucky for you, you are wearing his favorite pair of shorts." Now it was my turn to laugh. It was refreshing to hear my brother moan in misery. He was really in for it this time.