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I could feel my face heat up. He gave me a thumbs-up before leaving. I refused to take my eyes off him and my hand off the spot he had kissed, afraid it would lose its warmth. What was happening to you, Tabitha?
“It's a shame he would be gone for a week,” I said to myself.
“He's going back sooner than you expect,” a stranger said.
I turned to see a woman with her daughter. The child didn't look good, but I didn't want to pry.
I let go of my head. “I don't really care if he's gone for how long he likes.”
“I wouldn't say that if I were you,” she said with a sigh as she caressed her daughter's hair. “I'm Emilia. This is Mariam.”
“Dr. Tabitha Hill,” I introduced myself.
“Seems like I would be seeing your brother, George,” she uttered and laughed.
I glanced over at her daughter and back at her. “She'll be in good hands.”
“So I've heard,” she said. “Have a great day…and try not to miss him too much.”
“I don't miss him.” Why was I defending myself to a stranger?
“Sure you don't.” She grinned and left with her daughter.
“I don't miss him,” I insisted silently, despite how it ached my heart to say it.
“Oh, that reminds me,” I said to myself. “Helen is in Maryland. I don't think my little sister would mind me visiting her.”
I decided to visit my sister because of family matters and not because I wanted to see a certain someone.
Chapter fifteen
The Black Sheep of the Johan Family
Bruce
“Hey, big brother, I'm back,” I stated as I sat beside him. “How has everything been? Mom and Dad doing okay?”
“Me? I’ve been doing okay. Been in Richmond these past months,” I continued. “Remember that Tabitha girl I told you about? Yeah, I’ve been working at her hospital.”
“No, I didn’t close mine down,” I chuckled dryly.
“Stop, I’m not dating her or anything,” I insisted and rolled my eyes. “She's the kind of woman that wants to oppress the strongest men she can get her hands on.”
“No, she wasn't able to do the same thing to me,” I asserted. “You know how hard it is to get me to do whatever anyone wants.”
“What else she's like?” I asked. “She's talented and stubborn. Almost like you, in a way. She's been able to set up two hospitals and two for children. Isn't she just amazing? I heard she got the opportunities after medical school.”
I went quiet.
“I'm still a failure, aren't I, big brother?” I asked with a chuckle. “You didn't have enough, but you were able to create everything before you… I don't know. I'm just not like you, I guess.”
I lay on the ground and stared at the open sky. Memories from the past started to flow.
I used to stare at the sky just like this. My eyes were filled with hope and determination. Hope and determination were just words to describe my older brother. He was ten years older. It wasn't like my parents were trying for another baby. I just happened to be born. I didn't know the reason I was born until much later.
My parents showered him with love, gifts, and everything he desired. Why wouldn't they? Brian was a prodigy. At the age of fourteen, he was done with high school, and many organizations fought each other to sponsor his medical school.
He was brilliant, and even at the age of four, I knew my brother was special. He was outperforming the people above his age in medical school and became the youngest graduate at the age of twenty. He was my father's pride and the fruit of my mother's womb.
