Alter Ego: His Sultry Lover

"For what it is worth, it was not right of you to do to that to me. If you had really liked me, you would have come cleaner soon." Angelina's voice was small. At that point, she had stopped sobbing and looked a lot calmer than before. If Katherine had to guess, it was because she knew Stephen would handle the situation. 

How often did Angelina lean on someone else to solve her problems for her? Rarely. She hadn't even done it when she was in university and her parents threatened to disown her if she passed up on the job offer she got to model full time. 

Seeing her now, Katherine felt lighter. Maybe Stephen pursuing Angelina was a good thing. Maybe this girl would finally breathe a sigh of relief and live her life as she wanted without thinking of people abandoning her for the choices she made. 

It was yet to be known how their story would play out, but today's incident could be a good step towards a healthier relationship. Angelina might not go looking for fleeting and sweeping love stories anymore and organically fall in love with someone who liked her back and had no shady past. 

"I'm sorry," Damon said, his voice barely audible.

Angelina stood up suddenly, startling the others. "Great, We have a trip to take. Go back to your parents please." Having said what she had wanted, she herself took her leave. She picked up her bags and walked out without looking back. 

Lily sighed and watched as Angelina left. Stephen stayed back and waited for the siblings to gather their wits. 

"I'll call you a taxi and you can go back," he said after a few minutes. By then, Angelina should have reached the ground floor and gotten inside the car safely. If Katherine had to guess, Cage must have followed her to make sure she was okay. 

Sophia nodded and patted her brother on the back. "Let's go," she said softly and the boy nodded. Stephen called for a cab, which came quicker than expected. The awkwardness eased yet no one spoke. Stephen led the siblings down. Katherine and Lily juggled the rest of the bags and went downstairs, making sure they had locked everything and switched off all appliances. 

By the time Lily and Katherine came down, they saw Stephen leaning down and talking to the cab driver. The car was gone and Cage had come out of his car to help them put all the luggage in. 

Stephen ran over to them when they were almost done. 

"They're gone. I gave the older sister my number so that she can contact me," he said lightly. 

Lily raised her brow in question. 

"It's a protocol," Cage explained, not giving Stephen the chance. "If Sophia or Damon want to contact Angelina, they will have to call Stephen. That way, we can distance them from Angelina and make sure the situation doesn't escalate." All good points. 

"Must thank Katherine for introducing us to bigshots," Lily commented off-handedly. "Who's going to console Angelina, though?"

Actually, all of them were uneasy with how the situation had turned out. It was right before they left for the mountains and it would be bad to go about not acknowledging what had happened. Were they even supposed to take the trip?

"Let's get in the car, first. Don't make her stay alone for too long," Katherine commented. Everyone accepted that. They filled in... thank god, Stephen had booked one of those bigger cars that fit six people comfortably. They had to drive for 4 hours to get to the mountain.

"Ah! Jared is not here yet," Lily suddenly said. In the midst of all the chaos, all of them had forgotten that one member of their group was missing. 

"Wah, you forgot your boyfriend?" Angelina commented from the front seat. The others stiffened for a second before realizing that she was trying her best to act normal. Okay, if that is what she wanted to do, none of them would object. They would follow her cue. 

"I'll call him," Lily replied, abashed. She pulled her phone out and dialed the number, looking slightly irritated. "Where are you?" she asked immediately when the phone was picked up. 

"Almost there. What's wrong?" Jared asked. 

"Ah, we are already in the car. Waiting for you." The call ended quickly. 

"We are early," Katherine said suddenly, pulling Lily out of her thoughts. She hummed. "Don't sound irritated with him. The boys came early, so we left the house earlier. Jared is actually on time," Katherine told her. 

Lily nodded and didn't comment further. 

Katherine was sure of something. There was going to be at least one cold war during their vacation, Lily's irritation spoke volumes. She would probably have a front-row seat to watching Lily fight with Jared. 

As expected, Jared arrived soon. He ran over to the car when he saw Lily poking her head out of the window and waving at him. 

To his credit, he had a small duffel bag on his side which he quickly threw in the trunk. The setting was shuffled and somehow Jared sat beside Cage. 

The others watched tensely, hoping to see some sort of a reaction from Jared. Nothing came. 

"Hi, my name is Jared," he said, extending his hand to Cage. He was friendly and open and didn't show any signs of being starstruck. It surprised everyone that he was so calm, but then again, he was a teacher. They saw all kinds of things at school. He was probably good at pretending not to see. "You're Katherine's boyfriend, right? She never really told me your name..." 

The others looked at the man incredulously. He was asking Cage to introduce himself. There was acting cool and then there was this.

"Didn't you tell him who I was seeing?" Katherine whispered to Lily. The other shook her head. 

"I forgot. He reacted pretty well."

"Cage Cavanaugh," he introduced himself. He felt at ease with this guy and it was almost like Jared had no clue who he was.