"You kissed him!?" Stacy shrieked in surprise after listening to everything that Lina had just revealed.

Lina hurriedly covered her sister's mouth to prevent her from speaking any further.

'They might be standing right outside even at this very moment!' She took a peek at the door and sighed in relief when she saw no shadows under the door.

"Will you quiet down!?" She snarled and then glared at Stacy.

Seeing her nodding her head to indicate that she would not freak out, Lina let go of her hand which was over Stacy's mouth and sat back on the bed.

"He was the one to initiate the kiss and not me!" She defended herself and looked away.

'But the second kiss was all on me.' She blushed while thinking of how she had reached out to him and deepened the mere peck into a real kiss.

Right now they were inside Lina's room where Stacy had barged into in order to get all the juicy gossip about her 'relationship' with Reuben.

Lina knew that she couldn't hide everything for long and decided to reveal certain parts of their coincidental encounters.

'I am not willing to tell them about the night at the hotel.' She was reluctant to let them know about that incident.

Not only would it tarnish Reuben's image in their minds it would also make him a victim of violence if her Brother Wind ever got word of it.

Thinking of her brother who promised to meet her soon, Lina smiled widely.

"Got Reuben on your mind so soon? He just went to his room and you already miss him?" Stacy wiggled her brows and teased her little sister.

To which Lina answered with an eye roll and then shook her head.

"Wrong! I was thinking of Brother Wind! I hope he will be back here sooner than expected." She sulked because she missed her elder brother and wished to see him sooner.

Stacy gulped nervously when she thought of the man whom Lina thought of so fondly.

Wind was about the same age as Stacy yet they never had much interaction because unlike the twins, he was the 'silent yet scary' type of child.

Whenever they met, he would just give her a nod and then go about doing his own business and only spoke when he was spoken to.

'I pity Reuben because he will have to face that Siscon when he arrives back in the country.' She said a silent prayer for Reuben's safety.

But thinking of something, her eyes widened and she stared at Lina in suspicion.

"Wait a minute…" Stacy glanced at her from top to bottom which made Lina tilt her head in confusion.

"What?" Lina asked as she touched her face wondering if there was something stuck to it.

But Stacy smacked her hand away and pointed a finger at Lina's nose.

"Did you hook up with Reuben because he is like one of those CEO types of guys you read in those romance novels?" She raised her brows and waited for Lina's response.

Right on cue, Lina choked when she heard this accusation and shook her head in denial.

"Ruby may be a CEO but he is not like those scary possessive men who would lock you up when you even glimpse at other men." She waved her hand to reject that possibility.

She was so confident about it because she had not yet seen the real Reuben Ming.

"But then again… What exactly do I know about him?" She rubbed her chin in contemplation.

"From what I have heard from Benji, he's a great businessman and a genius in what he does." She recalled the reluctant words of praise that her assistant had said in his favor.

"I've met him a few times but that is not enough to decide what kind of a person he really is." She shook her head in dismay.

Stacy had been silently listening to her words and the expression on her face was darkening with every word she heard.

"So why did you kiss him in the first place!?" She roared and held onto Lina's shoulders, shaking her roughly.

Lina was startled to see this outburst and then rolled her eyes before shrugging the arms that were on her shoulder.

"Well, hello there, little miss who kisses people on their first meets!" She smirked while ridiculing the woman who had stuck her tongue down Aya's throat when they first met.

"That was different… Plus I've kissed many people before that!" Stacy defended herself and looked at Lina with concerned eyes.

"I thought you wanted your first kiss to be with the guy you would end up with?" She uttered and grimaced when she saw Lina's smile fade.

"I did want that but we can't always get what we want in life." Lina groaned and plopped onto the bed with her face buried in the pillow.

Stacy then rubbed her head in hopes of making her feel better.

"So you shouldn't have kissed him then." Her words though meant in good faith sounded like a taunt to the woman who was screaming into the pillow.

Lifting her head up, Lina turned to her sister and told her about what had happened before they kissed.

"At that moment… I felt that I had to do it." She recalled the moment when Reuben was about to kiss her but stopped due to that cheating couple.

"When it did not happen, I was embarrassed yet at the same time, I felt an odd longing for it. So when another chance came to kiss him, I took it." She smiled and the joy in her heart was apparent on her face.

"The moment our lips touched I felt a warmth spread in my heart and a jolt through my brain." Her smile never once faded as she retold how she felt.

"When I saw his smiling face after we separated, it made me want for more and that was what I did." She sheepishly glanced at Stacy who was grinning like a fool as she paid attention to everything being said.

Stacy nodded and waited for her to continue with her story.

"I remembered what I read in the novels and my arms wrapped themselves around his neck. The kiss after that was even steamier than before." She squealed in excitement just by recalling that intense kiss.

However, her excitement gradually diminished and a pout sat on her lips.

"But…" She muttered in a low voice and then hid her face in the pillow once again.

"But what?" Stacy's curiosity was piqued and she nudged the beauty laying on the bed to get an answer.

"But I wasn't his first kiss!" She looked up with watery eyes as she sulked.

'She always wanted to have a relationship where both of them were each other's firsts.' Stacy instantly understood why Lina was feeling down.

She wrapped her arms around Lina and pulled her in for a warm hug.

Lina buried her face in the crook of her neck and held her tight.

"But you still agreed to give him a chance, even after you knew that you weren't his first kiss. Nana, do you already like him?" Stacy questioned with a skeptical voice.

Lina's body flinched and she separated herself from the hug.

Staring at Stacy's face, she was facing an inner dilemma.

'Do I like him?'

______

"Hello, Grandpa?" Reuben Ming spoke into his phone while standing out in the balcony, feeling the cold breeze hitting his face.

From the other side of the phone, he could hear a groaning voice and this made him chuckle.

"Did I wake you up, old man?" He teased and was rewarded with a mocking scoff.

"Who are you calling old, you brat!?" A deep gruff voice emanated from the other end of the phone.

Reuben shook his head and pursed his lips to stop the chuckle that was on the verge of leaking out.

"You had asked me to call you any time I felt like I needed your advice. So here I am…" He muttered and then frowned when he heard things crashing from the phone's speaker.

Grandpa Ming also known as Aloysius Ming was 78 years old this year and was very close to his only grandson.

He had asked Reuben to call him anytime he needed an ear to listen to his problems or for advice but in all these years, his grandson had never taken his offer up.

But today, at this late hour, he had been remembered by his beloved grandson which made Grandpa Ming knock off the lamp that was at his bedside table.

"Are you alright?" Reuben asked in concern and breathed a sigh of relief when he heard a positive reply from the old man.

After sending the twins away, Reuben had tried to get some sleep but things of the past kept running in his mind.

Not being able to sleep even for a second, after much deliberation he had come to the conclusion that he needed his grandfather's assistance in this matter.

"What made you call me this late in the night, boy?" The elderly inquired in a stern voice as he tried to conceal his excitement.

Reuben pondered a few more seconds on whether to speak to him about this matter to which his heart answered with a resolute yes.

"Grandpa, I wanted to talk about the incident that happened all those years ago." He divulged his reason for disturbing the old man's sleep.