“Hey brat!” Rais said as he walked into Shantra’s bedroom. He’d just come back from university and was amazed at how much he’d missed his annoying sisters.
Shantra was sitting in the middle of her bed, tears streaming down her eyes and his entire body went into battle mode. “What’s wrong, Shantra?” he demanded, moving quickly to the side of her bed.
Shantra looked up at her big brother as heavy tears rolled down her cheeks. “You’re home!” she said and stood up, throwing herself into his arms.
Rais caught his baby sister in his arms and held her close, but he still wasn’t sure what had hurt her. “Shantra, tell me what happened. Why are you so sad?”
Her skinny arms tightened around his neck. “He’s married!” she sobbed.
Rais heard a noise and turned to see that Ramzi and Turk had just entered the room as well. He couldn’t turn to fully face his brothers, but the look in his eyes told them enough. “Honey, who got married?” he asked, trying to figure out what was going on.
She pulled back, her dramatic flair for life in full evidence. “The man I’m in love with! He married another woman! He wouldn’t wait for me!” And with that announcement, she flopped onto her bed once more, an arm draping over her eyes as she sobbed out her desolation.
“Who did you fall in love with?” Turk demanded, his arms fisted at his waist. “I’m going to kill him!”
“You can’t!” Shantra sobbed. “I’d rather he be happy than dead. He deserves to be happy. He’s given me so much happiness already in my life.” She sighed once more. “I suppose it was too much to ask that he wait another four years for me.”
Ramzi’s mind was spinning. “What happens in four years?” he asked, still trying to figure out how a man had gotten through palace security enough times to make his baby sister fall in love with him. “Was it one of the guards?” That would make sense. The guard would be fired, but at least it would make sense.
Shantra pulled her arm away from her eyes. “A guard? Are you kidding? Those men are old!” she said with disdain.
The three brothers stared at their baby sister, at a complete loss.
Ciala stepped into the room and squealed when she saw the three of them together. “You’re home!” she said and raced across the room to hug each of them. “I can’t believe you’re home! And you didn’t come by to say anything to me!”
“We were on our way but something is wrong with Shantra,” Rais said.
All four of them turned back around, looking at Shantra who looked desolate.
Ciala rolled her eyes. “Ignore her. That gross-looking rock star, Dakota Lafayette, married over the weekend and she’s upset because she says that she would have loved him more, if only he’d waited until she was eighteen and old enough to marry.”
Ramzi, Rais and Turk all puffed up. “She’s not marrying anyone at eighteen!” Rais commanded. Ramzi and Turk both nodded their heads.
“I’m never marrying,” Shantra said with additional drama. “I’ll never love any man again! It hurts too much.” A fresh bout of tears streamed down her cheeks.
Ramzi, Turk and Rais all looked at her, then at each other. Then the three of them turned to Ciala for an explanation.
“Just ignore her,” she said. “She’ll get over Dakata’s betrayal. Shantra was in love with Mark Washington last week. This latest obsession is new.”
Turk didn’t understand. “Who the hell are Dakota Lafayette and Mark Washington?”
“And how did they get into the palace?” Ramzi demanded.
Ciala laughed softly. “Shantra has never met them. They are rock singers she’s only obsessing about. Don’t worry about it. She’ll move on and by next week, there will be another guy.”
Shantra stood up and jumped off of her bed, unaware of the pictures that tumbled to the floor in the process. “I’m going to the kitchen to smother my heartbreak with chocolate ice cream. Anyone want to join me?” she asked.
Ramzi shook his head. “Do we have to be in love with someone to join her?”
Ciala snorted. “Like the three of you would ever fall in love with just one woman,” and she walked out the door, more than ready to eat chocolate ice cream if it would help her little sister get over this latest drama. “I think the chef made those chocolate chip cookies too,” she told the guys.
“She’s right about falling in love,” Turk mumbled. “No way!”
Ramzi grimaced. “Too many women to love before we have to marry.”
“And even then, there’s always a wealth of possibilities,” Rais agreed.
The three young men laughed as they followed their little sisters down the hallway to the kitchen. Love, they scoffed. They would never fall victim to that girly emotion they all silently vowed.