Chapter 6 Sister Love, Tough Love

"Cameron," Eloise said, gently shaking him awake.

"Sis?" he woke up, rubbing his eyes awake. "You're home?"

"Yeah," she smiled. "Did you wait up for me?"

He nodded his head, still with sleepy eyes. "Where did you go?"

She sat down next to him and ruffled his hair, causing him to groan in annoyance.

"Not the hair," he muttered under his breath.

"You should have went to sleep if you were tired," she said.

He shook his head. "You always come home late because of your job. You're rarely in the house too since you keep working because of me."

She smiled. "And I enjoy it very much."

He looked her in the eyes. "You should also rest sometimes, Eloise."

"I know," she softly smiled. "But just seeing you already energizes me."

He chuckled. "Gross," he said.

She gently pushed him away before divulging the news that she could finally pay for his treatment.

"I've found a way," she opened up. "I can pay for your treatment now, Cam."

She thought her brother was going to be elated. However, a frown suddenly appeared on his face.

"No," he said. "I'm not getting any treatment."

"What?" she asked in shock. "Cam, you know that this is the only way for you to get better."

"I don't care," he said. "You're not going to spend any more money on me."

"But I want to, Cameron," Eloise said. "I'm working three jobs for you!"

'And I'm willing to marry a stranger for your sake, too!' she wanted to say but held back.

"Yes," he said. "And you even gave up on your dreams because of me."

"Cameron," she said in a soft voice.

"It's much better to die than see you spend all your hard-earned money just because of me."

"Cam, don't say that," Eloise scolded.

"You gave up everything for this family to the point where there's nothing left for you. Choose yourself this time, Eloise. I'll be okay. Maybe heaven would be a dope place."

"Don't joke like that," she said, holding onto his hand. "And I'm not going to spend my savings. I found a way to pay for your treatment without touching it."

He frowned. "What do you mean? Did you get an illegal loan or something?"

"No!" she exclaimed. "I just found a...job," she said.

Well, that is, if marrying someone and being a surrogate can be considered as a job.

"A job that pays large enough for a 50,000 dollar treatment?" he asked.

"It sounds strange but I promise that it's real. I just have to go away for a while so that I can stay with my boss."

He looked at Eloise with wide eyes. "And you're staying in with your boss? Did you get yourself in some shit or something? Just tell me, sis. I'll help you the best that you can."

Eloise sighed and scooted closer to Cameron, holding his hands in the process.

"I'm fine, Cam. Everything's fine. I promise you that I'm going to be safe with my new job. It's inevitable that I have to go away for a while so I can make money. Don't worry, though. I'll make sure to visit you as often as possible."

"How long are you going to be away?" he asked. "And will you be in a far place?"

"Just a year," she smiled. "And I won't be far."

"Can you tell me where you'll be?"

She gave a tight-lipped smile before shaking her head. "Sorry, Cam. I really have to do this. You know that you need your treatment as soon as possible, right?"

"I know," he muttered under his breath.

"Good," she smiled and ruffled her hair. "Let me do this for you, okay? You can repay me when you're all better."

After a while, he finally nodded his head, causing Eloise's smile to widen once more.

"Be safe, okay?"

She nodded her head.

"Always."

***

"So, why did you call me out today?" Eloise asked. "I was busy packing all my stuff."

She just got into Vaughn's car since he texted her that they needed to do something today.

"We're going something important," Vaughn said.

He then glanced at her and frowned.

"I told you to dress well."

She also frowned and looked down at what she was wearing. It was the nicest blouse that she had!

"I did dress nice," she defended.

He sighed and shook his head.

"This won't do. You look like a teacher from the 1980's."

"Hey," she exclaimed. "This was from the mall, okay?"

"I guess we'll be late for a bit."

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"To a clothing shop. You can't go like this."

Despite Eloise's argument that she looked well-dressed, Vaughn turned a blind eye and continued dragging her to a fancy-looking boutique with beautiful clothes on display.

She saw the price tag on one of the dresses and her eyes became as wide as saucers.

She tugged onto Vaughn's hand.

"Let's just go. The clothes here are so expensive."

He raised his eyebrows. "It doesn't matter. We're going to meet my parents. You need to make a good impression."

"What?" she asked, her mouth ajar.

He never told her that!

"I just can't meet your parents! You never told me anything about them-"

"You talk way too fucking much," he interrupted. After that, he pushed her towards a group of workers.

"Get her changed into something more formal," he said.

"Noted, sir," one of them said.

"Right this way, ma'am," they guided her to a dressing room.

"Wait-" she tried to argue her way out, but they had already started removing her clothes before she could even complain.

This was an invasion of privacy!

However, knowing that it would be better for her to show up in front of Vaughn's parents in a much more decent outfit and not in a 50 dollar blouse that she thought was already luxury, she decided to let them do their thing.

Vaughn never told her much about his parents, but she could already guess that they might be the typical snobbish rich people-considering they didn't want to give Vaughn the company just because of his girlfriend.

"You look very pretty, miss," the worker said when she wore the dress that they had picked out for her.

Eloise glanced at herself in the mirror and couldn't help but smile.

It's been a while since she's seen herself like this. Having to work multiple jobs, she never had the chance to pamper herself.

It was a good change. It wasn't too bad taking Vaughn's suggestion since the dress she's currently wearing is simple yet elegant.

After looking at herself in the mirror once more, she finally opened the door of the dressing room and faced Vaughn.

Vaughn was scrolling through his phone when he heard the door open.

Eloise took longer than expected, so he was growing impatient. He looked at his watch and clicked his tongue when he realized that they were, indeed, going to be late.

"Move faster, will you-"

His words were cut off when he finally saw the woman right in front of him.

He already knew that Eloise was pretty, but the tacky clothes didn't do her enough justice.

She's pretty.

Very pretty, even.

"Do I look okay?" she asked as she looked down at her dress.

Vaughn snapped out of her thoughts and stood up from the couch.

"Let's just go," he said, getting ready to go back to the car.

"Wait," she exclaimed. "At least, tell me how I look! I'm going to be meeting your parents for the first time."

He turned around and looked at her once more, letting his eyes travel from her face down to her body.

"You look...decent."