Sweet Mischief’s Rollercoaster Romance

"No way!" Molly scoffed, not buying it for a second.

Chad shot back, "Have you forgotten how you used to handle your holiday homework in school? Those summer and winter assignments?"

Without missing a beat, Molly replied, "Back then, I had Leo. I never left my projects to the last minute."

"And what about before that? When Dad was working in another city as the mayor, and you didn't know Mia or Leo yet? Every holiday, the night before school started, weren't you bawling under the desk lamp? I stayed up with you all night to finish your homework." "If I don't disappear this time, you'll probably want to sit next to me the day before the deadline, pestering me to burn the midnight oil with you again."

Molly couldn't help but remember those embarrassing moments from her childhood. She'd be writing and crying, with tears mixing with her sniffles.

Chad never found her gross. Whenever he saw her runny nose, he'd grab a tissue and sit on her bed, wiping it away and even dabbing at her tears. "One sapling is $16. How much for three saplings?"

Molly, a mess of tears and snot, sobbed, "Brother, I still haven't finished my English assignment."

"How much for three saplings?"

"I don't know," young Molly wailed, her sleeves soaked from wiping away tears.

Her coughing tugged at Chad's heartstrings. "I told you to start earlier, but you spent your days glued to cartoons, napping in Mom's diner. When I asked you to do your homework, you'd run off to Dad's office to play. The tasks I gave you before I went to camp, you didn't complete a single one. Who's to blame for that?"

I'm here with you," he

writing and crying again, said, "Brother, my

her homework, Chad was there, sharpening her pencils. Molly, often distracted, would fiddle with her mechanical pencil, pulling the lead out only

to school, where she'd always fall asleep in the

feeling guilty. "I'm grown up now. I wouldn't

hadn't disappeared, would you have started your

Mia started,

because Andre also disappeared. She had no

you love me

was my fault," Andre

continued, "I

abilities, Mia. Even without me,

I shouldn't

"

be clever and warm, quipped, "You're buttering me up,

think I'm the kind of person

left Mia puzzled. Her husband, so proud,