第1章厨房春潮-我的妺妺h

Like Gary had said before, a lot of information about Summer in the present wasn\'t lacking, as she had a huge cyber presence which Gary could follow. As for events outside the digital space, Don couldn\'t find anything helpful. Because of that, the information he sought out was in relation to Summer and Donnie\'s time as kids.

In his mind, if Donnie was partially responsible for the anger that Summer felt, then one of the few ways he could fix it was by showing her gestures from their younger days. Even if it didn\'t work, it would show some sincerity, which was better than doing nothing.

"Let\'s hope this plan works, at least," Don thought.

———

As Don shifted through the numerous tabs of information, Amanda and Samantha had made their way up the steps and were currently standing in front of Summer\'s door.

Samantha knocked first, and Amanda spoke out, "Summer, it\'s your aunt. Can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Go away!" Summer immediately yelled from the other side.

Amanda tried again, "Summer, please, we can talk about this."

But Summer only yelled back, "Go away! I don\'t want to talk to any of you. Just go have your welcome-back celebration without me. You were going to anyway if I didn\'t fucking come back."

"Honey, who do you think we were waiting for? Your mother had no idea Donnie was coming back until just this morning. It was my idea not to tell you because I wanted it to be a surprise," Amanda explained.

"It\'s a surprise, all right, a big fucking surprise," Summer yelled back, still very upset.

Samantha couldn\'t even bring herself to say anything as the anger seemed too deep to address with just a few words. Amanda, however, was very skilled at what to say and how to say it. She continued to try and calm Summer.

"Now, Donnie doesn\'t even want to eat unless you\'re down there. And I know you\'re angry at him too, for now, but try to imagine what he\'s been through. Your mom just found out this morning that your father never even sent him any money while he was away. Do you really think he wanted to be away from you just so he could suffer God knows where?

Do you really think he wouldn\'t care about you guys if, after going through all that, he still reached out to your mother in an attempt to come back?"

Summer\'s anger simmered down after hearing this, and although they couldn\'t see it, inside her room, she was lying on her bed with her face buried in a pillow. Summer was moved, not enough to fully quell her anger, but enough to raise her head, revealing her teary-eyed face and smeared makeup.

She let out a quiet sniff and frowned as she looked at the door, responding back, "Yeah, he definitely looks like he\'s been suffering," she pointed out sarcastically, referring to Don\'s healthy and well-dressed appearance.

Amanda was about to speak again, but this time it was Samantha who spoke out in anger. As a mother, looking at Don\'s face, all she could see was deep sadness and loneliness. Not because Don was particularly great at pretending to be that way, but rather because, in her mind, her Donnie was always smiling, even through the hard times their family faced at certain intervals.

Her Donnie was a bright and happy child—defiant, yes, but happy nevertheless. However, she could see none of that same resemblance in the current him. It didn\'t matter whether he looked healthy, fit, and well-dressed. He was different. A mother could easily tell. The fact that he seemed so different made her wonder just what her son could have gone through.

Summer accusing him of being well-off really made her upset as she proceeded to yell back, "Summer, watch your mouth! I understand you\'re angry, but if you want to be angry, be angry at me, young lady. You were even closer to Donnie growing up."

She sniffed as she began to cry. "God knows how many times I had to lecture you both over some silly adventure you had, but looking back, I hold onto those memories because at least back then, despite all the stress and shenanigans, you were happy, and I was happy. Never could a day pass in this house without me seeing either of your bright smiles.

But tell me, what happiness did you see on your brother\'s face? If he were so well off, do you think he would use the money he had managed to save over these years to get himself back into school and come back to the city, to you, to me, despite everything your father did?"

"He didn\'t even know Nicholas and I were divorced until today. It\'s not fair for you to be angry at him because, as far as he knows, we\'re the ones who abandoned him, never reached out to him, never called him. So as much as you may hate me, I was at least there for you. You still got presents on your birthday. You still had a meal to eat every day of the week. You still had a roof over your head.

You still had a mother who, through it all, loved you and still loves you with all her heart, even if you never felt the same. But could you honestly say Donnie had any of that?"

Samantha\'s deeply emotional words hit Summer hard. Her initial anger had all but faded. She now sat on her bed, looking confused, sad, and somewhat guilty. As much as she wanted to support her own stance on the matter, she could see truth in her mother\'s words.

Reluctantly, she responded, "I\'ll be down in a few minutes," in a shaky voice, which made it hard to tell whether she was still angry or had accepted her mother\'s words wholeheartedly.

Hearing Summer say this, Samantha let out a sigh and began to wipe the tears from her eyes. Amanda smiled at her and whispered, "You go fix yourself up and then come down. I\'ll go keep Donnie company so that he\'s not feeling too lonely."

The two parted ways, and Amanda quickly made her way downstairs before heading out to the backyard. Don, who was still rummaging through some of the recorded events of himself and Summer as children, turned his head back to see Amanda quickly walking toward him. He quickly took off his glasses, put them in his pocket, and turned to face her.

He tried to keep his expression neutral as he asked, "Is everything okay?"

Amanda showed him a bright smile and nodded happily, picking up a beer from one of the tables as she walked over, popping it open using her teeth and giving Don\'s bottle a little tap with hers as she reached him. "*Click!* Yup, Summer is just getting changed and your mother\'s simply freshening up.

What, don\'t want to spend time anymore with your dear Aunt Amanda?" Amanda playfully nudged him as she chuckled lightly and took a sip from her beer.

Whether she was really like this or was simply trying to lighten Don\'s mood, Don didn\'t reciprocate the energy and instead gave a small smile in reply, "You could pass for a teenager."

Amanda let out a hearty laugh and gave Don a light punch on his shoulder before replying, "That\'s a good one. I don\'t know whether to take that as a compliment or to be offended that you\'re saying my body isn\'t as mature as your mother\'s, especially after you saw my dear old girls."

Don immediately knew what she was referring to, and in an attempt to avoid the topic, he chose to act as if he was embarrassed about it, turning his head to the side as he said, "Sorry about that. I just wasn\'t expecting it."

Amanda chuckled again and waved off his concern. "Oh, shoot. Don\'t you mind that little mishap, dear. I\'m sure a handsome young man like you has seen enough pairs in your time. My poor things don\'t stand a chance," Amanda joked, clearly not very shy about talking about her body.

Don was a little embarrassed and remembering who he was, he didn\'t feel it was a good idea to outright compliment his aunt\'s breasts, so he settled on a more neutral answer. "All guys are different. We don\'t all like the same types," Don said briefly, causing Amanda to take a sip from her beer before giving him a narrow gaze.

"Alright then, where would you rate my girlies on a scale of 1 to 10?" she asked, clearly not letting up.

Don could only imagine how persistent she could be, both worried and intrigued by that particular prospect. Once again, though tempted by her question, he chose a more vague answer. "I didn\'t see very well, but I\'m sure they\'d be high on the scale," Don answered.

In response, Amanda crossed her arms and gave him a mischievous smile. "Is that right? Then would you like to get another peek?"