CHAPTER 268: A BETTER WORLD

There was nothing wrong with being vigilant and proceeding with what she had planned to verify something if she wanted to get the answer to the suffocating questions. As long as she was cautious, not hurting another party without clear ground, then it was fine. Joanna decided.

"Thank you for your concern, Val, but as I said, I am good," Joanna replied, turning to look at her with a small smile on her face.

She reminded herself that no matter how much discomfort she felt in her heart, she could not let others know about that. Before the truth was unveiled, she should have shown her usual self when she was with Valerie.

"What are you doing here, brother?" Joanna turned her head, looking up at her brother with her eyes slightly squinting due to the sunlight that streamed in from the bright sky above them.

"To do a mission," Phillip answered in one breath, causing Joanna to daze with all the rampant questions that added throbbing in her head about the mission he was going to do with Valerie in her dearest garden. "Now, since you asked, brother has to make a move quickly." With that having been said, Phillip rushed toward the direction that Joanna caught when she saw him from her room.

"What kind of mission, brother?" Joanna asked in a hurry, increasing her pace to chase after Phillip, whose legs were longer than hers.

"To create a better world."

For a couple of seconds, Joanna’s legs stopped moving upon hearing what was said by Phillip. For a moment, she did not know how to respond to her cheeky brother. What kind of better world would he create? Was he going to play a hero? Joanna shook her head at her antic brother.

"I don’t think this is the time to play a joke, brother," Joanna commented as she continued to chase after Phillip, who stepped lightly in contrast to her anxious self.

"Who said I am playing a joke, sister?" Phillip replied, not stopping from marching forward.

Most of the time her brother would tease her, and it was not hard for her to tell that. But this time was different. Her senses seemed to be dull, unable to perceive that. Phillip’s words were kind of hilarious in her ears, yet the tone of his voice was serious.

What about his facial expression? Joanna wanted to know, but she could not see it because her brother did not bother to stop walking as if he was in a heavy deal with time.

If it were another day with a different situation, regardless of him being serious or not, she would have laughed wholeheartedly like she usually did every time she heard her brother utter something that sounded hilarious to her ears.

Phillip de Lara wanted to be a hero, and it did tickle her senses. Yet finding Valerie still with them, following where her brother was heading like she was currently doing, Joanna had to hold back from laughing out loud. Instead, she gripped her skirt and picked up her pace when her mind was filled with the thought of a better world, her brother, and Valerie in her mother’s dearest garden.

’Did her brother want to create a better world with Valerie here?’

"Then, let me help you, brother," Joanna uttered with the thought that she was sorry, but she could not let what was playing in her mind happen. "Let me help my beloved, handsome brother to create a better world." She smiled, ceasing from her track to face her brother, who had halted and turned to face her. "What kind of a better world did you want to create, brother?" The best smile on her face she offered for her beloved brother.

If her smile could prevent her brother from being alone with Valerie, then she would smile to support whatever better world he wanted to create despite him being serious or not at the moment.

"Well..." Phillip pushed the bridge of his glasses before crossing his hands over his chest. "I am indeed your beloved, handsome brother that shines so brightly and can’t be compared with anything in this universe." The corners of his eyes crinkled as his lips curled into a sly grin. He then added,

"Thank you for admitting that fact once again, sister, but..." Phillip paused, still with a broad smile gracing his face, looking down at Joanna, who looked attentively with her own broad smile at him. "I will appreciate it if you stop smiling like that because... you look so scary," he remarked. "Now go back to your room and rest." Phillip nodded his head upward as a gesture for Joanna to go back to her room.

Her best smile, which was regarded as scary, had faltered as she stared at his now serious-looking brother.

"No, brother. Let me help you." Joanna shook her head, refusing to back down, overlooking any expression that was displayed on Phillip’s countenance.

"Next time, not now," Phillip replied in a firm tone, nodding his head upward again.

"Brother..." Joanna called in a gloomy voice and solemnly fixed her doe-like eyes on Phillip’s face. Her lips pouted as she tugged the hem of his coat.

Letting out a sigh, Phillip wrapped his hand around Joanna’s shoulder and led her to walk away, gradually distancing them from Valerie. As they walked, Phillip said, "Do you know what you look like now?"

"Not that ugly, I believe," Joanna answered without any delay, countering her brother before he used his typical tag for her.

Upon hearing Joanna’s confident and hasty reply, Phillip chuckled before saying, "You are right, not that ugly. You just look like... a ghost wandering around under the sun."

"Who is like a ghost?" Joanna swiftly turned her head, glaring at Phillip and his typical remark. "It seems that you need to replace your glasses, brother," she retorted.

She knew she looked like a sickly person at the moment, but she should stand her ground, declining her brother’s intention to send her back to her room, particularly when Valerie was still around, not showing any sign of retreating.

"I will, but after my ghost-like sister comes back to life. So now be obedient, go back to your room, and rest."

Before Joanna could retort more against his words, Phillip added to his pace, which made Joanna, whose shoulder was wrapped by his arm, follow suit. She then realized where her brother led her to, which was to the entrance of the garden.

"But..."

"Worry not, Ann." While walking, Phillip cut off Joanna’s objection. "Valerie is lending her hand to help brother. So, you may rest assured."

Almost immediately, right after the words of Valerie were going to help her brother, Joanna used all her strength to put the brakes on her feet so that her brother could not push her body to walk forward any further. Now she understood why Valerie was here with her brother. Panic struck her whole being, knowing he wanted to create a better world with her.

As she managed to counter her brother’s effort to push her back to her room, Joanna turned to face him. She grabbed his hand and said, "Please tell me what it is that you are going to do, brother."

If her brother did not allow her to help him, at least she knew what kind of help that Valerie offered to him, and he accepted that.

"We are going to the Mid-Autumn Festival."

Soon, creases on Joanna’s forehead deepened at the answer that her brother gave to her.