The Stepbrother’s Hidden Desires

“He doesn’t like me,” she murmured drunkenly, her mind hazy and heavy, feeling like there was a weight pressing down on her heart.

“Tired, go home…” she slurred again.

Logan leaned in closer. “What?”

Annabel vaguely smelled the cool scent emanating from Logan. Her rationality had long flown out the window. Regardless of who it was, at this moment, she just needed a shoulder to lean on. Involuntarily, she fell into his embrace.

The landlady saw Logan freeze for a few seconds before pulling Annabel away slightly. She shook her shoulder and asked her coldly, “Is this where you lean to whenever you want? Tell me, who am I?”

With her eyes closed, Annabel mumbled, “Logan.”

Only then did Logan reach out and pull her into his arms. He ran his hand through her hair and said, “You’re such a troublemaker!”

Logan’s face remained expressionless, but a beautiful curve formed at the corner of his lips.

When settling the bill, Logan intentionally paid double. The landlady looked excitedly at her husband, already pictured a romantic drama unfolding.

Annabel was already fast asleep in the car. No matter how much Logan called her, she couldn’t be woken up. Luckily, Thomas and Brenna weren’t home, and Eve was already asleep. Logan quietly carried her back to her room.

After removing her shoes and coat, tucking her in, and making sure everything was in order, Logan glanced at the clock on the wall, which pointed to 3 o’clock. He shook his sore arm.

The room was filled with the smell of alcohol, and he worried about Eve discovering it tomorrow. He went to open the window, but when he turned back, he found Annabel had kicked off half of the blanket.

With a sigh, he covered her again, but she impatiently kicked it away once more. Eventually, He simply pressed down on her through the covers. When she realized she couldn’t kick it off, she settled down. Logan looked down at her and silently chuckled.

Annabel’s face was flushed, her long eyelashes like small fans covering her eyes, with a pouty and somewhat aggrieved expression. Logan reached out and pinched her cheek, “You tired me out all night, what do you have to feel aggrieved about?”

His fingertips unconsciously brushed over her lips, warm and soft. Logan was reminded of his entanglement with Orla that night. Being a Virgo, just the thought of that made him feel uncomfortably vulgar.

In the morning, Logan was awakened by Louis’s phone call, only three hours after he had laid down. “Check your phone, Annabel has become a trending topic on the Internet.”

Logan didn’t sleep well all night, and he didn’t think anything could happen to Annabel, cursed irritably, “Damn, so early!”

“Dude, I’m not kidding you, it’s about Annabel and Mr. Curry. Our school’s reputation is going to be ruined this time.”

Logan was suddenly shocked and quickly hung up the phone. He went online and saw that the top topic was “How do you view the relationship between a teacher and an underage girl?”

The article described the teacher-student relationship in highly sensationalized language, exaggerating the facts. It even included nine intimate photos of Annabel and David, arm in arm, patting each other’s heads, her leaning on his shoulder. Both of their eyes were blacked out with marker. These photos must have spanned at least half a year, from when George’s mother caused trouble to the last post by the girl, indicating that someone had been planning this for a long time. Who would spend so much time collecting these things to frame them?

Because Annabel was a minor and it involved educational issues, it immediately ignited a hot topic on the internet.

When Logan went to find Annabel, Eve was trying to get her out of bed. No matter how Eve pulled her, Annabel kept burrowing into the covers, still not sober from the alcohol.

“Forget it, don’t force her. If you push her more, she might get sick,” Eve said in surprise, looking at Logan. Then she looked embarrassed, “What did she do last night? How do I explain this to Mr. Green?”

Logan shook his head irritably, “Don’t worry about it. I’ll handle this.”

He couldn’t resolve this issue; it had to be left to Thomas.

Logan was unusually late, and David didn’t come to class in the morning either, clearly affected by this incident. Annabel’s seat was empty again, and no one was studying; they were all enthusiastically gossiping.

The two people in the back row were talking the loudest, and suddenly a book flew over, hitting the boy’s forehead perfectly.

The boy wanted to get angry, but Logan pointed at him fiercely, “Shut up!”

Logan’s momentum silenced the boy.

Everyone stopped discussing, and Aria glanced at him with a hint of malicious smile in her eyes, then lowered her head to continue writing her homework.

Less than two hours later, the trending topic disappeared. As long as you entered related keywords, they would all be blocked. Everyone suspected that the government had intervened, after all, Shining High School was a century-old prestigious institution.

The school’s efficiency was also high; in the afternoon, they issued a notice stating that someone was intentionally smearing the school and its teachers. Once the malicious rumor spreaders were identified, they would face expulsion. Furthermore, the school would take action against those who continued to spread rumors and negatively impact the school.

Once the notice was issued, no one dared to discuss it in public. However, inevitably, people would still talk privately outside of school.

Annabel didn’t attend classes for a day, but David came to school in the afternoon as usual. However, the curious glances from his colleagues made him feel restless and uneasy, though he could only pretend that everything was normal.

He opened cellphone but found no messages from Annabel. She hadn’t come to class all day. He hesitated whether he should call her, but ultimately, he steeled himself and didn’t make the call.

During his last class, as he arrived at the office door, he bumped into Nancy, who stood in his way. She looked at him with a somewhat ambiguous smile. “It seems that being handsome can also be troublesome, but it’s okay, I believe you.”

David was momentarily stunned, knowing that Nancy was trying to help him out. Behind them, some teachers joked, “Oh, your relationship is quite special, huh?”

Blushing, Nancy pushed David. “Hurry up and go to class; you’ll be late.” This practically confirmed the teacher’s speculation.

In the hallway, David overheard Nancy and the other teachers discussing Annabel’s situation, and it became increasingly unpleasant to hear.

Having cared for Annabel for so long, hearing her being talked about in such a manner was extremely jarring. Feeling frustrated, he burst out with a curse and then returned to the office door. Facing inside, he spoke, “She’s just a lonely child who trusts and relies on her teacher. It took a lot of effort to guide her back on the right path. Do you know? Sometimes students can’t distinguish right from wrong, but as adults, as teachers, how can you trample on a student so recklessly, baselessly?”

The office fell silent. Nancy stared at David awkwardly; after all, she had done all this to help him!Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

David didn’t look at her again and turned to quickly walk to the classroom.

Annabel woke up in the afternoon. Her memory was still stuck on the scene of David kissing Nancy yesterday, and the pain in her chest intensified. She couldn’t accept the fact that David had a girlfriend.

Eve brought her a bowl of hangover soup, but Annabel refused to drink it. She also refused to come down for dinner when it was ready. Eve felt quite helpless, and Brenna went upstairs to pretend to care, but never came back up.

While chatting with visiting Elizabeth, Brenna looked full of pity as she talked about Annabel. “If she continues like this, she might end up following her mother’s footsteps in the future.”

Eve found this ominous. She didn’t know what had happened to Annabel’s mother, but dying young couldn’t be a good thing.

Elizabeth nodded in agreement and continued with a hint of malice, “Exactly, relying on her looks, who knows how many men she has seduced.”

Given Green’s Enterprises’ current influence, these wives, including Elizabeth, were all actively flattering Brenna, so their words naturally echoed Brenna’s sentiments, especially since she disliked Essem.

Though Elizabeth didn’t like Annabel, Mason, who had grown up with her, was very protective of her. He spent the entire day trying to contact Annabel. When Annabel answered the phone weakly, Mason exclaimed urgently, “Hey, What are you doing? I’ve been worried sick!”

“What could you possibly want from me? It’s just some trivial matter,” Annabel said without enthusiasm.

Ignoring her tone, Mason explained the situation in the morning, then asked mysteriously, “Your dad is in the next room; guess who he’s meeting?”

“Who?”

“Your teacher, David. I guess your dad took the news seriously and wants to take action against him.”

Annabel’s heart skipped a beat. “Oh no! Shit.”

“But, I overheard him talking to Liam; he said he first met you in jail. Were you cellmates last time?”

She had first seen him on the school basketball court; how could it be a jail?