You More than Anything in the World (Arissa)

Chapter 9 They Are Brothers

That’s weird. I’ve been gone for so long, but they haven’t called me yet. Usually, they would be

scrambling around to look for me already. Aren’t Mommy, Zachary, Oliver, and Jesse worried about me at

all?

With that thought, Jasper checked his phone, which resembled a watch.

Uh-oh. The battery died.

“Gavin, your food’s ready!” Edwin called out when he noticed Jasper as he was about to bring the food

over to Gavin’s room.

“Okay!” Jasper responded as he ran to take his seat at the dining table.

Seeing that the table was full of delicious-looking dishes, he quickly grabbed a fork and happily dug in.

“Gavin, pace yourself. Please chew your food more slowly!” Edwin urged as the way Jasper ate shocked

him. What’s going on? Usually, he would chew more slowly before swallowing.

“Mm-hmm!” The boy was beaming with delight as he ate. Oh my gosh! These are heavenly! Jesse would

definitely love this!

Suddenly, Jasper slowed down as he felt guilty. Did Mommy, Zachary, Oliver, and Jesse eat yet?

“Mr. Whitley, these are really good!”

“Hehe! I was afraid that you’d get tired of eating the same thing every day! Have some more if you like

it!” Edwin suggested as he put more food on his plate.

Jasper caught sight of Benjamin walking toward them and started to eat quietly.

“Mr. Graham!” Edwin quickly prepared cutlery for Benjamin while the latter took his seat to eat with

Jasper.

His brows furrowed deeply when he saw Jasper swallowing the food without chewing.

“Chew for thirty times before swallowing!”

“B-But I’m hungry!” Jasper exclaimed in surprise. Thirty times? That’s too tiring!

“Don’t eat too quickly! No matter how hungry you are, you must chew your food thirty times before you

swallow!” Did he not eat well while I was away?

Benjamin glanced at Edwin. “Mr. Graham, Gavin’s been taking his meals properly in the past few days!

Maybe he’s eating so quickly today because he was hungry,” Edwin explained respectfully with his head

lowered.

Meanwhile, a small pair of eyes were looking at Benjamin and Edwin. Jasper paced his chewing. What’s

up with this rule? He’s too strict! Mommy has never been as fussy as him!

In the next few minutes, Benjamin would reprimand him whenever Jasper didn’t chew at least thirty

times. This is the hardest meal that I’ve had! Ugh. The food doesn’t taste that good anymore.

After he was done, he quickly ran toward Gavin’s room and locked the door. Once that was done, Jasper

continued to search the room as he looked for clues or ways to contact Gavin.

Phew. Luckily they didn’t call Gavin. I’ll definitely be exposed if they do. No, I must find a way to call

Gavin to see if he’s okay.

No matter how hard he looked, Gavin’s number was nowhere to be found. In that instant, he heard

someone knocking on the door. Jasper beamed when he knew that it was Edwin.

“Yes, Mr. Whitley?” he asked as he opened the door.

“Gavin, your dad asked me to make this for you! Let me know any time if you want to eat it in the future!”

Edwin informed as he passed the cotton candy to Jasper.

“Thank you, Mr. Whitley!” Jasper took the cotton candy merrily and took a bite. Yay! I get to eat this every

day now!

“Oh! Mr. Whitley, can I borrow your phone for a little while?” he asked out of the blue when Edwin was

about to leave.

“Here you go!” Edwin reached for his phone in his pocket and passed it to Jasper without question.

“Mr. Whitley! Your font’s too small! I’ll make it bigger for you!” Jasper tilted the phone to an angle where

Edwin couldn’t look at the screen and quickly looked for Gavin’s number in the contact list.

Since Gavin had done the same thing before, Edwin smiled and waited patiently at the door without the

slightest bit of suspicion.

Without much difficulty, Jasper found Gavin’s number after scrolling for a while. After that, he quickly

memorized Gavin’s number and changed the font size before returning Edwin’s phone to him. Good

thing Mr. Whitley doesn’t have many contacts in his contact list.

“This cotton candy is delicious!” Jasper exclaimed with a huge grin on his face.

“Gavin, make sure to brush your teeth before you sleep!” Edwin reminded with a doting smile.

“Yeah! Okay! I’ll do that! Good night, Mr. Whitley!” Jasper waved and closed the door.

Edwin looked in the direction of Gavin’s room before he went downstairs.

Jasper quickly plugged the cable in to charge his phone. He took a few more bites of the cotton candy

and finished it as he waited for his device to be fully charged. After that, he went to brush his teeth and

took a bath. Once he was out, the indicator showed that it was fully charged, and he started composing a

message on it to Gavin.

I wonder… Is Gavin with Mommy, or is he stranded somewhere?

Jasper texted him: Are you Gavin? I’m Jasper!

Gavin, who almost fell asleep, reached for his phone when he heard the familiar sound of an incoming

message on his phone. When he read the message, his eyes widened.

It’s Jasper! He contacted me!

Almost instantly, Jasper received a reply from Gavin. Gavin texted: Yeah. That’s me. Are you at my

place?

Jasper furrowed his brows. Huh? How does he know that I’m at his home?

Jasper replied: Yeah. But how did you know that? Where are you now? Are you safe?

Gavin texted: I’m with Mommy. Daddy hasn’t found out about you yet, right?

Jasper was shocked at his reply, but he quickly let out a breath of relief. So he really is with Mommy!

That was quick. It sure didn’t take him long to call someone he had just met Mommy.

Jasper asked: Are we quintuplets?

Gavin replied: I guess so? We look exactly the same! Does Daddy know that you’re not me?

Jasper responded: Nope, but he noticed the mole on my wrist. It’s best for you to put on a fake mole

when you come home. If he sees that you don’t have one, he’ll surely find out!

Gavin replied: Mommy, on the other hand, didn’t suspect a thing! I don’t want to go back yet. Could you

pretend to be me for a while longer? Daddy is very busy with his work, so you should be okay if you don’t

stay in the same room as him for too long. Oh, and you shouldn’t talk too much.

The two of them continued to chat and exchange information about themselves.

“What are you doing, Jasper? Stop using your phone! Hurry up and sleep!” Zachary said when he saw

Gavin still using his phone.

“O-Okay!” Gavin hastily kept the phone and went to the bathroom.

Zachary thought that something was up, so he reached for Gavin’s phone.

When Gavin returned, he saw that Zachary was going through the messages he had with Jasper.

“You’re not Jasper!” Zachary stared at him.

“I’m Gavin,” Gavin admitted with a nod. Since he found out, there’s no need for me to lie anymore.

Zachary continued to read the messages. I can’t believe that Jasper really did go missing. And it seems

like he’s with Daddy!

You… Why did you contact Gavin and not me? I’m the eldest, remember?

Zachary scrutinized Gavin more closely. He really does look exactly like us.

At that moment, Zachary knew for sure that they were quintuplets.

But, why didn’t Mommy tell us?

Gavin was worried that Zachary might dislike him from all of Zachary’s staring.

He walked toward Zachary and said, “I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to lie to you. I-I just wanted to get to know

you better and find out why Mommy didn’t want me…”

However, the longer he was with Arissa, the more he felt that Arissa wouldn’t do such a thing.

Mommy is really gentle and kind. There must be some misunderstanding!

“There’s no way Mommy would abandon her child!”