Damaged Beyond Repair by Kashmira Kamat (KittyKash) (best short books to read TXT) 📗

Chapter 19

I knocked on Dwight's door, "It's me, Alana."

"Come in."

I stepped into the room, shutting the door behind me. I didn't like the idea of staying behind a closed door with Rowan's brother in his own house, but I guess the circumstances didn't leave me any better choices.

Dwight's room was the total opposite of Rowan's, the walls in Rowan's room were painted beige, sort of cream in color, while Dwight's room was painted in dark contrast vibrant colors that totally struck the eyes. A color blind might as well start seeing colors. No Shit! Though the room was similar in size, everything sat in their right places, the furniture, elegant, yet humongous in the room, all too bright. I liked simple and Rowan's room was just that. Simple, yet unique in its own way.

Dwight remained seated behind his wide cherry Oak desk, beaming at me, "Good Morning."

He gestured for me to sit in one of the couches near the large sliding glass doors; he inserted a bookmark in a huge sized book, strode over and took the couch opposite mine. His dark hair was ruffled and he wore a white polo shirt tucked neatly into tailored trousers. Clearly, I had barged onto his golf plans. He looked so much like Rowan; Dwight's eyes were a lighter shade, a stark contrast to Rowan's intense broody eyes.

"Would you care for some coffee, tea or.." he offered.

"Thanks for offering, but I had breakfast downstairs." the offer of coffee looked anything but tempting. I needed more caffeine in my system, even though I had downed almost three cups downstairs.

"Right." He scanned his phone and placed it back on the coffee table, giving me his full attention, "So what brings you here?"

"Firstly, I want you to stop harassing my boyfriend."

The smile turned into a knowing grin, "Done deal. Anything else, ma'am?"

"That also includes no cocky comments."

"That's my nature, Alana; I'll see what I can do about the cocky comments."

A photo frame right under my line of sight caught my eye. I pointed at a picture near, "Is that you?"

Dwight spun his head around, "No, that's my twin brother, Andrew."

"Drew is your twin brother?" another Master family shocker.

"Was." He corrected me with a bitter face, "Great guy, the only one who could deal with the Psycho brother."

"Stop calling him that." I snapped at him.

Dwight narrowed his eyes at me, "How long has it been since you've known Rowan?"

"Two months."

"I've known Rowan for as long as he's been born, and I'm still trying to figure him out but let's not go there, shall we; tell me what you want to know."

"Anything that might put some light over his past. Some background over his..." the word madness was stuck in my throat, but I settled with the word, "nature."

Dwight remained impassive, "Rowan has been very impulsive from the beginning. You would think I'm kidding if I said it was progress yesterday. We've watched a side of him that could have chased you across the globe to a different planet. The door's right there if you want out now."

"I'd rather stay and listen." It did sound insane and I wanted to chicken out so bad. I was rooting for a natural calamity.

"Rowan was home schooled at ten after he almost killed a boy in his class for bullying his friend. He pounded the boy's head on the wall."

Point to be noted aggressive childhood.

"Then what happened?" I asked him.

"So, as he grew older, his habits began to magnify and he became more aggressive by every passing day. At sixteen, Rowan used to be heavy on drinks as well as drugs and spent most of his time behind closed doors—loneliness being his closest friend. He downed a bottle in an hour, Alana, that's major for a sixteen year old." I nodded, urging him to continue further, "And there was this incident that happened with Mom, that no one can forget. Rowan was on his usual self-destructive mode when he couldn't find a single bottle of alcohol in the house. Drew and I made sure we kept them hidden. Rowan wrecked everything that was glass in the house, went to his room, trashed around some more and tried to off himself, all because we weren't giving him what he wanted."

I remained tape-lipped; I mean this was a side of Rowan that I would never want to encounter; it sounded BIZZARE with caps on.

"When Rowan didn't open the door, we had to break in and I still remember it so clearly even though it's been more than ten years. Mom stood on the staircase and gave him out, he flipped and pushed mom down the staircase. She had a fractured arm and a leg for weeks. He never meant to hurt her Alana, I know that, he spent a lot of time making up to her, but it's how he reacts at some point that you can never expect what he's going to do the next minute."

I found my voice after a while. "Is there some source for the kind of behavior, something traumatic in early childhood?"

Dwight stared into space for a while before answering, like he was trying to figure out the answer to that question himself, "This problem isn't since childhood, Alana, you don't get it. He had serious anger issues back then, the issues, the emotions are all being taken to a higher notch at this point. We had no idea the problem was so big. Okay, let's say it has something to do with trying to get some attention. Drew and I had always been the older brothers, so Rowan being second in line, was being compared in every aspect but that doesn't give him a reason to turn out like that. I should be the one envying him not the other way round."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "I don't quite follow."

"Did you know that Rowan's a Stanford honor student?"

Another jaw drop moment. "Nope."

"He has a Masters degree in Economics, he reads the kind of books I can't even pronounce the titles." Dwight chuckled, "And what about my qualifications? I'm just a high school graduate. I don't have a choice in the matter, Alana, I have to look after my father's company, no questions asked. I've had my dreams too, I'm forced into this and it's been more stressful since Drew's death. Rowan has everything in his plate which he clearly wants to throw away because of some psycho chemical in his brain."

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