"Jake? What happened to you?" Her soft and sweet voice was filled with nothing but worry and concern about him, but Jake didn't want her to worry about that right now, so he tried brushing it off.
"It's nothing Alice. I'm fine." He replied but Alice wasn't pleased with that answer.
"Who did this to you?"
"It's no one. I simply...." Jake replied but once again, Alice wasn't pleased with what he was about to say.
She knew he was about to lie right now and that made her really unhappy.
Her pretty face instantly turned into a cute pout as she stared at him with her stunning blue eyes.
"Jake St Patrick. Didn't big sister warned you never to lie to her again? You know I don't like it when you lie to me, right?"
Jake blinked in surprise, but then a calm smile appeared on his face as he wondered why Alice loved to proclaim herself as his big sister when they were clearly not related in any way.
Of course, he found it endearing, so he could never be upset with how Alice viewed herself as his elder sister.
However, he felt bad for almost lying to her right now, so he apologized immediately. "I'm sorry big sis. It won't happen again."
Yeah, he had to play along with being the younger brother because he knew it made Alice happy and it really did because her smile widened instantly, the moment she heard him calling her big sister and she nodded in approval.
"Good, big sister forgives you for apologizing and because you're her adorable little brother, she won't be upset with you anymore."
Jake didn't say anything to counter her words, instead he simply rolled his eyes with a smile before walking closer to her.
Alice was two years older than him, so she saw Jake as her adorable little brother, and she's been treating him as such ever since.
Even right now, if it weren't for the condition she was in, she probably would have stood up from her bed to give her little brother a knock or two knocks on his head for trying to lie to her.
Then once she's satisfied, she'd definitely give him a tight hug, simply because she wants to.
"Have you eaten?" Jake asked as he pulled a chair to the side of the bed and sat down close to her.
"Yes, I have."
"Do you still need anything?"
"No, I'm fine. Thanks."
"You sure? Cause I'll be happy to get you anything if you want me to.".
"Thanks, but I don't need anything right now." Her cheeks slowly turned pink because she was used to how Jake would always ask these little questions and it touched her every time she sees how much he cares about her.
So why wouldn't she adore her cute little brother so much??
'He's simply the best in the whole world and no one could ever compare!!!' The beautiful young lady exclaimed internally before calming her mind right after.
Alice slowly clasped her hands together with a smile on her lips, then she raised her head up again to look at the bruises Jake had on his jaws and cheeks.
Seeing this, a frown appeared on her face and she asked in a gentle and soft voice. "You ran into them again, didn't you?"
Jake nodded and he didn't say anything else.
She knew about the Iron Fang gang, so it was easy for Alice to assume they were the cause of the bruises on Jake's face.
Meanwhile, Alice clasped fingers tightened even more as anger slowly brewed deep within her.
She didn't like how the Iron Fang gang were treating Jake and she knew they were probably doing all these to him because they knew he was too young to do anything against them.
And that's why Alice had asked him to leave the sector countless times in the past, but he wouldn't listen.
She wanted him to move in to a different sector, but Jake had always been insistent on staying in this sector where he would be close to both Jane and Alice.
The slums was divided into nine sectors with each sector having at least one mob syndicate as it's underground ruler, but among them all, the Iron Fang gang in sector 7, were the weakest ones in the Slums.
Still, Jake wouldn't leave sector 7, even though he knew there'll be a high chance the Iron Fang gang stops bothering him if he did leave.
But he had his reasons for not leaving.
Alice could also guess what his reasons were even if he didn't want to share it with her.
In the Slums, unlike every other sectors, sector 7, was the only region where the cost of living wasn't as high as the rest of the other sectors.
Everything here in sector 7 was simply a lot cheaper in comparison to other sectors, be it food, housing or any thing else you could possibly think of, so it would make sense why Jake would be reluctant to leave sector 7.
However, that wasn't the only reason he hadn't leave the Slums yet.
The main reason why Jake hadn't left the Slums yet was mainly because he knew if he were to leave, the Iron Fang gang would most likely turn attention to both Jane and Alice, and he wouldn't want to imagine what those thugs would do to the two most important people in his life.
Pushing this thought aside for now, Jake noticed the book Jane placed on her bedside table, just right after he had entered.
"What were you reading?"
"Just a novel a nurse gave me."
"Is it good?"
"Nope, it's a novel about a farmer suffering from dementia, how is that supposed to be entertaining?"
Jake smiled and tried his best not to laugh.
From the way Alice sounded just now, it was clear to see that she was unhappy and frustrated with the book the nurse gave to her, but since she didn't have anything else to read, she had no other choice but to keep reading it.
Alice glanced down at the book before returning her gaze back to Jake, but just before she could open her mouth to speak, a gentle knock, pulled their attention towards the nurse in the entrance.