"I am on my way to the house now."

"You've picked her up already?"

"No need to waste time," Samuel replied, turning to the rearview mirror.

Giovanna sat in the back, strapped in with her headphones on and her eyes glued to the screen of her phone. They had decided that he would pick her up from school so they could talk at home and sort things out. He promised she could stay as long as she wanted, so long as they spoke to their parents.

"Alright. Be safe."

"You too."

As the call dropped, he checked in on Giovanna again. She had not said a word when he picked her up from school, but from the whispers, he picked from her friend, he had learnt there was more to the story than she told anyone. For some reason, her friends at school were surprised that her "boyfriend" didn't come to pick her up again. For whatever reason, Giovanna decided to kiss Vincent to convince her preppy girlfriends that they were dating.

He didn't touch that topic yet. They could discuss it when they got back to his place. For now, they had other arguments to finish.

"We are here," Samuel announced with a snap of his finger to get Giovanna's attention. "Let's go."

"Do I really have to do this?"

"Yes. Get out of this car."

Though reluctant, they made it into the house and to their mother's study. Inside, their father gathered her into his arms, and Giovanna meekly hugged him back. Samuel waved at his dad and took a seat by the window while the two spoke between themselves.

"You don't run out of the house at night, no matter how angry you are."

"I know."

"You don't run out without calling or talking to anyone."

"Yes, Dad."

"Can you promise me you'd never do anything like that again, please?"

"I promise, but it's nothing to worry over. I went straight to Samuel's and he let me stay the night."

"I heard he is letting you stay more than a night." His father directed at him.

"I'll let her stay as long as she wants."

"She is coming back today." Their mother boomed into the room, shutting the door with a resounding bang.

Whatever fight they started the previous night was clearly not over. Not that Samuel was surprised. His mother was a classist. Giovanna didn't have to be dating Vincent for her to be repulsed. The mere fact that they had intimacy of any kind, even if it was holding hands, would be enough to make her spiral.

"Good evening, mom." Giovanna remained otherwise calm. "Samuel said you guys still wanted to talk to me."

"You are coming back today."

"No, I am not. Samuel said I could stay. I am staying with him."

"I have had enough of you throwing your little tantrums and getting away with it. I don't know what's been happening with you, but I am putting an end to it."

"There is nothing to put an end to. I told you what happened already, and you're just not listening."

"I am listening, alright. And all I am hearing is that you decide to embarrass us and yourself, but doing something so thoughtless it makes all your other immature actions seem good."

"So what if I kissed him? It's not like I made out with an animal in front of the school. Vincent is a good guy. Amazing. He is not some dog."

"He is your driver. Our driver. He comes to this house to work. Don't confuse whatever relationship you might have with him to make him more than he is. He is no one."

"He isn't no one to me."

"He should be." Their mother rebutted.

"This is unbelievable." Giovanna groaned, stalking towards the door.

"Young lady, get back here." Their father commanded, and she stopped dead in her tracks. "Ysabel, calm down and let's get to the bottom of this. Giovanna, come back."

Peter swung the door open, dramatically looking at their faces before sighing. "Thought I'd be late enough to miss it."

"What are you doing here?" Giovanna

"Mom thought I'd have something to input on the matter." He answered.

"Input? Am I on trial or something? Why are we gathering here as if I committed some crime? I don't need any family intervention."

"I am only here because your parents decided to make a big deal out of nothing." Peter huffed, dropping onto the sofa.

"Thank you. You all are making a big deal out of this."

"I am not." Samuel corrected. "I only told you that if you stay with me, it is after your parents have spoken to you. What you do with your life and who you kiss is your business."

"It's not just who you kiss, Giovanna. Vincent came to report the issue to us. Despite your friendship, he is still an employee of this house. He reported it to us so we wouldn't hear it from someone else and because he cares about you. Anyone else, and it would have been considered harassment."

Giovanna sheepishly looked down at her shoes with a shrug. "Of that part, I am sorry. It happened in the spur of the moment, and I apologised afterwards."

"I am glad you apologised. That would have been enough to stop him if he wanted to sue us." His mother spat sarcastically.

"What else do you want me to say."

"I want you to bloody grow up, Giovanna. All your talk about the embarrassment of having Kali plastered around the news as a gold digger, and you go and make out with our driver in front of your entire school."

"Don't bring Kali into this," Samuel warned quietly.

"Imagine if one of your friends finally comes to visit." She continued as if he had never spoken. "How would you feel if they recognize him? They'd make fun of you, and then who knows what they'll say to their mothers."

"This is not about our image, Ysabel. This is about learning to respect boundaries, even between friends." His father joined in to steer the conversation away from his mother's perspective.

"And also learn to act with maturity. How foolish of you to behave as if you are the one to be offended. What does it mean to run off at night without telling anyone?"

"I didn't run off. I called as soon as I got to Samuel's place."

"How thoughtful." His mother snarked.

"Giovanna, I want to understand why you did it."

"I already said I don't know. I don't clearly understand what came over me."

"You better figure it out and tell us right now. Get it into that thick head of yours, Vincent is an employee. He is beneath you, despite whatever relationship you have made. He is nothing to you, do you understand?"

"Don't offend him. He doesn't deserve you belittling him when he was the one who came to tell the truth."

"What is that to me? What is that to me? He is lucky he is even still working in this house."

"What?"

"You heard me. As a matter of fact, I should fire him anyway. That will put an end to all of it."

"You will not do that to him."

"Or you'll do what? Hm? You'll move out? You've already done that."

"Don't do anything to him. I already said it was my fault. What else do you need?"

"This is his fault too."

"Ysabel." His father called.

"It's the truth. He had no place getting close to you. Who did he think he was? His place was to drive you wherever you needed to go. He is your worker, not your friend. Somewhere along the line he forgot his place and got too comfortable. You too."

"Dad!"

"Mom, Vincent is good at his job," Peter spoke up. "No need to fire him for any of this. Don't you think you're blowing this out of proportion?"

"She is."

"This is your fault." Giovanna threw back at Samuel after he spoke. "I told you I didn't want to come here. I knew she was going to say something like this."

"So you ran to your brother's house for cover? You ran there to do what? What did you achieve? And why did you let her stay."

"Am I supposed to turn my sister away? She'll stay with me for as long as she likes."

"So, what? Kali forgot her own rules? She forgot she didn't want your sister in that house?" She taunted from the centre of the room, her hand high on her hips. "She is allowing her stay out of what? The goodness of her heart?"

"Leave her out of this," Samuel muttered, his eyes fixed on his mother so she could read the seriousness of his words.

"You are not spending a second more in that house. You will come home today as soon as we are done here."

"I already said no. Samuel gave me permission to stay at his place. I am fine there."

"Don't be silly. You can barely stand being in the same room with Kali. What are you going to do over there? Walk on eggshells around each other or sit by the pool and feign a healthy relationship."

"Why should you care?"

"Kali certainly would not waste any time taking advantage of this."

"I said leave her out of this." He repeated with more force.

"Yes!" Giovanna confidently agreed, shocking everyone. "Forget Kali and focus on me. I will never forgive you if you fire Vincent to teach me a lesson. Do anything else you want to me. Cut my allowance in half or take it away altogether. Forget the car you planned for my graduation gift. Send me to a totally different college at the other end of the world, but leave Vincent alone."

"No one is going to fire Vincent."

"That's yet to be seen."

"No one." His father reiterated strongly, and his mother shot daggers at him over his shoulder. "But this isn't something that requires punishment of any kind. I want to understand why you'd do that?"

"Does it matter?"

"A lot. Vincent didn't seem thrilled by what you did, and you haven't explained why you'd kiss him out of the blue if nothing is happening between you. You say he is a human being, so why didn't you respect his boundaries enough to not do that without asking."

"Asking?" His mother sounded disgusted. "She shouldn't even have thought of it."

"It's my business."

"Don't try me, girl." Their mother warned.

"What is happening in here?"

Everyone looked at a curious Ember standing at the door. Samuel, momentarily forgetting their argument, stood to get to his sister. He hugged her tightly.

"Hey, when did you get back?"

"An hour ago," she touched his cheek softly as she walked in. "And it seems I am in time for the fun."

"Hi," Giovanna muttered, hugging Ember when they got close.

"Hello. Mom. Dad. How are you?"

"Fine, honey." Their dad replied.

"Fine." His mother said.

"What did I miss?"

"Giovanna kissed Vincent." Peter finally spoke. He got up from his seat and stalked over to the door. "I heard this argument all night and now all day. I am going back to my room to get some fresh air. I am glad you are back, sweetie. Now, you can take over."

"There is nothing to take over." Giovanna finalized, wiping the tear that strayed down her cheek. "I am not coming home, and I will not allow you to hurt Vincent. You know him better than anyone. He won't let me do anything you wouldn't approve of. I am fine over at Samuel's. When I am ready to come home, I will."

She hugged her again and said goodbye to their dad before blazing out of the room.

"Welcome back." Samuel groaned to Ember, massaging the back of his neck.