Hello reader. I am back writing this story :). I am sorry it takes some time to finish the second chapter, but yeah, Voila lol. This chapter will focus on the evening before the basketball tournament begin for Matthew. I hope you enjoy it just as much as i enjoy writing this story :).

It looks like Matthew has a little surprise waiting for him on his house, what is it? How will it impact the story?

Well, only one way to find out :)

Chapter 2

The Sibling Reunion

"I'm home." Matthew said as he opened the door to his house after he put his motorcycle in the garage.

Matthew's face looks surprised after he opened his door because he saw a giner-haired guy, who is slightly taller than him smiled at him while eating his chocolate cookies that he originally planned to save for later.

"Oh goodness, Dean, when did you arrive in here? I thought you'll come tomorrow. Even mom confirmed that. Is there something happening that make you change your mind?" Matthew asked in a very surprised tone. He did not realize that his older brother, Dean would come earlier. It was just yesterday Matt had a Skype with him and he told Dean that he will come in Saturday morning.

The ginger-haired guy, whom Matthew called Dean, just raised one of his eyebrows while still munching the chocolate cookies that he eats. "Oh yeah, sorry, a little bit surprise. I also never thought that I'll come today hahaha. Aren't you happy to see me, my dear baby-brother?" Dean asked in a teasing voice which makes Matt's face a little bit flustered.

"Dean, I'm 17. It's not funny anymore. Oh yeah, anyway how are ya? How is college?" Matthew asked with a little bit of enthusiastic tone mixed in his voice as they sat on the living room sofa and turn on the TV.

Dean followed his younger brother and decided to sit next to him. Upon closer inspection, even though Matthew and him are brothers, they have differences, with Matthew's hair is dirty blonde and he has a light blue eyes, just like the color of how the sky reflects the sun's bright light at a day, while Dean has red hair, sometimes people call it orange because it has a very great resemblance with the color of sunset. He also does not have blue iris in his eyes just like his younger brother. Instead, his has the amber color.

"Ohh, all is cool. Next semester will be my last. I also already decide what I want to do after I graduate." Dean answered casually. "Oh yeah, about your cookies, I'm sorry. I can't find anything in the refrigerator, and I'm quite hungry , so yeah, you know where this ends." Dean shaked the almost-empty cookies bag while raising his eyebrow multiple times to Matthew.

"Nevermind the cookies." Matthew said after sighing lightly at his brother's behavior.

"Thanks. I know you're the best brother I've ever hoped for. Anyway, it is been quite a long time. I never received the news that you progress to the final of this basketball tournament. Why did ya never tell me?" Dean asked with a curious tone.

"I did." Matthew raised his eyebrow.

"When did you give the news? As long as I can remember, I never receive it, ya sure?." Dean asked again after he folded the empty bag of cookies.

"Hmmm, if I'm not mistaken, 3 months ago." Replied Matthew.

"Now it makes sense, I didn't back up my phone memory, so it was lost. I broke my phone 3 months ago, and it can't be repaired." Dean said to Matthew as he showed his new phone to him and it surprised Matthew a little bit because Dean's new phone is a new model and it has a lot of brand new features that previous generation of phones didn't have.

Dean and Matthew talked a lot about almost anything. Even if they chat and often did a videocall through their social media, it seems that once they met in real life, they seemed like never talk to each other for several years. Their bonds are really strong as brothers. Although, Dean and Matthew sometimes fight, it didn't occur as much as other male siblings. Maybe it is because their age gap is not too small, 5 years to be exact, and their personalities are really different, yet very complimentary of each other.

All of the topics that they already talked were really interesting. Matthew also learned that his brother, Dean, brought his girlfriend, Sarah to the home and currently Sarah and their mother, Jenna, go to the mall for shopping. Now it makes sense why Matthew didn't saw his mother when he entered the home.

"What about you Matt?." Dean suddenly asked Matthew

"What about what Dean? What do you mean?." Replied Matthew with a bit of confused tone in his voice.

"Your girlfriend. Do ya already invite her to your tournament tomorrow?." Dean asked again, his voice was full of curiosity.

"Uhh...I don't have one Dean." Replied Matt to his older sibling.

"Ohh, sorry about that, but Matt, to think it again, aren't you pretty popular in your highschool?." Dean asked Matthew, in which, Matthew just replied by giving Dean a shrug.

Suddenly, Dean remember something. He ever heard his younger brother, Matthew, telling him if he has a girl that he loves.

"Matthew...is it...that the raven-haired girl, Karis...is she the one that you love?." Dean suddenly asked to Matthew, but now, rather than his usual high tone, it was slower.

Dean's question surprised Matthew. He was so surprised because his brother remembered Karis. Well, to think it again, it was not too strange because Matthew and Karis have been bestfriends for quite a long time. Although, Dean asked him, he didn't give any response to his question.

Dean, who saw the surprised act of Matthew, and the way he didn't answer his question just smile and sighed. He understood that Matthew really love Karis. He couldn't hide it from him. Dean decided to hold up his questions regarding Matthew and Karis for now, he felt that it is not the right time for him to ask yet. Moreover, Matthew will have a tournament tomorrow. He didn't want to bother him with such thought.

Suddenly, the door opened and 2 figures of woman, one brunette-haired, and one red-haired, who is also older than the woman with brunette hair appeared and brought several shopping bags with them.

"Mom, Sarah, welcome home." Dean said with a smile on his face as he walked to the 2 woman.

The red-haired woman, who noticed Matthew and Dean talking with each other, decided to walk to them while bringing her shopping bags.

"Oh hi Dean. Thank you. I brought you dinner now." Said the red-haired woman while smiling and showing Dean several box of pizza. "Matt, sorry honey, I didn't cook dinner for you yet, but here I bought your favorite pizza. I'll go to the kitchen to prepare for dinner." The red-haired woman, who is called Jenna added.

The brunette haired woman, Sarah, Dean's girlfriend put her shopping bags on the table and looked directly at Matthew's eyes. Like, inspecting him, which makes Matthew a bit uncomfortable.

"Whoaaa Matthew, I can't believe it. You've grown taller, almost as tall as Dean, and...you look more mature than the last time I saw you." Sarah said with an enthusiastic voice after she was done inspecting Matthew.

"Thanks Sarah...you're beautiful too." Matthew said awkwardly.

"Aww, aren't you a cutie? I think if I was around your age I would rather date you than the 'that' ginger-haired man." Sarah said jokingly with a teasing voice while her eyes looked at Dean, who was standing near the door.

"Hey Sarah!." Dean said a bit loudly which emitted laugh from both Matthew and Sarah.

"Dean, when was the last time I meet Matthew? I remember he was not this tall and also...smaller." Sarah turned her head to his boyfriend.

"If I'm not mistaken, it was 2, no, 3 years ago. You're right, it was already quite a long time." Dean answered Sarah's question.

Sarah couldn't meet Dean's family quite often because she lived in Germany. It was quite far from Dean's home region, the UK. That's why Sarah could only join Dean when their college holiday come.

Just as when Sarah, Dean, and Matthew almost continued their talks, Jenna, Dean and Matthew's mother called them from the dining room because dinner is ready. The 3 of them then went to the dining room to have dinner together

Jenna, Dean and Matthew's mother has prepared 2 large pizzas, with one of them is Dean's favorite while the other is Matthew's. The 4 of them now are sitting on the chair and have dinner together.

"Matthew, dear, your father Isaac will come home tomorrow. He said that he already took several days off to spend some days in here with us. Isn't that great?" Jenna asked his youngest son while munching on the pizza slice.

Matthew got pretty surprised once more. It was already quite a long time since he met his father. His father rarely comes home because he is a diplomat, working in another country. "Mom, dad's quite busy, he doesn't have to come home first if he can't. I can understand his situation. Don't worry about it." Matthew replied with his usual warm smile carved oh his face.

"It's his choice honey, don't worry, it's not a burden for him. He did it because he wanted to." Jenna explained the situation to Matthew which makes Matthew understands it and just nodded as a response.

After that, the family continues having a family talk. Dean told his mother and Matthew if he wants to become a rocket engineer once he graduates. He is even already hired as a part-time employee and a scientist assistant in NASA. He told Jenna, his mother, that he will move in to USA after he finished his college because he will work for NASA. As much as Jenna is very proud of her oldest son, she is also quite sad because Dean will live in a different country, again. Dean promised Jenna and Matthew that he will visit them once in a while too. As for Sarah, Dean's girlfriend, since she is a medical student, her education in college will take more time, but nevertheless she also already has a plan for her future. Her researches that she did, earn her praises among the medical scholars in her universities. It is about the prototypes of medicines that she and her lecturers already made to combat cancer and HIV to prevent AIDS. It has a pretty good success rate with 39 %, which is quite high, considering these medicines can somehow remove cancer from infected cells and combat HIV. While Matthew, Jenna's youngest son also already developed his own path that he will take. By becoming one of the greatest basketball players in his age in UK, Matthew already made a name of himself. He got pretty famous, especially among girls and he has a lot of followers in his social media. Matthew himself was offered an athlete full scholarship for double degree in one of the greatest universities in Canada, Toronto University. He planned to continue his basketball passion in college and decided to take architecture and information technology as his major. Although, he still doesn't know whether he must continue as a full-time athlete or continue pursuing his career in the major that he chooses after he graduated from college. Well, he still got a lot of time, several years to be exact to think those things.

After having family dinner and family talk, Jenna decided to wash the dishes while Sarah offered her to help. Matthew went upstairs to have a rest in his room while Dean decided to try a new guitar that he has bought in the living room. Since Dean moved out from the house 4 years ago, Matthew got his own room. His is just beside Dean's in the second floor of his house. Dean himself used his old room when he decided to visit his parent's house and Sarah also stayed there.

Since the time is still not too late, Matthew decided to play a game using gaming consoles. He was so surprised when suddenly the door of his room opened several minutes after he started to play games.

"You surprised me Dean. Aren't you supposed to go on a date with Sarah? Why are ya here?" Matthew asked to his brother after slightly looking at his direction.

Dean, who brought his guitar with him decided to sit beside Matthew while taking a peek at what kind of games that his younger brother play.

"Chill out Matt, geez you're so cold, it's very uncommon of you. Anyway, I never saw you having a new Nintendo Switch. Is it a new console? Where and when did you get it?" Dean asked while his eyes never leave on scanning the Nintendo switch that his younger brother use.

"Sorry, I'm just nervous for tomorrow. Oh, this Switch is given to me after I'm doing an endorsement last year." Matthew explained to his brother Dean, while smiling warmly to him, an act to show someone, especially someone new that he is harmless and approachable. He did this to Dean because he felt bad after acting like a cold person to him.

"Everything's gonna be fine. It is going to be alright, I believe in you. I always do and always will be." Said Dean with a slower, lower, and calming voice while ruffling Matthew's hair, an act that Dean always do to remind Matthew that he is in a safe place, and not to worry too much because Dean is always be there for Matthew. Somehow, this act earned a little chuckle from Matthew and it also eased his nervousness a little.

"Wow, and Matt, I never thought that you can earn a free console via an endorsement. That's really something. You must be getting pretty famous huh?" Dean continued and commented while he watched his brother playing Pokémon Sword and Shield via his Nintendo switch. After that, they pretty much discussed about Pokémon. Both of them love Pokémon, especially the games since they were kids. Usually, their parents will buy 2 consoles for each of them so they can play Pokémon together, trading Pokémon, etc. Dean himself never play the 8th generation Pokémon games since it is on Switch and he is already a college student when the games come out, so he never play the Pokémon games on Switch. Just as he was discussing about Pokémon games with Matt, Dean realized if Matt has other consoles in his room.

"Wow, really? You also got Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5? Are ya kidding me? Now I'm really wondering how much money you've on your bank account. Can I play it?" Dean asked again as he inspected both the Xbox and PlayStation 5 on his brother's room. He wondered how come a 17-years old boy such as Matthew managed to buy new consoles by himself. He never received a news if Matthew has a job either.

"I don't buy them, and yeah, you can play if you want." Matthew answered shortly without turning his head to Dean, as he was focusing on his game.

"So, how do ya get them if you don't buy it?" Dean asked again, curiously, while looking at the games he wanted to play on PlayStation 5.

"It is a gift from my last year's birthday." Matthew answered again shortly.

"From who?" Dean asked again curiously, while he decided to play Assassin's creed Valhalla

Matthew sighed at Dean's question, so he decided to answered it to a more-detailed answer. "PS 5's from Kate, a girl from my high school, while the Xbox, it's from Elene, she's a girl from another school and we met from last year's basketball tournament. She's a supporter of her own school basketball team, yeah, but somehow we manage to become friends." Matthew answered Dean's question in a more-detailed way, hoping so Dean won't ask another question again.

"Wow." Dean responded shortly at Matthew's explanation. He was so surprised that his younger brother, Matthew turned into such a ladies-man considering his innocence personality.

"Are they your ex? crush? Or even girlfriend?" Dean asked again curiously as he wanted to know who these girls really are.

Matthew shaked his head slowly. "They're just friends. I never have a crush on them." Matthew answered with a low voice.

Dean just nodded while continuing to play the Assassin's creed game on the PS 5. It was then when he remembered if there is a girl that Matthew already has a crush on. Well, Matthew never says it to him, but it is really obvious to Dean, although, he didn't want to get too far on his brother's love life, but at the same time, he was really curious.

"Yes, how could I forget. I said this a while ago before dinner time. Karis, isn't it?" Dean asked with a teasing voice and a small smile carved on his lip. As soon as Matthew heard the name, he stopped pressing the button of his Switch and just stared at his screen for several seconds until he resumed to play his games. Matthew didn't give any answer to Dean, though, pretending like Dean never asked such a question.

"Matt, you are my brother, I know who you are. When we were kids, it was me who took care of ya when dad and mom are not home, but, still, I respect your privacy if you don't want to tell it. Although, if it's true that you have a crush on her, I suggest that you move on. There are plenty of girls out there. I'm sure getting a new girlfriend is not a hard task for you. Well, Matt, it's just a suggestion, all of the choice is yours, and whatever is it, I'm sure that you already think of it and I'll fully support it." Dean explained to Matthew because he knew the expression in Matthew's face changed when he mentioned her name. Matthew just smiled at Dean without answering him before turning off his Nintendo Switch.

"Uhh, ohh, are you going to sleep?" Dean asked Matthew after he noticed that he stood up and turned off his Switch.

"Yes, must have a good night rest before tomorrow." Matthew answered to his brother's question. He also noticed Dean that he had fun playing the PS 5. "Dean, may I sleep in your room? I mean it's been a long time since I slept in my old bedroom. Kinda miss it." Matthew requested with a low and calm voice. He didn't want to disrupt the fun that his brother had when playing the games, so he decided to make an excuse without making Dean feel guilty.

"Yes sure. Ohh nice, I can play the game longer too. Good night my baby brother, have a pleasant dream." Dean answered excitedly.

Matthew just chuckled while shaking his head at the tease Dean used on him before he also said a good night to Dean.

Well, he needs a rest, a really good one, since his big day will come to him quickly in less than 10 hours.

-To Be Continued-

Well, now we know already about Matthew's little secret. More importantly next chapter will talk about the basketball tournament.

I am sorry it took me around 2 months to finish the second chapter. I am kind of busy in my real life and there are a lot of homeworks i must do. Although, To be honest, i really enjoy writing this story

Let me hear your comments and review regarding the story and what could be added / edited / removed to make this story better. I'd love to hear your opinion guys :)

See you in Chapter 3