What is family?

Chapter 12

Ace

"She looks exactly like mom and her eyes are like dad's"

Ugh.

This is so frustrating. Yesterday, when Vince told that we have another sister, I thought dad got some woman pregnant and didn't know it himself. But the truth was devastating. It wasn't any other woman. It was mom. She wasn't our half sister. She was the sister mom gave birth to.

I don't know how she got swapped with Angelina. Even Vince seems to not have an answer to that question. I'm sure he's trying to dig more about this.

But the biggest shock is, Angel is not even our half sister. During all these years, due to various circumstances, we understood that she wasn't our full sister. We thought she was our half sister. But turns out she wasn't either.

I couldn't digest the fact that Angel wasn't even our half sister. I was confused. I didn't know what to think or feel of it.

Who's our real sister? Where had she been all this time? How did they get swapped? Who was she staying with? Was it them who swapped them? How did dad not know anything about this?

There were so many questions, I needed answers for. But all this left my brain the moment I realized Angel was crying. She was trying to control her sobs, but failing miserably. I couldn't see her like that.

A lot of things changed since the past three years. Her smile may sometimes be misleading, but her eyes can't deceive the pain. I don't know what happened. Vince knows. But he wouldn't tell anyone. I don't know if he at least told Theo everything. Not like Theo's going to tell us anything.

Sigh.

I just wish we could somehow erase that pain of hers'. She has changed since the last three years. She's still the same old Angelina, but again she's not. She's still the same loving person she had been, but there's something hidden in that smile of hers' that we don't seem to understand.

I sometimes wonder if Vince knows everything. After that incident, Angel never spoke of it again. She tried to be all normal, but Vince's restlessness, the growing tension in the family and the rift between Vince and......

All of these made us understand that the situation was anything but normal. 

Sigh.

I wish I had checked.

If only I had checked once, she wouldn't have......

Sigh.

It is a regret I can't let go. Things would have been different if only I had been more attentive. I can see the pain in Theo's eyes whenever Angel tries to act normal and hide her pain behind that smile of hers'. I bet Vince feels guilty too. Though he doesn't show much emotions, we know he's not happy either.

Vince and Theo took care of us when we were growing up. They still are raising us. Vince had shouldered more responsibilities to let Theo have a normal childhood too. He has practically raised all of us. Though he raised all of us, we know, for Vince, Angelina is special.

She is special to all of us!

That is why when she told she's not our sister, I tensed. I can't lose her. Neither of us can. She may not be our biological sister. But she is our sister.

And when she asked about her biological family, I was hurt. We are her family. No matter who gave birth to her, she is our sister. I won't ever let her go, even if it's selfish of me to think like that.

We are no saints either way.

When Vince closed the conversation saying there's no going out of the family, once you're in, I relaxed. He is not going to let her go anywhere. Not even to her biological family. No. Not family. More like biological relatives. Cause we are her only family.

But out of all these, I also wanted to see the sister Vince talked about. Who is she? How is she like? The curiosity was too much. But I really felt awful thinking about her. It felt as if I'm betraying Angel. So I just pushed all the thoughts to the back of my head and tried to sleep.

Today morning when I walked into the dining room, I froze looking at the girl standing in front of me. She looked exactly like mom, more like her younger version and her eyes were like dad's, a light shade of blue. She is our sister. But then Angel came into my mind and I just walked past her.

We introduced ourselves and she introduced herself.

Arianna.

After that when Angel has greeted her and tried to make her comfortable, I felt relieved. But her next action spiked my anger. She asked Arianna to sit in her place and she herself sat beside Ash. That made me furious.

I don't know what she's trying to do but that just made my blood boil. I followed Dyl and Ash to the gym to release my anger.

After an hour, I walked to my room and took a shower. Just as I was about to step out of my room, the knob turned and dashed in a figure. I caught her before she could fall.

"Woah! Careful there bullet train!", I steadied her.

She moved out of my embrace and grinned.

"There's no time to slow down."

"Why?", I asked.

"I'm hungry!", she pouted.

I raised a brow and asked, "You didn't eat breakfast?".

"I did. So what, shouldn't I be hungry now?", she asked with a fake offended expression.

I shrugged, "What do I have anything to do with that?".

"I want you to accompany me while I'm eating.", she said.

"I'm not free.", I said. If any other day she told me she was hungry, I would have taken her out or given her company while eating, but right now I'm angry.

"But I don't want to eat alone.", she said with a pout and gave me the infamous puppy eyes.

I sighed. I can't reject when she's asking so cutely.

I grumbled, "Fine!".

She grinned and locked her arms with mine saying,

"Let's go find others to accompany us for a late morning snack!".

We walked out towards the gym and that brought a smile to my face. I know her too well to understand what she's trying to do.

Always the nurturing type!

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So here is the next chapter.

How was the chapter?

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Yours lovingly, 

Author.