All the couples that Alaia Repond has gotten together have stayed happily together, and at this point, she really should consider matchmaking as a profession. So when her close friend Ollie asks her to set up a friend of his, she's more than happy t...
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Franco's arm is slung around Alaia's shoulder as the two sit on the patio couch, and she's leaned in close to him. His parents smile at the sight as his father pops open a can of beer.
And suddenly, the doorbell rings.
Franco's mother gets up to open the door, and Alaia hears her say something along the lines of 'come in.'
She sees four people follow Franco's mother to the patio, and her blood runs cold when she sees who it is.
It's her mother. And her sister. And her... who she would assume to be her stepfather. There's also a younger girl, who looks just like her mother — so it hits her then that she has two siblings.
Alaia immediately freezes, her hand trembling when she locks eyes with her mother.
Her mother recognises her too, and she looks shocked.
All the things Alaia wants to say disappears from her mind. Words like what the fuck are you doing here, how dare you, why did you leave us? Every single feeling she thought she'd gotten over suddenly hits her like a tsunami, and she feels like she's suffocating. She needs to leave.
"Alaia, these are our neighbours, the Cabreras." Franco's mother introduces them to her, and Alaia nods absentmindedly — she doesn't even hear what her little sisters' names are or the name of the man standing there. All she knows is that she needs to get the fuck out of there.
"Nice to meet you," she mumbles. She doesn't dare look at her mother again, who's looking at her pleadingly.
Franco knows of the Cabreras, with his mother mentioning them to him in passing — but he'd never really met them properly. But even he doesn't need to know them to know that Marianne Cabrera's face is filled with regret.
