Mi Familia

Taking Sides

Eliz decided to be alone after that heated confrontation and decided to sit on a bench on Imelda's garden. The fragrant of the flowers and noise of small insects calmed her down even just for a bit. She refused to speak to anyone at the moment and the others understood enough to give her request. It wasn't hard to fulfill after all, but not for long.

"A-ate," Vinny came out of his hiding place after minutes of thinking if his plan of talking to Eliz was the right thing to do.

Eliz immediately look to find the one who called her ate and there she saw Vinny, standing rather awkwardly behind a huge potted plant.

"I said I don't want to talk to anybody." Sabi ni Eliz sabay lingon palayo sa kapatid.

"I know." Vinny answered. "I just thought that I need to tell you this before I lose the courage again."

Hindi lumingon at nagsalita ang ate kaya kinuhang hudyat ito ni Vinny para maupo sa tabi nya.

"I just want you to know that we like you and we accept you as our sister."

Eliz chuckled sarcastically. "Really? Well then I really felt it while that girl, that I don't even know who, was determined to kick me out of this house."

"I know and we're sorry."

"Vincent, don't put words to their mouths. They are not sorry."

"Well, I am!" Vinny insisted. "

"Sure."

"Ate."

"Now you are calling me Ate when last night you couldn't even look at me. You even threw a fit at your father."

"Our father." He corrected and Eliz was silenced. "I take everything that I said. I take them all back."

"Why?"

He took a deep breath and played with the grass. "I just realized that this is not easy for you too, that if there is someone to blame, it should be our parents. I mean they left you... without a choice."

Eliz looked at him and gave an emotionless smile. "You change your mind too quickly. Your brothers might hate you for saying those words."

"I do, if I realized that I've been wrong all along and our brothers are just shock and angry as I was. Who can blame them? Papa and Mama hid you for a very long time and Kuya Sandro was so used being the eldest so the knowledge of having an older sister didn't suit him well."

Unknown to them, Sandro was looking for Vinny and found him with the person he didn't want to see at the moment. What made it worst was that he heard that Vinny was accepting her after the huge confrontation between Eliz and Jessica.

"Vincent." Sandro called the youngest with a warning.

"Kuya." Vinny immediately stood and went to stop his him from walking closer to his Ate.

"That girl is right, huh? You change your mind so fast."

Kinuyom ni Vinny ang kanyang palad sa narinig. Tama si Eliz, hindi basta magbabago ang isip ng panganay kahit pagkatapos ng mga nangyari.

"I bet you also heard my reply since you were so focused on eavesdropping on us."

Sandro smiled sarcastically. "So it's true, you are taking her side."

"I am siding with no one. She is our sister and I'm just trying to comfort her since no one is trying to."

"Sister? Vinny, what are you saying?"

Vinny tried to hold his brother's arms, trying to relay his point but Sandro just shoved his hand away.

"She is our sister. No matter how hard you try to deny it, it's the truth."

"She is not our sister, Vinny. She's just an impostor who wants to ruin our family."

"If Papa introduced another girl instead of her, will you believe her?"

Sandro didn't reply.

"See, you won't accept anyone because your mind is already firm on believing that we don't have a sister!"

"That is not true!"

"Then what makes Ate Eliz different?"

Once again, Sandro was left speechless.

"Kuya Sandro just cannot accept the fact that he's no longer the eldest."

Simon appeared out of nowhere and Sandro's anger rose.

"And I became the villain all of a sudden." Sandro said in rage, not liking that Simon joined the youngest against him. "What is so special about this girl that you are all concern to her now when just a while ago you were all against her? You, Vinny, you even tried to leave the country because you couldn't accept her."

"It has nothing to do with her-"

"It has everything to do with her!"

The commotion was getting harsh once again. No one was shouting but the heavy atmosphere was too much to handle so Simon had to step up.

"Kuya Sandro, stop it. Just tell us the reason why can't you accept Ate Eliz?"

Still, Sandro refused to answer. It was then Eliz decided to step up.

"Tama na!" She said. "Hind ninyo naman kailangan pag-awayan ito."

"Look what you have done! We're not like this before. Ever since you came everything changed and you poisoned my brothers' mind to believe all your lies in a very short amount of time, you imposter!"

Marahil ay talagang puno na si Eliz kaya kusa nalang dumapo sa kamay niya sa kanang pisngi ni Sandro na lubhang ikinagulat ng lahat, maging siya. Gulat man, hindi niya ito pinagsisihan.

"Hindi ako impostor! Why don't you ask your parents about my DNA test?" Napatingin ang tatlo kay Eliz, wala silang kaalam-alam sa test na sinasabi ng huli.

"You think your father is that stupid to just believe anyone about his missing daughter?" Tuluyan nang umiyak si Eliz."Alam ko naman na hindi mo ako matatanggap. But please, wag mo namang isisi sakin ang lahat nang nangyayaring ito. Ako ang ipinamigay, ako ang iniwan. Ako ang bigla nalang na sinabihan na gusto akong makita ng mga tunay kong magulang pagkatapos ng maraming taon. Sa tingin mo madali ang lahat ng ito para sakin?"

"Shut up! How dare you lay your filthy hands on me!" Sandro yelled, finally getting the attention of their cousins who were just nearby. Lumapit ang mga ito at sinubukang ilayo si Sandro sa mga kapatid. "Kahit ano pa ang sabihin mo, I will never accept you as my sister!" he said and shoved Luis and Borgy who were holding both his arms.

Eliz was left crying, but this time, she has Vinny and the still awkward Simon beside her.

Unbeknownst to them, the Vice President was silently listening to their confrontation and even before Sandro could enter the house, he grabbed his arm and pulled him back to where the rest are.

"I've made my decision, after this vacation break, all of you are going back to London." He said.

"Oh don't worry, that's also my plan." Sandro tried to answer back but the father was way smarter than him.

"When I say all of you, it means that Eliz is coming too."