𝕋𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕓𝕝𝕖𝕕

Part 26: Show and Tell

It's been a week. Aaron has to tell them. It's no way he can avoid it anymore. They're family. He can't hide things from family. He takes a deep breath and tells them to come down from their rooms. He can hear Alex and Andrew raving and Mariah calling them childish. Alex slides on the couch before Andrew does and sticks his tongue out at him. Andrew sticks his middle finger up.
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"Andrew where did you learn that from?" Aaron asks. Andrew points any Alex.

"Hey he was annoying me so I had to teach him something to get off of my back" Alex defends himself. Aaron rolls his eyes. He'll deal with this later.

"Guys I have something serious to tell you" Aaron says

"OH OH OH! Are you and Roni engaged or having a baby?!" Mariah blurges out happily.

"No and no" Aaron says

"Then are Kian and Nessa getting engaged or having a baby?" Alex asks

"What.....Look I don't know, you'll have to ask them that. What I'm telling you is life changing"

"Oh are Gray and James dating?" Alex asks

"Alex this isn't a joke, it's about mom and dad" Aaron's time turns more serious. Alex goes from joking to the most serious face that Aaron has ever seen him have.

"I-" Mariah says. She doesn't know what to say.

"Andrew I'm telling you this because you need to know. It's your life too. Mom and dad loved us so much. More than we'll ever know. They loved us so much that they worked day and night for us. When they were at work some bad guy came and left some matches and other explosives in an oil factory. Oil and fire don't mix and so when the explosives caught on fire it caused a huge explosion and killed mom and dad. We lived in an orphanage for awhile until a lady adopted us. She wasn't a good person. We moved from North Carolina to here in LA because mom and dad won this house and they were saving up to move here. When we moved here that lady stayed with us for a few months. She got tired of raising us so she left us on our own. If we tell anyone that we have no one looking after us then we could risk being separated and we'd never see each other again. We know who that bad guy is or at least who they were hired by. It was Roni and Nessa's mom. That doesn't mean that you need to look at them differently. They love you as much as we do and they had no control over what happened. They didn't even live with their mom at the time. What I want you to know is that no matter how many times we've been left alone and abandoned, you'll have us. We'll always be there for you. No matter what we have to do we'll be your ride or dies. You can always count on us and one more thing, don't open your mouth about any of this unless it's to Me, Alex, Mariah, Luke, Gary, E, Lauren, Roni, or Nessa. That's the only people that know. If you tell anyone else, even your closest friends or teachers. We could lose it all if you do. You have to promise me that you won't tell no matter how mad or upset you are with me, Alex, or Mariah. That's not the way to get revenge on us. You could put us including you in danger. You have to promise me that, ok?" Aaron's at eye level with Andrew. He gets choked up multiple times while talking. Andrew sits in his lap.

"I promise" Drew says and interlocks pinkies with him.

"I love you. Now go upstairs, I'll be up there in a little bit." Aaron says and pats Drew's back and he runs upstairs. As soon as he's out of earshot Alex asks the question that he's been holding back.

"Is it true?" Alex asks. He swallows the lump in his throat.

"What?" Aaron asks

"Don't act dumb. Is it true that Wendy hired the guy who bombed the factory? Or did see do it? DID SHE KILL MOM ABD DAD?!" Alex goes from 0 to 100 real quick. Mariah holds on to his arm because he can see Alex getting madder by the second. She doesn't want her brothers fighting. That's the last thing she wants.