*She wasn't looking for love - just snacks and a nap. But then he smiled...*
~True love? Unexpected. Emotional growth? Unwanted. Drama? Inevitable.~
Veronica D'Costa isn't exactly the main character type just - a regular teen: emotionally avoidant...
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Getting a call from Julian asking to meet wasn't unusual. What was unusual was showing up and finding Tyler Crosby standing next to him. Surprise Level: Plot twist in a daytime soap.
I had questions. My brain had even more.
But instead of answers, I was being met with confused expressions and a series of questions from both of them like I was the one who showed up uninvited to their family reunion.
"So, yes, he is my brother," Tyler finally said.
"Half-brother," Julian corrected.
Right. Because that detail was the real surprise here.
I stared at both of them—long enough to start spotting the similarities I'd somehow missed. The same dark hair. The same chocolate brown eyes. Same dramatic brooding energy, honestly.
Everything started clicking into place. The family tension. The shared hatred for Max. The chronic moodiness. Why the hell didn't I notice this before!?
Tyler, of course, had never mentioned anything. Not to me, not even to Neil—and Neil knew everything, including my irrational fear of pigeons and my high score on Temple Run circa 2012.
"I have some questions," I said, crossing my arms and narrowing my eyes at Tyler.
"I know," he said calmly. "But I think Julian should be the one to tell you. It's his story."
Julian took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes, and sighed the sigh of a tortured soul who just wanted a nap. "Fine."
We walked to the small gazebo in the centre of the park. It was completely silent and deserted, providing us with a strange sense of privacy.
"So, I have known you for around 2 years now, Tyler," I said, flopping onto the bench like I owned it. "Why does no one know you have a brother?"
Tyler looked sheepish. "Well... Jace and Ryan know."
I blinked. "That's it?"
"I was seven when I found out I had a half-brother. And that Dad was cheating on Mom..."
"That's my cue," Julian jumped in. "Dad refused to marry my mom after she got pregnant—classy. But he did send her hush money every month, so that was nice, I guess."
His sarcasm was painfully familiar.
Julian let out a humorless laugh. "So yeah... my mom got sick. Stage four cancer. No options left. And in a final act of desperation, she reached out to him—the man who knocked her up and then ghosted her harder than a bad Tinder date."
He rubbed the back of his neck, eyes fixed on the ground.
"She asked him to take me in, just in case she didn't make it. And like any respectable man trying to protect his reputation instead of, you know, being a decent human being—he said no."
