After Past (Completed)

Chapter 28: Reasons And Love

Chapter XXVIII: Reasons And Love

Bella's POV

"Stephanie is not your real sister. Now go. You heard me. There's no reason for you to be like a hero and save her."

"Anong ibig niyong sabihin? Tell me you're lying."

My mother might be a lot of things but she never lied to me. Yes, I know that all of these secrets of her can be counted as her lies but I never ask her these questions before.

She did not lie, she only kept the whole truth to herself.  Mas pipiliin ni mama na hindi na lang sagutin ang isang tanong kaysa sa magsinungaling siya. Alam kong mahirap paniwalaan ngunit sa buong buhay kong nakilala si mama, ay gano'on siya.

"If you refuse to believe me, then it's not my problem. You asked me to tell you the truth, then I did. I won't force you to believe me. Just get out of here. That's an order!"

Gusto kong paniwalaan lahat ng sinabi ni mama ngunit parang napakahirap nitong tanggapin dahil hindi ko naman ito naiintindihan. Paanong hindi ko naging kapatid so Stephanie? At ano naman ang kinalaman nito sa nangyayari ngayon?

"If what you're saying is true, I need you to explain it to me and then I will leave," I lied.  Hinding hindi ko iiwanan sina Ate at Gino rito, pero kailangan kong makipaglaro muna. I need to buy Gino and Inspector some time, untill they'll arrive.

"Okay, fine." Hindi ko inaasahang mapapayag ko siya, pero hindi ko na lang iyon kinuwestiyon pa.

"Naaalala mo ba nung sampung taong gulang pa lang si Stephanie, no'ng nagkasakit siya kaya kailangan natin siyang dalhin sa hospital?" Hindi ko alam kung bakit niya akontinatanong nito ngunit tumango na lang ako.

"The truth is, she never survived that day...she died."

Napakapit ako sa laylayan ng aking damit sa narinig. Naaalala ko pa iyon. Ilang buwan din si Ate nanatili sa hospital no'n ngunit malinaw sa ala-ala ko na gumaling din siya. Hindi ako pinapayagan ni mama na dumalaw kay ate sa hospital kaya hindi ko alam kung paano nila siya napagaling.

I was expecting that she will say something like, Stephanie was just an orphan. But this is way beyond what I was expecting. Mas lalo lang tuloy akong naguluhan.

How could she have died from that day when clearly I just saw her yesterday, breathing and alive?

"Hindi kita maintindihan? Anong pinagsasabi niyo? Paanong... "

"The day when your sister died, the organization came to me. They said, they can help me with your sister. They proposed that if I let them have Stephanie as their test subject for their new project, they might be able to bring her back. I was very lost back then, and despite of the impossibility, I agreed. I was not fully aware of what the project really is, but I did not care, all I wanted was to bring back your sister. Couple of weeks later they said that they also wanted me to help them with the project. I was hesitant at first but I figured that it might be the best way for me to know what the project really is. I found out that they called it Genetic Imitation. They were trying to clone dead people and your sister was their first subject. The Stephanie that you know now is just a replica of the real Stephanie before. The real Stephanie is that one behid you, floating inside the capsule. " Saglit munang huminto si mama. The news was like a bomb that exploded right in front of my face. Parang umiikot ang paningin ko matapos kong marinig ang sinabi ni mama.