It had been three weeks since Amira had learned the shocking truth about her family. Three weeks since she had seen her mother, her father, her twin brother, and her other siblings. Three weeks since she had left the hospital and moved in with her best friend, Maya, who had offered to let her stay until she figured things out. Amira had refused to talk to anyone from her family, ignoring their calls, texts, and emails. She had changed her phone number, blocked them on social media, and avoided any places where she might run into them. She wanted nothing to do with them. She felt betrayed, hurt, and angry. She didn’t know who she was anymore.
But today, she had no choice but to face them. Today was a new day – the day of their official reunion. She thought, maybe this was a chance to get some answers, to understand why they did what they did, to see if they really cared about her. Maybe this was a chance to heal, to forgive, to reconnect. Maybe this was a chance to find herself again.
Amira stood outside the door of the restaurant where the reunion was being held. She took a deep breath and clenched her fists. She was nervous and scared, but also curious and hopeful. “Good luck,” Maya wished her.
She opened the door and stepped inside. She saw a large table, with five familiar faces seated at it. She saw Angelina, Ashton, Draco, Oliver, and a brown-haired girl, who, she thought, was Ashlyn. They saw her too. They stopped talking and looked at her with surprise, relief, and joy. She walked towards them, feeling a mix of emotions. “Hi,” she said softly.
“Hey.” said Draco. “Have a seat,”
She looked at him with unease, but slowly sat down. She looked at her family, who were staring at her with a mix of emotions. She saw Angelina, her mother, who had tears in her eyes. She saw Ashton, her father, who had a sad and guilty expression on his face. She saw Draco, her twin brother, who had a hopeful and gentle smile on his lips. She saw Ashlyn, her older sister, who had a friendly and welcoming look in her eyes. She saw Oliver, her younger brother, who had a curious and innocent gaze on his face.
They all looked like her, in some way or another. Her mother, and both the twins had the same blonde hair, the same green eyes, the same fair skin. Her father, sister and brother shared the same brown hair, blue eyes, and slightly tanner skin. But despite the minor differences, they had the same blood running through their veins. They were her family.
There was an awkward silence at the table, as no one knew what to say or how to start the conversation. Amira felt uncomfortable and tense, while her family felt anxious and eager. They all wanted to talk to her, to explain, to apologize, to catch up, to bond. But they didn’t know how to break the ice, how to overcome the gap that had been created by their lies and secrets.
The silence was broken by Oliver, the youngest and most innocent of them all. He looked at Ashlyn with curiosity and admiration, and blurted out; “You’re so pretty! You look like a princess! Can I touch your hair?”
The table erupted in laughter, as everyone was amused and relieved by Oliver’s adorable and hilarious remark. “I thought you said Amira was the one whose name meant ‘princess’…” Ashlyn whispered to her father. She smiled and felt a surge of warmth in her chest. She looked at Oliver and said, “Thank you, you’re very sweet. And yes, you can touch my hair.”
Oliver reached out and gently touched her brown locks, feeling their softness and smoothness. He grinned and said, “Wow, it’s so nice!”
“Thank you,” Ashlyn replied. She turned to her little sister, who looked uncomfortable and uneasy, despite having a good laugh at her little brother’s antics.“Damn, you did not tell me how adorable this guy is, Amira!”
Amira smiled faintly at Oliver, who was still playing with Ashlyn’s hair. She wondered how Ashlyn and Draco had grown up, how they had learned the truth about their family, how they had coped with it. She wondered if Ashlyn knew all along.
She looked at her parents, who were watching her with hopeful eyes. They seemed to want to say something, but didn’t know how to start. Amira felt a surge of anger, remembering how they had lied to her for eight long years.
She decided to break the silence herself, and ask them the question that had been haunting her for weeks.
“How?” she asked, looking at them with a mix of anger, hope and worry. “How could you do this to me? To us?”
“I… really don’t know. We had three children at the time of the divorce, and I was pregnant with Oliver. Four children just seemed… impossible. We were already struggling with three.” Angelina said, biting her lip nervously.
“It wasn’t money either. I had just become the CEO of Winters, and Angie had just published a book. Money was no problem. See, It was a mutual decision,” Ashton continued. “We loved each other, but we also had a lot of differences. We argued a lot, about everything. We couldn’t agree on how to raise the kids, how to manage our careers, how to balance our lives. We thought it would be better for everyone if we parted ways.”
“We thought we could still be friends, and co-parents,” Angelina added. “We thought we could share the kids equally, and give them the best of both worlds. We thought we could find new partners who would love us and them. We thought we were doing the right thing.”
“But we were wrong,” Ashton said. “We realized too late that we had made a huge mistake. We missed each other terribly, and we missed our kids even more. We couldn’t find anyone who could fill the void in our hearts. We couldn’t bear to see our kids grow up without us. We wanted to be a family again.”
“But it was too late. We had already signed the papers, and divided the assets. We had already told you kids, and moved to different places. We had already broken your hearts, and ours. We couldn’t just undo everything.”
“So we decided to wait,” Ashton said. “We decided to wait until you were old enough to understand, to forgive, to choose. We decided to wait until we could reunite all of you, and ourselves. We decided to wait until today.”
He looked at his kids, hoping to see some sign of acceptance, some hint of approval, some trace of affection. He saw four pairs of eyes staring back at him, filled with different emotions. He saw confusion, anger, sadness, curiosity, surprise, relief, joy, and love. He realized he had just turned their lives upside down, and he didn’t know how they would react.
He reached out his hand to Angelina, who took it and squeezed it gently. They smiled at each other, feeling a surge of hope and gratitude. They had been through so much together, and they had finally found their way back to each other. They had been apart for too long, and they had finally reunited. They had been unhappy for too long, and they had finally rediscovered their happiness.
They turned to their kids again, ready to face their questions, their doubts, their fears. They knew it wouldn’t be easy, but they also knew it would be worth it. They knew they had a lot of explaining to do, but they also knew they had a lot of love to give. They knew they had made a mistake, but they also knew they had a chance to make it right.
They opened their mouths to speak, but before they could say anything, they heard a voice. “Are we all going to live together now?” said Oliver.
They all exchanged glances and looked at each other, waiting for someone to break the ice. Suddenly, Ashton spoke up. “Maybe, if that’s what all of you want…”
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(A.N. ignore this next bit. Idk why that's there. Again, started writing the story in Aug 2023, it's currently Jan 2024.)
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