"I'm so glad that you agreed to this party, my dear." Lynda, my 'step-mother', poured pineapple juice in my glass with a wide smile on her face.
I looked at their glasses filled with red wine and remembered Xes telling me that Arthur stopped drinking alcohol prior to the accident. I watched my father as he sipped his wine with a smile. I could not begin to explain how relieved I was when I saw that he looked exactly the same as my real Dad. But there was something different about his demeanour. I just could not pinpoint what.
He carefully set down his glass. "Your mother has been very busy preparing food since I told her that you were coming."
I looked at the impressive feast laid before me. There were different prime cuts of beef served straight from the grill. There's even roasted chicken and tuna sashimi. And to top it all off, we even have cheesecake for dessert which has always been my favorite. "You prepared all of these? You didn't have to go through all the trouble."
"Ts. Exactly my thoughts." Rachelle scoffed as she sliced the grilled sirloin with her knife and fork.
[Xes: This bit--]
[Art: Xes. Language.]
[Xes: Language?? Are you reprimanding ME? Like seriously? Why not reprimand that sister of yours? She's been getting on my nerves since earlier.]
My eyes turned to Rachelle who was wearing a sour expression on her face which perfectly matched her lemon printed dress and wide-brimmed hat that would definitely scare all the UV rays away. I was starting to understand what Xes meant when she said that she couldn't get used to my sister's fashion. But strangely, it was starting to grow on me.
When they visited me in the hospital, they didn't stay long enough and left soon after speaking to my doctor about my memory loss. And ever since I came earlier, she didn't fail to make her antipathy towards me obvious. She stomped her way down the stairs when her mom called her to greet me and gave me nasty stares every time I spoke.
[Art: She's obviously not very happy to see me. What's the reason for this hostility?]
[Xes: …]
"What are you staring at me? Do you have anything to say?" Rachelle raised her eyebrow at me haughtily but Lynda swatted her arm which made her exclaim in shock. "Mom!"
"That's not how you speak to your brother, young lady." Lynda sternly pursed her lips disapprovingly.
"Auntie… it's fine." I smiled at Latte. "
Lynda turned to me with her eyes sparkling. Then she held my Dad's hand. "Darling, he really has changed."
Dad nodded with a satisfied smile. "Changing for the better is always welcome. Were you able to discuss with Dr. Romulo about returning to the hospital?"
"I did." I could not help but smile. Whether it's here or back home, Dad would always prefer that I work in the hospital. "He said that he can submit my clearance to the board if I need it to prove that I'm healthy enough to take care of patients."
"Great. That's really good to hear." He requested for another glass of wine from his wife.
The dinner went on peacefully and from time to time I kept staring at them absent-mindedly, finding it hard to believe that he married someone else instead of Zee's mother whom he had a huge crush on since they were kids. I could not imagine him falling in love with someone else other than his childhood best friend after my mother died, an event which seemed to overlap in both worlds.
That's probably how I ended up asking them before I could put brakes on my lips. "Can I ask how you two met?"
Lynda paused while slicing the meat for my dad then she looked at him with an unreadable expression on her face. It was my father who answered my question. "Your grandmother set us up on a blind date."
"Blind date?!" I could not believe my ears.
Dad raised an eyebrow at me then chuckled. "I can't believe that despite the memory loss, you are reacting exactly as you reacted when I told you the same thing before."
It could only mean either Arthur and I think the same way or the fact that our father willingly went on a blind date just because grandma told him to was very shocking news. I laughed dryly, mentally holding myself back from asking him about Aunt Nathalie in front of his wife.
[Xes: Wise decision.]
[Art: Right? It won't be very polite to ask him about it, right?]
[Xes: Haaa~ That's not it dimwitt.]
[Art: Then what?]
[Xes: You can't even remember your step-mother and step-sister. How in the world were you able to remember your future mother-in-law?]
[Art: Ah! That's right. Amnesia.]
I chuckled and let out a breath of relief for not asking something in an impulse and narrowly avoided disaster. So to resist the temptation, I turned my attention to my sister who busied herself with a book after putting her knife and fork down.
But my brows creased when I noticed that the book was upside down. I had to tilt my head to one side to read the title of the book that she was reading. "Rogue."
'Why does that title sound so familiar?'
"You know this book?" For the first time that day, Rachelle displayed a less hostile attitude towards me.
It's weird but for some reason, even though she's not really my sister, I wanted to be civil with her at the very least. "I'm not sure but I feel like I've heard or maybe read it before."
Three pairs of eyes drilled holes on my face.
My step-sister, who's probably almost a decade younger than me, flashed me a very pretty smile for the first time since meeting her. "Who are you?"
Then it struck me.
If Xes was in her human form, she would probably kick me in the shin. I even have a feeling that if she could, she'd probably stitch my lips together to prevent me from making any more slip-ups. I could feel her silently seething inside me.
'Did I get busted?'