"It is." Melina agreed, taking a purple teacup from Jason. "Everything has been quite confusing and a little scary…"
Melina looked down at the teacup, a reddish-brown liquid filling the cup with two sugar cubes and a bit of lemon. Just the way she liked preparing her tea. Melina took a sip, the tea warming her up.
"Well, I guess we can start with introductions. These two hooligans are my sons, Jason the eldest and Kai second eldest. They are also your brothers."
Melina placed the teacup down in shock. "Brothers!? But I'm an only child. My parents are…"
Melina stopped talking when she saw the faces of James's sons. Kai was even clenching his fist in anger. James meanwhile was holding a piece of paper, a blank look on his face. Melina took the paper and saw it was a birth certificate.
Her birth certificate and looking down to where it said father, she saw James Rana written on it. But her father's name was Thomas…
"How…" Melina exclaimed, dropping the certificate.
It had to be fake. There was no way her parents weren't really her parents. It wasn't true. They were lying to her. James wasn't her father but when Melina looked at Kai and Jason's faces again, she felt that they were telling the truth. Somehow.
"Dear, remember when I told you I had rivals?" James's face softened a little.
Melina nodded her head, unable to say a single word. Her world was crashing around her, falling into pieces. She felt worse than when she had gotten news of her parents' death. No, they weren't even her parents. Possibly…
"Well, when you were six, they attacked our home and your mother…" James's face darkened and pure rage radiated off him. "She died and I couldn't stand what had happened. I feared you three would be next so I decided to hide you. At least until you were sixteen…"
"But this doesn't make sense. I had my mother's eyes and even if I was six, I should have been able to remember you."
"You didn't have Margret's eyes, you had my wife and your mother, Lisa's eyes. Lisa's blue eyes were a family trait. Margret was your mother's second cousin and they were quite close and looked a little similar. It's why I decided to send you to live with them.
"And you couldn't remember what happened because you were the one that found Lisa first. The sight caused you to faint and your brain did a mind block to protect your sanity…." James choked at the last part. "I thought it was best if you believed Margret and Thomas were your real parents so you could have a happy childhood."
James opened a drawer and pulled out a large, brown envelope, handing it to Melina. "If you don't believe me, check the documents and photos."
Melina was a little nervous to take the envelope and open it but she needed to know the truth. Opening it, she found medical documents about her hospitalization and the whole trauma thing.
A few photos fell out too and she looked at each one. The first had two women, a younger version of her mother, Margret, and the woman in the portrait, Lisa, who James said was her real mother. They looked quite similar, but Melina looked closely and saw their eyes were different shades and the woman in the portrait was much prettier.
Melina realized she looked more like the other woman than her mother. As for the other photos, one was a family picture with her sitting on the lap of Lisa and James standing behind her with two boys flanking her sides.
The other was a baby picture of her, Lisa holding her smiling in a hospital bed. She had seen the same photo in the photo album in her back bag. Margret had said it was the two of them when she was born but after learning about Lisa, she knew it wasn't true. It was Lisa and her.
Melina wanted to keep denying the truth but she couldn't. It was all in front of her plain as daylight. Tears ran down Melina's face and she began to sob, all the evidence falling to the floor. How could she not realize her parents weren't her parents? Why was this happening?
"My foster parents' death was an accident…" Melina asked, looking at her father's face seeing that he was upset through blurry eyes.
"No." James replied, looking down at the table. "Someone found out about you and planned a hit before I could come get you. I planned to fetch you that Sunday and explain everything but then…"
"So, they died because of me." Melina cried harder, not able to see now. She suddenly recalled the day. "That day we were meant to go out for dinner but a school project was keeping me busy. Not wanting to waste the reservation, they went out and got hit but a truck…"
Melina remembered the details clearly now. The car had rolled down the embankment after the truck had hit the car. The truck driver was apparently drunk and hadn't seen them on the dark, narrow road.
"The driver wasn't drunk, was he?" Melina asked suddenly.
"He wasn't. That was the explanation to make the hit look like an accident. I'm sorry darling. I know you cared for them. They weren't meant to die…"
"But they did and it's…" Melina choked, unable to finish the sentence.
She got up quickly, unable to stay in the room where she had learnt the last ten years of her life were a lie. She needed air, to get out of the office. She couldn't be near these people, her family…
Melina ran out the room, her brothers crying out for her to come back and calm down. But she couldn't calm down. Two people had been murdered because of her father. Because of her. Melina continued running blindly through the house until she found a door leading outside.
Grabbing the French doors, she pulled them open and ran into a beautiful garden. She ran through it until she was exhausted, collapsing near a tree. Panting heavily, she closed her eyes trying to stop the thoughts from coming to her.
This is just a nightmare, Melina. You're going to wake up and everything will be back to the way it was.
But minutes passed and Melina knew she wasn't dreaming. Sitting with her knees drawn to her chest, Melina lay her head over her knees, her hair covering her face. She sat there, trying to come to terms with her fate.
"Melina…" A voice whispered softly.
Melina looked up to see Jason on his knees before her. He stretched out a hand as if to comfort her but Melina simply hit it away.
"Please go away! I want to be alone right now. I need time to process everything." Melina cried out as Jason drew his hand away.
Jason sighed, ignoring her. Instead, he moved to sit next to her, removing his coat. He covered Melina with it and pulled her into a side hug. Melina was about to cry out in anger when Jason said, "I know you're upset with father but you should know it isn't good to be by yourself. At least let me hold you and try to comfort you as your older brother. I've missed ten years of that. Let me make up for it please."
Melina looked up at Jason's face seeing him smiling down at her. But the smile didn't reach his eyes. Instead, sadness and anger filled them. Melina felt a wave of emotion and hugged her brother back, tearing up. Jason looked up at the sky, patting Melina's back, letting her cry everything out. They sat there for a few minutes, neither saying a word.
When Melina's cries began to subside, Jason turned to look at her again. He pulled her chin up and wiped her tears gently with his other hand. "I'm sorry about what happened. No one expected it to happen…"
"But it did happen…" Melina replied, pulling away. "I just don't know how to process this all. I go from being at my parents' funeral to learning they aren't my parents. It's a lot to take in."
"I know but I hope you will accept our apology. Father, he isn't always the best with emotions. And now he's realized how much more you've been hurt because of his pride… Please forgive father."
"I don't know if I'm ready to forgive anyone but I don't want any more secrets okay. Please tell me everything. Even if you think I can't handle it. I don't want to even feel like this. I hate it…"
"I can't speak for father but Kai and I will never hide anything from you. I promise." Jason stood up, holding out a hand to Melina.
Melina took his hand, letting Jason help her up. She took the coat off her shoulders to hand it back but Jason refused. "Keep it. The night air is chilly here. I don't want you sick on your first day back here."
After that, the two made their way back through the garden, Melina deep in thought. She went over the scene in the office trying to process everything when something caught her, stopping her train of thought.
"Jason, father said he hid all three of us after the incident. Does that mean Kai and you went to live with other family members?"
"Yes. Kai and I went to live with different family members. It was hard for us both, especially Kai. You two were quite close and Kai even ran away a few times to try and find you. We were told the whole hiding thing was so you could heal but when we came back, father told us the truth."
Even in the dimly lit garden, Melina could see the pain in Jason's face. Hearing his words, Melina realized she was slightly luckier than her brothers. She had lived in bliss, never having to think about her real family.
Her brothers meanwhile had to suffer, knowing she was out there, but never being able to see her. They all had suffered. Different pain but it was the same in the end…
"Father also said that he was planning on fetching me because I was sixteen. Is there a reason why?"
"It's best if father explains that but it's because of the family business."
"Family business?"