"They love me."
She kept muttering to herself, reassuring herself. Again, and again.
But as each second ticked off, at the back of her mind, she knew that what they were right. Those netizens. Their words of her being an outsider to the Cacia Family was right. Her name didn't even have the name Cacia. Could there be any more things she needed to know that she was not a part of the family?
She looked at the family photo at the wall. The seven of them there. It was taken last year. Maevie was sitting at the extreme left in the front, with Sienne. And to the right of the newly reunited princess of the Cacia family was the mother, Mrs. Cacia, left hand gently placed on her daughter's lap.
The four men of the family were standing behind them. Her uncle in the middle with one of his hands on his wife's shoulder and the other on his youngest, Sienne.
Tyler, the eldest son was standing to his right but his eyes was locked on his sister, a smile painting his usually straight face. Able and Lloyd, the twin brothers were the same. Abel had both his hands on either side of his sister's shoulder and grinning, while Llyod was copying his oldest brother's action.
Everyone was either smiling at Sienne or in contact with her. All were showing a form of attachment with her. An affection. All but Maevie.
Maevie was the only one who was smiling and staring straight ahead. She had never noticed it before, but she looked so out of place in the photo now that she observed it carefully.
Her black hair stood out from the family of brown hair. Her eyes don't match them, her lips don't, neither did her eyebrows, or nose, or forehead, or hairline. She was an Oz, afterall. Not a Cacia. Even if her mother was one, Maevie took after father in looks.
She waited till the sun came out again. Only after having breakfast did, she enter her room to take a short nap, as uncontrollable exhaustion hit her. She woke up in the afternoon. And when she opened her phone, she saw the moments her twin brothers had uploaded.
All showed Sienne. Either it was playing in the snow. Or them having barbecue. Or them going out to watch the light show by the river bank. All showed that that they were having a great time.
While she stayed up all night in the living room. Waiting for them to comeback.
'They did not care about me.'
Maevie was aware of the look the helpers were giving her. Some pity. Some telling her that she deserved it with their eyes.
But none came up to comfort her. They all did their duties without minding her.
On the second night of her release, she went to the night club. Booked a private room and drank her pain away.
How pitiful her life was!
Her father whom she had always considered as her hero cheated on her mother because she could not give birth to a son. He who always carried her on his soldiers when she was young called her useless. He did not even try to fight for her custody.
She heard that his mistress whom he got married to later had given birth to a son and a daughter.
'Does he pamper her like he once pampered me? Does he buy her the princess tiara like he bought for me? Does he love her more than he once loved me?'
Many questions came up.
'Probably. Much more than me. After all. He had never contacted me even once in these fifteen long years.'
She thought that even if her father abandoned her, she still had a family, a place in the Cacia Family. Her mother, her grandmother, her uncle, aunt and her brothers.
But as if to mock her, her mother passed away when she turned 12. Leaving her to the responsibility of her uncle.
"Yes. That was what I was. A responsibility. Not a daughter. Not a sister. Just a responsibility."
Alcohol running in her blood reached her brain. Wanting to find comfort, she called her so called friends. But all them were either busy or did not pick up her call.
Maevie scoffed.
She was sure none of them wanted to do anything with her after the drug party scandal. These were the same friends who instigated her to trouble Sienne saying she was a country bumkin. They were the friend who were eager to call her first when they went for shopping. So that they could feed her ego and get some benefits.
Those friends who had advised her to chase Luther and declare her claim to the whole world. She was so willful that she entered the Entertainment Industry to chase her one side crush and even participating in a survival talent show, 'Tomorrow's Idol' without having any prior training just because her crush was a judge there.
Till now she was surviving in the show just because of the power her family had. The fans of the show and the netizens knew of this and only had abhorrence for her. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Maevie Oz was the most hated participant of the season.
Look how following their advice brought her too. She became a joke in the eyes of the nation. Her love for Luther evoked nothing but disgust from the people to her.
She gave up on her fake friends and thought of calling her oldest brother, Tyler. But remembering that he went to a business trip, she called the twins instead.
But the two brothers of hers did not answer her calls.
"Are they still angry at me? For taking Sienne to the party?" She murmured.
After trying countless times, she finally gave up calling them. Then she remembered something. She scrolled down to see Sienne's number which she rarely even called.
On weekdays, she would never even think of calling her. But as psychologist say, when a human being is lonely, he or she seek for a comfort, a companion. And that even an enemy whom he or she hate could become a sigh of hope.
Maybe that was the exact case of Maevie. Or maybe she believed that her brothers who were ignoring her would be with their biological sister. She called the person whom she considered her mortal enemy.
But it was the same result. Not received.