Blaire.
I’ve heard more than a million times that human ears play tricks on them, but I was sure mine didn’t do that to me. Damien had brought me home but refused to come inside because in his words, “I don’t want to be a witness to what you are about to do.”
I understood his sentiments and respected that. I hugged him and thanked him for being so kind to me. He advised me to take care of myself and call him any time if I needed anything.
I stepped down from his car and he zoomed off after waving goodbye at me. I went inside the mansion. I saw Mr. Potter, our butler, inspecting an art portrait in the living room. He was the one who told me that my father was in his study… with Zachary.
I became quite excited and dashed out to find my dad and Zach. Their loud voices caught my attention from the corridors, and I slowed down. It seemed they were both arguing, and my name came up several times in their heated conversation. My curiosity increased as I tiptoed toward the door, careful not to interrupt them.
I leaned toward the door and placed my palms on the frame. Their words got clearer and suddenly, I turned to ice when Dad said, “If someone needs to go, it’s Blaire! She has to go because I could never bear to look at her anymore. I couldn’t be reminded over and over how her mother cheated on me with her bastard biological father! She is not my daughter! She doesn’t deserve to be here with me!
An audible gasp escaped from my lung before I could stop it. An ear-splitting scream followed immediately before I could control it. I burst into tears and turned on my heels to run.
I wished Earth would just open up and swallow me whole. Finally, everything made sense!
I barely heard the office door open and Zach’s voice calling me to stop, his rapid footsteps behind me. But for the life of me, I couldn’t stop. Tears blinded my eyes, but I continued running until I reached the living room.
Mr. Potter was still there.
“Get her!” Zach yelled at him, and he obeyed. He stood in my way, and I slammed into his strong arms. I fought hard against him to be free, but he held on.
“Ms. Blaire, please stop struggling!” Mr. Potter begged.
Then I felt Zach grab me from me behind and Mr. Potter let go of me.
I struggled against Zach, but he refused to let me go.
“Let me go!” I screamed.
“Blaire, stop it!” Zach cried and gripped my arms so tight as I kicked and punched him.
Dad stood behind us, watching from a safe distance, silent like a dead sheep. The wrestling between me and Zach lasted for about a minute, then Mom walked in from where, I didn’t know.
“What’s going on here?” she demanded stiffly when she saw me fighting Zach.
Her voice acted as the antidote to my restlessness. I stopped struggling against Zach. That gave Zach a chance to relax his grip on me and pull me into an embrace. I savored his warmth around me for a moment as rivers of tears roll down my cheeks.
“Zach, baby, what’s wrong with your sister?” Mom asked Zach.
I pulled away from Zach and pushed him away from me.
“Baby girl…” he breathed, looking at me desperately.
I wanted to hug him, tell him I loved him. I wanted him to reassure me that everything will be okay. But right now, all I could think of was that… he lied to me! They all did!
I turned to my mother. “What’s wrong with me is that you have been lying to me!” Dad glared at me but didn’t say anything. “And you too!” I snapped at him. “My whole life is a life!”
“Baby girl… take it easy,” Zach pleaded but I ignored him.
“Tell me the truth!” I screamed so abruptly that they all jerked in fear. “Who am I? Am I truly a product of… of Mom’s indiscretion?”
My mother’s eyes widened, and her face seemed to have been drained of color. She tried to say something, but her tongue seemed to have frozen.
“Is that the reason why you both never loved me in the first place? Is that why you both love Zach more?” There was no stopping the tears.
Silence greeted me in return. I could hear the pounding hearts of everyone in the room. When the atmosphere became too tense, Mr. Potter stealthily slipped out of the room to give us privacy.
These people thought I was joking. I’ve been a fool all these years. I’ve been a stranger, an outcast, living a life full of lies! Who exactly was I if I wasn’t a Stewart?
I turned to panic-stricken Zach whose figure remained rooted on one spot. I’ve never seen him so disconcerted before in my life. I wasn’t sure whether to get mad at him or to pity him. Mad because I trusted him, and he lied to me. But on the other hand, I felt bad for him. Carrying this secret must have been so hard on him.
“Have you known about this all along?” I asked him with a cynical tone.
He sighed. “No, I promise. I also found out recently.” He paused, then added, “...by accident.”
“Then who the fuck is my real father?” I screamed, my body trembling with fury.
I saw him looking ahead at someone behind me, and I turned my head to see who it was. I realized that Zach was staring at Dad, pleading him to say something. But the older man remained expressionless.
I jerked my head back at Zach and fixed my glazed eyes at him. He looked uneasy for being the bearer of the bad news.
“Ew...Ewan...” he stuttered and stopped.
“Ewan what?” I demanded and charged toward him with threatening eyes.
“Ewan Gib-sson!” he said in a low, almost inaudible voice.
“No!” my mother wailed in desperation. “No! How could you tell her? How… could you say that name!?”
A tear escaped Zach’s eye as he shakes his head, looking at my mother. “She has… the right to know.”
“How could you know that?!” Mother cried. She turned to our father—my adopted father—with eyes glazed with anger and desperation. “How could you tell him? You promised we will bury that secret to our graves!”
My father shook his head. “I didn’t tell him. He already knew before he came back here.”
My legs gave way under my weight, and I crashed to the floor, weeping hard. I drew up my knees to my chest and hugged them, then buried my face between my legs, drowned in my sorrow.
Ewan Gibson.
The name sounded familiar. But right now, I can’t bring myself to recall who he was.
In his typical protective manner, Zach approached me and squatted in front of me. He extended his sturdy arms toward me, attempting to hug me and perhaps comfort me, but that was the last thing I wanted at that moment.
“Stay away from me!” I wailed so loudly that he backed off, distressed and pained. “Don’t touch me! I don’t want your help! I don’t want your comfort. I don’t want any fucking thing from you other than for you to just leave me alone!” I struggled to my feet and glared at him. “I need to think and clear my head. Your presence is not helping me at all!” I said and pushed him back.
As if controlled by an invisible force, I bolted from the room and ran upstairs toward my bedroom. I was no longer in control of my body. I felt like floating on air. And a missed step was all it took for me to trip… then my body tumbled backwards and rolled down the flight of stairs like a lifeless ragdoll.