Dwayne smirked momentarily before a look of exasperation clouded his normal jovial features. As if the years had not been normally tumultuous enough, it seemed like 2020. The doctor's words rumbled around his mind, causing a twisting of sensation to grip deep within each of his stomach.
Pregnant!
The doctor has said that his sister, Ciara, was pregnant. Dwayne could scarcely believe his ear, feeling certain that some cruel joke was being played on him.
If there is one thing he should doubt about Ciara, it was that she should find herself in a midst of an unplanned pregnancy. Throughout their childhood and the years wasted apart, he had never seen her with anything even remotely resembling a boyfriend.
Consequently, news of her impending motherhood sent him a mixture of anger and disbelief bubbling to the surface, leaving Dwayne no choice than to confront her sister immediately.
"Rumor had it that one needs a man to have fallen pregnant, Ciara." He told her, sarcasm laced in his voice. "I never knew that you had it in you."
Ciara looked at her brother, her eyes widened in embarrassment, then at the floor. The silence was deafening, the tension becoming unbearable before Ciara finally speak. "I'm sorry, Dwayne." She uttered, her voice laced with remorse. "I never knew it would lead to this."
To his surprise and dismay, Ciara confirmed that the news was accurate. He had thought she would deny the fact, he desperately wanted her to but was disappointed by her reply -finding it hard to digest the truth.
"Ciara, how could yo..."
She was afraid of his criticism, he has never for once, criticize her-at least, he needed to learn the truth before deciding if it's really the best thing to criticize her at the moment, if at all what she did was the right thing.
She quickly cut him off abruptly before he got the chance to complete his words. "I have a confession to make, Dwayne." She muttered, her lips quivering lightly, but it was obvious, her brother noticed it.
"What's there to confess about Ciara, huh?" He asked her, though he was really pissed off at the moment but his voice said otherwise. "You already admitted the fact that you are pregnant. Don't try to make silly excuses, thinking it would soften my annoyance -did you hear me?"
Ciara's breath in sharply. It was that moment or never -she's been trying to hide the whole truth away from him, but luck ran out on her too soon. She knows how much disappointed Dwayne would be, but still, she had no other choice.
"I'm sorry, brother..."She cited as she avoided his gaze, her eyes fixated on the marbled floor. "-but I'm afraid I have the same silly excuse you wish not to hear. Still, I really want you to hear me out."
Dwayne knew how much fear was in his sister by just staring at her, that whatever she has to say must be important if he learns about it. Without a second thought, he nodded his head curtly. "What is it?" He requested in a sharp yet blunt tone, staring away from here.
"I did not stay away from home because I couldn't stand our parent's death. I'm sorry, Dwayne, but I lied to you." She muttered, fondling her fingers nervously. "I got married to Ryan Lerman but I divorced him."
"Wh -what do you mean?" He questioned demandingly, finding it hard to understand her.
"Itwas a contracted marriage, his mother was the one who proposed the offer..."She went ahead to explain how it all started to her brother, who found it hard to believe his ears. "I'm sorry I never informed you of it from the beginning."
Not only was she expecting a child soon, but she had become tangled in a marriage contract with a famous businessman named Ryan Lerman. While the news of her pregnancy was still shocking enough as these siblings stood facing one another among the sterile surrounding of the doctor's surgery, the fact that she had married so abruptly and enigmatically was even more bewildering to Dwayne.
His thought drifted back to the dark days when Ciara had confined her reason for dissenting home, and her fear of facing the rash reality of their patent untimely death. With hot, angry tears steaming down his check as he heard her sister divulge the truth -a contract marriage all for finding a clue about this horrifying moment -he couldn't help but feel his heart break all over again.
Indeed, the revelation that the man that Ciara had unceremoniously married held the key to unlock the mystery of their parent passing because he had been in the same fatal accident, somehow being soared where they were not, made the affair even more baffling. Ryan's mother had implored her to pursue more investigation, counting on between them as patient and nurse, and knowing full well the heartbreaking journey she was taking.
Retelling thus story to Dwayne, Ciara's eyes filled with tears even as she tried to maintain a semblance of stoicism. Their parents, once a beacon of love and stability was now nothing but a distanced memory, snuffed out to sudden and inexplicably, she had involved herself in this charade of marriage in the hope that it will produce some answer, but now, with a child on the way and a maelstrom of emotion swirling within her, she began to wonder if she had made the mist terrible mistake of life.
Dwayne could not be more disappointed in his sister. He had worried over her for countless months, praying for her save returns and trying to quell his ever gnawing fear of her well-being. All these countless hours of agonizing hours had just been in vain; unbeknownst to him, she had been secretly entangled in a sham marriage, all because of some vague promise of uncovering the truth about their parents' death.
She had given him hope when all seemed lost, and yet, his betrayal struck a new blow to an already fracturing bond. They had always been strong together, weathering the storm of life as a united front. But now, Dwayne feels disconnected from the girl who once filled the role of a confident and best friend. Ciara changed, and perhaps, they had both fallen victims to the tragic event set forth for these seemingly months ago.
Despite his feeling of confusion and pains, however, Dwayne was not without love for his errant sister and as they stood there amidst unspoken questions and emotional turmoil, he found it within himself to offer her continued support. For they were all that remained in a once happy family, and the hope of redemption was not entirely been snuffed out.
The path ahead the undeniably ambiguous, fraught with unanswered questions and untold drama, but they would walk together as brother and sister, willing to bear the wounds and scars to find the truth about their latent tragic death. Underneath it all, there was still a love of connection that could never be wholly extinguished, and it would serve to guide them through the coming tempest of both doubt and chaos.
"What do I do with you, Ciara?" He questioned rhetorically, his voice was unstable. "Where did it all go wrong?"
"I'm sorry, Dwayne, I swear-I am deeply sorry." She sobbed, her voice filled with regrets and remorse.
"I did not know how you managed to change this much, but I know you are sorry, little sister." He told her, his lips curling up in to a smile. "No matter what you do or drastic decision you take, you are still the same little Ciara I've grown to love."
Ciara felt her racing heart stopped at the moment. Dwayne hasn't changed -not even a bit. He is still the same as she knows him as, no matter how hard he is on her, he still had his soft side in him.
"Come here..."He cooed, his soft smile widening. And so, as Dwayne reached out a tentative hand towards Ciara, the room seemed to soften and their heart begin to heal just a tiny fraction and soon draw her into a reassuring embrace, camping her under his scrutiny.
They would pick up the remaining fragments of their shattered lives and, piece by piece, learn to forge a new future. The truth will eventually reveal itself but for now, they were contented to face the daunting unexplained marrow together, bound by the bond of family and love that no contract or marriage can undo.