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“I’ll be sure to send feedback to our brother that his drugs work just perfectly. He would be glad to know our little brother was a fine test subject,” Eric told him, unsmiling with his lips pressed together and he groaned again.

While Eric might be stern, he was kinder than his twin brother Ephraim, who could be referred to as the crazy one in the family with his unconventional methods. Nonetheless, all of his brothers treated him well and would never mean him harm which was why he ran away in the first place. He wasn’t their little brother anymore that needed to be shielded from the world. Elijah needed to get out of their umbrella and make his own world.

Elijah knew that Eric was not just speaking for saying sake, it was an indirect threat that he would haul his ass back home that way if he doesn’t answer his sermons in the future.

Well, lessons learned. Elijah didn’t want to feel this way anymore, miserable. His body was still weak as if he was a child taking his first steps and he knew it would take him time to fully recover. So he relaxed back into his seat, his eyes shut as he asked Eric,

“Fine, dear brother. What is so important that you went through all of this trouble to get me home?” He wanted this over with.

“Natalie is here,” He announced.

“So I heard,” Elijah answered, feeling a bit guilty inside he didn’t visit her. Unlike most of his siblings who had grown up by the time Natalie came into their lives, she was the closest thing to a mother Elijah had and knew, having practically raised him.

No, if it wasn’t for the age gap and the fact that his brothers kept his biological mother’s memories alive, he would have believed Natalie was his mother. She was so sweet towards him and he was extremely protective of her.

.....

That was why he preferred to add the title of “aunt” to her name, and the others picked it up. It served to remind him that as much as she wasn’t his mother, she was still family. Hence, it was a shame he didn’t visit earlier and had to be forced home. Fine, he would make it up to her after he’s done dealing with his current problems.

“We are getting married,” Eric announced out of nowhere.

“Yeah, yeah, that’s good......” Elijah trailed off when the implication of what his brother just said dawned on him. “Damn,” He cursed, already weighing the pros and cons of this union in his head.

Everyone in the family knew Eric has been simping on the woman for years, but to think his brother finally went after her was unbelievable. The thought of them getting married gave Elijah mixed feelings because he was used to thinking of Natalie as a mother figure, and now she was going to be his sister-in-law. Oh fuck, he was going to need time to adjust to this one.

“Does Rose even know of this?” He asked.

“My daughter approves and is eager to let her officially become part of the woman,” Eric answered, yet the way he shifted on the balls of his feet spoke of nervousness. Perhaps, it was pre-wedding jitters, Elijah thought.

“And Karen?”

“Karen would always be Karen, but she took the news surprisingly well. Her focus is on her daughter’s well-being and hopes she isn’t neglected with the addition of a family member,” his brother put it mildly, but Elijah could already picture the way Karen presented those words and winced inwardly. Even years of co-parenting couldn’t get the both of them to get along.

However, this couldn’t be the reason Eric called him home having thought it was an emergency and that was proved when his brother said,

“I know about the girl you’re seeing?”

For a moment there, Eric was tempted to ask which of them he was talking about, Arianna or Adele? When it finally dawned on him that ever since he hooked up with Adele, the line between them was beginning to blur. When did he even begin to consider her an option?

No, he had to get his head back in the game.

“Arianna,” Eric called her name, and nonetheless, his demeanor changed entirely. How did his brother know about... Ahh, Jason, of course. He was the only one that could tell him that.

However, why was his brother suddenly noticing the lady he dated? He never showed such interest before. Call it an itch or premonition, Elijah sensed something wasn’t right here. His sixth sense has never failed him.

“What do you want with Arianna?” Elijah narrowed his gaze suspiciously. He trusted his brother, but not when he was showing interest in the woman he loves. He was hiding something from him.

But Eric only lifted his head and as huge as his brother was, they still shared the same height and it pleased Elijah, a sign that he has grown up.

“Promise me you wouldn’t freak out when I say this,”

“Say what?” Elijah was eager to know and that was his problem, always eager to try everything.

“Arianna is Natalie’s daughter,” Eric confessed, expecting some sort of reaction from his brother, for him to say something but Elijah stood as still as a statue.

However, he tilted his head a while later, trying to understand something.

“Wait, Aunt Natalie has a child? A daughter?” Elijah first processed that piece of information. He was very smart and quick at understanding things, but for some reason, this very one befuddled him.

“And she is Arianna...?”

Call it recollection or recognition, Elijah got reminded of those forest green eyes. He always had this feeling that Arianna felt oddly familiar, but couldn’t place his finger around it until today. He just couldn’t fathom that Arianna would be family because he never knew Natalie was married nor to talk of having a child. But he knew now and it was devastating.