FAMILY

17| Christmas Party

Amelia confessed everything to Theo. Out of all our brothers, he was the most approachable and most likely to not burst out in rage. Aside from Victor of course. I was happy that she did tell an adult because Theo made her go to therapy.

A lot of people don't take eating disorders seriously so I was happy to see that our brother did.

Amelia was hesitant to go but after a talk with Victor, who regularly visits a therapist, she became more open to the idea.

It would take time for her to heal. She was still hesitant to eat certain things. We had to make up an entire routine. Someone had to make sure that she ate her plate and she wasn't allowed to go to the bathroom alone.

Usually, that person was me because I had more patience than most of my brothers. It made us grow closer and I think that I'm starting to like Amelia.

She's under a lot of pressure to always be perfect. Everybody expects perfection from her. It was something that was an issue in this house. I wasn't used to the demand for perfection. She had that pressure on her shoulder since she was a child. It was only self-explanatory that she'd break down.

"It's so nice to see you get along!" Mom smiled.

We sat in my bedroom. It was Christmas Eve and our parents had arrived for the annual Christmas party our family organised. I was so happy to see them again! Especially mom because she was helping us get ready for the party.

She was doing my hairdo. She softly put waves in my hair and then took a part of my hair and put it up with a beautiful pin. The pin had real rubies in it to match my red dress.

"Well, Amelia isn't as bad as I thought she was." I grinned.

Amelia chuckled as mom turned me around so that I could look at her. She took a few strands of my hair to frame my face and then smiled brightly.

"You look gorgeous."

I felt gorgeous. The red dress mom had given me was beautiful. It had a heart-shaped neckline and had short sleeves decorated with little gems. The dress went wide down my waist and had two different layers that were mismatched. She had also given me red earrings and a matching diamond necklace.

This Christmas party was a whole event apparently. I've never celebrated Christmas in so much style.

"We have to leave. Are you ladies ready?" Theo knocked on my door.

Amelia got up from her seat on my bed. She was dressed in a night-blue dress with long sleeves. It went to her ankles and was very classy. Mom had curled her hair and also given her a necklace and earrings.

"You look gorgeous, Lia." Theo kissed her cheek.

She giggled slightly and then his eyes fell on me. His jaw dropped and I felt a blush rush to my cheeks. This was the first time that he had seen me dressed up like this. Aside from my school uniform, I wore a lot of street style types of clothes. So a lot of mom jeans and comfy sweaters. Especially during the winter.

"You're supposed to compliment your sister, Theo." Mom chuckled.

Her long blond hair was tied up in a bun and she wore a stunning green gown. My mom was in her late forties but she looked like a goddess. It was as if she drank from the fountain of youth.

I prayed every day that I got passed down those genes.

Or maybe unproblematic people just age differently?

Am I unproblematic?

"You look...wow." That was all he could manage to say.

I've never seen Theo so stunned. It made me feel shy but I couldn't help but giggle at his expression. I got up from my seat behind my vanity desk.