Azalea

chapter 4 ~17 years ago

Three men come in; they are all huge and very tall. I'm not short either; I'm 5, 8, but I literally have to look up to look at them.

Hi," one of them said. Two of them look excited, but the last one is just checking me out.

"Are you sure it's her?" a guy with brown hair asks.

"Yes, look at her eyes." Fucking hell, I was always made fun of for my eyes and the scar that I have close to them.

I look down.

"I didn't mean to make you embarrassed or anything; our mother also has heterochromia."

"You can start talking, but stand 6 feet away," I demand.

"Sure, no problem." I noticed that two of them were trying to talk with their soft voices.

They sit on the couch while I'm 6 feet away, sitting on a chair.

"First of all, my name is Henry; this is my, well, our brother Owen; and this is our friend Liam." Owen has lots of tattoos.

I don't say anything, not even greet them or introduce myself.

"As we said before, I know it's hard to believe, but you are indeed our sister." They look at me and say, "You don't believe us even a bit, right?"

"I don't," I state.

Okay, how about we have a dinner tomorrow, where there will be more people and you won't be so tensed and nervous of us hurting you, huh, and we will come with more proof that you really are related to us?" Henry said. How did he notice that I was tense?

"What do you say?"

"Sure, I don't feel comfortable being with them alone.

"Wonderful"

There's no way. That's true; I have so many questions.

~~~

I got a note where it was written where I was supposed to go; I have never been on that street, to be honest.

I wash my face and look at my scar. I hate it. I have many scars, but this one is in a place where I can't hide.

I put on a hundred layers of clothing and then go to the destination.

Finally, after asking people around, I am here, and it looks like a restaurant.

I open the door, and hot air hits my face.

Hi, how can I help you?" The young man asks

"Amm hi, my friends were supposed to come like three men," I question.

"Amm one with tattoos, tall-"

"Yes"

Okay, come with me." I go after him and look at people; they are dressed fancy, and then there's me.

Whatever, even if I had all those fancy clothes, which I do not, I wouldn't be wearing them; it looks like they can't breathe in them, and I also don't like when clothes are tight on my skin.

I see Henry, Owen, and Liam. Henry stands up to greet me with a hug.

"Handshake is fine." I shake their hands.

"I'm not a fan of physical touch," I tell them.

"Same," Owen said, probably to find something in common with me.

"Okay, so this is proof that you are related to us." They handed me papers.

I look at them, and it says, Probability of paternity: 99,9998%

"How do I know it's not fake, and how do you have my DNA?"

"First of all, why would we lie, and secondly, we kind of might have broken into your house?"

"Well, Liam did." Owen quickly said that it wasn't his fault.

I look at Liam, and he's avoiding eye contact by looking around. Huh, I bet that floor and roof look pretty. Liam

"Anyway, 17 years ago our mother got pregnant and she had to give birth a few weeks early; she was in Russia with our father for business or vacation, we don't know, and basically she went into labor before the plane started to fly; hours of pushing and stuff; you were born, but you had some kind of problem; basically they told us that you died."

I listen to Henry in shock.

"But there was a mistake. It turned out some other person's baby died and they made a mistake; the only thing we knew about you was that you were a girl, which was a huge shock for everyone."

"Why?" I made a confused face.

"You see, our father's side of the family hasn't had a girl in years; it's all boys." That's unfortunate.

"Don't get me wrong, you do have female cousins and aunts from mom's side or uncle's wives."

I should act smart; if I stay here, there will be nothing but misery, hard work for nothing, paying debits that aren't even mine, working for one meal a day, but

What if they aren't who I think they are? What if they abuse me when they get angry or mad at me?

I don't know

"Are you ready to order?" Suddenly, my thoughts were interrupted by a waitress.

She looks at them and then at me in disgust.

Three of them ordered  "Azalea, are you going to order?" Owen asks.

"Just fries with Caesar, please." A few minutes later, food came.

"If you have questions, you can ask."

"Why did you all start to look after me even though you knew that I was dead?"

"We weren't looking for you all those years; about a year ago, One of our men who works for us told us that he saw someone that looked exactly like Antonio, our father, with the eyes of Amara, our mother. We received a picture and got curious; that's how it all started."

"Oh" left my mouth; it doesn't feel real.

"How old are you, if I may ask?" Liam said.

"18," I state

"I'm 25 and Owen is 21," Henry says.

"I'm 29" Liam adds

"Listen, all we want to do is give you what we couldn't; no offense, but your life in here doesn't seem the best."

"How do I know you aren't lying?"

"For what" I don't know to sell me on a human trafficking

"We can answer your question with our brothers back in LA." Do they live in Los Angeles?

"What do you mean 'brothers? There's more."

"Two more"

Well shit, for someone who hates men I do have lots of brothers.