Open Arms (Brothers Conflict Fanfic)

Prologue

** Your POV **

I was an ordinary girl, from a not so ordinary family. Let me lay you the scene.

My English mother had mysteriously disappeared when I was very young; too young to remember, and my father had been working very hard to pay for us to, well, survive.

Fun right? I always tried to help him any time I could, doing all the housework, cooking dinner so when he came home from his laborious days he could relax for once, before the vicious cycle began again. I knew he appreciated it, and he always tried to act happy for me, but I knew he wasn't. He wasn't happy. He pretended to be, but what he really wanted was a nice house, and a wife and a bigger family. But so did I.

But my dad had a secret. And little did he know, that I knew of his secret. My dad was ill, probably because he was constantly overworking himself because he had to look after me. It was a bad illness too, a fatal one. I had sat with myself night after night once I found out, consoling myself, teaching myself just to accept the fact he was going to die. It hurt, but I had to be strong. For him.

Sure, I was depressed, he was the only one I had left, but I was 16 now, and I had to be a big girl. And big girls don't cry. Well, at least not in front of people.

About a week ago, I was going to him one night in our small apartment to tell him good night, and I found him in his study, back towards me. I tiptoed across the floor and peered as subtly as I could over his shoulder.

On the screen, I saw him frantically searching things like foster homes and going on social media typing things like "would anyone be able to take in my 16 year old child? She needs a home because her father can no longer look after her.". It was painful seeing the reality come to life, although I remained silent.

I continued to watch, as he received an email from someone by the name of Mrs M Asahina. I read the email over his shoulder. It read:

Dear Mister Hasegawa,

I have read your very sad message on the website, and would like to say I would be happy to take in your charming looking daughter to my household. I have seen the picture, and from her (h/c) hair to her (e/c) eyes, I must say she is a most adorable soul.

Anyway, jokes aside, I am very sad to hear of your condition, and would like to say that I have a large family myself. I have only had sons in my time, but not long ago me and a man I met became married. He had a daughter, who is the same age as your girl, 16, so at least she'll have someone. Her name is Ema, and she is very sweet. I hope they'll get along.

The rest of her email was just about where the location was, and that I could move in anytime I wanted to. I watched as my father who I had been with my entire life slowly typed a reply. He thanked her countless times, and told her I would be moving in within a week. He tried to add in a joke saying how he didn't think he'd be around much longer so it's better if I moved in as soon as possible, classic dad. These words, however, made me do the opposite of laugh.

I felt the heat streaming down my cheeks, and as much as I tried not to, a sniffle escaped me. Dad quickly turned round and saw me, and instantly his face fell. His eyes also began to tear up, as he walked over to me and pulled me into his arms.

"I'm sorry. I should have told you." He sobbed into my shoulder.

"I already knew. And you don't have to apologise. It's not your fault. You were thinking of me." I managed to choke out. "So thank you, and no matter what happens, I'll always love you, dad."

We sat in our old, worn couch in each other's arms for the rest of the night, remembering all the fun times we had together.

I shook my memories out of my head, as I stood now in front of my new home, Sunrise Residence. The moving lorry had came a while ago, but my train to the city was delayed by half an hour, so I was late. My father had finally allowed me to persuade him to spend more time at the hospital, so he was hopefully there now. I hope they could cure him.

As I stood in front of the large apartment complex, a man, a boy and a girl came walking out of the house to greet me.

Today, my new life begins.