Chapter 5-Meeting step brother

Avery groaned as a persistent ringtone forced her eyes open, and because it didn’t sound like hers, she was forced to drag herself up against the headboard and reach to the bedside table to get some water out of habit but realised her water wasn’t where it usually was, and instead, a lamp was sitting there.

It took Avery more than a second to load the previous day’s event, her breakup, and a very wild night with a completely random stranger.

The warm body next to hers reminded her of her actions the night before and her brain screamed in total disbelief.

‘Shit, seriously, Avery, what were you thinking?’ Avery mentally scolded herself as reality checked in. It felt like her warning alarms, which would normally have gone off after meeting someone like Ian, took a vacation.

She was always so guarded with other people but strangely, it wasn’t the same with him… was it because he’s a stranger or is it something completely different? Avery wasn’t sure as she picked herself up from the bed and slipped back into her dress.

“His bedhead’s cute,” Avery mumbled as Ian’s curls had gotten even more tangled up as he slept.

Avery was forced back to reality when Ian’s phone rang again; a glimpse at his screen and she realised it was his mom calling but Avery wasn’t sure she could face him if she was to wake him to pick up his call so she grabbed her purse and got ready to leave.

Coincidentally, his phone stopped ringing but hers started almost immediately afterwards.

Avery struggled to get her phone out of her purse as she left the room with Ian's face still half-buried in the pillow.

Avery’s expression darkened as she realised who was calling her. “What the fuck?” She mumbled as she contemplated whether or not to pick up her call.

Reaching a resolution, Avery raised the phone to her ears. “What do you want?” She demanded before her caller could even say hello.

“Look, I know you don’t like me very much. I get it…but at least try to be there for your father. He’s your dad, Avery; you can’t keep ignoring him like this, not when you know he’s dying,” Eloise said and Avery scoffed.

Eloise has been her father’s mistress since before she turned 10.

It didn’t matter that her mother was hale and hearty and still married to him at the time; her father kept snooping around behind her without hiding that he was seeing someone else.

And when her mother died in a car accident 10 years ago, her father finally decided it was the best time to marry the same woman he had cheated on her mother with and because she was so strongly against it, her father decided he was going to wait until she accepted the arrangement—well, until karma strikes and her dad developed COPD, a lung disease that doesn’t seem to be getting any better.

“What do you want, Eloise?” Avery asked as she climbed down the stairs leading down to Rosie’s vast living room, where the dining room could easily be seen and her rather excited friend was already walking over there.

“Your father collapsed last night; we had to rush him to the emergency room… I don’t think he has much time left,” Eloise informed and Avery felt her heart drop.

“You’re not—

“I’m not lying to you if that’s what you want to ask. You can check the news if you don’t believe me.”

The call ended right after that and Avery instantly accessed the news about how her dad was quickly rushed to the hospital last night as his lungs lost function for a few seconds.

Avery felt her heart tighten.

Her father has always been strong; he was the strongest man she knew so even after his diagnosis, Avery was certain he could scale through and continue to ignore him like she used to.

She never prepared herself for his absence since he was always there for her, even when she spent the last 10 years of her life blaming him and his mistress for the death of her mother.

Fuck!

“Avy, are you okay?” Rosie had watched her expression turn grave after seeing the article published that morning.

“I…gotta go,” Avery declared before hurrying away from Rosie without leaving an answer to her question.

What if he never overcomes this? What if this really was the end? Avery was filled with so many thoughts as she drove home at high speed.

Avery always thought her father, suffering from lung disease was something he deserved for his betrayal because ever since he cheated, his relationship with her mother was never the same again and worse, her mother, Evelyn, refused to retaliate and just watched her father do what he wanted.

Although her father had neglected her mother, he made sure she never lacked anything, giving her everything she ever wanted as long as he was able to give it, and even when people pointed at her and called her names, her father never held it against her, but Avery realised she was too engrossed in getting revenge for her mom to see all the things her father had done for her.

“Micheal, where’s Dad?” Avery demanded from his father’s personal caretaker after arriving home 7 minutes after Eloise’s call.

“He’s been moved back into his room,” Micheal informed and Avery sighed.

After his diagnosis, his room was equipped to keep track of his health and monitor him and yet he had to be rushed over to the hospital for emergency treatment last night since his personal doctor, Fred, was away.

Avery felt a strange pain in her heart as she walked into the room to see Eloise helping her father into his customised wheelchair to bring him out of his room.

“Avery,” Finn called, wearing a weak smile as Avery sauntered into the room, wondering how she never noticed it before.

The pale, sickly look of her father and his usually big build had grown lean and frail.

How could she not notice how much weight he’s lost?

“Dad” Avery’s lips trembled as she spoke, watching the oxygen tube fastened to his nose and the infusion stand equipped to his wheelchair to hold his drugs and whatever else was being passed into his body. “I’m so sorry…I could have been there,” Avery added as she lowered her head in guilt.

Literally, she could have, but after her father brought Eloise to live together in their family home, she moved out even though she had promised to be with her father forever because she used to think it was them against the world.

“Oh, princess, it’s alright. I understand…thankfully you’re just in time for breakfast.” Her father groaned as Eloise finally adjusted him into his chair.

“Why don’t you go get changed and join us, Finn? I need to talk to you.” Finn suggested and Avery nodded, dragging her dejected body to her former room.

Funny enough, it was just as she left it; not a single speck of dust... it was like she never left.

Avery felt guilt for how she had treated her father slowly crumbled her on the inside, even as she took a shower, and changed into a fresh pair of clothes… she couldn’t stop blaming herself.

“The doctor said I only have a month at most.” Avery almost dropped the glass of water she was having as she sat quietly in the dining chair opposite her dad’s.

She had decided to ignore Eloise's existence since it was the only way she could stomach her food and not lose her appetite; the first few minutes into their meals were quiet until his father’s sudden announcement.

“Dad,” Eloise raised her head up.

“Well, at least I got to spend one last Christmas with you… that’s all that matters but that wasn’t why I wanted to talk to you.” Finn said while a tear slipped from Avery.

“22 years ago…Eloise and I had a baby,” Avery gulped at her father’s confession.

“He has a unique constitution that made us decide, leaving him with his grandfather was better but now I want to get to know him; with the one month I have left, I want you to also get to know your brother. I want you to get along. I know it’s unfair making you do this but I need you to promise me you’re going to protect him no matter what because he’s your brother,” Finn concluded, leaving Avery speechless.

Then, Michael walked into the dining room to whisper something to Eloise that made her smile.

“Wow, he’s just in time too—"

“He’s here?” Avery’s eyes widened as they both didn’t even give her time to digest the news.

“Actually, he was supposed to be here since yesterday. Something came up,” Eloise said as she cleaned her hand before she stood, walked out of the house and returned with a very familiar boy while the maids brought his box upstairs.

“Avery, meet your brother… Ian,” Eloise introduced, and Avery froze.

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