"Missing me?" Jonas grinned.

"Well yea, she has ordered me to send you there tomorrow," Kelvin apprised.

"With Miss Amyra," he added.

Even though he faked a tranquil look, his voice bore a note of fret.

"Wait what?" Jonas almost jumped from his position.

"How did she know about Amy-? I never told her."

"Mrs. Arabella informed her," Kelvin divulged.

They were friends, I recalled Jonas mentioning it to me before.

"So that's why she was asking me Amy's full name this morning..." Jonas mumbled to himself.

"God, I'm dead," he sighed.

"Be glad that you aren't yet," Kelvin chaffed. "Why didn't you inform your parents before?"

"C'mon Xav Bro, now if I go and tell my parents that a girl is staying at our house, they'll probably think I'm having a live-in relationship with her or something, and then you know the rest," he giggled, even though he ought not to.

"Why did she ask me to go though?" I finally let out the question buzzing in my mind.

The thing seemed really odd.

"You'll get to know that only after reaching there," Kelvin replied in a tone which I had only noticed in his voice once before- the day we had our first conversation.

The tone contained emotions. I had no idea why though.

"Xav Bro, save me this time please," Jonas requested with his puppy eyes.

"I'm already done. This is the second time she called today."

"Oh no!" Jonas continued with his exclamations.

"Take Miss Amyra with you tomorrow. She won't kill you, don't worry," Kelvin advised silently before leaving the room again.

"I still don't understand why your mom wants to meet me," I muttered after Kelvin was gone.

"She probably thinks you're my girlfriend," he laughed away.

I chuckled at his silly assumptions. Too protective mom. I just hoped she wouldn't start interrogating me or something.

"But I'm pretty sure you'll like having a tour there rather than spending a whole day alone with your Angry Young Man," he jested.

What did he even mean by 'your'?

"I'm still not sure about going, you know," I hesitated, ignoring his 'your' part.

"You're coming with me, or else mom will kill me. And as revenge, I'll tell Xav Bro that you were checking him out today," he smirked.

"What the-"

I searched around to find something I could use to attack him for this, but he had already made his way towards his room.

"Tomorrow morning at 8!" he squeaked before getting inside and slamming the door.

I eventually agreed to go, even though the whole matter felt quite strange to me- Mrs. Arabella telling his mom about me out of nowhere, his mom wanting to meet me like that, the emotion in Kelvin's tone, everything.

Well, things were a bit too strange these days anyway.

My sleep was hindered the next morning by a knock on the door.

"Amy, get ready in thirty minutes," June's voice called out from the other side of the door.

I heard his footsteps fading away even before I could get up to open the door. I freshened up and dressed in a black and white striped jumpsuit with a black leather belt. I put my silky brunette waves into a high ponytail, leaving some strands at the front to outline my face. I hated the fact that there was not a single mirror in the house. Boys, I must say. I checked my reflection one last time in the washroom mirror to realize that I had some new pimples on my face. At any other regular time, I would have probably turned the world upside down because of this, but right now, it seemed completely normal.

I had decided on dropping Bruno at Mrs. Arabella's; even though I didn't particularly appreciate her last day's work, I knew Bruno would receive the greatest care there.

I didn't see Kelvin around while leaving; for some unknown reason, I was looking for him. Mrs. Arabella gave me the most mysterious look that morning, something which seemed beyond my interpretation capability.

We got into June's Ferrari after breakfast, it was already fifteen minutes past eight. I buckled my seatbelt as my eyes fell on the side mirror.

There was Kelvin's reflection.

I jerked my head to find Kelvin glimpsing at us from the veranda. He instantly shifted his glance sideways when he noticed me looking at him.

This guy...

The journey wasn't that short, but thanks to June's never-ending conversations and songs on the radio, I didn't realize when it terminated. He brought the car to a halt in front of a fine-looking casa which appeared to symbolize the legacy of traditional Italian heritage.

"Welcome to Amberson House, Amy," he beamed as he gestured his hands in a welcoming posture.

A grin curved across his face as he led the way, describing every detail of his house to me in the meantime. He rang the doorbell twice before a servant answered it.

"Lizelle, where's mom?" he asked the maid as we entered the hall room.

"Maam's upstairs," she replied.

"Amy, you wait here, I'll get mom and the other Amy," he chuckled.

The woman called Lizelle indicated me to have a seat before ambling towards a glass-paneled door which I assumed led to the kitchen. I started observing the hall room I was in, not having any other work to do. I loved the choice of the chandelier; in fact, every corner of the hall room was finely decorated under great care. Pretty sure it was Mrs. Amberson's work.

My eyes scanned around the whole room, scrutinizing every detail on the way until they rested at a particular wall along the staircase which seemed to be the center of attraction. The wall bore framed photographs of the family members, as far as I could guess from the distant view. I got up and sauntered towards the wall to have a closer look.

I started skimming from the right side. There were pictures aligned in a row which showed the transition from a round little schoolboy to a cheerful teenager to a jolly young lad; it was Jonas. I chuckled seeing a picture where the little version of him was having a piggyback ride on a middle-aged man's back who resembled a lot of June's present version; I assumed it was Mr. Amberson.

No doubt he loved his son a lot.

There was another picture of little Jonas with young Mr. Amberson on one side and an elegant lady on the other. It must be his mother.

The next picture was of a little girl in various poses; that should be his stepsister, Amy. She didn't resemble Jonas much though. I edged towards the next picture, but-

My legs stopped in the middle as a shiver of paralysis seemed to run up the nerves of my feet to the rest of my body. My pupils bulged out of my eyeballs at the vision. The next portrait was of Mr. Amberson with a lady in her late forties- she resembled 'her' so much. There were other pictures of her with Jonas and the little girl, along with a family picture of four of them together.

No, it couldn't be her.

"Amy," a voice echoed from the back as I felt a warm touch on my shoulder.

I turned my head, inch by inch, to find Jonas.

"June-" I stuttered.

I didn't know what to say, or what to ask.

"What's your- step mom's name-?" I finally forced the question out in a whisper.

"Sophia Amberson," he replied indifferently, not having any clue how that one answer screamed in my ears-

My life was a lie.

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