Elise Collins POV

Sitting on my rocking chair in the corner of my art studio I smiled as I watched Helena who was now eight years old paint on her canvas using bright colors while her brother Mason who was six and a half years old drew on his sketching pad.

Three months after our wedding I found out I was two months pregnant with Mason. I remember how I surprised Zachary as if it was yesterday. I had bought a baby bottle along with a pacifier and a white romper and placed them all in a box. When he found the box on our bed with a post-it saying 'open me' he curiously lifted the lid only to frown at the content of the box. He didn't get it at first; it was when I placed his hand on my belly that he realized the meaning of the box.

Aria and Andrew got married just a couple of months after we did, we all thought it was rushed and I couldn't recognize my best friends who always took her time for the littlest thing. But they were deeply in love and now they have two beautiful children, Brandon who was named after his grandfather and was now six years old, and Andrea who was four years old.

The family got even bigger as Amelia got married to Mike, Zachary's lawyer, and friend, and had a daughter named Eliana.

As for Veronica, just as I had predicted, she and Nathan had a baby boy the same age as Mason, they named him Jason. They got married two years after.

I was pulled back from my reminiscing when I heard Zachary's car pull up the driveway and waited for him to join us, but instead, he peeked inside the studio and motioned me to follow him outside. We went into his study and I could tell something was off, he looked devastated and his eyes were shot red like he'd been crying.

"Zach? What is it?"

"Nejat and Leyla Yilmaz..."

"What about them baby?" Nejat was a Turkish businessman Zachary met five years ago. They became friends in no time and decided to start up a construction business together. We became very close since then, we considered them family.

"Zach! Baby, what happened to them?"

He gently held me by the shoulders struggling with himself "They were in a car accident Elise, they passed away"

"No no no no! please no, that can't be happening" instant tears clouded my eyes and I shook my eyes not wanting to believe it. Leyla was like a sister to me, I couldn't believe she was gone. I buried my face into Zachary's chest and cried. I tried not to make much noise not wanting the kids to hear me.

"Elise... there is more"

I looked up at him horrified "Please tell me Adam is okay" Adam was their eighth years old son.

"He is. He wasn't with them when it happened, he was at school"

I sighed in relief putting a hand on my heart that was beating so fast right now.

"And... he's outside. Nejat and Leyla... they wrote in their will that if anything happened to them they wanted us to be his legal guardians. And I couldn't say no, I couldn't disrespect their last wishes so I brought him home with me."

"Of course! We will raise him together, and he will be brought up just as if he was our son. I promise you"

"The problem is, he's still in the car and doesn't want to come out" Zachary stroke the back of his head discomfort showing on his face.

"I'll talk to him. Keep an eye on the kids will you?" he nodded and I made my way outside.

My heart broke when I saw his pouting face, he was looking down at something I couldn't see as I was still a bit far from him, tears were running down his cheeks.

"Adam?" I called out as I slowly approached the car.

He looked up at me and I saw a broken boy. A boy who had lost everything. A boy who had lost the meaning of being alive.

"Adam?" I called again but there was no reaction. He just looked blankly at me. Usually, he would jump up and down when he saw me, and it broke my heart even more than today he didn't.

I carefully opened the door and sat next to him, noticing he held a framed picture of his parents and him. I held out a hand for him and he quickly came and sat on my lap burying his face in my chest as we both cried for our great loss.

"They left Auntie Elise, they left me all alone against the world. It was always the three of us against the world, now it's just me. Why would they leave me, Auntie Elise? Why? Didn't they love me?"

"Oh baby, don't say that your parents loved you more than anything in the world, you were their number one priority at all times" I spoke softly doing my best to be strong for him.

"But they left"

"They didn't choose to leave you. They wanted to be there with you as you grew up, they never wanted you to get hurt. The accident wasn't their fault. They didn't mean to leave Adam, it happened. It is fate"

"Fate is cruel," he said sniffing and wiping his tears. "I have no mommy and daddy anymore," he said looking into my eyes breaking me.

"You have me, and Uncle Zachary. We won't take their place, but we will treat you just the same as they did. We will always remind you how much they loved you, and how much we love you. Do you want to live with us, Adam?"

His eyes seemed to lighten up with hope as he nodded rapidly making me smile a bit.

"And I want you to live with us, and I want you to consider me as your mommy, you can ask me anything and I'll do it"

"Can you bring my mommy back?"

I bit my lip not answering him for a moment "Your mommy is in heaven now. She'll be watching over us all and making sure we're alright and happy"

He looked down at the photo "will I have a bedroom in your house?"

"Yes Adam, we'll bring everything you want from your house and we'll both decorate your bedroom together, how about that?"

"Cool. Can I keep this photo in my bedroom?"

"Of course sweetie, we can also print out more photos of them if you want, put them in an album or even hang them on your wall"

He nodded seeming satisfied and I heard his tummy growl making me chuckle "Are you hungry?"

"Maybe a little"

"Alright little man, let's go to the kitchen to fix you something to eat"

We walked into the house and I lead him to the kitchen where he sat on a barstool and we started cooking pasta and chicken. I had a feeling someone was watching us and looked up to find Helena shyly watching us from behind the door. She and Adam were best friends, they got along well so I thought this might not be as hard as it should. Which was good.

I noticed Helena left without saying a word and thought she went back to her painting. Zachary walked into the kitchen with a relieved smile as he saw Adam cooking happily with me.

"Where is Helena? She was here just a minute ago?"

"I don't know, I think she went to her room"

Zachary started helping us and soon so did Mason claiming he was hungry even though he ate a hamburger just an hour ago. But he was an eater, a food lover. We were laughing and joking around with Adam and Mason when Helena came again and just stood there which I found was very odd.

"Helena? Come help us baby"

She just shook her head and stared at us with an emotion I never saw in her eyes before. Was it hatred?

Losing your parents is just devastating, and I didn't want little Adam to suffer. So I vowed to myself to treat him like my own son and to always make sure he's happy. I would always honor my friends and protect their son with everything I got. I thought taking him in would only bring joy to our family, as the kids loved Adam and so did we. But I never thought adopting Adam would hurt someone. Most particularly hurt Helena. That day in the kitchen, the look I saw in my daughter's eyes told me that by taking Adam in I had broken her.

The end

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AN: What did you think of this story?

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A sequel telling the story of Helena Walton will be up soon.

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Check out my new story, 'His enchantress'

"So what, we share one kiss and now you're telling me what to do? Please... don't go obsessing over me as you did with Sean!" he spat with so much hate she had never seen in him before.
"Don't you dare say anything like that to me again Nolan! You kissed me!"
Her hands were fisted at her sides and she was glaring at him but all Nolan did was throw his head back and laugh heartedly.
"It was just a kiss! A bad one, to be honest, something I would never want to try again" he smirked "I felt nothing. Get over it." He stormed out of the classroom before she could say anything.
She felt anger boiling within her, the burning desire she felt minutes ago dissolved into something foreign to her. With her hands fisted at her sides, Elara's body was shaking as a surge of power traveled through her, and the lights started flicking on and off like crazy until they just started exploding one after the other bringing her back to sanity. There was a blizzard of papers flying around and trashing the room. Elara grabbed her things and covered her head with her backpack before exiting the chaos that was happening in the classroom.

Elara Bell, a senior at Pine Hill High, struggles to get back on her feet after surviving a near-death experience. Feeling like her whole world is shattering and her body going through changes, Elara meets 'The twins'. Nora and Nolan, new students at PHH, bring a whole new set of problems for Elara.
New abilities awaken within her, and her mind opens to new beliefs and possibilities. In this crazy journey, Elara begins to rediscover herself with a new set of eyes.
But what happens when she's attracted to the wrong person? An attraction she can't explain or comprehend. An attraction that can and may destroy her...