"Hi, little girl! I'm Jermaine and this is my wife and we think you're really sweet! Here's something... how about you come live with us, what do you think, sweety?"

This is how your life begun, that's why, this sentence could never escape your memories, even though, you were only 5 years old.

You were only 5 years old when Jermaine Jackson and his wife adopted you. You knew nothing about your biological parents and never even for once cared to ask or search for them. You were little, vulnerable, quiet, lonely, without anyone close to you until they showed up and took you home with them. Your new father and mother were so good to you, like real angels. They loved you as if you were their biological daughter and gave you everything you needed. On the whole, the Jackson family was amazing! One of the best parts was, that your uncle was the King of Pop, Michael Jackson.

You loved your uncle very much, actually he felt like a second father to you. It seemed like you had won his heart because the first time he saw you, when Jermaine introduced you to the whole family after adopting you, he hugged you and said 'We're gonna be together forever!'. Then, you kissed his cheek and he gave you the warmest, most beautiful smile you've ever seen in your life.

He would invite you to Neverland every weekend to play and when he'd go on tour, you'd cry all the time because your favorite uncle was far away from you and you couldn't see or play with him. You also missed Neverland very much. This place seemed magical to you as if everything was possible there! You even had a favorite tree, well it was Michael's favorite, special tree and that's why it became yours too. Every time when you felt sad or angry, you'd go there, climb up and just think in peace. This tree also seemed magical to you and you'd often make wishes - one of them was to stay at Neverland forever. However, little did you know about your wish coming true.

This happened when your parents died in a car crush when you were 10 years old and they were coming home from dinner out with friends. It was the worst thing that has ever happened to you... Your worst day because you loved them very much and couldn't picture a life without your mommy and daddy. The whole family was in shock of their sudden death. Everyone was heart-broken... And then without them you didn't even know where to go to! What were you gonna do? Then, out of the blue, Michael offered to take you home with him, meaning that he'd become your new parent.

You were happy that you would live with your favorite uncle but was still very very sad because of your parents who you truly missed. Gladly, Michael has been helping you get through the pain and disappointment. He was your father, your best friend, your guardian and your angel. Whenever you felt like crying at night or scared, you'd quickly run to his room and jump in his bed, snuggling down next to him, holding his hand tightly.

"Are you scared again princess?" he'd ask you and you'd nod your head under the blankets. "Don't be, I'm here. I won't let anything bad happen to you.." then he'd stroke your head until you fall asleep in his arms. You've never felt safer in your life before, even in your parents' embrace.

When he'd leave on tour, you'd cry, holding his legs, not letting go of him. "Princess, I'll be back before you know it! And I'll call you every day, I promise!" you wanted to go with him but he won't allow it since you had to go to school.

Over the years, Michael became the closest person to you - father, uncle, best friend, guardian, angel, supporter, care taker, shoulder to cry on, someone to play with (when you were little) and most importantly, someone to comfort you, someone you could rely on no matter what.

Him being all of this to you was absolutely normal and natural when you were 10 years old but then, as you grew up, you started wondering, why did he do it, and why would he still do all those things for you? Why? You were no one to him! Well, his niece, but you knew you were adopted, this meant you had absolutely no family connection to him. Then, you gave him nothing in return, you even sometimes had the feeling, he didn't do certain things, for instance, get married, because of you. He's had girlfriends before but that was all. Maybe those women didn't want him because he had you to look after, or maybe he didn't want to get married because he felt obligated to take care of you and a marriage would prevent him from doing so?! Orr maybe, he had made some secret promise to your dad to take good care of you until you were able to do it by your self! If this was the case, you were nothing but a hindrance to him....

No matter what the case was, you wanted to finish school as soon as possible, get a job and leave him. Your parents did leave you money but Michael won't allow you to live on your own. You were still too young he'd say which was not true! Tomorrow was your 17th birthday so practically you were already an adult! You tried explaining this like 100 times to Michael but he won't listen! There was no way to change this man's mind! Anyways, tomorrow you were going to talk to him about you moving out of the house and also ask him to give you your parents' money. Their will said, that your guardian will keep the money while taking care of you and then when you grew up, give it all back to you.

*******************

"Thank you so much for coming, grandma! I love you!" you said while hugging Katherine.
"I love you too honey, and when you open my present let me know if you liked it!"
"Of course! But I know I'm gonna love it!" you both laughed.
"Ok, honey, I have to go now, your grandma is old, she needs to rest. Just tell me one thing before I leave, is Michael taking a good care of you?"
"Yes, he is..." you rolled your eyes.
"Ok, that's all I wanted to know! If you need anything, call me!"
"I will grandma, bye.."
"Bye, honey!" she got into the car and left. She was the last guest at the party.

After all the guests had left, you made your way in the house and saw Michael and her coming out of the office. They must have talked about something important so that's why she was the last one to leave. She probably wanted to speak in privacy with him. However, it was now your turn to talk to Michael.

"She left?" Michael asked you as you walked in the living room.
"Yes."
"So, did you like your party?"
"Yes, I did, thank you uncle..."
"You're welcome! Well, I guess I'm gonna go to bed now, it's been a looong day and I'm very tired.." he yawned.
"Before you go.. can we please talk about something?"
"Sure. What is it?"
"It's about the money that my parents left me..."
"What about it?"
"Can you give it to me?"
"Why, YN? You know they left it for you but it's when you've become an adult! And what... what on earth are you gonna do with all that money?" he seemed surprised.
"Well, I wanted something..." you were scared to tell him the truth.
"You can tell me what you want and I'll get it for you! You don't need your parents' money for that! You know I've always taken care of you and I always will!"
"Yeah.. but..."
"What? Oh wait... don't tell me this is about you moving out again!"
"Well... maybe.." you said while playing with a strand of hair.
"I thought we talked about that before and I made it perfectly clear that you're not leaving this house!"
"That's not fair!"
"Listen YN, even if I wanted you to leave and give you your parents' money, which I definitely don't, I can't do it!"
"Why?"
"'cause it's not that simple. The will says that you can only have the money when you turn 21 and not all of it!"
"What?"
"Yes!"
"So I'll have to stay here 3 more years?!"
"Yes."
"Oh man..." you sighed.
"What? Don't you like it here anymore? I thought you did! When you were little, you'd come here all the time and we'd have fun and play, and you wished you could stay here forever.. what happened?"
"Nothing, forget it. I'm tired too so I guess I'll be heading to my room." to reach the stairs you had to go around him.
"YN.." he gently grabbed your arm "Is everything ok?" you nodded "Is there something you're not telling me?"
"Nooo, uncle Michael! Not at all!"
"Look me in the eyes!" you looked him for a second only. "YN!!"
"OK!" now you were looking at him.
"You're lying!" he read you like an open book.
"Uncle, can we talk about this some other time 'cause I-"
"No, we can talk about it now and I'm not letting you go until you tell me everything!" you couldn't help it...
"It's just that I'm afraid of.."
"Of what?"
"Of being in your way like being too much trouble for you and bei-" he cut you off.
"Don't.ever.again.say.that! Don't you even think it! You are not trouble for me, never were and never will be! You're the opposite of trouble! I love you very much and if it weren't for you I'd be all lonely and stuff... Actually, I'm so glad you're here with me and I can't imagine my life without you.." he placed his hand on your cheek, then, opened his mouth to say something but stopped himself, quickly removing his hand from your face. "Goodnight." he turned around and left.

You placed your hand on your cheek, where his was. You could still feel the tender touch of his hand.

"I love you very much"

His voice was still in your head, saying those words to you...

'You love me... but not the way I love you.'
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