The door slit smoothly open between them .

The two of us stood, still embraced and agaped, as the fabulous women standing before us. She was in no doubt the prettiest woman we have ever seen,  eyes deep blue like the bluest oceans of water, thick crimson lips and distinctly flushed face, probably from arguing with Grandpa. She herself was surprised to see us there, as her elegant finger continues to be pointing, not in a very elegant way.

"You... WERE YOU EAVESDROPPING!?"

I was too stunned to speak, but Aniki managed to recover from it and dragged us away from her. 

I could feel him cowering away from her.

Odd.

"No... no, no we weren't... Don't mind us."

Her protruding blue eyes pinned at us and sent a paralyzing shiver down to my fingertips, and my numb fingers, clinging onto Aniki's sleeves, could sense his hand going cold as well. My whole body was paralyzed as Aniki lunged me up the stairs.

She persisted her stare on us until we vanished by the corner.

"W... who is she, Aniki?"

He said as we slumped down on the steps of the second floor. Aniki's hands were still wrapped around my neck as I sat on his lap, my hands hugging my backpack.

Trembling. 

His breathing had slowed down, and his touch was warmer than what I felt just minutes before.

He'd calmed down.

Thank god.

I've never seen him so terrified.

And that makes me terrified as well.

But all he did was mumbling.

"Aniki. Aniki! Wake up!" I said as I broke out of his hug and slap his cheeks together. "Wake up now!"

His dreamy pupil snapped back into its usual sharpness.

 "Wa.. Shinae!"

"Yup. So can you explain what happed earlier please?"

"What happened.. Oh.. um. She was just a..."

"A..?"

" An acquaintance. Yes, an acquaintance."

"Acquaintance?" 

"Yes..."

No. Not an acquaintance.

He had never even... He hadn't stammered like that in front of anyone before.

A mere acquaintance could never do that.

"You sure?"

"Of course."

I looked at him again and whispered under my breath, head held low. "I don't think so."

"What?"

"No... nothing..."

.

I was right.

She wasn't a mere acquaintance.

She was our mother.

We continued sitting in Aniki's bedroom until Grandma called our name and asked us to go to the living room.

We went, but Aniki just become tenser in every step until I couldn't help but feel the pressure catching up on me. He held my hand tight and I thought I literally have to drag him along sometimes on the hallway.

Once we reached the main lounge, through the canvas door frames we could see the two silhouettes, one is Grandpa and the other is the unmistakable lady.

I gulped, and Aniki threw a glance at the door and then at me.

"Come in, children.", said Grandpa's. I could almost hear a sigh from him. "We need to talk."

----------

"Katsuro? Shinae? Come here.", He waved us in as we stood face to face with "the woman".

Aniki was staggering. And I can't seem to know why.

I was entranced by the dazzling woman before me. She had looked terrifying while she was in rage, but now she's so beautiful I can feel my heart skip a beat.

She advanced over and beamed at us.

I felt my breath taken away.

"Hello~ My little ones," She continues smiling, "We haven't had a proper greeting, right? Excuse me for my silly tantrum from earlier."

She chuckled innocently. "I am Nakime, and from now on, I will be your legal guardian."

I was too taken in by her laugh to do anything but trailing off what she said. "... legal guardian..."

"Yep!", Nakime laughed again, but as absorbed as I was, I couldn't help feeling that there's... no, just a touch of resentment in her voice.

"Because, I am your Mother, after all."

All I could feel was a torrent of emotions flooding over me. My knees felt weak and I collapsed on the floor as Aniki quickly tried to pull me up. I feel shock and utter delight wash through me, which made me almost hysteric, but even then I could not help it but repeating after her.

"Mother..."

She smiled and crouched down next to me.

Her smooth ivory face with scarlet lipstick were only a few inches from me as she raised her thin delicate hand to stroke my cheek.

"Yes. Your Mother."

I could only grasp her hand as I sprung up to my feet and hugged her. "Mother!"

How could I have noticed Aniki's dismay eyes behind me.

To my delight, she wrapped her hand around me in return. "Yes... I am your Mother. Your family, Shinae."

"Yes... I--"

"And Family lives together, Shinae~!" Her smile grew even larger.

"So come with me."

__________

Me and Katsuro didn't only had Mother.

Mother also brought me to Father.

My Father, but somehow not Aniki's Father.

Father... I hadn't believe I had a Father at first, but once I saw him I know he's Father.

Because him and I look almost identical.

Now I know why my eyes are this weird hue of blue and green, instead of the icy blue of Mother's eyes and Aniki's deep purple eye.

My eyes are like Father's.

Father was neither admirable or detestable. I never knew why or how, but his character just started to grow on me the first time we met.

Father was like Mother.

Charming. Amiable. Cold.

I really liked him.

The first day we were going to meet, Mother did her best to fix me up.

She cut  and ironed my hair into a tidy and sleek long bob with swept bangs and long fringes. She scrubbed my face clean and got me a new, simple white blouse with a dark blue overskirt. She said they can help my black hair make my eyes pop out more.

I looked in the  mirror and let out a little gasp.

I feel beautiful.

I timidly clung to Mother's skirt as we entered a fancy, Western-styled restaurant. Dazzling lights of glass hung from the ceiling and an abdominal number of carefully framed mirrors surrounded the large hall filled with tables and diners.

We didn't get to sit there, to my disappointment.

The waiter pointed us to a "personal lounge".

The room was rather small and dimly lit. All I could see from peeking out is a wine-colored cushioned sofa and a man resting on it.

He slowly sit up after we entered the room.

"Ahh, Nakime. Long time no see, isn't it?"

I looked up and saw Mother smiled, too, rather unhappily.

"Quite a long time."

He didn't mention me.

Mother broke out of my clutch and sat down next to him.

They broke into a deep and polite conversation that I couldn't quite understand, so I just stood there.

He was a handsome man, maybe in his late 30s, early 40s. He certainly seemed more mature than Mother did.

I stared at his turquoise eyes and he glanced back.

I could see the almost uncanny resemblance between his and mine. I had always preferred eyes in hues of purple, but I can't deny. His eyes are one of the most mysterious ones I've seen. And somehow, so do mine.

Mother noticed us and spoke first. "So we're finally getting to the point?"

"So she's my child?"

"Yes. It's quite unnecessary to ask, isn't it. Look at her."

"She's undeniably a beauty."

"Of course. I'm her mother, after all. But you're her father. Can't you see yourself in her?"

"Eyes? Yes. She's all eyes. I could find anyone a mile away with those eyes. They are much like mine, I suppose. And hair. Black, like mine," he chuckled rather sarcastically, "Are you suggesting I'm denying her my role as a father?"

"Of course not, she's your child and I know you enough to know you wouldn't do that. Anyone with common sense could see that."

"Right right. I guess you raised her well. Now it's my turn, yes?"

Mother nodded as she waved me over. I inched towards them and stood by Mother's side. They both stared at me until I felt the force to speak.

"H--hello, sir-- um, Father."

"... Hello. Your name is?"

"I am Shinae, Father."

"Ahh... Shinae. So you did pick a Korean name, Nakime? That is thoughtful of you."

I glanced at her. Wait... so she was around when I was born...?

"Shinae, look at me.", His voice broke my thoughts as he pulled me over and put his sturdy hands on my shoulder. 

All my attention gathered at him as we stared eye to eye. "I am your Father, and I will do my best for your good, okay?"

I could only nod meekly as he gave a smile. "And I expect you to do the same, okay?"

"... Okay.", I smiled back at him. "I will."

He seemed a little surprised, but he smiled again. "That's a good girl. That's a good Shinae."

I beamed back.

It was odd how he pretended I wasn't there at all and turned casually to talk to me.

It was odd how he was so resigned to me being his daughter upon first meeting.

It was odd how he talked as though he was about to commit his whole life to me and mine to his.

He was odd. Neither likable nor detestable at first sight.

But he was very interesting.

And he was my Father.

Word count: 1500

__________

P/S: Okay I'm back. Yep it took a lot longer than I expected, but I did it y'all :DD I got into mah dream school. And oh my lord I came back and there's like 1.5 thousand read so thank you so much for your support ❤❤❤

Also can y'all vote more on this please :33 The read to vote ratio's rather down so please vote! I'll come back when there's 5 votes on this chapter so goodbye and I love you all ❤❤❤