⬆️Kerry Washington as Kesiena (top left)
Arica Himmel as Zipporah (bottom right)

We're like halfway through the book, or almost past it. We on the one of the most important chapters of the book!

This chapter is pretty dark. You can't really skip it though, it's really important. Don't say I didn't warn you.

As soon as Kesiena had heard Sotiria screaming at Darius, she instantly wanted to know what was going on.

Darius had just revealed to his middle daughter what had been going on as well as why he was so upset in the first place.

Sotiria shouldn't have screamed as loudly as she did, however Darius couldn't really have blamed her at the same time. She had every right to be mad him and he knew it.

He was mad at himself too.

"Is everything okay here?"

Sotiria didn't say anything. She was furious at her father. Darius was too ashamed to say anything. It was so silent in there that anyone could have heard a pin drop.

Before Sotiria had dared say anything, and maybe make things worse than what they were already, Darius had revealed it.

"I... Kesiena, I seriously need to talk to you about something, alone."

"What is it?"

Darius knew that Sotiria was going to say something, therefore sending her upstairs before she had the chance to ruin anything.

Sotiria had reluctantly listened to him, shooting daggers at him which he had chosen to purposely ignore.

"I heard Sotiria shout. Why did she do that?"

"I'll be real, you know when I told you I haven't been married before a few years back?"

Kesiena had slowly nodded, wanting to know what was wrong about that.

Slowly, Darius had revealed that he had been lying, and he had been married before. He had just lied to protect himself.

It wasn't fair to keep her waiting, so therefore Darius had gotten straight to it. He had been lying about that, because he didn't like his past.

And even though he was doing it to protect himself, as he had initially lied to her about it, Kesiena didn't take it lightly.

She had screamed at him to get out of the house which Darius didn't do because he wanted to explain himself.

Kesiena wasn't having it though. She didn't like liars, most especially her husband. She had tried getting him out of the house with her napkin, constantly screaming at him.

"Kesiena, I can explain!"

"Leave this house and don't come back, you liar!" She had shouted loudly enough for those back at the university to hear.

Darius had begrudgingly listened to her, after defending himself so many times had backfired, with Sotiria coming downstairs after he had left. Kesiena and Sotiria had hugged each over being lied to.

Kesiena's face was flooding with tears, with Sotiria comforting her. Sotiria's sister Zipporah had heard screaming as well, going downstairs from working.

"Why is everyone shouting at each other?" She demanded, as she had come down the stairs. Kesiena had told her instantly that Darius had been lying to her all these years.

So she had kicked him out of the house.

It didn't seem like that big of a deal, but it was. Marriage was built on trust. For all she knew, Kesiena had never lied to Darius in her life, but he had the audacity to do so to her.

Zipporah didn't say anything after that. Even though she was the youngest sister, she was sometimes the most logical and rational.

She didn't blame them at the same time. This was a lot to take in. They had every right to react the way in which they did.

However...

"Did you let dad explain himself?" She had asked curiously, and intelligently too for that matter. "It's wrong to just jump to conclusions. You should have let him talk. Where is he as we're talking anyway?"

He was outside - Kesiena had kicked him out. Sotiria had kind of done so too actually, however Darius had only listened to his wife.

"I think you should let him explain himself," she had pointed out. "If the roles were reversed, I'm sure you'd want him to let you explain yourself, right?"

She wasn't wrong.

Sighing, Kesiena had kindly told Sotiria to stop hugging her, simultaneously asking Zipporah to bring him back inside, as she was closest to the door.

Doing as her mother had told her, Darius was invited back in, and he had been chilling in his car since it was too cold to go anywhere else.

Typical January weather.

There was a long silence in the house for a while as Darius wanted the girls to go upstairs.

"But we want to know the story too."

"Sotiria, you're eighteen, stop acting eight. When your father and I tell you to do something, you do it instantly."

Not saying anything, Zipporah and Sotiria had gone upstairs, leaving their parents in the sitting room to talk.

"There better be a reasonable explanation for this."

"It's more reasonable than you think. Trust me."

Darius wanted her to sit down, and she had listened to him, with him sitting down on the same sofa as her - but far away from her.

He knew that anytime Kesiena was mad at him, but they needed to talk, she wouldn't have let him sit too close to her, assuming they had to share seats.

Kesiena: So who is this so called Lilibet person?

Darius: She's the mother of the daughter I expelled three days ago. I didn't need to expel her though, I just did so because I knew her mum and we didn't have a good relationship.

Which reminded Kesiena about something.

If Darius and Lilibet had divorced three years before Savannah had been born, a) how did she remarry so quickly and b) how did Darius know what Savannah had looked like?

Darius: A) She remarried quickly because she married an old friend after we had divorced. They had been friends for 17 years I think. Lilibet got married 2 years after we divorced, after coincidentally crossing paths with said old friend. As they already knew each other, their courtship was therefore very short. They're divorced now, but unlike Lilibet and I, they divorced on good terms. They realised unanimously that they were better off as friends than partners. So they split.

*continued* B) After we divorced, I uninstalled social media but didn't want to delete it. I uninstalled it for almost 20 years as I was trying to get my life together. When I got it back, the first thing I saw was Lilibet posting that it was Savannah's 16th birthday. I forgot to un-add her. I don't know why but I took a screenshot and since then I've just remembered what Savannah looked like.

Kesiena: So you knew she was coming to the arts school?

Darius: I did, yes. I just didn't know she was going to be in my class.

Kesiena then wanted to know why they had divorced. Which was when things had gotten pretty dark and personal - but Darius had to do what he had to do.

Darius: I put our only child, Jackson, in a coma.

Kesiena: You did what? Why would you do that?!

Darius: Because Lilibet wanted to euthanise him after sending him out for adoption didn't work like 20 times. Jackson had severe mental illnesses and disabilities. She wanted to abort him but she gave him a chance. She kept complaining about him - the doctors even suggested euthanising him if she wanted to get rid of her pain so much.

I knew that she wanted him dead, she just didn't admit it. When Jackson was born, Lilibet and I knew that there was something wrong with him straight away. He was barely developing. He said his first like, proper, words at 7 years old. So we first took him to the doctors when he was like 3 months. They said that he's going to have a very bad life full of suffering.

So it was either they had euthanised him, or we had let him live a life of suffering. Lilibet didn't want him euthanised so she kept him alive. As she didn't want him dead neither did she want him, she had sent him out for adoption. Like I said, due to his mental illnesses- no one wanted him. This had happened like 20 times.

We waited for a while, going back to the doctors again as Lilibet couldn't handle him. Again, they suggested euthanasia, as Jackson was by far too young to go to a mental hospital. Lilibet refused again, but deep down I knew she wanted him euthanised. She kept complaining about him at home.

Kesiena: Oh, so you put him in a coma to protect Lilibet?

That was exactly what had happened, yes.

The only problem was the fact that Lilibet had thought that Darius had killed him. He didn't. He wasn't that evil.

Kesiena: How did you put him in a coma? Did you get the hospital to do it?

Darius: No I didn't. A lot of people knew that Lilibet and I may have wanted to euthanise our son, and I didn't want people passing judgement. I did it at home when Lilibet was away. It's another long story.

Jackson may have probably been alive then. Either way, when Lilibet had found out what he had done, this had led to another argument.

It wasn't even Darius' fault though: he knew she wanted to euthanise him, she just refused. And Darius didn't want to see her suffer. He had no choice.

Adoption wasn't working. Not even family members wanted him. It was pointless. But he did deserve his life.

Darius didn't have a criminal record and he could have still taught as him and Lilibet had moved to Greece and changed their names before anyone could have found out what had happened. This had all happened in Pennsylvania.

"So your real name isn't Darius?"

"It is. It's my middle name. My first is Sylvester. Lilibet's is Serena. We changed to our middle names. Nobody knew them back then, and no one knows that it's our middle names now."

Savannah sure as hell didn't.

Kesiena had apologised for judging him, when he had kind of done the right thing. Darius had apologised for not telling her any of this before and she had forgiven him.

"I see why you kept quiet about it. What a dark story."

"Exactly. From now on, I promise that I won't keep anything away from you, and I will tell you everything."

Kesiena had promised the same thing, even though she had never broken their promise. They were back to a happy family again.

Next was Savannah and Kaiden trying to talk to Tatiana.

If you don't understand the story, let me break it down for you. Hopefully that helps.

1) Darius and Lilibet had a son called Jackson 8 years before Savannah was born. Who is maybe still alive now 👀

2) Jackson had a lot of mental illnesses and a few disabilities. But when they realised there was something wrong with him, it was too late for him to be aborted. So doctors suggested euthanasia instead.

Euthanasia is assisted suicide. It's when you help someone die, because they're going to die anyway, as they've been suffering too much.

3) Lilibet didn't want euthanasia, so she had decided to set him up for adoption. But due to Jackson's illnesses and disabilities, no one wanted him. She kept complaining about him - so they went back to the doctors.

4) Again, they suggested euthanasia. Lilibet didn't want this, but Darius knew she did. She was just denying it. As Darius didn't want Jackson fully dead, he put him in a coma. Lilibet inevitably found out - leading to their divorce.

5) He didn't euthanise him at the hospital because they would have surely asked him if he had his wife's consent and he didn't - plus he didn't want people passing judgement.

Also, Jackson would have been dead. He didn't want him dead.

They divorced after they moved countries.

Hope that makes sense!

Now I gotta make this book mature