Chapter 5: Revelation

Jack followed Briana to the door, only to discover that it was a boy delivering the morning newspaper to her doorsteps.

Then Raul, the security guard, appeared.

"Hey, Briana, good morning! Everything is good at your end?" Looking at the man next to her, Raul inquired.

"Yeah, I'm good," Briana replied.

"How long will your brother stay in your place?" the guard asks.

Briana's brows knitted together in confusion. She looked at her companion beside her. "B-brother?"

Jack looked at the guard. "Don't worry, guard, I'll leave this evening. You still have my driver's license, right?"

"Yup!" the guard replied.

"I won't leave without my driver's license, you can be assured of that," Jack said.

"Alright!" Raul looked at Briana. "If there's something wrong, ring the bell right away," he added.

"Okay. Don't worry, Jack is my boyfriend, he's harmless," Briana assured the guard.

Jack's heart was soaring in the sky due to happiness after Briana openly admitted to the guard that he was her boyfriend.

The guard scratched his head in confusion. "But he told me that you are his stepsister, and he comes to visit you. And now you've told me that she is your boyfriend? You're making my head spin, girl. What's the truth?"

Briana smiled. "Ah, he was just lying because he was afraid that you wouldn't allow him to enter the premises to see me," she explained, glancing at her companion for confirmation. "Right, babe?"

"Yes, babe!" Jack felt it was about time to intervene. "Ah, guard, you can go back to your post now. Briana and I still have a lot to do inside the house, you know, lover stuff."

"Ah, I get it!" The guard smiled naughtily. "Okay, carry on. Enjoy your day, lovers!"

"Same to you, guard!" the couple responded in unison.

The guard turned around and went back to his post, guarding the duplex-style houses inside the Pelez compound.

Briana picked up her morning newspaper.

The couple went back inside the house.

"Thank you, babe, for officially accepting me as your boyfriend. I'm so happy right now!" Jack blurted, and his eyes shone with happiness.

Brianna looked at him warily. "You lied to the guard!"

"Oh, no! You can't take back your words! We already have the witness, the guard!" Jack insisted, terrified that she would disown him.

Briana dropped the newspaper on the nearby table and looked at him in the eyes. "If you have something to tell me, then tell me now!"

"Let's settle on the sofa first," Jack said. He was still trying to find ways to delay the inevitable. He's desperate not to lose her just when she finally acknowledges him as her boyfriend in front of the security guard.

"OK," Briana replied as she lowered herself onto the sofa.

"Babe, let's talk about us. It should be us before other people," Jack said in a serious manner.

Briana smiled. "Alright, now that we're officially a couple, I would like to break the good news to my father. I'll call him! I'm sure he won't object to our relationship because he seems to value you a lot. When he gave you my address, trust was already established between you and him. Right?" she added.

"Yeah..." Jack swallowed the lump forming in his throat. As much as he wanted to delay the inevitable, he was cornered and had no way out of his predicament. Sooner or later, the truth will come out, and the outcome will still be the same. She will avoid him without a doubt.

Goodbye to their very short-lived relationship as a couple!

It's time to tell her the truth, no matter how painful the outcome will be.

Jack hugged Briana tightly for the last time. "I love you, babe. I've loved you for a year, but fate is cruel to both of us," he said, his words shaky as a single tear fell from his eyes.

Briana saw the lone tear on his face and immediately wiped it with her hand. "What's wrong with you? Why are you full of drama all of a sudden? Tell me what's wrong. What's going on?"

Jack cleared his throat. "The truth is, the guard was telling you the truth. You are officially my sister now. We just became stepsiblings the moment your father married my mother in a civil wedding ceremony last week," he explained miserably, as sadness engulfed his senses and made him teary-eyed.

Brianna was stunned by his shocking revelations, her face turned paper white. "Whaaaaat! What the hell are you talking about?"

"Yes, that's the truth. My mother's name is Rosita, and my name is Jack Gabriel Brown. Your father might have introduced me as Gabriel because that's my mother's preferred way of calling me. That's why you weren't able to guess that it was me. I'm sorry about that..." Jack explained.

Briana recalled that her father informed her once during a phone call that his latest online fling has a son named Gabriel Brown, and he was falling hard for Rosita's bright and funny personality, and he was still deciding whether to marry her or not.

She didn't pay attention to her father's rambling because he already had a string of online lovers before his current one. She thought it was not going to be serious. But her father ended up marrying his latest lover in a civil wedding ceremony that took her by surprise.

"So... you're the son of Rosita Brown?" Briana inquired, her heart pounding within her. Her blossoming love affair with Jack was over too soon. Now that everything had gone wrong, she felt dead inside, she could never have Jack in her life. The excruciating pain shredded her heart into pieces.

"This is a nightmare!" Briana blurted, teary-eyed.

"Yes, babe, it is," Jack sadly agreed as he watched the pain flash on her eyes. Her pain mirrored his own.

"Oh, my God! And we just had sex two times already!" Brianna gushed, she was utterly horrified and felt ashamed of what they had done last night and this morning.

"Babe, please don't be ashamed of what we have done because we are both sexually and emotionally attracted to each other. There's no need to be ashamed of who we are. You have to remember that even though we are stepsiblings, we are not related by blood. It's just unfortunate that both our parents fell in love with each other and got married, which is why we are in this awkward situation right now. But rest assured that we will find a way out of this maddening situation. Trust me, we will survive as a couple somehow," Jack said reassuringly.

Briana closed her eyes for a few seconds, shaking her head in despair. Then she looked at him straight in the eyes. "What do you mean? Do you want us to continue our relationship despite the fact that we are stepsiblings? Is that what you are trying to say to me?"

"Yes! I insist that we shouldn't let our parents' marriage tear us apart from each other. Let's continue our relationship. To hell with the world and society!" He blasted, desperate to show her that they could conquer the world if they remained in a relationship together.

"Are you crazy? Our situation is hopeless!" Brianna lamented, sighing deeply and fighting hard to keep the tears from falling on her face.

Jack took a deep breath, wanting to wipe away the sadness from Briana's eyes. He felt hopeless at the moment.

The couple ceased talking and looked the other way, avoiding each other's eyes, trying to sort their way out of the mess that engulfed them.

Suffocating silence filled the room.

The couple felt desperate and confused—the complexity of their situation left them heartbroken and depressed.