My Stepbrother's Regret: Reunited with Twins

Oris

When I finally opened my eyes, the sight confirmed the one thing I feared.

Two lines stood out starkly on the test. Two lines…

Pregnant.

I blinked as though doing so would somehow change the result. Because it couldn't be. 

But nothing changed. The two pink lines remained.

“Holy shit.” I whispered. I was REALLY pregnant.

A sharp knock made me nearly jump out of my skin. My gaze darted towards the bathroom door.

"Babe, you okay in there?” Perry, my best friend's voice rang through the muffled bass. Usually I would feel soothed by her concern. Not this time.

Without hesitation, I shoved the test into my bra carefully enough to hide it before rewearing my sweater.

"Yeah, I'm okay." I forced out, somehow managing to keep my voice stable as the muscles in my right hand flexed on pure instinct. Taking a deep breath, I opened the door to return to the outside world.

 The bass of the music hit the moment I stepped out. Perry pulled me into a hug before I fully stepped out. The scent of her vanilla perfume slid through my senses as she squeezed me tightly.

“Thank goodness you're out. Why were you taking so long?” She asked, pulling back to look at my face and frowned, “And why are you looking so strange like you just saw a ghost? Did something happen?”

“No.” I forced a smile. “I'm fine. I just… I felt a bit too overwhelmed.”

“Come on, we've officially graduated.” She pouted, “and we're at this party. You know what you need to do?”

“Dance it off?" I completed her sentence for her shakily. 

“You said it, not me.” She shrugged and I couldn't help but smile more genuinely.

With that, we left the smaller hallway and re-entered the main party area.

The moment I did, I was hit with all the sensations of the house party. From the red plastic cups littered over every surface to the poorly strung fairy lights across the ceiling with half of them blinking out of sync. A group of guys from our econ class were shouting over music and the air was hot and sticky.  

But I couldn't process any of it. Not anymore. Instead, I found my gaze flitting from place to place, scanning the crowd until I found…

Him.

Hayden, my stepbrother.

He stood in the distance near the kitchen island, talking to some of his friends. He had his sleeves pushed up, a cup in his hand, his head tilted back as he laughed at something. He looked completely at ease in his element, like he always did.

Something I could never do in a place like this.

And then, as if he'd felt me, he turned.

My heart skipped the moment we looked eyes across the crowded room. The latent connection sparked into place, kept under wraps.

But it was only for a moment. I forced my focus back to Perry, who'd likely seen the exchange and was pulling me toward the crowd on the makeshift dance floor.

“Ignore him.”  she shouted over the music, looping her arms around my shoulders, “Don't let Hayden ruin tonight. Don't worry babe, anyone pissing you off tonight, Hayden included, will have to throw hands with me first.”

I couldn't help but giggle then, even as my heart warmed. She'd completely misread the situation but I couldn't blame her.

To the public, we were just stepsiblings, ones who hated each other's guts with a passion. 

If only I could tell her that I couldn’t ignore him, especially not now. If only they knew that our relationship was more complicated.

If only they knew that for the past year, he'd been my secret boyfriend.

Memories flitted through my mind as I sank into the music, drawing back into the past.

My mother had died five years ago, and everything changed. After her death, my relationship with my father grew strained and distant.  Since then, I'd  learned early to hold up this proud facade as a self defense shield. 

I closed myself off from the world, pushed everyone aside, hated crowds and acted out. 

Everyone else saw it as arrogance and I let them. If I acted like I did not care like I was above it all, then nobody could see how much I was hurting.

It wasn't until two years ago that everything truly changed. Two years ago, my father remarried Layla, bringing her and her son Hayden into the town and our home.

Hayden, unlike me, was soon revered. He was handsome, soon became the captain of the Town College's's basketball team, and had straight As. Most of all, he was charming and charismatic in a way I could never be. It didn't take long before he eventually gained my father's approval and pride.

Not like me.

Despite knowing that he loved me, my father seemed to constantly prefer Hayden. No matter what I tried, he treated me as spoiled, as difficult, as the problem child who needed to be managed. He'd gotten the approval I never had, no matter how much I reached for it.

I hated him for that, and he felt the same. We bore a public rivalry, fighting about everything and surviving on spite and sarcasm.

Until we weren't. 

 Despite the rocky start to our relationship, all that tension snapped into something more. And so we began our secret relationship for the past year. 

On the outside, we remained the same, giving scathing comments just to hide our relationship. Nobody else knew of our secret touches, the looks and everything else.

And now, I was pregnant with his child.

My belly churned. I closed my eyes, curling and uncurling my hands in a familiar rhythm to calm down. I wasn't a fan of dancing much in the first place— it was more of Perry's thing— I liked it enough with Perry, though it usually took more convincing. This though, didn't feel too good anymore. 

Even though we had planned on revealing our relationship, this was not in the cards.

What was I supposed to do now?

I swallowed thickly. I didn't know yet, but if there was something I was sure of, it was that I truly loved Hayden.

I'd fallen for him an embarrassingly long time ago in the quiet way that had grown between us when no one else was watching. I'd fallen for him because despite my penchance for pushing others away, he saw through me. Because aside from Perry, he was the only one who believed in me and saw through my past facade. He'd defended me and because he loved me too.

Somehow, thinking of that made the idea of this pregnancy not feel so bad. It was welcoming even.

The realization hit hard. I WAS willing to keep this baby. To start a family with him.

It was probably stupid thing to consider at this point in time, but the more I thought about it, the more I truly wanted it.

In hindsight, there was nothing more to worry about. Hayden was already smart. Smarter than the golden boy act he put on for my father and for Layla. He had told me about making his own company, even reviewing his business plan on his laptop late at night.

He said back then that he did not want Panama Holdings if it meant me living in my father's shadow forever. He wanted to build something that was ours. 

I believed him. I always would.

The question was how to tell him on the day of our graduation party no less.

“Hey babe.” I snapped up to find Perry in front of me. “ I have to go somewhere, I'll see you in a bit, kay?”

“Do you need help with something?” I asked mostly out of courtesy. “I can come with.”

A strange look flashed across her face before I could process it. It must have been my imagination but her smile seemed to tighten. 

“No. Stay and chill,” she said, gaze darting away for a moment. “I just wanted to check on something for a second. I'll be right back, okay?"

That was strange. Still, I nodded.

“Okay.” I said and she soon left, leaving me alone in the crowd.

Once she was gone, I escaped the dancefloor, resting at the closest corner nobody was in whilst trying to shut out everything else as I waited. 

It didn't take time, however, for a reaction to spark. 

There was a reason I hated loud overstimulating parties like these and without Perry as a buffer, I was reminded EXACTLY why.

Nausea roiled through me as the smell of beer, punch and sweat pressed in. There were too many bodies, too much heat. Even the bass rattled my teeth. 

I needed to leave.

Without hesitation, I headed towards the upstairs. According to Perry, it was technically off limits, but hell, I didn't care. I had no plans on doing anything bad, plus it had a balcony. I needed cold air and to be able to relax.

The relief was immediate after passing the stairs. Away from the crowd, the place was quieter and cooler with the music downstairs becoming a muffled thump. 

I sighed and leaned against the end of the staircase, soaking in the cool sensation when laughter rang.

My brows furrowed in confusion. Wasn't this place supposed to be closed off?

Following the sound my gaze locked onto a half open bedroom door with light spilling out into the dark hallway. Voices rang loudly against the bass when I heard familiar laughter. 

Perry? What was she doing here?

I nearly took a step forward when a voice rang, louder than the rest.

"So when is the jig up for Hayden? When will he finally dump her?"

I froze in place, heart skipping a beat when another person laughed. 

“You mean Oris? Man, he already won. It was done the second she fell for it."

"Shh, keep it down.” Perry's voice cut in. “She’s downstairs."

"Who fucking cares?” A girl giggled. “Its been more than a year now. She's so stupid, still thinking that her little thing with Hayden is some secret. Doesn't know that it was a bet to try to make her fall for him."