16- "Growling..."

"How are you? You actually survive that afternoon incident? We all thought you were dead already—"

"Mom, that's enough." I interrupted to cut my mother’s words out, stood beside her, and gently held her arm.

She looked at me. Actually, all of them looked at me.

I turned to Trey and apologized, "I'm sorry, Trey."

He didn't respond, but he finally seemed to get what was happening…

Mom was even more amazed. "So, you knew all this time that he's alive? Wow! Why haven't you told me about it? And what? Why didn't you call him 'Noah?'"

"Mom, he is not Noah," I said in a low voice, totally feeling embarrassed in front of the Gregoris watching.

Mom stopped for a bit to let what I said sink into her mind.

I continued, "That's Trey Gregori. He's my classmate in Biology class. He and his cousins." I eye-gestured the other Gregoris alongside Trey himself.

Few seconds later, mom awoke to her senses. "Oh! So, I got it wrong? He isn't Noah, after all!"

"Yeah. He is not him, mom," I emphasized.

She tu