Chapter 5

Well, I just stood there, unable to move my feet.

It's like I'm stuck in a time Warp or something.

What have these two went ahead and did this time around?.

Have they realized that they have sold the dignity of our family just to get their daughter married?.

How could they do this and that too without informing me.

"Heaven" our mother calls out my name, cutting me off from my time frenzy.

She only calls us by our real name when she needs to talk business.

She walks over to me and places her hand on my shoulder. That act of hers seems to have brought back the activities my muscles and skeleton are supposed to do.

I pushed her hand away and head out the door.

"What are you going to do now?" she asks.

Isn't it obvious what I'm gonna do.

"I'm going to call of this wedding" I still decided to answer her.

I turn around and start heading back to the hall but someone pulled me back into the room.

I turned around in anger only to see that it's Nevaeh who did so.

"Please, you can't call of this wedding" she pleads.

"I mean, I really do love him and he loves me too, that's all that matters" she adds.

If she hadn't been a sick person and also my sister, I swear I would have given her a tight slap right about now.

"Love, you call that love?" I ask her. She just looks down.

"Answer me" I screamed at her for the first time in my life.

She flinched by my actions.

"Heaven" Mom grabs me by the shoulder.

"No Mom, she has to answer me, why did she have to give up her dream just so to be with a man, answer me" I say.

"I'm sorry" that's all she said.

"Sorry?, Sorry for what exactly?" I ask.

She was silent once again.

Can see that she is really tensed as well.

This is not good, the doctor has asked us now not to make her too stressed out.

I walked over to her and place both my hands on her shoulder and pulls her for a hug.

"Listen, I am really sorry, I didn't mean to scare you off like that" I apologise.

I can feel her relax on my shoulder now.

"You know you are always my priority, that's the reason why I'm so worried" I add.

"I know" she says, pulling away.

"And I'm really sorry for not confiding in you first, I really am, but what is done is done now, and I'm ok with it, really" she assures me.

Nevaeh knows that I will never say no to any of her decision.

"It's ok, but you should have told me first" I say, a little disappointed.

This is the first time that I feel like I am not a part of my sister's life anymore and it's so scary, really scary.

But it's just the beginning because as of now, I won't be there to look after her all the time.

"At least she has decided to give up something to get married, what about you?" one of my so called aunts speaks up.

"Lina..." Mom tries to stop her.

"No, she must hear me out today" the woman stops her.

"My sister over her has sacrificed all her life, all her happiness just because of you two, she even broke ties with her family just because of you and look at how ungrateful you are, at least one of you has thought to get married to a rich man but you, all you ever do is leech off others and now that you are given an opportunity on a silver platter, you are still ungrateful, even trying to ruin your own sister's happiness" she keeps on ranting and I kept on listening and I still don't know why because I would have already stopped her long ago.

"Lina, that is enough, you know that my family being apart has nothing to do with these girls, so stop uttering nonsense" Mom tries to stop her.

"Well, she is speaking the truth you know, if not because of this girl Heaven here, your son would still be by your side" Flores, my other mother's sister says.

"All she did was call him out for taking and selling drugs and I am so grateful for her for doing that, otherwise who knows how many lives would he have ruined by now" mom says bitterly.

"See, she is still standing up for you even after you have sabotaged her life, so you should also have some shame to return her favour" Lina says.

Ok, I've heard enough.

I let go of Neveah's hand even though she kept tugging me to stop but I refused.

I walked over and stood in front of them.

"Listen here, Lina and Flores, let me ask you a question" I say, not bothering to call them aunts.

They aren't my aunts anyway.

She huffed at me and turn away but I am not done with her yet.

"Where were you when you're so called sister was in so much trouble and she had no where else to go, where were you when she needed your support at her most trying times, where where you when she had to juggle between one job to another just so she can make a living for herself, huh?" I ask.

Yes, where were they, they have to answer this question.

I can still remember vividly how Lina's husband and her threw my mother out of their house when she went to them for help and how all her relatively kept on ignoring her calls during those times.

Her husband has recently left and she was left to fend for three children and she had to do it all alone.

"Answer me, huh, where were you for the past fifteen years of our lives and why exactly did you decide to show up now?" I ask.

The both of them kept quiet.

Yes, they should be.

"Or is it because my sister has gotten married to a big shot and so you are back to see what you can earn from us?" I ask.

I know it's the truth and they too.

"How dare you" Flores gasps.

Well, I'm not falling for that pretense anymore.

I wanted to give her a befitting answer but mom intervened.

"Let it be Heaven, whatever happened is in the past now and now we need to focus on our future, let bygones be bygones" she says, placing her hand on my shoulder.

Does she mean that she has decided to forgive them even after they were horrible to her all this while?. Well, this woman sure does have a big heart.

"And speaking of the future, I've always wanted to ask you this..." She trails off.

Please mom, don't talk about my love life because the truth is I have none.

"What do you plan to do in the future, I mean, what is your dream?" she asks.

Well, that's unexpected and easy as well.

"To make each and every dream of my sister come true" I answered right away and it's true.

Whatever my sister desires, I made sure to fulfill it for her, no matter how hard.

Come to think of it, I've never really lived for myself so far, all I did was for her and I will continue doing that.

"No my dear, I'm talking about you, what do you want for yourself?" she asks again.

I kept silent for a while.

Well, what do I want for myself?. Truth is, I don't know.

I've never really taken my time to know what I want, never.

"I don't know" I answer.

"But you don't have to worry mom, I'll figure it out as soon as I finished fulfilling all of Nevaeh's dreams" I say, trying to divert my attention from that said tormenting question.

"Listen child, I know you are doing all that you could to see that your sister is happy, but now she has someone else to take care of her, so you can now consider yourself on a break, so you can focus on your own future" she says.

"So, I was thinking, maybe you can join the engineering school" Neveah says.

"Yes, don't worry, I'll be done in no time and then you will be an engineer in no time" I say, excited.

It's a win-win situation, right.

She gets to stay with her husband and I get to fulfill her dreams.

"No, I mean, for you, not me" she says.

My mouth froze for a second and I couldn't utter a word.

I tried to open my mouth to speak but then the door opened and a lady walks in.

"It's time" she says.