Snow White And The Seven Boys

Chapter Six

-----> Thank you Bloodroses for the gorgeous cover!

Chapter Six

After fifteen minutes, Tyler pulled up in the sideways. “Here we go. This is like my favorite steakhouse on Earth.” He said, unplugged his car keys as we fastened our seat belt. I pushed the door open and stepped out of the car, Austin followed behind. Then we saw Mr.Garrets’s car stopped in front of us, Hayden and Zac inside waved at us.

“Enjoyed the ride?” Mr. Garrets asked as we were heading into the steakhouse, his arm causally hung on his wife’s shoulder. We were walking side by side and the boys were behind us, poking each other playfully especially Matt and Tyler.

“Yes, sir,” I smiled, feeling lucky that I have a family as nice and caring as Mr. and Mrs. Mather, my old foster parents. “I have a question, though,”

Mr. Garrets nodded and I let out the question I’ve been thinking too long. “Why did you adopt me? I mean like, what made you choose me?”

The couple exchanged a look that I couldn’t understand, and it was Mrs. Garrets who gave me the answer.

“You know, when I was a child, I was abused by my father…sexually.” Her sight shifted to a distanced unknown. The painful memories shaken her words, her voice was wobbling. Mr. Garrets hugged her with one arm closer to show support. “So we’ve never done the ‘thing’ after we’re married. I couldn’t bear the thought of-“

“I totally understand that,” I interrupted, didn’t want her to recall the past. I knew how that feels. You just had to bury the past as deep as possible in order to let your life be less affected by the torture of memories, even though years had passed, never digging it up seemed to be the best way to solve the problem.

“And I feel sorry because I know how much Bill wanted a kid. After years of consideration, we decided to adopt a girl. We wanted to give her all the best and we had no experience in handling babies so we figured we’d have a teen girl, like you.” She added, obviously more relieved not to talk about what happened in the past. “We went to this adopting agent and she simply just showed us like all the fostering kids and other girls in the orphanage. We were attracted by a picture of you grinning excitedly with your arms linked to the necks of your foster parents. They looked so happy, too. We read your file, and understood what happened to you. We wanted to love you so you could get out of the shadow as soon as possible, so here you are.”

What she said brought tears in my eyes. I know how hard it is to trust on someone after you’ve been hurt like this. I suppressed the thought of letting the tears run out, I’m not going to cry for the second time in my first day here… Instead, I sighed to calm my feelings and gave each of them a hug. “Thank you, I was wondering…If I could call you…”I paused, not sure if it was the right decision. They both had their eyebrow raised at me, looking concerned. I inhaled deeply and continued my words. “Mom and dad?”

They both gasped at the same time, their eyes widened in surprise. “Oh dear,” Mrs. Garrets grabbed my palm and rubbing it. “Did you just say those words?”

“Yes, I did,” I smiled, soothing her hand and soon I was surrounded by their bodies. They were hugging me so tightly I could barely breathe. “Don’t choke your daughter to death!” I exclaimed, pulling myself away from them, gasping for air.

“Why are you guys hugging, can I have one too?” I heard Austin’s voice appeared just next to me, before I could give him reactions I was trapped in his strong, muscular arms. It felt shockingly comfortable. I’ve never had a boyfriend before, guys back in middle schools and high schools liked me, but I guess I just wasn’t ready to be in love.