Nicole

Chapter: 08

"How long is she staying?" Axel asked as soon as he closed the door behind him. He had endured her for a whole day but his patience had a limit. Christopher sighed.

"As long as she wants to. Axel, this house belongs as much to her as it does to you. She grew up here-"

"How are you so sure of that?! How are you so sure that it's her?! I don't remember anything about having another sister-"

"It's because you were too young, Axel," Christopher said, his nostrils flaring. "She is my daughter and I remember her. I am certain that it is her. And I didn't expect you, of all, to be so unwelcoming. She used to be your partner in crime-" Axel scoffed but Christopher ignored him. "Don't you see the resemblance between the two of you? The same blue eyes, the same dark hair, and the same features. Axel, please. She's been locked in her room all day-"

"That is not her room!" Axel raged.

"Listen to me!" Christopher yelled, breathing heavily. "She lost her mother two days ago. She is already going through a lot and I don't think she can handle you."

Axel's heart jumped when his father mentioned the death of his mother. He wasn't expecting that. But he shook his head, remembering that Nicole told his father that and she could've been lying.

"None of you get it," he muttered. "I'll talk to her myself."

"Axel, no-" Christopher warned but Axel was already out of the room, running up the stairs. He inhaled sharply, his mind spinning. He felt as if the whole world had dawned on him in just one day. Seeing Nicole awakened something inside him. Finding out about his wife's death broke him although he tried not to show it. Seeing Nicole get along with Nathan and Isabelle gave him hope. All of those feelings were mixing up inside him and he didn't know what to do. He needed a break. But his phone buzzed in his pocket as if telling him that there was no way he could get that.

~~~

Axel stormed up the stairs, fury burning inside him. He thought he could take it a few more days before he had this outburst but he was wrong. He couldn't take any more of this. Nicole wasn't family; she was an intruder who had disturbed their peace.

Axel had noticed how his father seemed down and he could undoubtedly say that it was because of the things Nicole said to him. The death of his wife had hit him hard and Axel couldn't bare it. He couldn't bear her. So he stormed up and without bothering to knock, he entered Nicole's room.

She was sitting on the bed, lost in thought, doing nothing. When Axel entered the room though, she looked up at him alerted, her blue eyes wide and curious. She did have the same eyes as him but he shook the thought away, remembering what he came here for.

"You need to stop," he told her. She stood up from the bed and walked forward.

"Stop what?" She asked.

"Manipulating my father. Pretending to get along with my sister. Saying things that you don't mean to my brother." She looked startled at that.

"I'm not manipulating anyone. I'm not pretending about anything and there wasn't a single word I said to Nathan that I didn't mean," she said.

"Don't say his name!" Axel yelled. "The only sister I have ever had is Isabelle."

Nicole inhaled sharply, "The only family that I have ever had was my mother! And guess what? She's gone! And she never told me about any of you-"