VICE

| HIS PAST. MY PRESENT. OUR FUTURE. |

"She went home with another older guy from the party. Knowing her sexual prowess, she is probably still with him, humping him until she drains him of all bodily fluids." Michael said.

Austin looked at him with a disgusted face as he put his phone to his ear,"What the hell were you dating?!" He shook his head at Michael, "-hey, Nicky, are you still around? ....good don't go anywhere, just hang around or come here to the garden.....I'll tell you why when you get here...yes, it is important! ....alright, I'm waiting." He hung up.

"I'm sorry about all this." Michael apologized.

"Tell me ..what about Noah ...what's his story?"

Michael cleared his throat and took a deep breath, "Well...Noah and I are not exactly related."

"What? I thought the two of you are cousins."

"I call him that because he was brought up by aunt(my dad's sister) and her husband. We actually thought that we were real cousins until almost recently when he found out that he was adopted when he was an infant..."

"-what happened to his parents?" Austin asked attentively.

"...his parents were young, peasant farmers living in Nebraska. My aunt and uncle met them when they were traveling for some business around the area. They got a flat tire and got stranded but, luckily, Noah's parents found them and took good care of them. They were a really nice people and despite their poverty, they were very selfless.

"At the time, Noah had not been born yet, they were still childless. Their kindness moved my aunt and uncle so much, they decided to invest in their farm. A few months later, Noah's father joined the army in order to serve his country and went off two war. His mom was four months pregnant when he left....he wanted to be a hero for his son when he was born.

"But things did not go according to plan and he was killed in action a few weeks later before Noah was born. It really broke up Noah's mother -she was a pregnant widow who was struggling to keep a growing business on its feet. My aunt and uncle had to get her more help for the farm and they were there for her, even when she really didn't wanna ask for help.

"She managed to keep the growing baby in her womb alive and healthy but when she was giving birth, she suffered some complications on the operation table. My aunt was there because Noah's parents had no immediate family.

"She was asked to make a call, Noah's life or his mother's...because the doctors couldn't manage to keep the both of them alive. It was difficult for her, but she chose Noah." Michael licked his lips to wet them, then continued, "His mother died and the Byrnes adopted Noah shortly after.

"My aunt had tried to have a child of her own for very long but she had not been fertile enough, so Noah was like a treasure for them.

"They loved him with everything they had but did not know how to tell him that he was adopted and since Noah never suspected anything, he grew up as a normal rich kid, partying and everything, although he was not that reckless ...he loved and respected them.

"Two years ago, my aunt found out she was pregnant with twins out of the blue...it was this huge miracle that nobody could explain. Noah was so excited to have a little sister and brother...it gets lonely being the only child.

"He kept telling his mom about how he was going to teach them all these cool things and show them off to everyone..and all that jazz.

"And then my aunt let it slip by accident by saying that she didn't know that pregnancy could feel that amazing, that it was all she ever wanted. Noah, being the smart ass he is, caught onto it immediately. He pushed until they eventually revealed to him how they got him.