Reel or Real

Chapter 40

It was hard to miss the wide, supportive smile Mrs. Moore gave Alex after she uttered those words out. After that, she stood up and went to Alex to give her a hug. She also whispered some words to her, but none of us heard it. There's still a hesitant look on Alex's eyes, I would even go as far as saying that she looked scared, but Alex is good at covering it up. Alex then occupied the couch Mrs. Moore was sitting on earlier, while Mrs. Moore sat at the armrest of the same couch.

As soon as Alex's butt came in contact with the couch, she didn't waste any time speaking.

"I'm Austin's twin," she started. "Though I'm sure all of you had probably already came to that conclusion" we nodded. We had all came to that conclusion, but it was still surprising for us, or maybe just me, to hear that admission from her.

"I didn't know him or any of the Moore's. It's kind of a long story, but long-story-short; they took only Austin home because of a doctor's mistake. I was adopted by a nurse that had assisted mom's pregnancy and they became my family"

It doesn't take a genius to know that the man and woman in the picture was the one Alex is talking about.

"I won't bore with you the details of that part of my life; I know that's now what you're here for"

Wrong. I wanted to say, but I was too afraid to speak. For some reason, I want to know every detail about it.

"One day, a man named Charles William came into our house; claiming to be a private investigator of the Moore's, specifically Johnson Moore. Of course, I was confused. A man who suddenly walked into our homes were giving me pictures of a guy who looks so much like me and other people who looks kind of like me; saying that they were my true family. But, I was also cautious. No matter what he said, I didn't believe him, not fully anyway. But the guy was insistent. Not long after, Johnson Moore himself went to see me and offered me something that he knew I couldn't reject."

I wonder what that was. I thought to myself, but didn't want to interrupt Alex.

"My adoptive mother was a nurse, but she had to give up that career when my adoptive father died because it took up so much of her time and she needed to take care of me and Jasmine" her voice cracked at the mention of her sister's name and the look on her eyes became distant but she continued her story.

"I also had to stop going to school then and had jobs of my own to help my mother provide for our family. Johnson knew this, so he offered it to me, as well as a house that my adoptive mother and my sister could use and, in exchange, I will have to pretend to be Austin so that it wouldn't compromise all the deals he had made with other people which include Austin" then, she turned to look at me. "Most especially the deal he made with you father"

Everyone then turned to look at me with a raised eyebrow, but even I didn't know what Alex was talking about.

"You and Austin were set to be married, Mary. You were in wedlock. It was your father and Johnson's way of joining their powers, as they like to put it, and Johnson didn't want to compromise that because Austin had died. So, he desperately looked for me and backed me up in a wall for me to agree to pretend to be my dead twin brother who I didn't even met" there's now venom in Alex's words and all of us were feeling it. But, other than that, we were also feeling the pain behind Alex's voice.

"When I found out about what Johnson had done, when I found out that he was the one responsible for my sister and my girlfriend's death, I wanted revenge" Alex's eyes never left mine as she spoke and, as much as I wanted to look away, I couldn't. The pain in her eyes wouldn't allow me to look away.

"So I planned to make you fall hard for me – for Austin – and break your heart after. But, after that incident at the park, I realized that I couldn't. You've never done anything to me and, although it was also my way to break you from the wedlock you didn't know you were in, I couldn't go through with the plan. So, instead, I just talked to my mother and my sister"