All Around Us

Chapter Seventeen

On the night before we were supposed to leave Brazil, dad messaged me and asked me to video call him when I got the chance. A video call? Dad never took those so this certainly came as a surprise... I guess he just missed me.

I called him soon after he messaged me because I wasn’t actually doing anything at the moment and... I secretly missed him too. He must’ve been waiting with his phone in hand because the call only dialed twice before being answered.

“Hey sweetie.” He greeted, holding the phone up really close to his face. “Hey dad...” I responded awkwardly, a temporary wave of homesickness washing over me. “How’s Brazil? Are you guys coming back soon?” He asked sounding really hopeful in the last question.

“Brazil’s fine dad, and we’re coming back tomorrow. Is there something wrong? You never take video calls.” I was already preparing myself for either the best or the worst news at this point. He smiled a little apprehensively then looked at me carefully. “Sweetie... there’s someone I’d like for you to meet.”

Then he pulled the phone away from his face enough to accommodate another person in the shot and a woman scooted into view. Wait... that was Ms Evans. What was dad doing with Ms Evans? Before I could ask, dad started speaking again. “Lisa, this is Emma. We’ve been seeing each other for quite a while now, and have come to love each other very much. We spent quite a lot of time together when you were at your aunt’s place over the summer.

The day you came home is the day I proposed to her, which is why I came home late... she’s actually the one whose car you saw when I came back. I wanted to tell you about all of this earlier but then you didn’t want to talk to me. We’ve been planning the wedding all along, and it’s finally taking place next week. I really want you to be there sweetheart... I really do.”

I sat there, stunned. I opened my mouth but no words were coming out... I was absolutely flabbergasted. “... you’re getting married?” I finally managed to croak out after ages. Dad nodded patiently. He could see that I was taking a while to process things. Ms Evans... he was marrying Ms Evans.

Ms Evans was Christian’s *mother*.

She and my mother(step) used to chat whenever Christian came over to play, but she never hung around long enough for her and dad to meet. Dad would always come home late from work and when he wasn’t at work, he was elsewhere but just never around when she would visit. When mom died, she stopped coming over and Christian explained that it was because she couldn’t bear to come back after losing her friend. It was so strange... it all just felt like some kind of glitch in the matrix that these two never met until they started dating.

The rest of the conversation after that became a blur... but I remember trying to tell dad who she was but somehow failing. When the call finally ended, all I wanted to do was cry. How was I supposed to tell Christian? What did this mean for us?

But why didn’t she recognise me? I took a long look at myself and then realised that she last saw me when I was only eight years old. I certainly didn’t look the same. On top of that, dad and I had moved houses when my ‘mother’ passed away because he couldn’t bear to stay in the old house anymore... so she could have never linked us to the old house.

Wow, it was almost as if they were _destined_ to not meet until recently... and that unnerved me.

•••●•••

“Hey babe, I’m back. The reception says we should be out of here by 11AM so we have to have our stuff ready by— hey are you okay?”

When I didn’t respond, he came and sat right next to me. I had my head down the whole time and wouldn’t look up. “Babe look at me... What’s going on?” he nudged my chin gently until I looked up at him tearfully.

“Christian we have to break up.”

I could see the shock and the impact of my words ripple through his body. “...what? Why Liss? I... did I do something wrong? Liss please, we can talk about this—“ “Our parents are getting married to each other Christian.” I blurted out, immediately silencing him.

As I said the words I felt my heart _burn_. I watched the realisation unravel in his worried grey eyes and saw the hand that held my chin fall limply to his side. He looked like he had just seen a ghost. I wanted to let him process this first but I found myself revealing the rest of the story.

By the time I was done explaining, Christian was absolutely heartbroken. His expression matched mine and there were unshed tears in his eyes now.

“So it’s really over...”

“Yeah...”

Silence.

“Liss... please let me hold you one more time.” He asked me softly. I looked at his tearful eyes and gave a gentle nod. Then slowly, almost as if fearing that I would break, Christian pulled me to his body. He hugged me tight and gently pulled me to lay down on the bed with him. He hid his face in my back as he held me, his warm tears slowly seeping into the back of my shirt. I felt my own tears begin to fall again and I shut my eyes, holding tightly onto his arms.

It felt like nothing else mattered in that moment... we were just two heartbroken teenagers holding onto each other for dear life... holding onto the last moments of our broken paradise.