It all made sense to her now; though only to increase her puzzlement.
Lest, Lane, Baze, Hase, Zchel, Mel.
It all made sense.
Her nickname was present, Zchel must be Zchelea's nickname and Hase surely be Hason's—since he claimed the teddy bear was once his.
But what about the others? Could they all be her biological brothers?
Melora shook her head as she continued to think. Absolutely not! She thought. She couldn't even think about having a lot of siblings. They must be our cousins... but what of Hason? Is he a cousin too? Possibly, he could only be a cousin brother because Dorothy only mentioned a sister. Dorothy would have told her if she had brothers too, right?
Melora felt her temples throbbing as she continued to think, which only made her more confused and desperate to find the answers to all of the questions in her head. She asked Anatole whether Zchelea had told her anything else about herself and Anatole told her that her name was Zchelea Furning.
That's it.
Melora couldn't wait patiently till her sister would come for her again. So she and her friends went in search of Zchelea's house after school the next day, asking the people they saw on the way for the Furnings' house. An elderly woman helped them in reaching the house, leaving as quickly as she dropped them off. Melora didn't even got a chance to thank her.
Was Zchelea living alone? She wondered as she walked into the courtyard and climbed up to the veranda to knock on the door, while Leanora and Evelyn stayed behind, hope sparkling in their eyes. Her heart was pounding fast and she was breathing heavily—every inch of her was overwhelmed. She felt excited, hopeful, and happy, but also anxious.
She raised her hand to knock on the closed door, telling herself to relax and not be anxious. Taking several deep breaths, she knocked three times, lightly yet loud enough to be heard. She took a step back, holding her breath to see the door opening and her sister standing before her. But no one came out right away, so Melora told herself to wait a while. She turned to face her friends, who were watching her and peering at the door, with hope for their dear friend.
Melora returned her attention to the door, taking slow breaths as she waited for it to open. Half a minute passed but no one opened the door.
"Maybe she's not at home," Evelyn's voice made Melora turn around to her, making her hope—to see her sister at that moment itself—vanish quickly.
"She might be working somewhere... we won't know." Leanora shrugged with her arms crossed across her chest.
Melora frowned and let out a deep sigh. She just shrugged, not wanting to give up without knocking at least one more time. Though, she practically ended up knocked three more times, forcefully and loudly. She took another step back, praying the door would open this time.
And it did.
Melora heard the door unlocking and held her breath again. She took another step back, straightening herself. The door then flung open, revealing a small girl around twelve with red hair tied up in a loose bun. She had a phone in her palm and her hazel eyes focused on Melora, her thick eyebrows furrowing.
So Zchelea isn't living alone. She thought.
Melora composed herself from being taken—as she was expecting Zchelea, or to say someone older.
"Yes?" the girl questioned distastefully, her eyebrows raised.
"Is this... is this Zchelea's house?" Melora asked, straightening up herself again and gathering her words.
The girl at the door cocked her head. "Yes," she replied quickly in a distasteful tone before slamming the door shut.
Melora blinked; was this how she behaved to everyone at their door? She wondered and looked back at her friends, stunned and puzzled. Evelyn's lips were parted in a puzzled expression. They were surprised that the girl slammed the door swiftly, without even questioning why they were looking for Zchelea.
Melora instantly turned around and knocked again, stronger than the last time. Evelyn and Leanora approached her to stay with her.
The door opened again, and the girl looked at them with a bothered look. "What?" she snapped at Melora, her eyes hardening, thoroughly disturbed.
Melora cleared her throat. "Sorry if we're bothering you, but can you tell us where Zchelea is?" she didn't like how the girl was behaving toward them. It was quite irritating, but she instructed herself to keep her voice calm and normal.
Though, Melora wanted to glare back at her; why was there a little girl in Zchelea's house? Melora couldn't help but be bothered by that thought.
"She's not here," the girl said, swiftly closing the door again.
"What the heck is wrong with this girl?" Leanora hissed under her breath.
"Perhaps she doesn't socialize with people?" Evelyn shrugged, unsure.
"She better not drive me mad," Melora muttered as she stepped forward and knocked impatiently again.
As the door opened once more, the girl's irritating expression reappeared. "What?" she snapped again as she narrowed her eyes at the trio. She was highly irritated and bothered, but Melora didn't care.
"Where is Zchelea?" Melora did her hardest to remain cool as she demanded impatiently.
"I told you she isn't here!" The girl responded coldly and was about to shut the door again, but Melora stepped forward and prevented the door from closing. "What are you doing?" the girl shouted, her eyes widening as Melora pressed her palm against the door, blocking her try. The girl tried harder, but Melora was strong enough not to let her win. "Who are you?!" She asked at last.
"Wasn't that what you were supposed to ask first?" Melora asked, raising her eyebrows challengingly. "Tell me where's Zchelea, we're here to see her urgently."
"She isn't here." The girl irritated them by repeating the answer.
Leanora groaned, "Then where is she?"
"She's at work." The girl scowled at them, her gaze hardening on Melora, who released her hand from the door.
"Where is she working?" Melora asked anxiously.
"I don' answer to strangers." The girl hissed and was about to shut the door again when Melora stopped her.
"When will she come back?" Melora asked impatiently.
"I told you I don't answer to strangers!"
"Then who did just answer us that Zchelea isn't here but at work?" Leanora teased her, crossed her arms, and raised her eyebrows with a smirk.
"What do you want?" the girl hissed.
Melora dismissed her question, "Who are you to Zchelea?"
"I'm her sister."
Melora's heart stopped; Leanora and Evelyn gasped. "What?" the trio exclaimed in unison.
Melora got stunned; she was Zchelea's sister? How was that possible? If she was so, does it make this girl her sister as well? Her eyes softened as confusion washed over her. She wanted to ask, but she couldn't find the right words.
"Who are you?" the girl asked with narrowed eyes.
"We don't answer to rude ones," Leanora said, grabbing Melora's arm, who was still stunned. "Come on, Mel, let's leave."
Leanora's words caused the girl to slam the door close immediately. But Melora, on the other hand, couldn't move. "H-her... sister?" She stuttered in disbelief, she couldn't accept it.
"I don't think so," Leanora scoffed.
Melora turned to face her friends, a very shocked expression on her face. "She said she's her sister," she added quietly. "Wouldn't that mean..."
Evelyn knew precisely what Melora was thinking, "Hey, that girl can't be your sister too. Think, she might be someone like..." She suddenly gasped in realization, "Remember Dorothy saying Zchelea might've been taken away?"
"Yeah... but—"
"What if Zchelea was adopted?" Evelyn pointed out. "This rude girl can't possibly be your sister, but only an adoptive sister to yours. And, hey... why didn't we think of this? Anatole said her name was ZcheleaFurning. So, she was undoubtedly adopted."
That struck Melora and made sense; if she had another sister than Zchelea, Dorothy would've mentioned anything about it. "Right," she exhaled a shaky breath. "Looks like we gotta wait till Zchelea would be back from her work."
"She'll come for you, Mel, so we should definitely head back." Leanora tightened her grip on Melora's arm as they stepped down from the veranda of the Furnings' house, returning to their place.
"I don' answer strangers," Evelyn groaned, imitating Zchelea's adoptive sister. "I don't like it when people don't know how to behave."
Melora pursed her lips as she walked between her friends, following lost in thoughts.
"Come on, Mel, forget about her; she's definitely a prick, not your sister," Leanora said, noticing her friend immersed in thoughts. "After all, Fribelles wouldn't be rude." She winked.
"I'm the only Fribelle you know so far." Melora snorted in amusement.
"But you said Hason was really good." Evelyn reminded her.
"Hason," she mumbled his name and groaned in disappointment. "He was a great chance to reunite with my family, but I blew it. I can't believe I did that!"
"But if he's your cousin, he can't know where your family is, since none of your uncles knows." Evelyn reminded her again.
"But those are Dorothy's words, and I can't believe how you both believe them." Leanora shook her head in disbelief. "We can't believe them yet, you know, people lie."
"But everything makes sense; what she said about Zchelea. She even came to see me! And you should've seen Hason's face when I gasped her name..." Melora stopped in her tracks. "Hason's expression was astonished when I said Zchelea's name. He recognized her, which explained his astonished expression. See, everything makes sense... and the reason he looked shocked and confused when he saw the teddy bear was that it had his name on it. Everything makes sense now."
Evelyn squeezed her hand and smiled sweetly. "And that's why I think Dorothy was telling the truth because she wanted the truth in return as well."
Melora returned the smile, "I can only hope Zchelea has some answers to my questions."
"I just hope your family is safe from Dorothy's clutches." Leanora made a disgusted noise as she uttered Dorothy's name; she clearly hated Dorothy from everything Melora had told them about her.
"Who knows," Melora heaved a deep sigh, shrugging.
"They'll be alright. Anyways, try to think of the bright side. It's a good thing that you've got a bright side." Leanora's lips twitched up into a smirk, glancing at Melora sideways.
"What bright side?"
"Your Edward."
Melora snapped her gaze to Leanora, who chuckled. Melora groaned, "Leanora!" It was really a huge mistake to tell her friends about Edward and her feelings. "How many times! I'm trying to forget about him! And don't you dare bring him up again," she threatened, but she couldn't hide her amusement as her friends were laughing, and she knew her cheeks were betraying her too. "And for the thousandth time. He. Is. Not. My. Edward."
"Oh, really?" Evelyn rolled her eyes. "I've seen you thinking about him," she teased.
"As if you can read my thoughts," Melora rolled her eyes. "It's my family I think of always." That was a lie, but she had grown tired of her friends' teasing—though she was indeed trying to forget Edward.
Leanora raised her eyebrow suspiciously, but Melora ignored her.
DeleteCreated with Sketch.
Hours dragged by as Melora waited for her sister to come for her that evening. She was impatient, but she kept reminding herself that she must have patience.
Melora had a lot to study, but nothing would get into her head. She was frustrated. She was consumed by thoughts and there was no escape from them. Ever since she came to know about her family, from that day on, her head was filled with questions. She still couldn't believe how quickly her life was turned upside down. At the same time, she couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen in her future since Dorothy was looking for her family.
Besides her family, it was those ocean eyes that brought back memories of that day mostly. She knew it was pointless to think about him, but couldn't help. She recalled over a hundred times how he had stared at her, but couldn't make out what he might've possibly seen in a girl like her. Melora wanted to forget him, but in fact, nothing helped; he kept appearing in her dreams, giving her an unrecognizable sensation.
Melora sighed, pulling herself back to reality. Impatiently, she checked the time on her watch and saw it was past five. She immediately got on her feet as she guessed it was at the same time Anatole had told her she had a visitor yesterday. She dashed from there to the main hall where she had met Hason; the very thought of him disappointed her again. She tried to shrug it off, telling herself that what passed is passed. Just try not to blink again to miss another chance, she told herself.
As usual, there were a lot of little children and their nannies in the hall, laughter filling the air as they played with their toys. Melora stopped herself as she let her eyes travel around to find Anatole and ask if Zchelea had come again.
But that's when her gaze was drawn to a certain girl crouched down before Aaron, holding his teddy bear in her hands and casually conversing with him. Her heartbeat raced; the young girl's eyes were wide in surprise and happened to be inquiring the boy about something like Hason did.
Like Hason. Melora realized.
Could that be Zchelea? She asked herself eagerly, glancing between the young girl and Aaron before slowly walking over to them, digging her hands into her hoodie's pockets. Her heart raced as she got closer and heard what they were talking about.
"Who gave this to you?" the girl asked Aaron in a gentle voice, looking at him tenderly.
"Mel gave it to me, but I have another one, a big one, and I call him Rooks," Aaron replied, scratching his head and peering at a group of children playing next to him.
"And what do you call this teddy bear?" the girl asked softly.
"Mel didn't allow me to name him." Aaron's gaze was glued to his playing friends, visibly anxious to join them.
Melora swallowed, calming down her quickened heartbeats, overwhelmed with unrecognizable, mixed emotions as she took each step forward. She only had one question; was that her Zchelea?
"You know that teddy bear, don't you?" Melora found her voice, making both of their heads snap up to her.
Aaron rubbed his hands together before fleeing to his friends; he must've thought talking about a teddy bear was a waste of time. But the girl's eyes widened in surprise when she noticed Melora standing just a few feet away from her. She rose to her feet, holding the small teddy bear in her hands, staring at Melora. All of a sudden, her face was inscrutable as she eyed her from head to toe.
This is Zchelea. Melora confirmed to herself.
For a brief while, they stood there, staring at each other in disbelief. Zchelea's emerald eyes turned glossy before she spoke, barely above a whisper, "Yes, I do."
Melora gulped, a strange feeling overpowering her, and she could feel her heart beating in desperation with a feeling so unfamiliar... like she had never felt before. To see her sister, a sibling, in front of her, made her feel surreal and unbearably overwhelming; an unfamiliar feeling took over her as she remembered thinking she had no one, all these years.
But now, everything was turned upside down. Melora fought to hide her pain as she stared back at her sister.
Zchelea was a lovely young girl or woman who appeared to be only a few years older than her. She had light brown waves and emerald eyes that were now watery. She was only a few inches taller than Melora, but her features were far different, providing no identity that they were sisters. But the way Zchelea looked at Melora, like a sister, alone told everything.
Zchelea gave a small smile and lowered her gaze to the teddy bear in her hands. "By any chance, do you know who gave this to you?"
Melora swallowed the lump in her throat before finding the tongue to respond, "N-no chance," she stuttered. "I really don't know." She tried to return the smile but failed.
Zchelea's smile remained as she gazed down the teddy bear's back, drawing Melora's gaze in the same direction. "It was gifted to Lesten by grandpa." Zchelea's voice shook emotionally, and her smile faded as pain settled over her face.
Melora's eyes widened at the information. Her heart wouldn't slow down no matter how hard she tried to calm down; it was quickening even more.
"Lest passed it to Lane." Zchelea's voice became heavy and Melora's heart leaped with strange desperation.
Zchelea continued, "Lane passed it to Baze." She paused to swallow, and Melora could tell, she was close to breaking down. "Hasestole it from Baze," a wry smile appeared on Zchelea's face, only to vanish as quickly as it appeared. "Hase gave it to... me." Her gaze shifted to Melora, glistening with tears, "A-and I... I passed it to you."
Melora's vision blurred with her tears; she was dumbfounded, not knowing what to say or how to respond.
"I never thought you'd keep this for this long. Our little family tradition." Zchelea smiled sadly.
Melora swallowed the pain to find her voice. "It was our tradition?" her voice shook.
Zchelea nodded, her sorrowful tiny smile remaining on her lips. "Lest started it; he began the tradition, but Baze hesitated to follow." Amusement flickered in her eyes but then turned into sadness and longing. "I'm sorry you don't remember."
Melora frowned; yes, she remembered nothing. Nothing at all. "You... you remember me... still?"
"I never forgot you." Zchelea shook her head and blinked back her tears, dropping her gaze to the teddy bear.
A tear slipped Melora's eyes as she heard those words; they felt like a blade in her heart.
Zchelea looked away as she too lost the hold of her tears. "You know, Mel," she began, her voice soaked in unspeakable pain, "I... I still remember the day I last saw you. Our last moment together. That day... when we were getting separated... when they came to take me away... you realized what was happening. You were only two then, and you impressed me... and broke me too. When that day began, I was telling you that I'll be going and I didn't let you go from my sight; you never left my side either. I-I was little then and couldn't make choices on my own. After all, we only had each other and we were alone, with no family.
"You locked your tiny arms around my neck when they came for me. You were crying and crying, and so did I, cried like a one-year-old because I didn't..." Zchelea trailed off and looked up at Melora. "Melora, I swear, I didn't mean to leave you. I never wanted to, I-I didn't mean it, I had n-no choice. They decided to adopt me and I had no option to say my opinion or anything, I had no choice. I begged them to take you with me but... you were booked and were promised to be made part of another family a month aft—"
"What?" Melora couldn't help but interrupt. "I was... wait, b-but—"
"But the people who wanted to adopt you changed their minds," Zchelea said quickly. "I had no idea about it till yesterday. All these years, I've been thinking that you were part of another family; I had no idea where to find you. The people who decided to raise you realized they were about to have a child of their own and canceled the adoption. It was after I was adopted, after I had to leave you."
Melora barely breathed as she listened to her sister's explanations intently. "I can't believe..." She whispered tearfully.
Zchelea heaved a deep sigh before continuing, "My family would've taken you with us if you weren't booked by someone else. I wanted to come back to you right at the moment I left Twickenham. But it was hopeless. I cried all week, begging them to take me to my sister but they didn't; instead, they moved out from California to here."
"And how did you find out I was here?" Melora inquired, wiping away the tears that were rolling down her cheeks.
"The man who brought us to the Children's Home; I've been in touch with him all these years and he told me everything that happened, that you were brought to Dorothy—"
"Y-you know Dorothy?" she asked in surprise and scolded herself immediately. What a stupid question, silly!
Zchelea nodded bitterly, "She's the reason why we're lost from our family."
Melora's eyes widened; she had not been mistaken about Dorothy being an awful woman. "What do you mean?"
"She didn't tell you, did she?" Zchelea guessed.
"I-I begged her but she or her men barely answered anything after realizing I was a waste of time!" Melora looked at Zchelea, her sister, in desperation.
Zchelea stared down at the teddy bear before blinking away her tears and looking at Melora tenderly and longingly. She took a step closer, lessening the distance between them.
"They said Father is a cheater. Does he really owe them a debt?"
Zchelea nodded, "Yes, he does. But he's not a cheater; he was cheated by his friend. His friend... that cheater, promised him that he'd trade the money for him as Dad wanted to make more money to take care of all of us. So he..." Her voice became heavier as she continued talking about their dad. "He borrowed money from them—from Dorothy—promising to give it back to them in time; but his friend turned out to be a cheater and Dad never got the money back. So he wasn't able to pay it back, though he did try to but it was a huge amount than we could possibly afford. He promised to keep his word no matter how many years it'd take to pay them back but they... they demanded him to pay back in time or they'd harm his family. Dad tried harder to pay back from the job he got but it never came closer to the amount he was supposed to pay back. Our family faced a lot from that mafia people—"
"Mafia?" Melora gasped in horror. Her heartbeat quickened as her thoughts went to Edward, the young man she had fallen for and was still falling for; despite the countless times she had told herself he was hopeless. She couldn't believe she was falling for someone from the mafia that was trying to hunt down her family.
"Yes, they're a mafia." Zchelea's confirming words pulled her out of her thoughts. "And one day, when we were in a park, when we were playing, both of us were kidnapped. We were alone with just our brothers. We were kept in one of the men's houses who didn't mean us any harm, unlike the others. So he brought us to Twickenham, far away from our homeland. That's how we ended up there. I don't remember everything quite well, just some faded memories, but the rest about our dad was told by that man, Gordon Hector."
Gordon Hector.
Melora instantly remembered Dorothy saying the name and ordering Jim to contact him to look for Zchelea. She felt horrified at what the mafia people had done to them and worse, thinking that they were the same people who snatched her from her friends to bring her to Dorothy; it made her shudder suddenly. She froze in all-consuming shock.
"But to be honest, I wouldn't have found you if they hadn't got you." Zchelea took another step closer to her, tears running down her cheeks. Melora understood Zchelea was correct; if they hadn't got her, she would have known nothing.
Zchelea continued, "I-I never thought I'd... I'd see you again. Every time I thought of you, my heart broke, and guilt ate me up, because I left you behind, the only one I had with me." She reached her hand out to wipe away Melora's fallen tears. "I'm so sorry, Mel. I never meant to leave you."
Melora bit back her sob from tearing off her chest and exhaled a shaky breath. "It's a-alright," she was only able to mumble.
"I can barely believe my eyes to see you've grown into a beautiful girl." Zchelea smiled tearfully at her little sister. "And I can't believe this is happening; I've been dreaming about this day since we got separated. I missed you."
Melora let her guard drop, she couldn't hold herself anymore. She let out the sob she was holding all these times before stepping forward to hug her sister. Zchelea welcomed her into her arms and they hugged each other tightly, making Melora feel like this had happened before, something she could remember barely, something she could only imagine.
"I thought I lost you forever. But here you are now, found in my arms. I promise you, Mel, I'll never leave you again."
Those were the words Melora hadn't thought of hearing from anyone in her entire life; it was a promise she had never dreamed to be made to her, a promise made by someone who was by blood and by the flesh, hers.
She was finally found with her sister.