Kain's POV
I felt irritated and annoyed that I was even at this party my parents were hosting at their house. Given how my mom has been treating the girl I loved, I was not in the mood to celebrate their love?
"Atleast pretend to smile?" Roman says as he took next to me in his Dior suit tailored to fit him like a glove.
"Shut up." I say smiling at him making him laugh. I knock back the drink in my hand as another person approaches us to say hello.
"How was your lunch with Zara?" I ask him.
"Good actually. Thought she was going to nag me about Rosie but she made some good points. I need to move on from Samantha."
"I think thats a good thing." I say patting his shoulder as he rolled his eyes. "I know youre pissed shes not here."
"Yeah, whenever I suggest she skips work Zara has a melt down."
"Because she has bills to pay. Maybe you should be more thankful you do not even know how much your rent is." He says and I roll my eyes. "If Zara would let me she'd never have that worry."
"She doesnt want your help. She wants to achieve it herself."
"Just because you play ice hockey and want to win a game doesnt mean that you have this desire to succeed in life. You just want to succeed in winning the game." I tell him and he laughs. "Which is succeeding in life? Duh?" Kai says appearing.
"You good?" He asks Roman who nods. The two always shared a deeper connection like Julian and I, I guess. He looked at him with a true sadness almost for him. They have been in sports together since they could walk.
"Wow. Who is that?" Kai asks as we look at some girl who was walking into the room and found the waiter with champagne. She had longer strawberry blonde hair and looked like had a bored look on her face.
"Go find out." I say and Kai smiles knocking back his drink and walks over striking a conversation with the girl.
"Helloo..." I say as Charlie and Hailey appear.
"Hey." They say. Once again, in matching gold sequinced but a little different dresses. "Cute." I say and Hailey rolled her eyes making me laugh.
"I live with you guys. I saw you excited about the dress." Roman says.
"Im more excited about this ending." Hailey says.
"I want to go play fortnite." Charlie says. She was a big gamer nerd and that was what we loved doing together. I didnt really have much to discuss with Hailey.
"Shall we sneak out?" I ask and she laughs.
"Eh... not so fast." My mom says appearing. She kisses my cheek and then Roman's. "Hi mom." He says as I ignore her.
"Where is Zara?" She asks.
"I rather her not be subjected to a hostile environment." I say. My mom just ignores my comment and I look at my dad approaching.
"Hey kids. Kain, Roman you look like such grown handsome men." He says smiling at us. "We need to take some pictures."
"Sir, its time for your speech." A lady says to my dad. "Give me one moment please." He says.
"Hi everyone." My grandparents say arriving. They hug us all one by one. They lived back home in Qatar most of the time and then travelled the rest. "Hey Baba." I say as my grandfather held my face in his hands.
"How are you?" He asks me. "Im all good." I say as my grandmother now holds my cheeks. She was a small little lady. "You miss me?" I ask smiling at her.
"I miss the days we spent summers in Dubai and you guys would follow me everywhere because I had chocolates in my pockets." She says and I laugh. "I love you." She tells me in arabic.
"Where is your pretty girlfriend?" She asks me.
"She doesnt feel the most welcome so I dont want her to be around." I say and my mom shoots me a look. "You making my grandson's girlfriend unhappy?" She asks my mom who just plastered a fake smile making me feel great inside.
"No I am not. Zara is always welcome." My mother says.
"She even has a beautiful arabic name." My grandmother says. She was a traditional woman, proud arab. "She isnt Arab grandma." I say. "Shes brazilian and white."
"Oh. Your kids will have just a little arab. Make sure you teach them arabic." She says and Roman laughs. "My arabic is immaculate, do not even try making jokes." I say to him in arabic.
"Okay okay. Mom, dad thanks for coming." My dad says smiling at his parents.
"All these years." My grandmother says. "Im so proud of you two, kept it together and raised these beautiful children. This one just scares me every game... my heart worried about if you will be okay on the ice." She says pointing at Roman who laughs. "Not a scratch on me." He says. We all knew ice hockey was a rough sport.
"But she watches every game." My grandad says. He puts his arm around me and I know where this is going. "You dont like hanging out with us very much? Always missing these board meetings and work stuff."
"Because I do not work there Baba." I say and he chuckles. "So stubborn just like your dad." He says and my dad just rolled his eyes lowkey.
"I try to get him there he just refuses. Roman's the easy one. Hes been showing up." My mom says smiling at Roman. The deal was he could play his sports professionally as long as he showed up to board meetings. He was better than me because I could care less.
My grandparents excuse themselves to greet other people and my parents had people coming up to them congratulating them as we posed as a happy loving family. I mean we were in some sense? I didnt hate them? I just didnt always like them very much. I felt like I always didnt do enough and being the oldest had too much pressure. My mom smiled bright and loved the compliments my dad gave her as he told everyone she was the foundation of their marriage and how much he loved her. I knew he did by how he looked at her, she always got her way which pissed me off about my dad. He knew she would be dead wrong sometimes and would still be backing her up.
My dad gives a big speech as I stand around with Julian and Rosie who have arrived. Rosie hugged Roman for like 10 minutes and Roman just sighed and held on. She was so dramatic and so was he. Julian nodded an I am okay nod at me and I gave him champagne he threw back.
"If I murder that girl I am pretty sure I could get away with it. I know the law and how they catch people well." He says to me and I roll my eyes. "Youre an idiot." I tell him.
"Shhhh." Kai says trying to annoy us as the dramatic speech happened. Everyone applauds my dad and they cheers to the couple. "I could vomit in my mouth right now." I mumble and Roman agrees as my mom and dad were making out.
"I really could." He says
"Well well welll...." A kid says appearing as he starts clapping in the middle of the room. He seemed drunk and was holding a champagne bottle. "Congratulations to the dead beat father of mine." He says. My mom froze as she looked at him and I saw my father's face fall.
There was gasps around me and everyone had stopped. The music just played in the background. "Whats happening?" Roman whispers and I watch as my father comes over and takes his arm hurling him out of the room.
"Well I guess our scandal is over." Rosie says as she just looked at the space the kid was standing two seconds ago.
"Security is so terrible letting random people in." My mom says as she rushed after my dad. Roman and I follow my mom to understand what was happening.
My father was in his office and so was the kid. My mother nowhere to be found.
"What is going on?" I ask.
"Kain... not now." He says to me. "What do you mean not now? Who is this?"
"Im Zachariah." The kid says grinning. "Your brother." He spun around in my father's chair. "My brother?"
"Yeah your dad had a little affair here and hid me away and paid my mom off. I turned 18 and I had enough, why am I some dirty little secret." He continues as if he was talking to himself. He did look a lot like my dad, I didnt even need to have proof. "Time to be exposed... my mom told me everything. One of you is another half brother here. He has a thing for fathering kids..." He says nodding at my dad. "Some poor woman paid off and that lady out there is pretending to be your mom."
"Stop Zachariah. Stop it now." My father says to him.
Security barges into the room and grab him, taking him out. My father just rubbed his face as my mom walked in letting the security move out first. "You called security on him?" Roman says to my mom. His words were stinging in me as if it meant something. Roman looked way too much like my mom. He was a spitting image of her and the way she treated him compared to me...
"22 anniversary. Its actually 21st." I say out loud. "Like you said before you corrected yourself." My parents just look at me unsure I guess.
"What the fuck is happening?" Roman says. "Is he saying Kain's not your child?"
"Ofcourse he is my child." My mom says. "Youre listening to that lunatic."
"That lunatic? Do you hear yourself? That kid is clearly our brother." Roman says.
"Its true." My father says. "Zachariah is my child. His mom has been raising him and I have been in and out of his life..."
"What?" My mom says now looking at him. As if her whole world just collapsed. "It was 19 years ago... I.."
"Stop talking." My mom says to my dad. She was holding her gown in her hand.
"I don't give a fuck about the affair or your secret affair child." I say to my dad. My mom turns to me as if out of spite to my father and starts nodding.
"Hes correct. Your father here cant seem to keep it in his pants or even take the correct measures to ensure hes not getting these women pregnant." She says huffing out in anger.
"Ellie-May stop..." He says to my mom pulling her arm. "No lets be truthful for once. You son of a bitch.. after all I done for you to fit into your perfect little world." She pushes him away and looks at me. "He got a girl pregnant 22 years ago. Just before I met him. We got engaged and the news broke shortly after. I was too young and stupid and inlove to realize how messed up it was... but your lovely father here had taken you from your mother and I was told to now be your mother. Shortly after I had Roman.."
I just stared at them before I watched my mother walk out the room.
"Kain..." My dad says but I walk out of the house and find myself struggling to breathe. This was so messed up. On so many levels...
"Fuck..." I say as I try to locate my car.
"Kain... Kain!" Roman yells after me. "Kain."
"Stop Roman, fuck let leave before I burn down their house." I say as he blocked me. "Where you going?"
"Sorry are you my mom now?" I ask him. "Fuck off Roman." I yell at him shoving him back.
I get in my car and drive off. Only one person I could trust and that was Zara. I check the time, she was probably at work. I drive over there, park my car and walk into the restaurant.
I find Hannah who sees me and walks over. "Hey." She says. "Finally came to try the food?"
"Ive had the food here before?" I say. Zara would bring back food often or we'd spend her closing hours here eating the different foods the chef made us. She just laughs as if I said a joke. "Have you seen Zara?"
"Eh yeah she is at home I think, hung out with her before my shift." She says. I nod even more confused as Hannah rushed to an impatient customer. "Eh? I was waiting?" The person says to Hannah. I turn around grab his plate and shove the spagetti in his face. "Have some respect maybe?" I say. Hannah hides her smile as I walk out. Stupid fucking bastard.
Was Zara lying to me about going to work? What was she hiding or doing instead. This crushed me even more. I drove to her apartment having turned off my phone with everyone calling me.
I walk up the stairs as some random stench hit me. Her apartment block had the most weirdest people live here. I get to Zara's floor and I can't help myself but bang on her door pissed off. What if she was seeing someone else?
She opens the door frowning. "What the hell Kain?" She says. Its weird because although so much happened today, this girl was the one who could crush me instantly. She looked like had just woken up wearing nothing but my tshirt on. She liked my tshirts she said, smelt like me and were soft.
She licks her lips as she looked at me confused. Her cheeks pink puffy like when she usually woke up. Her hair everywhere as she tried to push it behind her ears.
"I went to the restaurant.. you werent there." I say.
"Oh... I left. Headache." She says walking away.
"You lying to me now?" I ask her as I close the door behind me. She looks at me and sighs. "What else are you lying to me about?"
"Jesus Christ Kain, what do you want." She says frowning.
"Where were you tonight?" I ask her.
"Here." She says annoyed. "Why dont you get a camera instead? Get out Kain. I do not need this right now." She yells at me.
"So why are you lying then?" I say. "Like everyone else."
"What? Kain I got fired from my fucking job because I chose hanging out with you over my job." She yells as she pushes me away. She breaks down in tears and falls onto the sofa.
"Fuck. Why didn't you just say so?" I say sitting next to her trying to console her.
"Because you treat me like a fucking charity case." She says pushing me off. "No I treat you like my girlfriend that I wanna take care of." I tell her pulling her back in. "Do you not fucking get that?"
As she stops crying, I pull her back in kissing her tears away. "How was the party? Youre back early..." She says
"Eh.. it was a mess." I tell her and she looks at me. "This 18 year old showed up claiming hes my dads kid and my dads been hiding him all these years."
"What?" She gasps. I nod a little. Fucking strange that was... "He then stated I am not my mom's kid and my dad just paid off my actual mom and got my mom to raise me pretend I was hers."
"Kain wait... what?"
"My mom confirmed it." I say as Zara just stared at me. "My head is spinning... thats a lot? Kain what the fuck? Im so sorry..." She says wrapping herself around me. "Theyre all liars fuck them." I tell her as she just ran her fingers through my hair.
"So that party was ruined."
"You know what the fucked up thing was? My mom only told me spite my dad. She was pissed about the affair..."
"Thats evil." She sighs.
"Shes not even my mom. I do not know why I call her my mom."
"A mom isnt just who births you... can be someone who raised you, looked after you.." She says.
"I can see everything so clearly now." I say. "Its almost clear how she loves Roman is different..."
"Im sorry Kain, this is so fucked up." She says as she contined holding me. The next few days I stay in Zara's place. Day in day out, we sleep, hang out, watch Netflix, have sex and eat. On repeat. My phone was off, I had a great time. We created our own world. She cooked for me and made me do dishes and I wasn't sure how to do so which she laughed at for a whole evening.
Day 6, I think my friends had enough and Zara felt bad so we got ready and met them for dinner.
"You should just marry me." I tell her on my way out the door. "Shut up Kain." She chuckles locking up behind her.
"Okay. Move in with me." I say.
"Kain. Lets go get dinner, shut up."
"But why not? We have been together for two whole years Zara. I am pretty sure its normal. This weekend it will be exactly 2 years."
"Well I do not have my shit together so could I do that first?" She says as I open my car door for her.
"Youre 21. Why do you need to have your shit together?" I ask her.
"Its cute that you remember the day we started our relationship." She says to me as she looks at me as I did my seatbelt. I lean into her and kiss her lips as she smiles. "So what we doing to celebrate? Move in together."
"And when we fight and break up? I do not have anything to fall back on Kain. I need my own life." She says and I just nod at her. I just tried my best to understand but she was so difficult.
"We will figure it out together? Why do you think of the worst?" I ask her and she sighs. "Youre not letting go."
"No." I say pulling her closer kissing her again. "Ill continue until you say yes."
"Fine." She says finally as she wimpers whilst my kisses went down to her neck. I knew her weak spot.
We head to dinner and I had not realized how the situation with my dad had spread everywhere. I had basically stayed indoors with Zara for almost a week, my phone off.
People seemed to be paying extra attention today with the stares and looks. A mob of people were outside the restaurant taking pictures hurling questions at me.
"Kain, was your dad having an affair? Kain, this illegitimate child... did you know?" I took Zara's hand rushed her into the restaurant where noise was blocked out.
We walk over to the table where my friends were sat in a corner. Julian sees me first, getting up as he clapped his hand in mine and embraced me. Same with the rest and Rosie who kissed my cheek.
"Its fucking manic outside." Zara comments. "Oh yes. You have disappeared all week, be prepared for them to catch up with you. They'll probably even follow you home." Julian says.
"So how is everyone?" I ask as I order us drinks.
"Were good... how are you?" Roman asks me. His eyes almost trying to figure me out.
"Im good. We spent the week at Zara's. She made me do dishes." I say and they laugh.
"Its so fucking weird how you never wash dishes?" Zara says
"I thought you just put them in the machine?" Rosie says as Zara burst out in laughter. "A dishwasher?" Zara asks.
"I guess..." Rosie laughs. "We cooked, chilled." I say smiling at Zara. She honestly provided me with such a distraction and a safety net.
"Had sex." Kai adds pointing at Zara's neck where I had left the hickeys.
"Thats nice." Rosie smiles.
"So you kind of ditched us at that party." Kai says to me.
"Was I supposed to stick around for the clown show?" I ask.
"Mom and dad are not doing good. Mom is talking about a divorce." Roman says. "She told dad to get out, hes been staying somewhere else." Was I surprised? He fathered a whole child 18 years ago and kept him hidden? I knew about other affairs he had which my mom forgave him for?
"Are you not the slightest bit curious who your mom is?" Julian asks me. "No." I say.
"Its important to know. Anybody could be your sibling?" He snirks as he nods at Zara who cringed. "Stop it." She says.
"Shall we do investigations this weekend?" Julian asks.
"Cant join your detective show this weekend. Im taking Zara to Cabo." I say. "2 years we have been together."
"Wow time flies. Jesus..." Roman says. He was right, felt like just yesterday I met Zara. She waved at Roman with a smile, she just looked happy yet sad? She walked over and greeted him with a hug and asked how he was. She made a joke about how she saw him on a blog on instagram. I had never seen a girl so pretty. I still remember the little black dress she wore. Her hair falling down her shoulders. She chewed her bottom lip as she listened to whatever Roman was talking about and nodded along. I wanted to know everything about her.. yet, I did not realize that because I was thinking about how I could fuck her rather than anything else.
"Were not invited?" Kai says and I look at him snapping back into reality.
"Sorry are you in this relationship?" I ask.
"We might as well fucking be?" Roman says looking at us. "So its decided Cabo?" Rosie says smiling. "I want to get out of New York."
I look at Zara who just laughs. "Sounds like a great time." She says smiling. I lean into her kissing her lips.