Chapter 5: Can’t Escape the Past

Even when it came to her absolute favorite daughter the family’s reputation still came first. Something about what she said bugged me and I gasped out loud when I finally realized what it was. She mentioned that they were running out of time, and she was right.

“Wait! Isn’t her wedding in less than a week?!” I exclaimed before my hand flew to cover my agape mouth.

I can still recall the call that my sister gave me to tell me that she was finally getting married to Anthony, her long-time fiancé. Ever since my sister and I were around ten years old, our family and the Vulkan family made an agreement for their only son to marry the eldest daughter of our family and that was my twin sister.

“You’re not completely stupid after all...” my mother replied sarcastically.

We have to find her, and we have to find her as fast as possible.

“I’ll do what I can,” I replied begrudgingly while trying to seal away my pride.

My mother did not say anything, and the line went silent for a few seconds. Just when I was about to hang up, I heard my mother let out a long sigh. Her next words surprised me even further.

“You should come back home,” she stated simply.

“Back home?” I repeated her words questioningly as if I had no idea what she was talking about.

At first, I was taken aback and confused by her words and then all I felt was a burning rage. How dare she ask me to return home after all that she’d done to me? Although I was partly at fault for what happened, just as always, my mother never took my side, and she did not hesitate or show any remorse when my father made the decision to cut me off. They also made the decision to send me off somewhere far away with nothing but a generous sum of money. As if money would ever solve or heal all the broken pieces of my heart and soul.

“Yes, until we can locate your sister, you should come home,” she stated coldly.

“I see...” I murmured.

I should have known that there was no way that she wanted me back. All she wanted was for me to return because it may increase their chances of finding my sister. Although I hated to admit it, I had to agree that she was right. If my sister was hiding somewhere in the country, then I had the highest chance of sniffing her out because I was the closest person to her.

“I’ll return back to the country but just until I find my sister,” I said while making sure to make myself clear.

“Of course...” my mother replied immediately.

Before I could say anything else, the line clicked dead. My mother had always been like this. After saying all that she wanted to say and completing her objective, she would cut me off because any further interactions would just be ‘a waste of time’ according to her.

I stared at my phone as an uncomfortable void welled up in my chest. Not surprisingly, I wasn’t sure what I should do. After recovering from my shock and piecing my mind together, I quickly called my sister. After waiting for quite a long time and trying to call her over and over again, I was convinced that something was wrong and that she was intentionally not answering my calls. Just like all human beings, in reality, my sister was far from perfect, and I knew that better than anyone else. She had real emotions and thoughts of her own. That also meant that there were times like these when she could do quite selfish things...like running off when her long-awaited wedding was right around the corner.

“Where did you run off to? Why did you just disappear like this?” I muttered to myself as my frustrations started taking over.

Did Dina run off because she didn’t want to get married?

That thought never occurred to me before. Just like me and practically everyone in our country, Dina had known for a very long time now that she was engaged to be married to Anthony. If she was against it, she never voiced her objection to anyone, not even me. She never complained about it and took it as is. On top of that, she seemed to get along very well with Anthony to the point where everyone thought that they were in love with each other and that a political marriage of convenience had turned into one of love. At least, that was the sense that I got from the time when I was living in the same household as my sister.

Did something happen over the years that I was gone?

Our family, the Alnault family, is one of the oldest families in the country and also the one with the closest relations with the governing royal family. My ancestors were aristocrats, and the title has been passed down through the generations until it reached my father. It came as no surprise that my mother was from another aristocratic family and that my parents’ wedding was arranged. Everything seemed green and rosy on the surface, but the truth was that the influence of my family diminished drastically since my father took over after the death of my grandfather.

My father was never meant to inherit the family’s name and fortune but with the sudden passing of his older brother from a tragic car accident, he became the only son left who could take over after my grandfather. Growing up, I never knew that there was something twisted and wrong within my family. We were extraordinarily wealthy, and my parents had no hesitation in flaunting their wealth. From private parties that were regularly held at our mansion to my mother’s frequent shopping sprees to expensive vacations abroad, my parents had the money, and they did not think twice about spending it.

It was later in my teenage years when I had more exposure to the world and people outside of our closed circle that I finally began to see that the life that we led wasn’t a normal one.

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