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Maybe we were meant to meet but not to be. 

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-Chapter 10 part 4--Why?-

Leo's eyes softly narrowed as he cut his intense, perplexed gaze away from mine. The soft blue glow from the tv aiding my vision in this dark room.

He seems troubled by something. Did I say something wrong?

Worry filled me as my gaze never wavered from his. Trying to read him was like finding a ring in the ocean. Impossible.

So I was about to ask him, "What's wrong?" when my father finally came back into the living room, shifting my attention off of Leo completely.

My father didn't seem to be in a good mood. His whole stance seemed tense as he just stood there gazing at me with those dark eyes. Worry is very evident in them.

From the corner of my eye, I could make out Ms. Nancy's puzzled gaze as she stared at my father.

Whoever was on the other end of the phone line probably didn't have anything good to report or say. The atmosphere here becomes too thick to ignore.

Did it have anything to do with me... was I going back to my mother? No, dad wouldn't let me go back to her.

He wouldn't, right? I have behaved well. He wouldn't abandon me, again to my luck, right?

'Maybe he will. Everyone does in the end. ' My subconscious makes her presence known. It's always at the worst time she likes to show herself. She never has anything good to say.

His dark brown eyes settled on me for a moment, and worry was very evident in his gaze that resembled my own. It seems like he was having an internal battle in his head. Whether to tell me... what was going on or not. Deep down, I knew it couldn't be anything good when it involved me.

My anxiety spikes to its ultimate peak when I see him looking more and more troubled as time goes by. The slow ticking of the clock and the movie playing on the TV softly played in the background. Conjuring up these unexplainable emotions attacking me all at once.

Ms. Nancy was about to open her red lips and say something... When my father finally decided to finally speak out about what was troubling him inside, in a soft tone, "Emma...

Your mother...

She has been found and detained." When those words came out of his mouth, my heartbeat sped up.

It has been a while since I have heard anything about my mother. I was beginning to believe she was dead somewhere, in some remotely ditched area.

It wasn't so farfetched to think that way. Knowing that bastard, he would have probably killed her and dumped her body somewhere.

"And... What about Eric? Is he also detained or... "Just saying his name gives me goosebumps. He was a bigger problem than my mother. He terrifies me more. They were both two sides of the same coin, but his side was much filthier in terms of morality.

He was much more brutal with the "discipline" that they both liked to call it. For them, everything was about disciplining me. The way I talk, walk, look, or stare.

If they don't like something, they'll change it with a beating.

Eric enjoyed mistreating me more than my mother. And if he had a chance, he would have killed me that day without hesitation.

It was more of a blessing than a curse to be thrown down the stairs that day. It probably saved me from a horrible ending. It was the only thing my mother did right for me in her life.

"Yeah, he has been caught too. They were found in another state, temporarily residing in a cheap hotel." My father lets out, making me let go of the oxygen that I was holding tightly inside my chest.

Why was he worried about that?

Isn't it a good thing that they got arrested?

My eyes didn't sway away from him when I noticed that he hadn't finished speaking to me.

What else is there to say?

" Emma... Sweetheart, you will have to go testify against your mother in court.

You were the only witness... to the murder that day." he says it much softer than before as he gets closer to me and gets down on one knee, to match my eye level. eyeing my every movement carefully.

My eyes rapidly blinked, trying to grasp the information he had given me. Did I hear that right?

My heart halts altogether when I start comprehending my dad's concerned words. Everything around me amplified. The echoing sound of the movie playing, the clock ticking, my undeniably sharp breath that was coming in and out as my heart thumped harder in my chest.

I just didn't want to see those two demons that have ruined my life again. I thought if they were arrested... that would have been the end of it. That I don't have to interact with them anymore.

There is no way, no way — I would be able to testify in court in front of them without becoming a crying, trembling mess. Instead of helping the case, I would be jeopardizing it.

Just the thought of standing in front of them got me fidgeting in my spot. My heart, at this point, couldn't stop thumping so hard, as the air in my lungs was getting harder and harder to release the more I pondered on what could happen that day... when I'm in front of those monsters.

My mother would kill me. If I talk. 

Do they even know I'm alive?

Tears began to build up in my waterline as I tried not to seem so vulnerable in front of my father, again.

I don't want him to be so worried sick about me. I don't want to become a problem for my father. I don't want to be an emotional burden to him or his new family.

"Do they need me? Isn't there enough evidence to put them both behind bars? " I ask softly as tears begin pouring down my warm cheeks as I suck in my trembling lower lip in between my teeth.

Leo quickly takes the cold glass cup from my fingers. When he notices my hands are beginning to tremble, the more the tears spill down my warm cheeks.

"I'm so sorry, sweetheart.

I know... it's hard for you. I do.

But you would have to go. It would help lock those two up for many years. It would be much better for you to know they are behind bars.

Don't worry... I will be with you every step of the way. " He softly says as he pulls me into a warm hug as he begins to rub my back gently. Trying to ease my jumpy nerves and emotions that weren't letting me think straight.

What my father was letting out makes sense. If they get locked up, they won't come after me. It would help me sleep better at night knowing that both of those demons are behind bars. Sealed away forever, until they deteriorate from the inside out.

It would help me move forward and heal if it's even possible to recover from such a traumatic event. Or from such an unhealthy lifestyle that they made me live through.

I nod my head slowly, signaling that I will do it even if it kills me. I owed that to my younger self and my father. I don't want those monsters to ever find him and hurt him. I don't even want them to look at him with those hate-filled eyes.

Knowing my mother's strong hatred towards my father meant she wouldn't think twice to harm him just to make me suffer. She knows that harming him will hurt me more than her sticking a sharp hot knife inside my chest a thousand times.

He is the only reason why I'm still alive and sane. He was the hope that I gripped on too on my darkest days. knowing that I still had somebody that cared and loved me in this world. It had me staying strong and sane in the depths of hell.

All the hardship, tears, and sleepless nights paid off in the end. Now, I have my father here, hugging me in his safe arms as my finger entangles into the soft fabric of his shirt. As his soft aroma soothes my unnerving thoughts.

Eventually, I had to let go of him. He swapped away the salty tears that were still sliding down my warm red cheeks in an ongoing loop.

"Leo, could you get her something to calm her nerves down. Her medication is on the cabinet to the left, "Ms. Nancy orders as she gets up from her seat to get the controller on the coffee table to mute the TV.

My head quickly whisked to Leo when I heard him stand up from his seat.

The worried gleam in his dark eyes didn't go unnoticed by me. He left for a moment, and then he reappeared in seconds, but this time... not alone. His twin was now eyeing me with an unreadable expression.

Leo returns with two white pills in his hand, handing them to me as he takes the glass cup he set on the table a while ago and passes it to me too.

I hated taking these specific pills; they always made me drowsy.

But I didn't dare deny it. My tingly nerves wouldn't calm down no matter how many times my father tried to calm me down.

Plopping the two white tablets into my mouth and quickly taking a small gulp of my cold drink. The sensation of the cold liquid gliding down my dry throat aided my panicky state.

And another loud noise rings out inside the enormous living room. At first, I thought they were calling my dad again. However, it was Kevin's phone that rang up.

His mother throws him another sharp, quick glare at him, again.

But he ignored her sharp glare when he took his phone out of his pocket and checked the lit-up screen.

The blue glow that emitted from the phone made his gray eyes look more mesmerizing. And the gray hoodie that he spotted amplifying those gray eyes that I have been avoiding for the past few days.

He momentarily looks up from his lit-up screen as he says, " I'm going out for a while. "

"Where to...? " My father asks as he slightly shakes his head in disapproval.

My father didn't like any of the twins to go driving out at night. He said that it's too dangerous and there are a lot of people at night driving under the influence.

"To a friend, I'll be back in a few hours. " He let out as he began to move toward the entryway.

"Don't forget to call. I don't want that same repeat from a few days ago, Kevin. " My father says, with a hint of warning in his tone. He eyed Kevin, waiting for a response as his arms folded in front of his chest.

" I won't. I'll call Leo if I stay overnight. " He gazes at Leo for a brief moment, then lands his gaze back again at my father.

Leo throws him a disapproving stare. I could see it in his dark eyes that he was not delighted with his brother's obvious lies.

He probably knows where Kevin is truly heading. And it's probably not where he had just mentioned a few seconds ago.

Before, Kevin began strolling out of the living room. He gazed at me for a quick second. My heart seized in my chest when we made eye contact.

Inside those mesmerizing gray eyes of his, an unexplainable emotion gleamed through them. But as fast as it appeared, it disappeared without leaving a trace that it ever existed.

Kevin completely ignored his mother, who seemed kind of pissed off for some weird reason.

He quickly vanishes from his mother's hard gaze, with the same little evil smirk that he had a moment ago on his face when he stood up from his seat.

I don't understand why she got so furious at him for all he did was stand up from his seat to stretch out.

Did I miss something? I don't think so.

Maybe he did something when I wasn't paying attention to him.

Plus, Ms. Nancy is hard to understand sometimes. Her mood swings are on another level.

Well, all of them are hard to understand sometimes, even Leo.

They were too hard to decipher with just one look. It's like they were all actors playing a role in a movie, and I just don't quite understand why.

But... Today, I have confirmed that Kevin was purposely trying to tick off his mother one way or another.

And I wonder... ?

What did she do that made him want to piss her off?

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