The Remorseful Brothers Novel

ANASTASIA

“Amie.” I groaned as I called with a laugh. “Aren’t you done? My hand hurts.”

Amie giggled, “Keep your face the way it was before now. I need to get your lips right.” Text content © NôvelDrama.Org.

And so with a sigh, I raised my hands in the air and grinned widely. Why she wanted to paint me looking like this was beyond me.

Right now, in Amie’s hospital room, I was seated, crossed leg as I held up my hands in the air with a wide grin.

I remained like that for several more minutes until Amie dropped her drawing book, she clapped her hands. “I’m done, mommy, you look really pretty.”

Amie spent enough time at the hospital, drawing so she was getting better at it. So as I dropped into the space beside her on the bed to see myself, I was stunned to see a stick–like thing sketched on the drawing book. It had its hands up, legs crossed like an X and teeth that almost took up its whole face.

I looked at Amie’s face, wondering if she intentionally did that or she really thought she was doing the right thing.

It was the latter and as she looked up at me, eyes shining with pride, waiting for my comment, I couldn’t let that smile or that look wear off her face so I covered my mouth and widened my eyes as I stated at the picture.

“Omg, Amie. This is good.”

She grinned, “I’m happy you like it.”

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“I do,” I nodded. “Just keep practicing, okay? And you will get even better.”

She bobbed her head and opened a new page then she started to draw the chair I had just stood up from.

Just then we heard the door open and as we looked up we heard, “Ta- da!”

Clara held up boxes of something in both of her hands.

“Auntie Clara!” Amie called, elated, jumped down from the bed and gave Clara a big embrace.

Even though I wasn’t looking at Clara’s face, I felt my anger boil inside of me, growing and growing until it was hard to keep my anger and sudden hatred down.

“Hey, Ana what’s up?” Clara called with a wiggle of her brows. I wanted to dvoel at her, call her names and end our friendship there but because of Amie, I gave her a stiff smile.

“You’re back,” I murmured dryly. You’re back to come pretending like you are my friend, I bit the insides of my cheeks to stop the words from flowing out of my mouth.

As she showed Amie the things she got for Amie and I, my mind wandered back to the conversation that Denis and I had.

Turned out that the thing he really wanted to discuss with me was Clara’s part in Aiden’s supposed infidelity.

Apparently, she and Aiden had something going on and she was really hoping that Aiden would ask her out until the day he saw me at her place. But it didn’t even make sense to me because Aiden and I had met before then and the connection was instant. It was just unfortunate that we didn’t exchange contacts.

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As Dennis told me more about the woman I had called friend, cried to and told my worries and how she had been the reason why I left Jordan.

I wondered if it was all a dream. I wondered if the night with Dennis was made up because I was slightly drunk. I wondered if everything that happened at that moment was not reality but a dream I was stuck in.

Dennis had no reason to lie to me about that but I couldn’t believe him. Clara and I had been together for all these years, she was by my side, wiping my tears and telling me how much of a douchebag Aiden was. I remembered that I had wanted to run back to Aiden and asked him why he did what he did but Clara stopped me, claiming that she wouldn’t let that idiot‘ hurt me a second time. And then it all made sense. All the times where she’d snort or hiss whenever I tell her about Aiden. I had thought she was just trying to protect me. How naive of me. I should’ve suspected that it was more than that. She never scoffed or snorted whenever I told her about other guys. Instead, she laughed and asked me to take them.

I had held back my tears but immediately Dennis left, I let go of all the restraints and cried my eyes out.

Now, looking at her, I couldn’t help but be appalled at how fake she was, smiling like nothing ever happened.

Suddenly, I couldn’t take it anymore. Her smile irked me and her

presence made my rage heighten. I didn’t even want her anywhere near my daughter. I got on my feet, glanced at her and said, “Come outside.”

Espoo Sa