The Lunar Destiny Series

Chapter 24

It was a long, tension filled drive to my parent’s house. They lived about two hours away in a city called Maldaek. Their house was built new from the ground up in a small suburban community by the name of Sun Ridge. Lio and I sat in the car in my parent’s driveway with the engine off for a moment. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary outside of the house. The sprinklers were on. The neighbors were out walking their dogs; jogging and all. It was peaceful out here.

I looked over at Lio to see that he had already been looking at me.

“Nothing looks distressing out here, ready to go in?” He asked.

I slowly nodded before opening my car door and getting out. Lio got out right after I did, activating the alarm on his key ring. Before we could get to the door and ring the bell, the door opened. My mom stood in the doorway holding the screen door open with a faint smile. She must’ve been looking out for us. Lio gave his best bright smile, but hers didn’t change.

“Good morning, come on in you two.” She said, and we walked inside past her.

My mother closed and locked the door behind us before catching up. We all walked down the long hallway that leads into the rest of the house. I asked my mom a while back why they wanted such a long hallway and she said for security reasons.

I guess nothing would piss off a thief more than having a long walk in, and an extended run out while the alarms were going off. There were various family photos along the walls of my parents and I. Some of the pictures were of me when I was little. Lio had never seen any pictures of me from my childhood until now.

He stopped in front of a picture and began to smile. It was my second grade picture from school. I had pigtails sitting up high on the sides of my head with big purple bows tied onto them. I was wearing a purple care bear shirt with some small diamond earrings. I was smiling but my two front teeth were absent from photo day.

I sighed, covering my face on the picture with my hand.

“Oh my God, Why did you have to stop at this one?”

I always ended up embarrassed one way or another when we were around my parents. Lio took my hand down from the picture and laughed a little before looking at me.

“It’s so adorable, I couldn’t help but admire it.”

I just shook my head and continued down the

hall.

“Mom, what’s going on? You and dad never call me up on serious business.”

I heard her sigh as we turned at the archway where the hall ended. We entered the living room which was as large and spacious as I remember. The ceilings were almost as high as a church’s.

There was a fireplace, a large cream colored sectional couch, a cream colored grand piano in the far corner of the room near the windows, and a sixty inch 4K Smart TV on a custom made wall mount. The coffee table was glass with a white quartz frame. My dad was sitting on the recliner section of the couch, but he wasn’t using the foot rest.

A young man sat silently on the couch one space away from my dad. There was something strangely familiar about him, his facial features I think. His hair was sandy brown with traces of blond, cut short and spiked. It didn’t look stiff with product like the rock stars make theirs; it looked like it had flexibility to it. He was also a shade lighter than me and my parents, with strong cobalt blue eyes and a strong jawline. His outfit was casual, a solid brown t-shirt, blue jeans, and brown Timberland boots.

As I studied him, I noticed that he was seriously studying Lio; his eyes were stone cold. I looked up at Lio who was giving him an equally cold look. I wanted to ask what the deal was but I wanted to know who this guy was first.

“One of you have to let me in on the big secret. Who is he and why are you two acting this way?” I asked. My dad looked at my mother.

“Karme, this is for you to tell.” He said, sounding very distant.

My mother just nodded before she looked over at me.

“Astraia, this man is…Your half brother.”

My pulse had suddenly sped up, my heart beating harder to control my shock. Lio touched my shoulder and brought me back to reality. I was in complete disbelief. How could this be? I’d never even heard my parents talk about him.

“But, when? Why introduce us now?” I asked.

My mother seemed to struggle to meet my eyes.

“Before I met your father, there was another man that I’d fallen for. We met in college. We were young, full of hopes and dreams. Then something unexpected happened, I got pregnant. Being a father held no interest for an aspiring lawyer so I was left alone. I wasn’t sure what to do but I did know one thing; I was strongly against abortion. Your grandparents were thankfully very supportive of me for making the decision to keep the baby. Your grandmother suggested an alternative option, adoption. I wanted to finish school and make a good living for myself, make my parents proud. Once Iericho was born, the people who were to become his new family came up to the hospital and took him home. I think giving him up was the hardest thing I had ever done in my life... Time passed, I became a very successful defense attorney and got married. When I had you, everything was how I always imagined it would be. It was wrong of me to keep a secret like this from you. I know that, but I wasn’t sure how to tell you. When Iericho contacted me yesterday I was so happy to know that he was doing well and had found me. Now, here he is eager to meet his little sister.” She said, trying her best to smile.

The man I now knew to be my older half brother got up from the couch and approached me. Lio started to move in front of me but I held onto his arm. He looked down at me and I shook my head no. What was he being so protective for?

Iericho held out his hand to me and I shook it.

“I’m Iericho Meijin. It’s nice to finally meet my little sister.” He said with a warm smile.

“It’s nice to meet you as well. I look forward to getting to know you.” I said.

“I’m glad to hear that. I hope I will also get to know your companion here.” He said looking over at Lio with that same dark, yet curious look.

Lio returned his own dark stare before a smile crept along his lips.

“I’m her fiancé. I hope you won’t have a problem with that.” Lio said.

“Whoa now, where is all of this tension coming from? You two just met.” My father said getting up from the couch.

My mother raised her hand as if to say stop when she looked at me.

“Astraia, when did you two get engaged?”

She asked, sounding pleasantly surprised. I was thankful for the subject change.

“Last night. It’s not something I would tell you over the phone mom.” I said, laughing with embarrassment.

“It’s okay. I’m so happy for you two dear, congratulations.” My mother said, smiling wide.

The overly aggressive display between Iericho and Lio went on the back burner the moment my mother smiled. I took my hand from Iericho’s and Lio put his arm around my waist.

“Congrats.” Iericho said flatly.

My dad went and stood next to my mom smiling just as wide.

“Yes! Congratulations! It looks like we have two things to celebrate now. How about a glass of champagne everyone?” He asked.

“Sounds good to me.” Iericho said with a grin.

We spent a few hours chatting over drinks and some snacks. I learned that Iericho had been adopted by a good family and he’s a veterinarian. He isn’t married but he has a girlfriend that he hopes to marry someday. By the end of our visit, I had a good feeling about my brother. So far, he was okay in my book.

On the drive back, Lio was very quiet. He hadn’t said a word since we left my parent’s house. It was obvious that something was wrong.

“Lio, you’re very quiet. Do you want to tell me what’s wrong?”

He was extremely focused on driving and looked very serious. After a moment, he answered me.

“I could tell you, but I don’t think that now is the appropriate time.” He said still focused on the road.

He switched lanes and then continued smoothly along. I frowned at his dismissive response.

“Is it really that bad?” I asked.

“Yes, in more ways than one. Please Astraia, just let it go for now.”

I looked away from him and out of my own window.

“Fine, I’ll let it go.”

I dropped it, even though I really didn’t want to. Lio only kept things from me when it was something were-related that he thought would bother me. It was a long, silent ride back home, but I didn’t bring the subject up again; whatever it was supposed to be about.