My Step sister's cousin

After I lost my dad at the age of six, it hasn't been easy for my mom in terms of financial support. Still, I always enjoyed having all her attention as an only child, although I sometimes feel lonely wishing I had a sibling or more to chat with and talk about things that I can't say to my mom. Well, now I'm nineteen, in college, and mum informs me that she's getting married. At first, I wasn't happy about it because she always looked happy even without a man. I often hear stories of domestic violence and other disadvantages of marriage. Still, on the other hand I realized that even if she doesn't show it, she must have been lonely at some point, it's her first time living life so she ought to desire to get her own partner, besides its been years since my dad died so she deserves to be happy, maybe I'm just worried for nothing as every other teenager would for their mom. I decided to think positively and see how it goes. My mother liked to say that relating with others, or in this context, having a new family, can be easy, uneasy, unpredictable, and requires more patience than anyone naturally possesses. I didn’t quite follow. Four months after she married Nicholas, I hadn't been able to figure out if it was easy or not, but we were all trying to relate to each other and adapt to the household atmosphere. There were routine events like little arguments over slight indifference, morning devotions, my stepsister Tasha watching movies loudly at ungodly hours, and some other things that settled into the rhythm. Tasha and I didn't really hate each other but we weren't close either. It was more like two friends trying to observe each other from afar. One beautiful morning after, morning devotions and breakfast, our parents had gone to work as usual while we were on holiday, I walked into the kitchen to get something to drink and saw Tasha leaning by the fridge door with a huge smile on her face like she was waiting for me, I immediately knew I wasn’t going to like whatever she was about to say. “Guess what?” she said. What? I asked, with less interest, while pushing her gently from the fridge so I could grab the beverage that I came for. Her smile increased “My cousin is coming to stay with us.” I paused while trying to open my drink. “Your cousin… like, for the weekend? Or….” “For a while,” she said, “His name’s Raphael”. His parents, who are my aunt and her husband, are having a huge challenge, she said while smiling Chipperly I blinked. “A while?” “Just until his family sorts things out. He’s mature, he’s cool, and fun to be with” “Does your dad know?” I asked. “Yes, he does and approves of it,” she said. “Mom, too.” Wonderful. Everyone knew about this except me. And my room is right next to the guest room. “Look… Raph is going through a tough time. So let's just try to be accommodating and maybe try not to be your usual uninterested self, like you always do okay?” “How am I always uninterested?” “You always act like nothing is your business.” She had me there. Before I could argue, we heard the sound of a car horn outside, followed by the car door slamming close. “He’s here!” Tasha screamed with excitement, mistakenly hitting my drink while running towards the door. I sighed, covered the drink, and kept it back inside the fridge, then I followed her to the front door, out of curiosity. Desperate to see what he looks like. Tasha threw the door open And there he was. Tall, handsome with curly hair. Eyes are blue like the color of the sky when it wants to rain. His face looked stressed out, like he had just come back from fighting a war. He looked at me. The expression on his face I couldn't read. For a moment it felt like everything paused, just a heartbeat between us. Was he shocked? No. Why would he be shocked when he hadn't even seen me before? I was speechless I noticed he was holding a guitar in one hand, and I wondered to myself, he probably just enjoys playing the guitar. On the other hand was his box which probably contained his clothes and stuff. “This is my cousin, Raphael,” Tacha said, while smiling and jumping with excitement. Raphael came closer and said, “Hey” with a soft and calm voice. I responded, “Hello, I'm” Tasha immediately cut me off, she's my stepsister, “I know,” he said. You've told me about her already he says while smiling at her suspiciously I asked. “You know?” “Never mind”, he said. At this point, I was already pissed off; it felt like they had probably been gossiping about me before now, but whatever. “Well”, I said, stepping aside, “welcome, I guess, I hope you enjoy your stay here”.I definitely will” he answered with a little smirk on his cheek. He kept staring at me like he was lost in his thoughts. “Let's go inside”, Tasha said while dragging him gently inside the house. And from there it seemed like the relatable atmosphere changed a bit in the household. I realized that it wasn't going to be like before but would it be a positive or negative change?. I wonder. Now that we were all settled in, I went into my room to take a nap, while Tasha kept giggling as she showed Raphael his room and some other parts of the house. Shortly after, I began to hear a sweet, calm, and familiar tune, coming from the guestroom, then I remembered seeing our guest with a guitar, oh that must be Raphael playing the guitar, but wow it was lovely and I wasn't sure of what particular song he was playing but it sounded so familiar. I started contemplating if I should just knock and watch him play because I've always loved music and I'm curious. Besides Tasha told me to stop acting uninterested in stuff so why not use this opportunity to satisfy my curiosity.