CHAPTER 83: A NEW FAMILY TO THE CART

Chapter Eighty-Three

**OLIVER WEST**

"I’m not apologizing to her, the fact that I’m older than her doesn’t mean I’m less human. She’s rude and you have to tell her instead of encouraging her attitude towards me!"

I crossed my arms stubbornly, my eyes directed from Pumpkin to mom.

"Oliver..." Mom started, and I already knew what she was about to repeat.

I’m older, I should be the bigger person, blah blah.

’I’m not even that tall, and I’m scrawny too, even God knew not to make me big in the first place."

Pumpkin’s expression was smug, if she was waiting for an apology from me, then she could dream on, because I would never do such a thing!

"Both of you are always giving me a headache, why can’t you just love each other like other siblings do? Why must you bicker every time?"

"That’s because Oliver starts everything, you know I’m always a loving child, Mom," Pumpkin replied quickly with an innocent expression that made me roll my eyes.

"If you possess anything loving in your heart, then I might as well be the queen of England. Mom, did you lick so many lemons when you were pregnant? Why is her attitude so sour? Or maybe you were switched at birth and my real sister is somewhere else, poor me, Mom brought you home instead," I said with a mimicry expression that earned an indignant look from her.

"You are the one who got switched, so I’m stuck with you..."

"How can it be possible? I was born first, so I was the one who got stuck with you," I interrupted her with a dramatic gesture of my hand.

Mom watched our banter with the exhausted expression of someone who’d refereed this exact argument a thousand times before.

"Both of you, that’s enough!!"

A short moment of silence followed after Mom’s yell, and that was when Pumpkin wandered over to Kieran. She’d apparently decided that he was more interesting than our argument.

"You’re so cool, I wish I had an older brother like you instead of grumpy Oliver." She said suddenly, her eyes bright with admiration.

"Hey!" I protested, but she ignored me completely.

Kieran glanced up from folding my shirts, a small smile playing at his lips as his gaze held mine.

"Your brother’s not that bad."

Something crawled in my stomach, and it was rapidly spreading to my chest, clogging up all the space.

Butterflies.

That bastard wasn’t giving it to me again!!

"You are only saying this because you haven’t lived with him. Do you have a sister I could be friends with? Someone less annoying than Oliver?" She spoke again.

The change was immediate, everything within me went stiff. It wasn’t just me, I noted the way Kieran’s hands stilled completely on the shirt he was holding, his entire body went rigid, like someone had flipped a switch.

The silence that followed was uncomfortable and heavy.

Pumpkin didn’t seem to notice, but I could feel my chest tightening with each passing second.

"Do you have any siblings, Kieran? You seem like a big brother type." She pressed and this time Kieran no longer looked surprised. His face went into the blank mask I knew so well, revealing nothing of his thoughts.

Even Mom had gone quiet, I could see her watching Kieran with concern.

"Pumpkin, why don’t you go help Mom with something? I’m sure she needs your help..." My voice trembled against my will.

"I’m just asking if he has a sibling, I want him badly to have a sister, why are you overreacting?" Pumpkin looked between Kieran and me with growing confusion.

My heart started hammering against my ribs, I could see Kieran struggling with something, his jaw working silently as he stared down at my clothes in his hands.

I gazed at Pumpkin who still stood beside Kieran.

Why couldn’t she take the hint?!!

"Can you just stop talking for five minutes? Seriously, do you ever shut up? You’re being annoying and nosy!" I snapped at her, desperation making my voice sharp and cruel.

Pumpkin’s face crumpled like I’d slapped her.

Her eyes immediately filled with hurtful tears, and I instantly felt like the worst person in the world.

"Why are you being so mean to me? I wasn’t even talking to you!"

The hurt in her voice made my stomach twist with guilt, but I couldn’t take it back.

I couldn’t explain that I was trying to protect Kieran from questions that would tear open wounds that never properly healed.

That’s when Kieran moved.

My heart completely stopped beating in my ribcage when he set down my shirt and reached out to gently pat Pumpkin’s hair.

"I used to have a sister, but she died"

The words hung between us and I felt my breath catch in my throat.

"I’m sorry, that must make you really sad," Pumpkin replied in a tone filled with sympathy

"Sometimes." Kieran’s throat bobbed as he swallowed hard, his gaze found mine again, but even though it held no accusations, it didn’t erase the guilt I felt.

It was crawling within my flesh, eating up my insides once again.

It wasn’t just about the past memories, it was the realisation of what my interaction with Pumpkin must have looked like to him.

How our easy bickering, our casual cruelty, and our ability to fight and make up without a second thought must have felt like salt in his wound that had never stopped bleeding.

My argument with Pumpkin suddenly felt trivial. Evil, even, to be flaunting our messy but whole family in front of someone whose had been shattered beyond repair.

I blinked back the burn in my eyes, Mom wasn’t saying anything to him, perhaps, she was afraid of making his pain worse.

As for me, I had a whole lot to say in my heart, but somehow, I couldn’t get any word out. I wanted to comfort him, but I was also afraid that he might remember to hate me again.

And this fear was greater than anything I’d ever known, paralysing my whole body.

I wouldn’t be able to bear it if Kieran hated me again.

Pumpkin broke the silence, I watched as she extended a hand towards Kieran.

"If you want, I could be your sister. Not a real one, but like... a borrowed one? Oliver’s always saying I’m too much trouble anyway. I will be nicer to you, and treat you better than I treat him, I promise,"

I was too focused on Kieran. So, it was easy for me to see the cracked in his formerly blank expression, and for just a moment, I saw raw pain flash across his features before he tucked it away again.

"That’s very kind of you," He smiled faintly, but it looked genuine.

"My real name is Claire, but they all call me Pumpkin, what would you prefer to call me?... I will give you a pass, you can call me anything you wish,"

The conversation flowed between them with seeming ease, but the weight and tension of our unspoken grief still lingered in the air.

Looking at Kieran, and seeing him trying to be gentle with my sister despite his own pain suddenly made me think, why did his hate suddenly transformed into . . . Obsession? At first, I even thought it was a prank.

It had all began after that dinner at his house.

Did seeing ’my barely put together family’ suddenly made him crave for what might have been his?

Was this why he wanted to become closer to me?

All these days, we’ve not spoken about Ginny’s death, nor the tragic incident that tore us apart for so many years.

Maybe Kieran was avoiding that topic on purpose, just like me. But, we couldn’t keep dancing around the past forever.

Eventually, we’d have to face what happened that day.

What we’d both lost.