Lilith sat there with her arms folded loosely on the edge of the table, her eyes narrowing as she studied the two young n across from her. The small private room in the café felt too warm all of a sudden, like it couldn’t hold the quiet tension crackling between them.
She had seen their faces before, but she couldn’t quite rember. Yet seeing them in front of her now, smiling so sweetly, made sothing in her chest feel tight and heavy.
The one with the brighter grin leaned forward, his brown hair falling over his eyes just a little as he bead. "Sister~!" he said happily, voice so soft it almost sounded teasing. "I am your bro — Asher!"
"And I’m Storm," the other one said quickly, his tone calr than Asher’s but his smile just as warm. He raised his hand in a tiny awkward wave, and Lilith couldn’t help but notice how his fingers were fidgeting with the corner of his jacket.
They looked so hopeful, so bright-eyed.
Lilith’s lips parted, then closed again. She had so many questions tangled in her head she didn’t know which one to drag out first. Finally, she settled on the one that had bothered her for the longest ti.
"So... are we... stepbrother and sister?" she asked slowly, her voice a bit flat. She could feel Gray’s hand brushing against hers under the table, a silent reminder that he was right there with her.
Asher and Storm exchanged a quick look — a glance that said they had already prepared for this question but were still sad to answer it. They both shook their heads firmly.
"No," Asher said, leaning closer as if trying to make her believe it with how close he was. "No steps. No half. We all are born from the sa mother — Daisy!" He said her na like it was a magic word that could fix everything.
Lilith felt the shock land like a cold slap to her heart. She blinked once, twice. Her fingers curled tighter under the table, squeezing Gray’s hand.
"...She’s dead," Lilith said bluntly, her voice chilling down as her mind scrambled to make sense of it. "Maybe she was her twin. You’re mistaken. There must be—"
"Umm... No," Asher cut in, a pitiful frown appearing on his boyish face. "Our mom is Daisy. You were taken away by her twin sister — Liliah. She... umm... had so trouble. She took you when you were just a baby. She —"
Storm jumped in, seeing how Lilith’s eyes went cold like a steel blade. "Our parents searched for you for a long ti, Sister. Really, they did. Father used every resource but you both vanished. Then we heard Liliah was killed in an accident, and they thought you had died too. After that... Father banned us from coming to this city. He thought it was cursed for our family."
Lilith could feel the edge of her phone digging into her palm where she had propped it against her lap. She pulled it out, swiped it open, and tapped the screen until the image of the letters appeared. She pushed it gently across the table.
"What about these letters, then?" she asked. Her voice sounded so calm but Gray could feel her heartbeat hamring through her wrist. "This one — Krystal gave . The other, I found in the apartnt. Both say my mother was afraid. That she was sick. That she was... running from him. From my father."
Asher leaned closer and squinted at the screen like he needed glasses. His lips parted, and Storm sighed softly beside him.
"That... that’s not my mom’s handwriting. That must be Aunt Liliah’s writing," Storm said gently, choosing his words carefully. "Mom told ... she was... she was not well. She always had ntal illness. She thought strange things... her mind made up stories that never happened. Mother was devastated when you were gone — Father too. They blad each other at first. But the truth is... you were loved, sister. You were never unwanted. Never. Aunt Liliah... she was confused. Maybe she wrote those stories for herself. Maybe for you. We don’t know. But they’re not true."
Lilith sat very still, staring at them.
Gray’s thumb rubbed across the back of her hand, grounding her to the present. She felt that tiny warmth sneak through her chest, even though her eyes stayed sharp.
"And you two?" she asked, her tone softening just a little. "How did you find ? Why now?"
Asher grinned again, this ti a bit sheepish. "Well, we find you anyway... and help your boyfriend... after we get word from Sebastian — umm, sorry, we kinda make him talk — we hear you maybe ready to et us. So we fly here! We wait, you know? So long! Storm, he stalk your ESE project every day. He even has your movie posters! He so cringe!"
"Shut up, Asher!" Storm hissed, shoving his brother’s shoulder, but he was grinning too. His eyes glowed with sothing bright and sad at the sa ti. "It’s true though... We... We missed you. Even if we didn’t know your face, we missed you every single day. You were the sister that was always gone but never forgotten."
Lilith swallowed. Her lips parted like she might say sothing cruel to push them away. But she stopped. She felt Gray squeeze her hand a bit harder.
"And... mother? After I was gone?" she asked quietly.
Storm’s eyes dropped to the table. "She fell into depression. She was never the sa. She... she ended up adopting another girl, hoping to fill the hole in her heart. But that girl turned out to be a spy planted by our rival family. It almost destroyed us. Father was furious. He sent her away, but Mother... she never recovered fully. She smiled sotis, but it was empty."
Asher nodded, his grin fading into sothing small and sad. "You always her light. I think... she still wait you. She talk you in dream still. And Father.... he make big big reunion, too much. He want you co ho. Truly."
Lilith exhaled, and her shoulders finally slumped. A thousand things whirled through her head — the letters, her past, her mother, who’s alive. The puzzle pieces clicked painfully into place, like glass shards forming a mirror.
"Lili..." Gray murmured beside her, his voice quiet but so close to her ear. "You’re not alone anymore. You have them too. If you want them."
She looked at Asher’s bright eyes, Storm’s hopeful face.
Lilith let out a shaky breath and, just for a second, her cold eyes softened. "I’ll think about it," she said quietly. "Don’t expect to start calling you ’brother’ tomorrow."
Asher laughed, wiping at his eyes before they could spill over. "That’s fine, sister. We’ll wait. We always have."
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