IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN LIKE THIS - EPISODE 16

Lavender’s viewpoint

The room was silent for the first ten seconds, just as their eyes took in what was going on. But the moment their eyes landed on Rominic, the bright excitement changed to a murderous dark glare. Okay, so, Rominic wasn’t really afraid of Tyra, he could stand up against her, but his twin, no. Rylee wasn’t his favorite person because she always bullied him since they were kids. And when I say she is stronger, I meant it. Rylee was a stylishly packaged war machine.

She was not identical to Rominic, share the same traits but she looked more like her father than her mother. Her eyes were winter gray as well, same skin tone and creamy blond hair, but a different face. Rylee was a badass bitch and she showed it with the way she dressed and behaved. From the very moment I met her, she had her hair dyed red, like messily died to look like blood or a pint of red paint splattered on her head. She had rings on her eyebrows, a ring on her nose, earrings on her ears and one on her lip. Her hands were adored with spiky, gold and beady bracelets and six out of her ten fingers were ringed. Like the Rylee I knew, her makeup was dark and spooky, making her look like a imaginable version of Dracula’s daughter or a corpse bride. Her outfit was her usual, ripped leather, chains, ribs, biker gloves and boots.

Yup, the perfect daughter.

“Little Nicky,” she called, her lips curling up into a sinister smile, “still alive, I see.” Rominic gulped loudly, very loudly. I looked at him to see him shaking with absolute fear. I’m not joking, Rominic is core scared of his sister. It must have been something she did to him while they were growing up, or maybe he just never got over her bullying and she’s stronger. She’s more of the man than the woman.

“R…R…R…” He ended up coughing, stepping back as he coughed into his fist. Rylee moved unexpectedly, so fast it took Nic a little minute to get away. Rominic screamed like a girl and ran, he ran with everything he’s got. Rylee sprinted after him, along with Tyra. I quickly brought out my phone to film the moment and ran after them. They ran out through the kitchen door. I followed Rominic’s scream to the swimming pool just in time to see him forcefully on his knees with his hands behind his back and head being yanked back by his hair. Of course it was Rylee doing it.

Tyra stood in front of him, pulling his nose aggressively and his ear. I could see her fingers digging into his ear which would make him bleed, and I liked it. She was yelling curses into struggling Rominic’s face. “Rylee, I’ve told you all that I’m sorry over and over again, I’m sorry!”

“Sorry doesn’t fix your mistake or stop me from beating the shit out of you! I missed years of being an aunt because of you! I missed years with Lavender because of you. Peyton is a bitch I said, no, she’s a sweetheart you said, now where did that end us?” Rylee shouted and forcefully pulled his hair back, causing Rominic to yell out with pain. I twisted my lips, his pain was no longer funny. But, it was worth it.

“I know, I know, I was an asshole but I’m trying to fix my mistake, I’m trying. I know it won’t change the past but I can at least work towards the future, right?” I cringed when I heard a small bone crack, followed by Rominic’s scream.

“Sorry, little brother, not impress. Try harder.” She smirked at Tyra. Tyra dramatically cracked her neck and I know she was grinning. She trailed her fingers down to his neck and buried her fingers into his neck, something that made him scream so loud his pain stabbed my heart.

Okay, maybe I should stop them.

You see the reason he is scared of them? They beat him up twenty-four-seven and he honestly can’t do anything about it. Not just because he doesn’t hit women, he seriously can’t beat them up… Rylee, that is.

“Rylee, Tyra, my love!” Tyra turned around sharply just like Rylee turned her gaze to me. “Hi.” I waved at them. Rylee’s eyes lit up with excitement while Tyra grinned.

“Hold on, let’s finish up here for a second,” I felt someone tugging at my dress. I looked down to see Gael’s daughter, Jewels and Serenity. Jewels looked like she was going to cry, but Serene looked concern.

“Aunty, why are they hurting Water Prince?” Jewels said with a small sob.

“Mommy, who are they?” Serene asked, inclining her head towards the ladies.

“Those are your aunties and they are beating daddy up because daddy was mean to them. Don’t worry, he’ll be…” I paused when I heard Rominic scream, followed by a loud splash.

“My darling!” I turned my head around, just to see Tyra throwing herself on me. We staggered back for a while but I successfully balanced us. Which was surprisingly because usually, we always ended up on the floor or ground with her on top. “My darling, I’ve missed you so much!” She shrieked while peppering kisses on my neck. “I can’t believe you are alive! I thought… Oh my,” she pulled back but still kept her grasp on my arms, “I’m sorry for what that fool did to you, I’m sorry I couldn’t stop him on time. We didn’t know.” She pouted cutely.

“I know, I hold nothing against you. I can never hate the love of my life.”

“Awwn, mi corazón late tan rápido que creo que estoy enamorado de nuevo,” she said which made me smile. (My heart is beating so fast I think I’m in love again)

“Mi corazón también late rápido, guisante dulce, y yo también te amo. Besame, bebe.” (My heart beats fast too, sweet pea, and I love you too. Kiss me, baby) she moved her hands from mine and cupped my cheeks. We brought our lips together but didn’t kiss, at least, not in front of everyone. She stepped back with a laugh.

“It’s nice to meet you again, darling, really. You look great! What have you done to yourself?!”

“I can say the same for you,” yeah, she really looked different. For example, her ash blond hair was now dirty blond and her dark gray eyes was blue. She looked paler than the usual and plumpy, very plumpy. But she was still beautiful, very beautiful. Tyra wasn’t crazy like Rylee so she dressed absolutely chic, really chic.

I looked towards Rylee who was laughing as she bent over the swimming pool where she threw Nic in. Wait, is he drowning? There is no way he would drown. Rominic is the best swimmer I know. That’s where Serenity gets the gift from. Unless…

“Rylee, did you paralyze his leg and arm again?” She turned her head and gave me a pretty cute toothy smile. Her short hair fell on her shoulders and due to the way her head was bent, her hair fell in a curtain. I rolled my eyes to Phineas who was laughing with the others like the thing was funny. Okay, maybe it was. The all and powerful Rominic being beaten up by his sisters. Hilarious.

“Don’t just stand there, save him,” I snapped at Phineas. Phineas pushed himself off Gael since they were laughing head to head. He staggered forward still laughing. I turned and looked at Tyra. This was usually the time her sharp mouth introduce herself. But she was staring at laughing Link. Her mouth was open and eyes wide with shock, hurt and disbelief.

“Tyra, are you okay?” I asked, placing my hand on her shoulder to get her attention. What I did snapped her out of it but instead of paying attention to me, her eyes darkened and the anger that overtook her emotions made me cringe.

“Rylee, Rylee! It’s him! It’s him!” She shouted, suddenly breaking into tears. Rylee turned to look at who she was pointing at. “It’s him, him, him!” Link was looking at her and as if something clicked, his eyes widened with realization before he muttered “oh, shit”.

“Tyra, what’s going on?” I asked, looking between them. The shock and angry look they were both giving each other. I did not fail to notice Rylee walking up to him. Just as Link was about to speak, she grabbed his ear and yanked him forward, forcing his body down enough for her to deliver a powerful blow to his stomach. As if Tyra was waiting for this, she leapt towards him too and actually tackled him down.

“You bloody asshole! You freaking fucking asshole!” She screamed, repeatedly hitting his head on the ground. Anna came up beside me chuckling darkly.

“This is so agonizingly amusing,” she said with a small chuckle. I couldn’t agree less. It was weird and creepy and at the same time painful to watch and again, amusing. I didn’t want to look but again, I couldn’t look away. Rylee stood over them to make sure Link don’t actually beat Tyra up. The reunion is getting more and more interesting. I shouldn’t have left my drinks.

“Okay, okay, let’s calm down and talk about why you are trying to kill my friend,” Elias said, stepping closer to Tyra but avoiding Rylee. She’s like hella creepy.

“Calm down, calm down?! This asshole used and dumped me! He left me at the altar!” She screamed. That universe pause, the one that just feel like the universe froze. I can swear I could hear everyone blinking to take in the information. Link and Tyra had a history? How many more surprises? This is really interesting.

Rominic’s viewpoint

Throw me into hell, do anything, I’d take it but just get rid of my sister for me. Tyra was good, she was a kitten without Rylee. You see, Rylee was the big problem, the really big problem. Since we were kids, she acted as my protector and bully. She taught me everything about self-defense I know, everything about mind trick and bullying people. Okay, exclude the mind trick, she is dumber than a bag of hammers, but her strength made up for it. No one ever beat me up as a kid, I didn’t even need to fight with her there doing it for me. But she always beat the hell out of me whenever I did something wrong.

It stopped after I met Lavender, I was so happy and even after she died, Rylee didn’t hurt me but stayed away because she knew I was suffering emotionally. According to her, it was tougher than an actual punch. And yes, it was. Well, she was back to beating me up. She weakened my veins to the extent I couldn’t move; hence me sitting sprawled on the sofa as Rylee screamed shits while trying to get out of Phineas’ hold. It always surprise me how he was the only one who could hold off against her strength, or maybe she can never hurt him like she hurts me.

Presently, we were back in the living room, the kids not in sight. Serafina and Zachary were smart enough to take them upstairs so they wouldn’t witness the swearing and violence. Everyone was seated and waiting for her to calm down before hearing the full story from wailing Tyra. If I could feel my body, I would have punched the idiot that made her cry. But I couldn’t even move my hands.

“Okay, okay, we get it,” Laverne said exhausted, “can you tell us what happened now? You are ruining my reunion party and the amusement is long gone. Link, what did you do to my friend?”

“Hmm… Ur…”

“I’ll tell you what this narcissist did! Tyra and I had this job to do, dad sent us. So we took one of the apartments in our tenant building but of course, hid our identity. On the first week of staying there, we went clubbing and she met this prick over here. Like careless and foolish adults, they had sex but hey, it’s a one time thing. The next thing I knew, he turned out to be our neighbor and she tried to avoid him but this silver-tongued bastard refused to let her be. He made her fall for him, dated her and even went as far as proposing. But do you want to know what he did three days after proposing? He disappeared, vanished! He abandoned her without a word or even a goodbye! Who does that!”

“Men.” All the women replied bluntly. I rolled my eyes.

“You better start explaining yourself, Link, or you’ll lose your bloody teeth and nose!” Laverne shouted furiously. Wow, I did not expect that. “Start talking!”

“Okay, okay. It was two years ago when I needed to handle one of the company branches. I went to live there and met this amazing girl who was really good in bed. I wanted to meet her again but didn’t quite get her contact, so when I saw her again, I just went for it. I’m sorry I let it get too far. After I proposed, I panicked…”

“And then ran away like the coward you are leaving me to take care of my pregnancy all alone! You freaking dumped a baby on me and ran off like the coward you are!”

“Wait, what?!” Everyone shouted. That definitely got me to sit up. My strength came out of nowhere and I found myself standing on my feet.

“Baby, what baby?” I asked, looking between the two of them; Rylee and Tyra. Rylee gave me a blank look while Tyra looked away with guilt. “Are you trying to tell me that Little Raisa isn’t adopted like you claim? You didn’t find her at your doorstep? Tyra!”

“What do you expect me to do! My so called fiance disappeared before I found out I was pregnant and I couldn’t just get rid of it! Trust me, I tried. I was scared. My dad is a general for Pete’s sake! And he have always sang about his opinion against illegitimate children. He would disown me and your mother would have been so disappointed in me. I was so stupid, very, very stupid and I didn’t listen to Rylee when she warned me. So I thought, ‘hey, why not lie!’ It worked because she looks exactly like this thing over here!” Tyra shouted, pointing an accusing finger at him. The guy in question had his jaw on the floor, just like the rest of them. I’m not even going to talk about what Lavender was doing. She was trying hard not to show how much she was enjoying this drama.

I shook my head and went back to sit, but this time, between her and that boyfriend of hers. He is so fired coming Monday. “That can’t be possible, Link can’t be the father of your child…”

“Are you kidding me! Have you met her?” Phineas gasped, “now I know why she looks so familiar. I always said that her face reminded me someone just like I always say you remind me of someone,” Phineas said to the stunned man. Now he was saying it, I looked closer and saw what they were talking about. They do look alike. Raisa had his nose, his skin tone, his cornflower blue and dark copper hair. There was nothing out of place.

“But, but Link can’t father a child. Or can you?” I don’t even know who the red head that spoke was. They were all looking at the man, Link. Laverne leaned closer to my ear and giggled.

“This is like a TV drama. If I knew this would happen, I would have gotten blankets to sit through it. Really interesting.” She whispered. I looked at her with raised brows. Like she could feel my stares, she turned and smiled at me then shrugged.

“You are really enjoying this, aren’t you?”

“Oh, don’t tell me you don’t find this a little bit amusing,” she said in a chuckling whisper, “and I really want to see how this ends, don’t you?”

“Weirdly, yes. What is your take on the situation?” I asked, diving my hand into her bag of chips. I looked at the scene one more time, keeping my eyes mostly on Rylee. I knew my sister very well so I knew she was amused as well but trying not to show it to support Tyra. Her lips were twitching and her eyes blinking as she tried to hide her expression. The unexpected drama was both amusing and weird.

“From my point of view and from how long I’ve known Link, I’d say he did fall in love with her and was lost in it but got himself back after he proposed. He realized he couldn’t give her children and we both know Tyra is crazy for them, really, really crazy for children. He also realized he loved her and then panicked and ran away after convincing himself that what he was right, that he should not trust women like he did once. So the whole situation is his problem. Now he knows he has a daughter, Link would do anything to keep the mother of his child.”

“But will she forgive him?” We both looked at Tyra who was rambling and throwing her hands around, glaring at him and whacking his head occasionally. She spoke above everyone else, not letting them talk except her. We simultaneously looked back each other again and nodded.

“Definitely yes.” She returned her gaze to the rambling cousin of mine.

“Should I settle this or would you?” I questioned. I watched her tilt her head thoughtfully, giving a very adorable face before she shook her head. “Well then, I’ll handle this as the…”

“Mature beaten up pup,” she completed. I rolled my eyes but did not comment on it. Anything that would rise an argument wasn’t needed. I was saving the argument for tonight. The boyfriend part won’t work.

“Okay, enough of this already! You adults are ruining my peace and quiet!” I snapped my neck over to Zachary. He stood there with arms folded, a scowl on his face while Serafina had her hands on her hips, a smirk on her face. “I knew this reunion would get in my personal space, but I at least expected it to be fun. Is it fun? No, I’m stuck upstairs with idiots!”

“You made a mistake, so you two should talk it out privately. Sugar, nobody cares.” Wrong thing to say in front of Tyra, kids.

“Five, four, three, two…”

“Oh my God! Teeny Rominics!” Tyra forgot her tears and rushed over to them. Zachary whimpered out a “not again” before he was captured. Serafina shifted away from them, slowly backing up with a grin.

“What’s with everyone and touching me!”

“You are so cute,” she cooed, rubbing her wet cheek against his.

“Why!”

Lavender’s viewpoint

So my make him jealous plan didn’t go so well. Not only did Micah ruin it by passing out, Rominic and I just had to walk in on him making out with Roxy. How? Well, after Tyra kidnapped Zachary, she ran away with him and refused to surrender her new son. Well, not until she saw Zayne and Serenity. In exchange for them, she left Zachary who was crying like a baby. So after that, he went upstairs to kill his bacterias with Serafina. I admit, he is more of a clean freak than Serafina. They both locked themselves upstairs and refused to come out to be “germed” again.

Eventually, Tyra let the kids go to talk to Link privately and that’s when Rominic grabbed my hand and started pulling me to the storeroom as he whispered harshly about my fake boyfriend. He told me he knew I was lying–which was pretty obvious–and demanded I stopped trying to test his patient before he loses it. He then whispered something about me forgetting the cruel side of him, the side most people know and blah blah. I wasn’t listening, I was busy admiring his ass and drowning in the joy of his touch.

Don’t know why.

That was when he opened the door to push me inside and bam! Micah and Roxy in a position I don’t want to remember. Well, that threw my plans right out of the window. He smugly pulled me back up the stairs and we happened to just walk in on Link and Tyra in my bedroom, my personal bedroom, having sex. I swear, I did not expect that part. And they didn’t even notice us.

“Oh, come on!” I shouted when we walked into the kitchen to see Rylee and Phineas making out. They have both had this thing between them since they were teens like I was told. Nic said they would kiss, have sex and all but never date, and they liked it that way. Rylee wasn’t interested in men, never dated or slept with anyone other than Phineas, at least the last time I was around. Phineas slept around but always came back to Rylee. We stopped involving ourselves in their relationship after talking too much.

Poor August.

Did I forget to say he was in the kitchen watching them with a sad pout? Hmm, guess I did. “Can’t I walk into my own house without seeing things! There are kids here!” They ignored my shout. Rominic let out a heavy breath, making me turn to look at him. He ran his fingers into his messy curls and sighed again.

“Look, I’m going to pop my finger back into position, Rylee broke it. We’ll talk later tonight.” I nodded. Anything to get him away. My plan wasn’t working out. In case you haven’t noticed, I was forgiving him and that can’t happen without having a little satisfaction. Once he was gone, I walked towards the couple and separated them by pulling Rylee’s hair.

“Hey, what gives!”

“Phineas, Rylee, I need your help.”

“With what?” They chorused with irritation.

“To make Rominic jealous.” A wicked grin spread across their faces and I knew I came to the right people.