Chapter Quote:
"We are made of stories—some we tell ourselves to sleep peacefully at night, and some that wake us, breathless, when the truth comes knocking."
— A Journal in the Attic
Scene One — Leo
The rain didn't pour, but it threatened. The sky hung gray, dense, like the emotions stirring in Leo's chest. He hadn't said a word since the moment the truth came crashing into his world like a wrecking tide.
Full siblings.
Not step-siblings.
Not just some tragic twist of fate.
Blood. Bone. The same father. The same mother.
He sat in his room, the walls echoing with things he could no longer un-hear. His fingers shook as he stared at the envelope that had fallen from Nina's mother's hand—no, their mother's hand—earlier that day.
He had always known his story was fragmented, always felt a strange magnetic pull to Nina, something deeper than just love. But this? This was a storm he didn't see coming.
Leo slammed his fist on the desk, then flinched. How could love betray him so fully?
And now… how could he ever look Nina in the eye again?
But worse—how would Amara look at him after this?
Scene Two — Amara
Amara felt it first in her throat—the tightening, like something caught there. Then it slid into her chest like a freezing wind. The truth Leo had just told her replayed in her mind like a broken film reel.
"You told me you were step-siblings," she said, her voice barely a whisper.
Leo stood opposite her in the quiet garden behind the house, soaked in silence and guilt.
"I know," Leo murmured. "That's what I believed. Until today."
"But now you're saying… Nina is your full sister."
He nodded. And something in Amara shattered, not because of what they were, but because of how long he hadn't known. How long they'd all danced around each other in this web of unknowing tragedy.
"You loved her," Amara said. It wasn't a question.
Leo's lips quivered. "I thought it was love."
"And now?"
He didn't answer. He couldn't. Because whatever he'd once called it, it was now buried under too much truth.
Amara turned away, tears brimming. "Then you need to figure out how to bury the past before it buries all of us."
Scene Three — Nina
She sat on the stairs, her hands wrapped around her knees, listening. Listening to the silence, to the voices downstairs—muffled, emotional, distant.
She hadn't spoken since the family meeting ended. She hadn't even looked at Leo since the words were said.
"You and Leo are full siblings."
She felt like a ghost of herself. Like her entire history had just been rewritten with someone else's handwriting.
The memory box that had once seemed like a sentimental relic now felt like a Pandora's box. And she had opened it.
She thought of Kellan, of his steady voice, of the way he grounded her lately. And yet, nothing could truly ground a heart that had been flying toward someone it was never meant to reach.
Nina let her forehead rest against her knees and finally, finally—cried.
Scene Four — The Father
He watched from across the room, silent as the wind. The man who had once walked away, now returned to witness the aftermath of what his choices had created.
His eyes lingered on Nina.
Then Leo.
Then the woman he had once loved—and perhaps still did.
There was no room now for excuses. No shield to hide behind. Just the raw, jagged edges of truth finally exposed under an open sky.
He stepped forward, but said nothing.
Sometimes, there were no words to follow the collapse of a lie.
Scene Five — Amara and Leo (Later That Night)
They sat in the car—Leo driving nowhere, just escaping.
Amara turned her head slowly, her voice soft. "Leo… do you still love her?"
"No," he answered. Then paused. "At least… not in the way I did."
He gripped the steering wheel. "Everything I thought I felt was based on a lie. But what I feel now… what I know now… is that I don't want to lose you too."
Amara looked at him, her expression unreadable. "Then stop running from the truth."
Leo nodded, for once letting the storm pass through him rather than around him.
Leo's perspective
I thought I was cursed to fall in love with a girl I could never have. But the truth is more cruel—we were never meant to be anything but family. And now, I have to mourn the love I lost and protect the sister I never knew I had.
Nina's perspective
I don't know who I am anymore. The one person who made me feel seen… is my brother. My real brother. My heart feels betrayed by its own choices. But somehow, I still want to believe there is love waiting for me elsewhere. Maybe in Kellan. Maybe in myself.
Amara's perspective
Everything is a knot of confusion. Leo lied, but not on purpose. And now, I find myself caught between what I know and what I feel. All I know is—I want him to stop choosing chaos. I want him to choose me… and only me.
Nina's Mother's perspective
I stayed silent too long. Now I've torn them all apart. My silence was meant to protect, but in the end, it was a storm delayed, not prevented. Still, I hope… one day, they will understand I did it out of love. Even when it broke me.
FADES OUT