| 008 | Ruby |

"He was a horrible dad to me, always. I reminded him of mum's dad, and they hated each other back in the day, even after grandpa passed of cardiac arrest, dad would badmouth him. I was underaged, in school, I couldn't do anything about my situation yet, even if all I wanted was to be with mum instead. Cole was a troublemaker, he also cheated on his girlfriends, and did some drugs, mum was extremely against that behavior, dad wasn't because he didn't give a shite and was the same as Cole, which got Cole pissed and hating on mum."

"I didn't... I didn't know that."

"He is too prideful to confess how much of an arse he truly is, that probably hasn't changed with the years," I passed a hand over my hair and sipped my scotch. "Since I was a kid, I inspired to follow mum and grandpa's steps and attend to Oxford, everything about the university enchanted me, so, that's always been my goal, since I was five years old. Cole wanted Harvard, he was an arse but intelligent enough to get in it, Business major like dad, because he wanted to be like him, unsurprisingly."

"In school you didn't seem so close, but how was your relationship with Cole, Ruby?"

I tilted my head, "He was low-key envious of me, but he was extremely overprotective of me, profoundly jealous, and I didn't like that. It felt like he was a dog pissing on me to mark his territory so others wouldn't try anything with me, just because I was his baby sister or whatever. Sometimes, rarely to be honest, I would help him out on subjects he didn't understand, but only in a way that nobody else would know, because he didn't want anyone knowing his younger sister was helping him out on school assignments."

She scoffed, "Sounds like him."

"So, I would say we had a complicated siblings relationship, I was very judgemental of his behavior too, like mum, about the cheating and the drugs, and he hated it. He would say I was acting like mum and I would end up alone like her, and another load of bullshite," he didn't lie, just look at me now. "And he said he would actually hate me if I started acting like mum, or came to live with her, which happened. When I decided to come to Oxford and live with mum, they threatened to cut ties with me if I actually did that. So, I severed the ties myself."

Leah stayed silent for a second, "Because of Rhett?"

"Because of me, mum, and Rhett. For us three. When I took the decision, I didn't know I was pregnant yet, it wasn't even hard of a decision to make," I chuckled self-deprecatingly. "If I stayed, I would have gone to Harvard, but that meant being put through humiliations from my dad, having to see Helaena, staying around arse-Cole, staying away from mum, and there was also the fact that the Crowther would be in Harvard, and Hayes rejection was still fresh in my mind."

She waited for me to turn the rest of the scotch down to talk about the real reason why she asked to talk in private, "I have all the pictures and videos I took stored in the cloud from 2014 to 2026," our current year. "If you have a... a date, I can see which twin it actually was, Ruby. I was always out partying with your older brother and Hayes Crowther. They were also all around me when I got pregnant of Lloyd, because I stayed in Harvard through a special program for mums," then she showed me her phone.

I swallowed, staring down at my glass, anxiety crawling up inside me, taking over everything, my hands slightly shaky, "Tuesday, May 26th of 2015."

Leah let out a sigh of relief, "Alright," then I heard the sound of her nails on the screen of her phone, and after five minutes that felt like an eternity, she huffed. "Oh, shite," she cursed and my eyes snapped to her. "Is it okay to ask you what happened in this day exactly, Ruby?"

"I first kissed and lost my virginity with him," I told her and her eyes darkened. "He was... acting like what I called the dark and mysterious Hayes, it happened sometimes, the big indication was that those were the only times he bathed before our classes, he smelled good, he acted more subtly, sensually, he wasn't so annoying, and I... I thought he was showing me a part of him that he never showed anybody, trusting me. That was the Hayes I fell in love with. Those were the times I loved him, and when he leaned into me to flirt again, I just... acted on it."

She covered her mouth with her hand, looking from me to her phone, from her phone to me, "Hayes never did dark and mysterious, clean and subtle, sensual and... not annoying, Ruby," as her words settled in, I felt even more restless. "That day, he skipped your private class," when she turned the phone to me, there was a picture of her with my brother, Hayes, and Jameson Martens, one of their friends. "It wasn't Hayes, Ruby, it was Rhyot."

I bounced my head negatively, "No... this can't be..."

"Was that the day your got pregnant of Rhett?"

"No," I swallowed. "It was later, on Thursday, June 18th."

"Jameson's birthday," she pointed without even search from any photos. "We went to his place at 11 am and stayed there until 2 am, Ruby. Hayes and Jameson were the life of that party. Where did it happen?"

I felt my vision blurry, "School."

"School? Where Rhyot had gone to get his recommendation letter from professor Thompson for Harvard, according to Hayes?"

This can't be happening, "Professor Thompson never gave letters."

"No, but he made an exception for Rhyot."

"No... no... no... this can't be, Leah," I passed both hands through my hair, exasperated. "That... that would mean... it would mean I fell..."

"You didn't fall in love with Hayes, Ruby, you surprisingly fell in love with Rhyot. Who was an arsehole to do all that, making you believe he was his brother instead. Jesus," she scoffed, "I can't imagine what passed through his head when he saw you confess your love for Hayes, when he knew you had fallen for him instead. And," she paused when she saw the haunted look on my now pale face. "Ruby, breathe, it's okay."

"No... no, it's not okay, Leah. He... that fucking cunt did this... he... he knew I thought he was Hayes and he said nothing, he did nothing, not even when I was humiliated in front of everyone, he stayed frozen there. I mean, fuck, yes, sure, I did told him to act like it hadn't happened, and said it was mistake, but damn it," I cried, "if he was so into playing dumb, why did he drag me in the locker room and kissed me? Why did he start that? He played me like a bloody fool, Leah, and... fuck, I spent those 11 years thinking that Hayes was my son's father, and... now... I..."

"Look, I shouldn't even be telling you this, but I just... I was so shocked when I met Rhett, and then I remembered that you confessed to Hayes, and people began talking about the possibility of you having been with him then, but Rhett looks like Rhyot instead. Jesus, even the name is similar, even if you didn't do it on purpose. But the idea that you could have been with him without knowing, that Rhyot could have taken advantage of the situation to be with you, while acting as if he was Hayes... I just couldn't not help you out on learning the truth. And," she paused.

I swallowed anxiously, "And?"

"Well, some bad stuff happened in Harvard."

Her words later came back in my mind, when she asked if I didn't know what had happened, and chills ran down my spine, "What happened in Harvard, Leah? What happened there?"

Sigh, "We were all on our sophomore year, Cole wasn't around because he had gone spend the weekend at his girlfriend's family's place in Boston, so it was just us in the bonfire party. For a miracle of times, Rhyot had popped up there, because his friend, the first one I ever saw him make, a half Japanese and half American student, had made him go for whatever reason. So, Rhyot was around his drunken twin brother, who say a lot of shite when drunk, and since Cole wasn't there, the subject of the group talk was... well, you."

I got a bad feeling about this.