Two Birthmarks

Rosanna held the cup of tea in her hands. She took a deep breath and faced Jason who was patiently waiting for her to speak.

"The Clover Family has a long history, which contains information that may sound absurd at some point, but it's the truth. You've seen Selina's birthmark, correct?" She didn't know where to start explaining, so she chose to be straightforward.

"The butterfly one that appears when that part of her skin gets wet?" He remembered seeing it before and always found it interesting how it would disappear on its own once her skin dried. However, when he asked about it, Selina also didn't have an answer to it.

"Yes. Every girl in the Clover bloodline is born with a birthmark. Selina's birthmark is a butterfly." Rosanna took a sip of her tea to moisten her throat.

She continued explaining, "This birthmark can be said to be a blessing because that is how we know who is going to the the next successor of the Clover family. But it can also be a curse..." 

"A curse?" He murmured.

"Yes." She pulled a tissue from the tissue box on the table and dipped it in her tea. With her sleeves rolled above her wrist, she took the drenched tissue and rubbed it on her wrist. Soon, a birthmark surfaced her skin. Unlike the butterfly birthmark that Selina had, Rosanna's birthmark was a four leaf clover. 

"Four leaf clover?" Jason said.

Rosanna tossed the used tissue into the trash bin by the table and nodded. "Yes, this is the other birthmark that descendants can be born with. It is also the curse I was talking about."

"But isn't this through genetics? Why would a birthmark be a curse?" He stared at her wrist where the birthmark slowly disappeared from sight. 

"It is a curse because if the girl is born with a clover birthmark, she is not meant to live past twenty five years old. And for every five years on her birthday, she will suffer immense pain through her meridians. Her body will gradually weaken until her last breath." Rosanna spoke as if she could still feel the pain she had when she was young.

"But mom, there is a way to survive it, isn't there? There is a cure for it because you're past twenty five years old. And we don't know if our twins will have the clover or butterfly birthmark. They could be boy twins too. So there's a chance that both are-" 

Rosanna cut off his sentence and answered his doubts.

"No, I can tell you that one of them will have the clover birthmark. And both are girls. I've confirmed it earlier. If she was carrying one, then the chances are fifty-fifty on getting either birthmarks. However, if she is carrying twins, it is a definite that one of them will have the clover mark. And yes, there is a possible cure to it."

She can only explain things as simple as she could at this point. "When the child turns five years old, the stem of the clover will start to reveal itself. Starting from then, the child will be weak. To strengthen the child's health, you must follow my instructions and send her to a master who lives in a secluded place. He will train her well."

"I can only provide a formula with herbs for the child to reduce the amount of pain she will go through, but this is inevitable. When she turns twenty-five, the last clover leaf will form. By then, she needs to find a person whose birthdate is the opposite of hers by our family calculation. And this person must be her future partner with a strong martial arts foundation in order to save her."

She exhaled deeply. "Originally, I wanted to wait until Selina gives birth to confirm the baby's gender. But when I saw her stomach today, I knew I had to confirm my suspicions. The Clover family is currently still under our control. However, I'm afraid trouble might come our way if they find out that we have another twin in the family."

"Wait, another twin? Then doesn't that mean-" Jason's mind was a mess at the moment. It was quite difficult to process these pieces of information altogether.

"I had a twin sister who was born with the butterfly birthmark, but she died several years ago. As I was born with the clover birthmark, the successor for the Clover family was passed to her. However, she passed away during an enemy's ambush. Since then, I've been the successor, which was frowned upon. With Eric's help, we held the most power and suppressed anyone who had dirty thoughts to gain power."

"It's difficult to explain because there are too much internal affair going on. And recently, people are forming thoughts again on our family. By rules, since we've found Selina, she is supposed to be the successor because she has the butterfly birthmark. But I don't want her to be stressed by this." Rosanna was saddened at the thought of her future grandchildren having to go through such mess. 

"That doesn't make sense. So she has to become the successor because of her butterfly birthmark? Then our twins, will one of them have to take on the responsibility as the successor when she grows up while our other child suffer? This is too much." He didn't want to believe these words, but reality is literally slapping him in the face.

"That's right. It's absurd, but that is how the Clover family passed down the rules. I've confirmed the twins myself. For sure, they'll have such fate. And the only thing we can do is protect the twins for as long as we can until the time comes. This is also why I didn't want to tell Selina this yet." 

Selina's rasped voice echoed softly. "But I've already heard it." Her palms were hugging her tummy as if she was protecting her babies. She looked at Jason, her mother and the painting they've just hung recently in the room. 

"Selina..." Rosanna stood up from the couch, wanting to walk over to her. 

Before she could take another step, Jason was already by Selina's side. He held her slightly cold hands and warmed it up in his. She looked up at her husband with her eyes watered. "It's alright. We'll get through this. We will," he whispered.