ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-NINE

ANISHA'S POV

DNA test results came out positive, from my father's side of the family. My father, pastor Noel Everdeen, had two brothers whom Dylan had met once, at the funeral. The two brothers, who failed to hide their utter shock concerning my existence, failed to believe that their brother had hidden such a big secret from them. The pastor's brothers each had a son and a daughter, thus giving me four new cousins. It was tough for me to explain how it felt. Our first meeting was a total disaster, for I failed totally to click with the female cousins, who were both older than me. The boys were better, but one of them, Gareth, happened to be the nicest and warmest of them all. Although he was way older than me, he welcomed me into the family with much love and care. Gareth, a married man and a father of two, had a high rank in a huge company that made detergents. He seemed to have really made it in life.

When I visited his home, everything looked nice and classy, he was doing his best. What hurt me, however, was that his wife Lisa did not even greet me. Although we had met before, at the initial family gathering, she acted like she did not know me, until I had to ask if she remembered me. The lady simply nodded her head. She then started with a lot of questions, asking me what I did, what I expected from Gareth, was I financially stable and all those questions. It hurt me a lot. Mockery laced all her questions, and it really caused me a lot of pain. I decided not to visit the house any longer and only visit Gareth at his office, if ever I wanted to see him.

One afternoon, when Dylan and I were out having fun, it was scorching hot and I wanted some ice cream. I asked him if we could visit a familiar ice cream shop, which Valentina and I used to go to. Although he stated that he had never before bought ice-cream from such shops, he still came along with me. On that day, I dragged my man to an ice cream shop which stood right in the middle of the city, and I must say, I regretted doing so as soon as we arrived. People stared long and hard at Dylan's car, and they stared at us when we came out of it.

I heard people whispering, It's the de Milos' son…What is he doing here? Do they shop here?....Who is that girl with him…is he married yet?...he is here to buy ice-cream too?...

I suggested we go back and find another spot to buy from; but he refused, saying we were already there so it was best we just buy the ice cream and leave. We entered the shop, and the four or five people who were there also stared at us admiringly.

"Oh, is it really you…are you the son of the de Milos? de Milo Group of Hospitals? May I take a picture with you, please?"

Dylan, seemingly unused to that, stood still and allowed people to take pictures with him. We were standing very close to the fridges, so I pulled out some boxes of strawberry and vanilla ice cream, and placed them in a trolley. When I turned, I realised that the numbers of people wanting to get pictures was growing, and Dylan winked at me. "Let's go" he lipped the words to me.

I knew he wanted to urgently leave, so I walked over and handed him a box of ice-cream, "Let's go and pay," I said sweetly. In my attempt to hand over the box, I mistakenly gave someone a slight push. It was a lady who was standing next to Dylan, ready to take a picture as well.

"Watch out! Why did you push me? I'm taking photos with him; you just have to wait your turn!"

When I looked at the woman, to my utter surprise, it was none other than Lisa, Gareth's wife. Both of us were shocked when we immediately recognised each other.

"It's you again! I would have never expected to see you here! I thought you were from the orphanage or something!" Lisa spoke in a mocking tone. She gave me a wicked smile and turned to look at Dylan with a sweet smile, "Doctor de Milo, it's good to see you. I work here in the ice-cream shop. It's an honour to have you here. How may we serve you today?"

By that time, a number of people's attention had been drawn, for Lisa had scolded me in a very high pitched voice. While the flashing cameras continued, with people taking photos of him, Dylan pulled me into his arms, and spoke to Lisa, "may you repeat what you just said to her?"

Lisa, obviously very shocked and unaware of the reasons why Dylan would choose to defend me, looked at me, and then at Dylan, and back at me. Her eyes were full of questions. "Oh I am sorry, I was just saying….I work here. Let me help you."

"Didn't you just call her names, and tell her that she belongs to an orphanage? What did you mean by that?"

By then, the number of people was growing. Oh is that the de Milos' son…is that the young de Milo…is he really their son?...you mean de Milo; from the de Milo Group?.....people continued to whisper and take many photos.

"I'm sorry about that," Lisa spoke shyly.

"You will have to apologise to her, not to me."

Lisa looked at me, and with a heavy accent, failing to show that she was forcing it, she said, "I am sorry."

"This beautiful queen here does not belong anywhere else besides in my arms. She is the love of my heart and I won't have anyone speaking like that to her!"

I cannot give an account of all that happened after Dylan addressed me as the love of his heart. There was an uproar and more clicking of pictures. We just had to leave without buying the ice cream. Chris, who initially had waited for us in the car, emerged from nowhere, along with bodyguards. I had no idea from where they came, and it made me wonder if all his life, Dylan had bodyguards secretly following him. The men, one or two of whom I recognised as the same security guards from the mansion, appeared dressed in all black, and they dispersed the crown, encircling Dylan and myself. For a moment I felt like a little princess, getting a feel of what it meant to live the life of a billionaire.

The crowd, however, would not be dispersed that easily. Although the two of us were now safe in the care of the bodyguards, the pictures continued to click continuously. Most of the people's interest had drastically shifted from Dylan to me; for they asked many questions among themselves….who is that girl?…oh she is so pretty…are they married yet?….she is lucky, how did she manage to steal his heart?…she is beautiful, can't you see…she is probably a daughter from the rich families…..which family is she from, huh? Could it be the Rockridges? The Octavias?....ahh, there is no daughter at the Rockridges…..look at her hair, she is like an angel….she must be from the Octavias…..someone said she is from an orphanage….what orphanage? She surely belongs in the billionaire circle...she is the love of his heart; did you hear him?.....

***

On the evening of the same day, I was added to the Everdeen family group. I saw my phone flicking with too many messages. Lisa, who happened to be the administrator of the group, added me and from the way that they all spoke, it was easy to tell that they already knew about my relationship with Dylan. They praised my beauty, and even the two female cousins who earlier on had flatly ignored me, started to send a lot of messages, as well as inviting me to their homes.

The whole experience left me broken. I wanted to be loved for who I was; for being my own person. I wanted to be accepted for being me, not because people saw me as a bank to bring them millions. Drained and in great pain, on the following day soon after my lectures, I headed over to the graveyard where pastor Everdeen was buried. I was angry. I was hurt.

"….I am a nobody, no-one values me at all, because I am that child who grew up at the orphanage. People only start to love me when they know that I am Dylan's girlfriend. I hate it, Pastor Everdeen; I hate it! If you had taken responsibility, I would have been someone. I might not have been filthy rich, but I would not be always referred to as that orphan. Pastor Noel…I don't even know what to call you! Why did you leave me? Even after Amelia refused to talk to you, why did you not look for her, just to check on her and see how she was doing? Because if you had checked, you would have known!! You would have known that she did not abort me; she carried me and later on abandoned me on the day of my birth!! You are my father, and you are worse than my mother!! You are worse than her!! You should have stood by Amelia and supported her…you forced her to have an abortion…..you did not love me!! ….I am in deep pain! People don't want anything to do with me, for they believe that I am just an orphan who will come to ask for financial help. They start to love me only when Dylan shows up! Is that what you wanted for me, pastor Noel Everdeen! Is that what you wanted!!......."

I let out heavy sobs as my pain and anger slowly started to melt. I wished he was alive, I would have asked him a lot of questions. I cried my heart out, and when I felt better, I stood up to walk towards my car. To my surprise, another very nice car was parked just behind mine. Who could it be? Feeling a bit uneasy, I continued to walk. Then the back door of the other car opened. Oh my word! It was the world's most handsome man; Dylan!

"You are here? How did you know I would be here?" I asked him.

"Well, I figured you would be. Yesterday you spoke a lot about your anger towards pastor Everdeen, so it was easy to guess that you would come to 'talk' to him. Come my love, let me take you home." He took my hand and kissed it. He planted numerous little kisses in my hair and led me to his car.

"Whose car is this?" I asked.

"It's one of mine," he smiled.

"I haven't seen it before,' I commented.

"I don't use it often." He told me.

And he took me to the back seat, and asked one of the bodyguards to take my car home, while I sat with him, with my head rested peacefully on his chest. Pastor Everdeen and Amelia failed to show me love; but at least Dylan showed me what it meant to be loved!