Explanation (1)

"I can't believe you can commit such an act of betrayal!" She shouted at the girl sitting on the sofa opposite to hers. "I've trusted you as my best friend in all those years. Why did you have to do that?" Nicole uttered, teary-eyed.

Ashley breathed out a sigh. "I will never betray you and I did not betray you. It was all part of the plan that I just took part in. Now, if you could just calm down and sit back while the people here explains everything, that would really help in sorting this out nicely." Ash said in a calm manner while staring at the girl in front of her.

Nicole was taken aback by this kind of Ashley's behavior since she never thought that her bestie's actually got this side to her. She took deep breaths, trying to calm her self, and sat back down beside her father.

Henry then rubbed his daughter's back to help. Nicole looked at him in which he responded to with a reassuring smile. "Deep breaths." He whispered to her.

When Nicole was finally calm, she spoke. "So, would the all of you mind explaining things to me? Why are we in such a luxurious place? Why are my parents dressed in high end products? What is Kuya Laurence and Kuya Laurent doing here? And why did Ashley do what she did earlier?"

Silence. Only the ticking of the clock can be heard. The people in the room gave each other glances.

'Who's gonna talk?' is what's in their minds.

Frederick looked at his mother who's busy sipping at her tea. She gave him a nod as soon as she noticed her son's stare at her.

Frederick cleared his throat before he spoke.

"To answer your questions, Ashley did what she did earlier because we asked her to do it so that you can be brought here. Though the sedation part was not really a part of the plan, but it still worked out in the end." He started. "So why do you have to be brought here? Well, your mom over there did tell you a few days back to give them some time to be ready and tell you the truth, and this is the time that they are talking about. This place over here? This is your home. Your parents are dressed in high end products because they are rich-rich. Owning hundreds to thousands of businesses in the world. As for me and Laurent..." he trailed off and looked at his twin.

"We are gonna introduce ourselves again for the third time but this will be the second time in your memories since you can't remember the first time which is when you were still a baby." He breathed to control his emotions and not let it get the best of him before speaking again. "Hello, I am Frederick Laurence Vargaz. The eldest son of Laurena and Henry Vargaz and the older twin of Laurent. I am your eldest brother. Pleased to meet you and welcome back home, our Maelie." Then he gave her a small warm smile.

Nicole just stared at the guy in front of her, trying to digest all of the information she just heard. While processing, Laurent stood up and began to talk.

"So, I am Aldrich Laurent Vargaz. The younger twin of Laurence and the youngest son of mom and dad. I am your second older brother. You are finally home, our baby. You've grown to become such a lovely young lady." He proudly said and took the handkerchief from his pocket to wipe a small tear of happiness at the corner of his eyes while sitting back down.

Everyone was silent while waiting for Nicole's reaction. Her mind is blowing off with the sudden gush of unbelievable information.

"Wait... You said that this is my home and mama and papa is rich... But no, that can't be. I live in the countryside island where mama sells our harvested goods in the public wet market and papa does farming. I see them everyday going to their work early in the morning before I go to school." she said in disbelief.

"Uh, we don't really work at those places, honey. This mama and papa of yours owns an empire in the business world and every morning, after we head out, we were met by our assistants who fetches us to go to our respective offices and work. We set up a meeting spot where it was far from our house, which are the fields for me and the wet market for your mom. All of these are just a disguise for you to not suspect anything." Mr. Vargaz explained.

"Business empire?" Nicole looked at Ashley. "Like the one in the Glam magazine you let me read earlier during lunchbreak? Vargaz's empire was it?"

Ashley just nodded.

"Then, the famous twins I saw on the rankings of bachelor men who are still single that you were fawning over and even said are hot, they're the same Kuya Laurence and Laurent who often visits me in our house acting as just childhood friends from the neighborhood?"

The twins looked at Ashley after what Nicole said.

'Fawning over?'

'She said we're hot?'

Ashley rolled her eyes at the brothers. "Yes, they are those twins which is why you're familiar with those at the picture. AND I just said their hot for show. You wouldn't know how much I tried not to puke after acting that." Then she covered her mouth as if she's trying to prevent herself from throwing up.

Frederick just shrugged while Aldrich gave her a glare.

"Then this means the child that was seldomly shown and rarely mentioned in the magazine is me?"

"That's a yes again."

"And the reason is because of this whole situation?"

"Mm-hmm. That's right."

Nicole looked down and thought for a while before looking back up to the people in front of her. "But why? Why do you have to go through all these trouble?" Her gaze stopped at her father.

"Well, there was a reason. As a child, you were very sickly. You have a condition where your lungs are not that strong. A tiny speck of dust can make you stay in the hospital for weeks. The doctor told us that the city's polluted air is not good for your health and may worsen your condition. He advised us to stay in a mild environment where air is fresh and not heavy with pollutants. Fair enough, the efforts paid off because you grew up to become a healthy person that you are now." He smiled at his daughter and gave her a hug with a kiss on the forehead. Nicole hugged him back and snuggled in her father's embrace.

"There was a different reason as to why that continued for years though." Aldrich looked at his mother with a knowing look. "You might wanna spit it out now, mom." He said with a sulking expression.

"Aldrich." Frederick said with a warning tone.

"Okay, am sorry. It just makes me annoyed whenever I remember the reason why we can't hang out much with our baby sister back in the days and for making us introduce ourselves as just her friends from next door who moved away after high school to focus in college." he replied with a pouting face.

Laurena sighed as she puts the teacup down on the saucer.

"You recovered after 5 years of staying in the countryside and we were planning on taking you back here but I realized that if I raise you together with your brothers, you might end up becoming like them who did nothing but give me a piece of headache everyday for all the troubles that they have caused. They grew up to be such a pain in the ass as spoiled troublemakers who did nothing but spend all our hard earned money on stuffs they don't even need in their teenage years. They go to bars almost every night that I told them to just live there and never come home. I won't even be surprised if one day, a pregnant woman would come here and tell me I have an instant grandkid!" Laurena grumbled while glaring at his two boys.

The twins just looked down, not willing to meet their mother's fiery gaze.

"At least we've changed." Aldrich said in a low voice.

Frederick elbowed his twin. "Stop rebutting, we might end up getting in trouble because of what you say." he irritatedly whispered.

Their mother just scoffed at them and went back to sipping her tea and looked at Nicole. "Which is why we hid all these facts from you so that you can live a simple life without relying on the fortune we own. Making you responsible for all of your actions and not becoming a good-for-nothing like your brothers. As for them not being introduced as your siblings, I don't want you to have such examples in life that you might look up to and let them set their lives straight first before getting to know them." She paused to sip on her tea and continued, "It was also for the sake of thrill in the plot of our lives." Then she smirked.

The twins just blankly stared at her.

'Unbelievable! Is she really our mother too?!'

Silence followed after because of the indescribable atmosphere from their mother.

Ashley was first to break the silence as she stood up. "I'm just gonna grab something to snack with, while waiting for dinner, in the kitchen." Then she headed to kitchen.

Nicole was about to say something when clacking of heels can be heard heading towards them and a silhouette of a woman can be seen growing closer.

"You didn't tell me everyone was gathered for the important announcement." The woman said in a flat tone and stopped in front of the table beside the couch where the brothers are seated and gave them a smile. "Hello boys." She said delightfully then she faced the couple. "Hello Laurena and Henry. Nice renovation of the place." she said as she looked around.

Nicole stared in awe at the woman who must be in her late 30's and looks good in her classic business attire that is matched with her pointed toe high heels shoes, which complements her remarkable facial features with her hair .

'Who is she?' Nicole thought.

"What are you doing here Maurine?" Henry asked.

The woman laughed. "Well, you were not answering your phone after I called and texted you multiple times so I decided to come here. You know I don't like waiting so much."

"So you're Maurine." Nicole whispered enough for everyone to hear.