Chapter 1: Maria

Everything became still like as if the time just stopped, even the raindrops paused. it's just as if I was the only one moving, 10 steps away from Me lays the body of the love of my life in a coffin. I felt a sudden warmth and my left hand, there she was, my numbers little sister holding my palms tight and crying uncontrollably, I just stood there feeling helpless to her, at my right hand was a Black umbrella which I used in covering both of us from the rain, not knowing whether to drop the umbrella and console her or keep protecting both of us from the heavy rain just like others who came to the funeral were doing, covering themselves with umbrella from the heavy rain.

Then, the priest finished his prayers and ask the young men there with him to drop the casket into the grave, immediately they was about to carry out the command Eva ran away from my hold to the coffin but was held back by my twin sister Mary, who was also here with us. Eva cried out with a loud voice which made my eyes to release another fresh tears because it felt like the reality just hit me again, she is not alone in this wicked world, Raphael the love of my life is no more and their parents died in a car accident after Eva was conceived. she no longer have any relative around here and Raphael made me promise to take care of her. Raphael has been the one training her up since their parents death, although he once told me that he had another brother who was out of the city before the birth of Eva, both of them has been in contact ever since, even Eva knew about him but haven't met him in person, he never showed up at their parents funeral for reasons Raphael never shared with me and still he wasn't here today.

I made the move to where Eva and my sister was, just a few steps ahead of me, as I was getting closer to the coffin, I sighted a man very far from us, he wasn't covering himself with an umbrella, just standing in the rain wearing a black suit with a black bow tie, his hair was a dirty blonde which was already wet because of the rain, he was standing beside a mango tree, I looked around to check if there was any other funeral going on here but there was none, he was covering his eyes with glasses which made it hard for me to figure out who he might be because his full attention was focused at the casket, all Raphael's friend which he introduced me to was here at the funeral, so I tried to take my eyes off him and focus on my lovely late fiance's casket where Eva and Mary was not standing beside me.

Later, after the casket had been covered up in the grave with the soil, I lift up my gaze to where the strange unknown man was standing but he wasn't there, he has just disappeared the way he appeared. I took Eva by the hand and started heading back to one of Raphael's friend named James who brought us here with his car.

When three of us got there, I was taken aback by what I saw again, I stood still watching James and the mystery Man who stood without umbrella when the funeral was still on, he just looked exactly or can I say the carbon copy of Raphael but was a bit taller and muscular with a dirty blonde hair which was now a bit dry and curly, he was listening to James until he unintentionally turned towards us, all his attention was now directed at us, James turned around to see what he was looking at, then he saw me, my sister and Eva who was now mesmerized looking at him. he left James and headed towards us, James followed suit with him. " Hello", he greeted, then knelt down with one knee facing Eva on an eye level, " I am sorry Evangeline, for not being here when you needed me most", Eva broke out in tears again while the strange Man bear hugged her tight to his body, I can feel the breeze hitting on my face, it was probably coming from north, both Eva and the mystery Man's hair was following the flow of the gentle wind, " where have you been Scott?, I have never seen you so close before except through some pictures Raphael showed me, what was my offense?, why should I be the one to experience all this?, did I commit any crime that made you turn your back on us ", as she was asking the mystery Man whom she just called Scott this questions, tears starts flowing down from my eyes because I felt pity for her, at this young age, she's suffering from all this emotional pains, I Just lost Raphael and felt this way, what about her that has lost both Raphael and her parents, plus the Man standing right in front of her whom she haven't seen so close before. I don't know how she is going to bear all this pain in her tiny little heart. the thought of all this situation made me burst out the silent tears which I was trying to hold back. James came close to me and gave me a hug, probably to show me that I was not alone, someone will always be here for me, Mary has already gone inside the car, she has already tried her best to stay by me all this while.

After we went in inside the car, The u introduced Man turns to leave, I jumped out of the car immediately and shouted at him, he gently turned around looking at me like I just touched a fresh wound in his body which he was still suffering from the pains, he wasn't angry for the way I screamed at him or mad at the unknown lady who I don't think he even knows, I saw pains in his eyes as he just stood there looking at me. " what is wrong with you?, you just came out of nowhere and tried to leave the same way, what about your baby sister?, who is going to take care of her? ", he just stood there with his mouth shut, he looks like a person who was in thought, searching for a perfect way to solve a problem bothering him for a while. " he has already had that conversation with me, I explained to him about your promise to Raphael and he has agreed to let you carry on with that ", James interrupted, what did this Man just do?, why is he trying to cover for this unrespectful Young Man?, does he know the pain am suffering inside of me right now?, questions continue to pop up in my head but I just stood speechless looking at James with anger burning up inside of me. how can he just show up and decide to leave her only remaining blood sister to me?, don't I seem like a stranger to him?, he is not even making a move to take his sister away from me, if he had come to me and have that conversation, it might be a bit reasonable than leaving just like that. I promised to take care of Eva because there was no one else Raphael can trust to do so. unfortunately, here he is, the rightful person who should take her sister away from my care now pretending never to have any business with this little girl as if he holding a grudge against her. here is the truth, even if he had made any approach to take away Eva from me, I would never allow such thing to happen, he can't just show up out of nowhere and take away the only person guilding my heart from exploding in a thousand pieces, I am not trying to act selfish though, not trying to use Eva's presence to guide myself but her presence always gives me that memory of a perfect Man whom I am not yet ready to leave behind and move on. " you can go now Scott ", what the fuck is James really doing here, I am never going to allow this man to leave here just like that, does he know about the person looking after her baby sister?, does he not care about this little girl?, is this Man really Raphael's blood brother who I cherish even with my life?, does he even want Eva to be alive in this wicked world?, maybe he really wants the last of them dead which is never going to happen on my watch.