Chapter 4

"I was so happy when I gave birth to Bella because I knew that our family was finally complete,everything was going smoothly until years later my mom fell sick,we thought it was just a minor illness but her condition just kept getting worse until we were advised that surgery was the only option to treat her sickness"says Mrs John with watery eyes.

"At that time we barely had enough money for your grandmother surgery and even with contributions from some of our family members it wasn't still sufficient so we had to take a loan from the bank. Your grandma was operated on and she slowly recovered from her illness"Says Mr John.

"We had to pay back the loan somehow so your dad and I worked different jobs in order to get the money. We barely had enough time to take care of you kids so we enrolled Sarah in a boarding school but Bella wasn't old enough to be taken to a boarding school and she wasn't in good health so we sent her to live with your grandmother.Your grandma offered to live with us so we won't have to separated that she could take care of you two but we didn't agree because she will surely feel bad and blame her self when she sees us working so much"Says Mr John

"It took us years to be able to pay back the loan but after the loans from the bank were settled we also had to pay some people we borrowed money from in order to take care of our family. After all the loans was settled, we decided that your grandma and Bella should live with us.

We let Sarah continue going to the boarding school because we also went to boarding school and we planned for all our children to go to a boarding school but because of Bella health we didn't send her to one".

"Sarah told us multiple times that she didn't want to go to a boarding school again that she wanted to live with us,so when our family financial situation was stable and all our debts paid we brought Sarah back and enrolled her in the same school as Bella.

"When I look back to our behavior of the way we treated both of you separately,I see that we really made Sarah feel excluded and when Sarah always asked why we treat Bella differently I would always say it because she our last child but the truth is that both I and your mom fears that one day Bella might live anytime so we always tried to give her everything.

"Your dad is right, we didn't know that we made Sarah feel so excluded.

"You guys didn't say anything about this,so this the reason..wow

it must have been tough on you mom and dad"says Bella.

"But this don't justify our behavior towards Sarah, Sarah baby i and your dad are very sorry for the way we treated you in the past,we promise that we will treat you like the princess that you are"Says Mrs John

"Mom..dad am so sorry"says Sarah who bursts into tears.

"Is ok darling"says Mrs John while hugging Sarah and patting her back like a form of comfort.

"I should have talked to guys before acting on my emotions,I let jealousy and anger take the best of me and now look at Bella,she all in this state because of me"says Sarah while crying bitterly.

"No don't say that honey we're also at fault here,in a way we also caused the accident if we gave you equal attention you won't have been jealous and all this wouldn't had happen"says Mrs John sobbing while still hugging Sarah.

"Please don't cry guys unless am going to cry too,please stop blaming yourself"says Bella

"Your mom is right,we started this whole thing I only sort to protect only one of my child while unknowingly hurting the other in the process"says Mr John while tears streaming down his cheeks.

So the John's family stayed in silence for more than five minutes slowly allowing all the words said and the situation sink into their souls.

"That enough crying am sure Bella won't want us sad specially on her birthday instead let use the remaining time we have and have fun, being sad isn't going to change anything"says Mrs John getting up and also helping Sarah to get up while wiping Sarah's tears.

"Your mom is right,let cheer up. You know Bella your mom specially got this cake for you,is your favorite carrot cake from your the bakery down the street. You know your mom had to wrestle someone in order to get it"says Mr John while unpackaging the cake and talking to Bella gently about the origin of the cake.

"Cough..I didn't wrestle anyone,the nice lady just decided she didn't want the cake anymore so I bought it"says Mrs John with the expression of'stop spouting nonsense'.

"Yeah I definitely and absolutely believe in you mom (^_-)"says Bella .

"Yeah yeah we definitely believe you didn't partake in any form of wrestling in order to get this cake"says Mr John with the expression of"'who are you trying to lie to you tigeress'.

So Mr John put the small cake knife in Bella's hands while holding on to it and Mrs John held the cake front of Bella. So Mr John cuts the cake with Bella's hands.

"Yay!!! My baby sister is all grown up,happy 18th birthday Bella"says Sarah while wiping her tears.