Chapter 14

Grandpa looked down at the floor and took a long breath and finally spoke up, “My heart breaks while saying this but if it will make Jenny’s life better then I might break my heart. Jenny is our blood and our family but we all know that she has one more life than Loretta and all this time she never showed but of course it had been hard on her for living two lives. I have made a decision that from this moment on there will be no one like Jenny! As the head of the family, I am cutting all ties with her as Jenny. Sure she can meet us as Loretta Harvey but Jenny Lewis does not exist anymore. And for the last time Jenny, don’t forgive me for this but live a happy life, I truly hope the best for you.” My heart dropped at Grandpa’s words.

Before anyone could open their mouth, Grandpa and Grandma went to their room. I didn’t know that my tears were rolling down. From my blurry vision, I could see the hurt and shock visible on everyone’s faces. Finally, Steve broke the silence, “Why are you all so serious? Do you think Grandpa meant that? Come on stop kidding guys. We all know how much Grandpa loves Jenny.” The room was again filled with silence. Everyone knew Grandpa was not joking. I guess it is best for all, anyway it’s not like I was ever accepted as a princess. I had a secretive relationship with them which I am sure everyone was tired of.

I make my way to the door and speak, “Thank you for all the love you guys gave me. I truly mean that I love you guys.” No more words could make their way out so I turned away and said, “Bye!” Before I could make my way out, Steve held my hand, “What the hell? You are not going anywhere. Grandpa has probably forgotten to take his medicine. You are my sister and you will live with us.” I free my hand from Steve’s grip, “It’s already hard for me. Stop doing this.” I again make my way outside but again I am stopped, this time by Addy, “Jenny, you don’t need to take Grandpa’s words to your heart. Look we are all with you and we will make Grandpa change his decision. Please, don’t leave.” I turn towards Addy and snap, “No seriously I am also done with this. I was never accepted in this family. I know you all love me but accept that you never really accepted me. I am so fuckin tired of being a two-faced girl.” And with that, I run towards my car and start driving mindlessly.

I never knew Grandpa could say this. I thought Grandpa was the one who loved me the most. Maybe I was wrong. I want to laugh at my situation right now, my blood-related family abandoned me but the family who was not even mine, to begin with, has stood with me through my hard times. And seriously I think that it’s useless to even find my birth mother. She abandoned me when my life was in danger so what makes me think that she will accept me now? I have decided to now leave all this in the past and live a happy life with Aunt Iris, Uncle Harvey, and Kathy. To begin with, they were the ones who stood by me whenever the whole world was against me.

I stop by a public restroom and wash my face. I plaster a smile on my face and make my way to PARK PRODUCTIONS. I enter the building and directly make my way to the music room. Edward is not in the room but I still start working on the song. After 10 minutes I heard the door opening and Edward was standing there with a smile, “Hey, Lory.” I smile at him, “Hi. Edward. I already started working on the song. Hope you don’t mind.” He shakes his head while sitting on the computer beside mine, “Oh no it’s all right. Oh, you are not wearing your mask today.” My face turned pale on hearing that. A part of me still hoped Grandpa would just call me and say ‘It was a prank’ but no it hurts more right now. I never knew Grandpa was so serious that he would even take off my last right to be a princess. Fine, then. Now I will show him that I am more than just a princess and how much I can go without them.

Before I could step out of the office, I heard Ashton calling me from behind, “Hey! Lory! Wait for me.” I didn’t stop until I reached my car and then turned towards him, “I am sorry, I didn’t hear you. Do you have something to say to me?” I lied to him. I didn’t want to talk to anyone right now and that’s why I was pretending not to hear him but he followed me to my damn car. Ashton didn’t say anything he just sat in the driving seat of his car and then roll off the window and spoke, “Wanna have a race with me? If yes then a race to that famous restaurant on the highway.” And with that, he drove his car.

I don’t know why but it took my mind off the things which I was so hard trying to forget and I had a desire of winning the race. I started racing my car but slowed down when I saw his car roll down the window and shouted, “No one can beat me in the race!” Ashton rolled down his window and also shouted, “Snap out of the dream baby!” I roll up the windows of the car and speed up. I know it’s illegal to drive so fast on roads but in my defense sometimes it’s okay to break the rules.

Okay, I admit that I lost the race but yeah, I tried hard to win. I just lost by 5 seconds. After sitting in a booth, Ashton smirked and said, “Loser buys the food.” He is so childish, man. “Yeah, yeah order whatever you want.” Did he just order 15 different dishes? Wow! We were eating and just talking about random stuff until he bought up the sour topic, “If you feel okay so you can talk to me about what’s bothering you.” A part of me wants to talk about it and let it off my chest but a part of me is afraid that if I talk about it then I will break down and I hate to appear weak in front of others.

I was about to say no but a thought strikes me. I mean Ashton any way knows a lot about me and he has seen me breaking down as well, so I am just going to tell him. After telling him I did feel a lot better. Right now my head was on his shoulder and tears were running down. I whispered, “I don’t want to meet my mother. Please take me away from all this.” Ashton held me by my shoulders and softly spoke, “It’s okay, you don’t have to find your mother. It’s your choice and I won’t force you. But one thing I would say is don’t run away from your problems. You are anyway going to face your family here and there so why not appear strong in front of them.”

Now I was on my way to Stacy’s apartment to tutor her as well. You know while tutoring her, I sometimes understand those things which I couldn’t understand while studying alone. I have decided not to run away from my problems anymore. I will also go to the wedding and show them how unaffected I am. Just as Stacy saw me entering the room she shouted like literally shouted, “Thief! Thief!” What the hell? Do I look like a thief? “Stacy! It’s me, Lory, your best friend.” Stacy was shaking by now as she spoke, “No, you are not Lory. She wears a mask all the time.” Oh yeah, I completely forgot that it was her first time seeing me without my mask. She must be going crazy. I calmly sang, “Roses are not red, violets are not blue, I just wanna say I am only your fool.” This is my and Stacy’s patch-up line you could say. It’s like whenever we fight and then w don’t know what to do so we just say this and call it a truce.

Stacy’s face was worth capturing right now, “You- Lory! Are you for real? Is your allergy cured? I can’t believe this! Ahhhhh!” I feel bad for lying but I am helpless. I know I should be honest with her as she was also always honest with me but what can I do? I managed to lure Stacy to study for right now and that we will have a party later on but she is staring at my face for 10 minutes now and I am feeling very uncomfortable, “Stacy! Stop looking at my face. Let’s concentrate, okay? Oh yeah, are you going to Princess Mary- I mean Princess Miranda’s wedding tonight?” Stacy made an ‘o’ face, “I completely forgot about her wedding. I don’t think I’ll go, you know I’ve got so much to study. And yeah I wasn’t staring at your face, I was staring at your dimples, they are so deep.” I blush at hearing compliments about my dimples.

Now I go home and directly go to my room. Today I am going to get dressed up so beautifully that no one will be able to take their eyes off of me. I went into my closet and took out the dress which I designed with Kathy. It was a long red gown.

After getting fully ready, I went into the living room. A few minutes later, Kathy came from upstairs and was damn shocked, “Um, I thought you wouldn’t go.” Why would she think that? Just as I was about to say something, Mom and Dad both came out of their room and they both were surprised on seeing me all dressed up. I smile up at them and say, “Let’s go guys. The King and Queen won’t love their guests coming late, right?” Dad came to me and held me gently by my shoulders, “Lory, you don’t have to come if it hurts. We know how hard it is for you and so you don’t need to force yourself to smile all the time.”

I smiled reassuringly, “Dad, this is not a forced smile. I am genuinely happy that Mary is getting married and if you are talking about what happened this morning then you don’t need to worry because I have accepted Grandpa’s no wait for King Jones’s decision. Now, I am going to face my fears and overcome them and for that, I need you guys. You all were my family and you are my family and you will always be my family no matter what.” Before anyone could say anything, Kathy came to me and held my hand, “Then let’s go. What are we waiting for?”

The hall was big enough to fit thousands of people but well only VIP guests were allowed. It was so beautifully decorated that no one could take their eyes off it. Everything was very detailed and meaningful. There was also a giant bottle of Nutella hanging in the air with chocolate going down the chocolate fountain and in an instant I knew what it meant. On one side of the wall, shirts were hanging and on top, it was written ‘Not up for sale’ I was laughing so hard at this. It had a meaning that only the inner people knew.

I felt a nudge in my arm so I turned and saw Aunt Iris aka Mama giving me a strong smile and gesturing towards Grandma and Grandpa. I plaster a smile on my face and went to them with Mom and Dad walking ahead and Kathy by my side. “Good Evening King Jones and Queen Ellen. It’s a pleasure to meet you both.” I took out my hand for them to shake but Grandma with hurt on her face gave me a quick hug and turned around for wiping her tears I guess. Now I took my hand out for Grandpa and he took my hand in his and held on to it for I guess 5 minutes until someone came and said something in his ear.

After that awkward meeting with Grandpa and Grandma, I was just roaming around with Kathy. I still can’t believe that this is happening to me. I never thought it would be awkward with Grandpa. Suddenly Lucy approached with Addy closely behind her. It seemed like he was forced to come. Lucy hugged me and I also hugged her then she probably gestured to Addy to hug me. Addy was looking everywhere but here. I wanted to laugh so badly when Lucy hit her elbow on Addy’s stomach. I bet it hurt badly knowing the fact how strong Lucy is. Addy came to me and hugged me so tightly that it was hard to breathe. I pinched him on the back and so he finally let me go.

As if the awkwardness was not enough with Addy, Steve also came to us and as he sensed the awkwardness, he was about to go but Addy held his hand and smirked, “I gotta go, Steve please entertain our guests.” And with that Addy took a violent Lucy with him and Kathy, I and Steve were standing here awkwardly. Kathy turned to me and said, “Let’s go Lory. We don’t need to talk to betrayers.” Steve mumbled under his breath, “You’ll know once you are in my shoes.” Kathy sassily spoke, “Nah, your shoe sting. I don’t wanna go in them.” Okay, so practically before the war starts here I should leave the site.

Now it was time to meet the Bride and Groom and give gifts to them. It’s a tradition in our family that after one week of marriage, the Bride goes to her parent’s house and a gift ceremony is held but of course, the guests are to give the gifts at the moment to the Bride and Groom. I had already thought about what I was gonna give Mary and it would take 4 days to prepare but now I had to gift her the moment so I just gifted her two dolls hugging each other. I know it’s simple but I hope Mary will understand the meaning behind this. There is no need to gift expensive things because she can buy anything but the emotions and feelings I had while buying this cannot be bought and I just know that Mary will understand that. I didn’t even make eye contact with Mary, I just gave her the gift and left. Mary looked gorgeous in that dress which I chose for her. She looked like a goddess.

I am gonna miss them all but I know that no one had a choice. I will always cherish the moments with them but from far away. It’s best for all.