The Beginning: Reminiscence & Reunion

Tanya smiled a bit as she reminisced. The smile made Connor shiver involuntarily. He couldn't help it.

Tanya was an odd one. She never acted her age but always knew how to fit in with girls her age; she was a great manipulator, using what she had to get what she wanted, and she was a frightening girl who stood in the face of death and smiled as though it was an old friend.

Darion, the mansion's butler, soon came down the stairways through which Alvise went upstairs, along with some other housekeepers, and served them refreshments which they took in with gratitude and without complaints.

"Darion," Tanya called out. "What's the meeting for?"

Darion smiled broadly, and his crowfeet became even more visible, "His family members and some branch heads are here."

"How's the situation?" Tanya continued. "Is it going smoothly?"

"It's a bit noisy, but you know how it gets sometimes," Darion said, looking at her with a wide smile. One which was reciprocated with even more fervor by her.

The housekeepers bowed and left after their service and everyone, with Tanya and Darion as an exception, sat down and ate in silence, occasionally perking up their ears to listen to the conversation going on.

"What's going on?" Tanya asked, straightforwardly this time.

"Some people are displeased about how the master has dealt with a couple of international disputes in the company," Darion said, his expression turning serious.

"Are they asking for 'diplomatic' resolutions?" Tanya asked and Darion smiled wryly and avoided her gaze without an answer.

Tanya sighed "This is getting tiring. Why doesn't he deal with this immediately and directly?"

Darion didn't reply and only smiled at Tanya who sighed and rolled her head around in an attempt to undo a knit in her neck. The situation was making her tense all of a sudden.

"Are you sleeping over, Miss Sylvester?" Darion asked after he realized that the rest were done with their meals and had their gaze trained on the both of them.

"No," she replied and turned her gaze to Connor who had rung the bell to get the maids to clear up the plate from the table.

"May I ask why not, Miss Sylvester?"

"My mother is antsy since her youngest child hardly comes back home even before her eighteenth birthday." Tanya chuckled a bit amused at the irony of her current life. "I'm a loving daughter and I don't want her to worry too much because of me."

"So, you won't be around for the master's birthday celebration?" Darion asked with a smiling face that seemed to plead with her for something she knew all too well.

Tanya responded with a smile of her own after a brief chuckle, "Who said I won't?"

Darion raised a curious brow and Tanya chuckled elegantly with glee that made her eyes sparkle. "Are you heading home or is someone coming to pick you up from the hostel?"

"My twin siblings are coming over to check up on me with the excuse of coming to pick me up." Tanya shook her head with an amused smile on her lips at the thoughts of her parent's worries and her siblings, the fear of the unknown.

"I believe the response is very much understandable, Miss. Ever since you set foot into the academy, they've only ever visited and never the other way around." Darion sighed, exasperated at the thought, "They're bound to come running after you."

Tanya was stunned at the logic, and soon, needless rage filled her head till it was boiling within the pits of her stomach, and it caused her to grit her teeth. "I hope you remember that I also had my reasons for doing that, Darion."

"I'm not saying you didn't, Miss," Darion stated without losing his composure and cool-headed air. Soon, he broke his cool and levelheaded air and broke out a sigh as he looked at the lady in front of him with a pleading gaze.

This dense and foolish lady didn't know that she had people who cared about her and was oddly obsessed about making sure to be perfect in everything she did; from mannerisms to even breathing and the result? She was elegant and graceful in everything she did even to unconsciousness.

It was as though she had seared this sort of living into her being with a heated iron, and honestly, it was disturbing, to say the least. With this, she does her best to be less dependent on her loved ones and attempts to do all on her own in a bid to be less of a burden, but she dies knowing that such thoughts and ideas don't only burden herself but her loved ones as well.

But Darion wasn't going to tell her this. He had seen her, in years past, work herself to the bone in a bid to become an object of sheer perfection to fulfill some kind of righteousness, and it was worrying and unsettling.

With another sigh, he straightened his posture and looked ahead, avoiding her gaze, "Just go easy on yourself. No one's going to criticize you for being any less perfect."

Tanya said nothing and blew a huff of air in mock annoyance, but deep down, she knew what he meant by that. She knew what he wanted but she couldn't give in.

Because the day she did, she knew that the fate that awaited her would be far more punishable than death.

The thought made her wary, and she clenched her fist in determination. She would take care of herself if something like that were to happen, even in the likelihood of no more second chances. For her, it was considerably better to not be alive to witness her family's demise again, wasn't it?

***

Daniel sat in the car with David in shotgun and Tanya sitting in the back. The ride home was silent and the air was tense and rather stifling. For him, it was more than odd that his little sister hadn't said a word since she entered the car, save the greeting she said in their early encounter.

Daniel peered through the rearview mirror and saw his sister open up a book and begin to digest the information within. No chatting, no gaming, and no social media scrolling; nothing. It was as though she was lost in her world created within the book.

Daniel caught David peering through the mirror and at his quiet younger sister and he mustered a smile. 'She' wasn't the quiet one in the family after all.

Tired of the silence and tension that had saturated the air in the car, Daniel spoke up from behind the wheel, "It's been a while, Tanya."

He watched as his sister lifted her head slowly while looking at him dead in the eye through the mirror. The look she gave him caused him to shiver and his grip on the steering became even more tighter. That wasn't the look of a normal teenage kid in her rebellious years. That look…!

"I thought you all didn't miss me?" Tanya asked tiredly while mumbling grudgingly at the tiring length of their journey. Her mumbling had reached her other brother's ears.

Daniel cut through her mumblings before David could comment on her mumblings, "You can't be sure of that since you never visited."

Tanya stared her brother dead in the eye again and cooly said, "Why weren't you guys available for the timely video calls that Mom and Dad hold bi-weekly?"

David chuckled comfortably and said, "That's because we're busy and we have jobs, Tanya. And Besides, you aren't a child anymore, so stop whining as though the whole world failed you."

Tanya's eyes cooled further in agreement and she said nothing, leaning back into her seat to pick up her briefly discarded text to read. David saw this and scowled in anger while Daniel sighed.

"You know, Tanya," David started in an irked tone that did almost nothing to hide his ire, "You could do more than pretend to be engrossed in that bulk of paper. You could talk to us for a change and give us attention. We haven't seen or talked to each other in years."

Tanya put down her book and smiled. Her indecisive twin siblings made her resent talking out. They had a way with words that could make one feel like the perpetrators, and they'll be the villain when, in reality, it was vice versa, and now, he wanted to do this to her. Sorry for them, but she had lived their age once.

"I'm doing you a favor by not reaching into my luggage and taking out my phone from within. And I'm keeping silent to help you avoid any distractions from my end so that you can focus and drive without accidents." Tanya replied still neck deep into her text.

"So you're worried for Big Brother, huh?" David asked and Daniel smiled at the question. He hoped his little sister would say yes because, after all, she wasn't cruel anymore, according to his sources.

"You're mistaken, big brother." And with that, their expression soured.

"What-"

"I'm simply worried about my name being dragged in the mud if it were found that the cause of your accident was your trial and error at appealing to me while driving."

Daniel gripped the steering wheel hard as he gritted his teeth while David's face distorted in rage, "You…!"

"And besides," Tanya cut in unforgivingly, "I'm busy and I have work to finish and assignments that are pending for submission. I'm busy and have exams to study for. And besides, you aren't kids who'll be so selfishly eager for my attention and whine so foolishly when it's not gotten."

Tanya smiled sweetly at the reaction of her twin brothers, whose faces twisted in cynical amusement and uncontainable rage.

Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to come back home after all, Tanya thought. But that thought was fleeting and ephemeral. A thought that held no weight. It disappeared as soon as it came as she buried her head back into her text, ignoring the obvious rage and discomfort that stifled the air in the car.

To say the least, it was going to be a long ride back home.