Chapter 361 - 361 - Sisters' Quarrel
"Sister?" Noah asked, deeply confused.
"Al?" the girl looked down, widening her eyes, "You're still—"
"Hold up! Aren't you Sha's sister?" Noah interrupted her, making her scratch her head, before pulling out her own chair. He could see Al was visibly uncomfortable, but he was the one who invited the girl over because of the blessing. Them being related was somthing he could have never guessed, not even in his dreams.
"Al is my half-sister. Mine and Sha's..." the girl started saying, regret in her face as she looked at Al. "I haven't seen her ever since I was a kid," she told Noah, turning around while biting her lip.
"I'm an outcast. I was never considered part of the family anyways since I'm just a bastard child," Al told him, making Noah shudder.
"That's not true! You were always a sister to us!" the girl protested, making Noah sigh.
"To you maybe, but not to that bitch mother you guys have!" Al raised her tone in anger, making the other girl look down and close her face.
"... I know she did some bad things to you, but that doesn't give you the—" the girl started speaking softly, but was quickly interrupted by Al once more.
"Of what? Saying the truth? She destroyed my life, Khish, she destroye my life," Allie told her, before turning towards Noah in anger. "Why the fuck did you bring her here? Are you playing games with me?"
"Eh? No! It's about that Blessing thing we said earlier, I had no idea she was your half-sister," Noah said as he raised his hands, trying to figure out how to deescalate the situation.
"Now you know. Can you make her go away, now?" she asked, filling up her glass and downing it in anger.
"Im afraid not... If you two are related, this is even more important that you know," Noah said, making Al look at him while seething. "Remember I only knew one more person who could slip through my perception and sneak on me like you did?" he said, making Al turn around.
"Did it have to be her?" she asked, staring daggers.
"So far she was the first person to do so," Noah responded, before turning to the girl. "Khish, wasn't it. How old was Al last time you saw each other?" he asked, just to make sure.
"Her? I think she was about 13 or 14, I was just a kid..." she said, taking a fleeting glance at Al. It was clear she had no ill intent towards her, but Noah could see Al still blamed her for everything.
'I wonder what's gonna happen when she meets Sha... I hope I won't get tangled into this mess,' he thought as he thought about what to say. "Was there any problem with her being forgotten about?" he asked, making Khish furrow her brows.
"Forgotten? I don't think so... Mom did pretend she didn't exist at home, but it was just her," the girl said, regretful.
"You wanna rub it on my face any more than this?!" Al stood up, looking first at Noah, then at the girl, and turning away.
"Wait, don't," Noah called her out, holding her hand.
"Let me go," she said, putting her other hand over his.
"I'm serious here. You two have the same blessing," he said, making both raise their voices in surprise. "I know, please sit, let me explain," Noah called out, making her bite her lips and sit down once more.
"Khish, I called you here because I noticed there was something wrong with Al. She cannot control her blessing at all," he said, making the girl pale.
"At all?! You mean she hides her presence constantly?!" the girl asked him immediately, Al's eyes widening.
"Wait, what are you t—" Allie muttered, confused, but her voice didn't reach the two, who continued their conversation.
"Yep. Not only that, because she does it, many people don't realize she even exists at times."
"Damn, that must be a pain. I had problems with that as soon as I got the blessing too but it wasn't hard to deal with."
"I don't think that's the issue. She didn't even know she had it in the first place, they didn't test her properly.
"The must have pulled strings so that she would not be evaluated, since if she were to be a Blessed, mother would be forced to accept her back in..."
"W—What are you guys talking about? What is going on here?" Al asked, pale. These two were talking something about her, and she had no idea what was happening.
Both Noah and the girl turned towards her, their faces had one of the looks she hated the most when people talked to her, pity.
"I don't need simpathy!" she exclaimed, standing up, and walking out and away, towards the bathrooms.
"Allie! Wait," Noah stood up, going behind her, but the girl held his arm, stoping him. "What?" he asked, seeing her look at the ground.
"Let me do it. I'll talk to her," she said, clenching her other fist.
"Are you sure you're the one who should be going?" Noah asked, realizing the spy-looking girl had at least one problem with going in there.
"No, I'm not. But... I feel it's my responsibility. Now that I know what's going on," she said, letting go of Noah's hand.
Noah simply nodded, sitting back down, and watching her back as she made her way towards the bathrooms. 'I wonder what those two are gonna talk...' he thought, focusing on eating.
"Al? Al?" Khish got into the bathroom, searching for the girl.
"Leave me alone!" Allie's voice rang from inside a booth as she asked, making her breathe a sigh of relief.
"Please, let me talk to you," she asked, knocking on the stall door.
"No, leave! Go way! Just like you and everyone did," Allie rebutted her from inside, her voice shaky.
"Al... I don't know what happened to you, but I know it must have hurt," she said, resting her back against the door.
"Hurt?! I was kicked out, alone, as soon as I turned 15! I lost everything, I had nobody. People didn't even know I existed. Had I not found an old man who took me in and gave me a job and a roof who know what would've happened to me!" she protested. In her voice, it was clear that she was cryinng, but Khish didn't even know what to say.
"I had no idea..." she said, biting her lip.
"Of course you didn't! Nobody cared! Not you, not father, not Sha," Al said, bursting into tears.
"That's not true!" she protested, biting her lip."Sha did care," she said, looking down, disappointed on herself. "I believed when mom and father said you had gotten a job abroad, and never even questioned the truth of it... But Sha never believed in them... She left the house after confronting father and him telling her it was a lie..." Khish sat down on the ground, resting her back on the locked door. "I never believed they could've made it... I never believed her when she told me, and took their side... I'm so sorry," she said, resting her head against the door, and falling back into the stall.
"Hey there," Al said, a bitter smile on her lips as she stared down at the girl liying on the ground.
"Hi.."
Al helped her stand, and sat back down on the closed toilet, "What now?" she asked, as Khish leaned against the now closed door.
"Just... Why didn't you ever call us?" Kish asked, staring down at her.
"How? You think I had you guys' contacts?" she answered, annoyed.
"Couldn't you have just gone home hidden and tried to talk to us?"
"You think I didn't try? You know how many people that witch put down to keep me away?" she asked back, making the girl bite her lip. "I lived in the slums, because it was the only place I could afford. I don't even have a phone," she said, looking up at the girl, who was already dejected.
"How did you get to know someone like him, then?" Khish asked, confused.
"Like whom, Noah?" Al looked up, confused.
"Yeah, he's a poweful and rich blessed, what are you doing here with him?" she asked, making al smile as she tried to brush aside her urge to laugh in disbelief.
"We worked together, many years. He was nothing like what you're talking..." she said, making Khish's eyes widen. "We worked for the same old man, after he became orphaned and had to pay for his mother's outstanding debt and sister's treatment. He wasn't a blessed back then, just a scared kid," she said, smiling.
"I didn't know..." Khish said, biting her lip, as she realized she knew absolutely nothing about either of the people here...
"It's ok. Either way, we better get ourselves going already. We left him all alone there... And I still don't understand a thing about the whole Blessing thing you guys were talking about." she said, standing up.
"I can—" Khish wanted to explain the blessing, but Allie put her finger over her lips.
"Not from you. Let him tell me what he thinks," she said, opening the door and passing her by, leaving the confused Khish behind thinking about how this could change everything in her family.
'Damn it,' she cursed inwardly, realizing the depth of the changes that were going to take place from now on, especially once Sha knew about the whole thing. And she dashed out of the bathroom, realizing Al was already nowhere to be seen.