"Everly, you can pack your things now. Don't keep your uncle and brother waiting."
June's voice, though gentle, carried an unexpected urgency as she set her teacup down with a decisive clink. Everly, still reeling from the "go home" bombshell, felt a flicker of confusion. Why the sudden rush? But June's tone brooked no argument. She nodded, a little dazed, and turned to leave the room.
The moment she stepped into the hallway, her heart nearly leaped into her throat. The entire orphanage population, a sea of wide, expectant eyes, was waiting for her. Usually, their curiosity was a gentle hum, but today it was a roaring crescendo. It wasn't every day that super-rich people showed up, not for a toddler, but for a nearly-legal adult—Everly would be eighteen in a few weeks. The stakes, and thus the curiosity, were clearly doubled.
Olivia and Maria, immediately swarmed her, a barrage of questions tumbling out.
"Are they going to adopt you?! Do they know you're not a scholar but a secret street fighter?! What if they want you to be a bodyguard or a shadow guard for the family's young master?!" Olivia blurted, practically vibrating with speculation.
Maria, not to be outdone, gasped dramatically. "Or... do they want a child bride they can groom, and they've chosen you?!"
"You two have truly spectacular imaginations... you really are my true friends." Everly shook her head, a fond smile playing on her lips. It was painfully obvious they all devoured novels like they were going out of style, judging by the fantastical scenarios tumbling from their mouths.
She attempting to channel her inner supermodel, shook her long hair with an exaggerated flourish. Alas, the effect was more akin to a cow enthusiastically wagging its ears. Undeterred, she continued with her bombshell revelation.
"Sorry to burst your bubble, but your wild theories are way off. This is even more clichéd! Turns out, I'm the long-lost heiress of a mega-rich family. Now they want to whisk me away after finally figuring out I'm their long-lost daughter."
Instant silence descended upon the hallway, even the toddlers halting their fidgeting. Then, as if on cue, a collective gasp rippled through the crowd, and the hallway erupted into chaos.
"Everly's a princess!"
"Does this mean Everly can buy us a whole fleet of snack trucks?"
Amidst the excitement, skeptical voices emerged, primarily from the older teenagers.
"Is this just another one of Everly's jokes, inspired by those cheesy novels she's always reading?"
Before Everly could defend her astonishing claim,the director's room door swung open with a force that made everyone jump. Sylas's handsome face, contorted into a mask of annoyance, appeared in the doorway.
"No wonder it's so noisy out here. You're still loitering around! Stop wasting our precious time! Go pack your things this instant! Not only are you ugly and uncivilized, but you also have no concept of how important our time is! Move it!" he hissed, his voice dripping with disdain.
With that, he slammed the door shut, only to reopen it a moment later, as if unable to resist one final, public humiliation. "And don't think you can take all day. We have far more important things to do than wait for you to gather your meager belongings," he added, his lip curling in disgust as he surveyed the wide-eyed orphanage children, and then shut the door again.
The hallway fell silent once more, a palpable tension replacing the earlier hubbub. Olivia, whose face had initially bloomed a rosy red at the sight of Sylas's devastatingly handsome features—a brief, wild fantasy of dating, marriage, raising a brood of mini-Sylases, white-haired sunsets with him flashing through her mind in less than a second—now found her cheeks burning an even deeper crimson. This time, it was pure, unadulterated fury. Her wild imagination pivoted abruptly, sketching out scenarios so gory they'd require immediate censorship.
Everly, for her part, was already halfway to yanking open the director's door and unleashing a torrent of righteous fury upon Sylas. But then, a cold, rational thought pierced through her rage: as much as she wanted to wring his arrogant neck, he did have a point. She was wasting time. And more importantly, she didn't want to disappoint Zack, who had been surprisingly kind. Gritting her teeth, she pivoted, heading towards her room in the orphanage.
Maria and Olivia, still buzzing with a mixture of outrage and curiosity, trailed after her.
"Who was that insufferable jerk?!" Olivia fumed, casting a venomous glance back at the closed door. "He's absolutely infuriating!"
Then, a more pressing concern surfaced. "And wait, are you really a long-lost heiress from a rich family, like in those cliché novels?!"
"I thought you were going to go in there and deck him after what he said," Maria mused, her eyes narrowed in thought. "But you just... let him. Is he... family? You two do look quite a bit alike."
Everly's jaw clenched, a fresh wave of Sylas's insults washing over her. She quickened her pace, pushing open the door to the room filled with bunk beds. Only once they were safely inside, away from prying ears, did she finally answer, her voice laced with a potent mix of exasperation and reluctant acknowledgment.
"He... that handsome, peacock-like guy... he's my twin," she confessed, her voice a tight whisper. "And yes, according to the DNA results, I really am the lost daughter of a rich family."
"YOUR TWIN?!!!"
The simultaneous shriek from Olivia and Maria rattled the already dusty windowpanes. Their previous shock at Everly being a long-lost heiress paled in comparison to this revelation. A twin? And that twin? The arrogant, handsome one? It was almost too much for their novel-addled brains to process. Perhaps it was the tangible proof of family, a sibling connection, that truly cemented the reality for them.
"And just so we're clear," Everly clarified, meticulously folding a worn t-shirt into a cardboard box, "don't think for a second I let that peacock look down on me. I just didn't want my uncle, who's still in there, to be disappointed in me."
Olivia and Maria, now in full-on packing mode, sprang into action. Maria efficiently folded clothes, while Olivia, with surprising zeal, gathered Everly's various trinkets and books.
"So your uncle and brother are picking you up?" Maria asked, her brow furrowed. "What about your parents?"
Everly paused, a beat of silence hanging in the air as she carefully tied the final knot on the cardboard box. "I heard they're waiting for me at home with my other siblings..."
Maria bit her lip, a dozen follow-up questions about the parents' absence bubbling up, but she swallowed them down, not wanting to upset Everly. Olivia, however, was still fuming over Sylas's earlier verbal assault, the brief, one-second fantasy of a lifetime with him had been shattered like delicate glass.
"Then what's his deal?" she fumed, her hands flinging random items into the box with a bit more force than necessary. "Why is your twin such a jerk? Shouldn't he be over the moon to find his long-lost sibling, instead of acting like he can't stand the sight of you?"
"I have no idea," Everly sighed dramatically, hoisting two surprisingly heavy, tied-up cardboard boxes with an ease that belied their contents. "From the second we met, he's been like that. He really wastes that handsome face with such an ugly attitude."
Maria and Olivia nodded in solemn agreement, trailing after her, Maria clutching Everly's backpack.
"Anyway," Everly continued, navigating the narrow hallway, "there's still a lot they haven't told me. They said they'd explain it later. You know, like a 'to be continued' cliffhanger in a secret movie revelation."
They were about to head towards June's office when a small child darted out, breathlessly announcing that Mother June was already in the front yard with Everly's family. Changing course, the trio made their way outside. A sleek, black luxury car gleamed in the sunlight.
Zack and June stood a little distance away, engaged in quiet conversation, while Sylas leaned against the car, looking every inch a high-fashion model posing for an expensive car advertisement. The orphanage children, peeking from behind bushes and windows, weren't even looking at the fancy car; their gazes were glued to Sylas, utterly captivated despite his earlier display of monumental obnoxiousness.
Spotting Everly effortlessly carrying two large boxes, Zack immediately motioned for the driver to relieve her of the burden and load them into the car. June, her eyes glistening, pulled Everly into a tight embrace.
"I hope you live a wonderful life with your family, Everly," June whispered, her voice thick with emotion.
Everly hugged her back just as fiercely. "I will, Mother June. And I'll come back to visit, I promise."
Releasing June from their embrace, Everly quickly pulled Maria and Olivia into a tight, three-way hug. "Don't forget to spill all the tea about your new family!" Olivia whispered conspiratorially, Maria nodding vigorously beside her. Everly grinned, took her backpack from Maria, and then, with a final wave to the sea of curious faces, followed Zack towards the waiting luxury car.