Ariah woke up in the hospital. It was spacious but no one was around. Ariah can only push herself to get the water bottle on the table to drink.
"Are you okay?" A husky voice made Ariah drop the water bottle. She suddenly felt annoyed. The man walked faster towards Ariah and picked up the bottle and put it back on the table. He got a new one and opened it before giving it to Ariah.
"Here." Ariah took the water and drank almost half of it. She was really thirsty.
"I'll call the doctor." The man urgently walks away, not giving any chance to Ariah to refuse. Ariah just shrugged and looked away.
The moment the door opened, the man together with a doctor and a nurse entered the room and checked Ariah's health. Saying it was okay but she just needed more rest. As soon as the doctor and nurse went out, Ariahwas already planning to rest.
"Don't you want to hug your brother already? I mean I am sorry for not visiting you this past few months. I am really busy." The man calmly explained and smiled sweetly at Ariah.
The man was named Aris who resembles her father but with some of the features of her mother. He was really handsome. He got the green eyes of their mother and the masculine features of their father. Ariah and him have different features but they can be considered siblings as both have beautiful faces.
"I don't care." Ariah stated.
"Don't you not miss your big brother," Aris pouted in front of Ariah trying to appease her.
Ariah was suddenly hit in the heart. Aris was his big brother and growing up without their parents he was with her as much as he could despite his busy schedule. He was trained as the heir and at the same time he was trying to start his own company that was already starting to grow at the moment.
Ariah really felt the love that Aris was giving him was real but the thought of her past life really questioned such love. It started when she secretly got married with Vince, Aris was very disappointed with her so she accepted it but she just couldn't accept it when after that she was totally blocked out from her brother's life.
When she was with Vince and the time when Vince suddenly left her, she called her brother but he just responded that she was on her own already. Ariah even explained that she was pregnant and was bleeding for the first time but Aris just cut the call.
"I just really wanted to have a rest," Ariah muttered and slept away from Aris. Aris was getting frustrated and overthinking what was wrong with her sister.
"I am trying to be—-"
"I said, I want to be alone!" Ariah shouted out of frustration. She cannot accept the fact that her only brother whom she loved would reject him before because they are not blood related. When she had her first bleeding, someone helped her to go to the hospital and she was saved at that time. That's the time when she went home to ask for help from her parents because she couldn't contact them.
Past life…
As soon as she arrived home, she was not able to enter the gate despite her big tummy and bandage on her head. The guard was someone she knew but the guard just tried his best to do his job properly because one mistake can cause his job. The guards tried to persuade Ariah to just go away but Ariah persisted until the night.
A car suddenly made the surroundings even brighter. Ariah seemed to gain hope and was very eager to meet her parents. She knew that she was still their princess.
"Mom! Dad!" She shouted and stopped in front of the car to make it stop. She saw her mother and father get out of the car. She was very happy and hugged her mother. Her mother was calm and lightly pushed her away. She was hurt at the sudden movement but she maintained her smile even if she was already about to cry.
"Mom, who is she?" a soft and warmed voice was heard coming at the back of her mother. Ariah was about to ask but her mother turned her back.
"Darling, I will explain it to you later, go inside already. It will be bad for your health if you get a cold." Mrs. Blake softly stated. She held the girl's arm and carefully led her back to the car.
Ariah was lost. She was just standing there watching her mother helping a beautiful yet sickly girl in front of her. She was jealous. She cannot even remember when was the last time her mother treated her that way again.
Mr. Blake suddenly approaches Ariah and asks her to move away from the car. His tone was not bad but not as thoughtful as before. Her best father suddenly became cold to her. She just nodded and blamed herself for being selfish back then and married Vince. She knew that she really disappointed her parents this time.
The car enters the gate leaving Ariah and her so-called parents. Ariah just kept her mouth shut but her face was already questioning her parents. Although her parents still look at her with care, it's not just the same as before.
"I'm sorry. You are not our daughter. The moment you secretly got married to Vince was also the moment at the hospital where I gave birth. It was stated that you and our daughter were swapped. I was devastated and I can't accept it." Mrs. Blake started to cry but Ariah was still processing and cannot get over the fact of her not being their daughter. Mrs. Blake couldn't continue because she was really crying too much so Mr. Blake hugged her.
"Do not blame us. When we knew our daughter was swapped we cannot help but find her. She was the one you saw a while ago. She knew she was our daughter the moment we saw her. She is sick and we cannot let her be with her adopted parents who cannot pay her hospital bills. We wanted her home…"
"We tried to hide it from you at first because you will be hurt but suddenly we learned that you got married. It turns out you don't love us as much as we do. So we thought it's time for you to go." Mr. Blake stated. Though it was full of emotions for Ariah, it was stated as if they were right.
"For now on. We can only have Sofia as our daughter. We can't lose her. If you enter our house she might really think of committing suicide. She cannot see you often because she always felt that she was trying to live your life which she isn't. It was her life from the start. The moment you got married you chose to let us go so we are done. We had help you enough" Mr. Blake pulls her crying wife and enters the gate.
Ariah was once again left alone. She felt like it was just a dream. But it was her sad reality. She only thought that they were just mad but it's actually even bigger. She was not their daughter. And their daughter was already with them; she was left with nothing.
The maid suddenly approached Ariah with a folder. "Mi— your mother- I mean Mrs. Blake wanted to give this to you. It was the record of your mother from the time she gave birth to you in the hospital. And they asked for you to let go and just go on with your life starting from stopping in contacting them" The maid looked at her with a hint of mockery. Ariah just accepted the folder and started to walk away.
She feels like she doesn't have enough tears to cry already. She can't accept it. She held her phone and thought of her brother for the last time. She dialed it and the call was accepted after a few seconds.
"Brother, do you also know that I am not your real sister?" She was hopeful that despite not being blood related all their bonding was real.
"I'm sorry. I cho—" Ariah don't want to hear any words anymore and dropped the call. She can't believe that she was with them for all her life but they discarded her just because she was not their blood. She couldn't help but think that maybe their love for her was superficial and never genuine.
She knew that blood is also important as she was having her own baby herself but—
End of past life…
"Did we really pamper you so much that you are being disrespectful already? I cant believe what they are saying bad things about you are real!" Aris shouted. Ariah was shocked despite what happened in her past life, this was the first time that her brother scolded her.
"Go on. I don't care what you want to believe. You don't love me anyway!" Ariah also shouted and tears suddenly came out from her eyes naturally. Aris was stunned. Although he said that to his sister. He really loves his sister, at least that's what he really feels at the moment.
"I'm sorry princess. I did not mean whatever I just said. I love you, don't ever think that I don't." He softly sat beside Ariah in the bed and tried to hug her but Ariah was really angry and sad so she kept on pushing until she felt very weak.
Aris for the sake of Ariah just let go. He was thinking that what he really did was terrible. He felt very sorry.
"Please go out," Ariah murmured. Aris was hurt but sighed and went out when he noticed she was really not in the mood.
He can't help but remember back when he was still a teenager when he was really sick but he was grounded and nobody was around. It was only the timely appearance of her little sister that he was saved and after that moment he promised her that he will take care of her until his death.
He was not able to fulfill her promise to her. He felt like Ariah was really mad at her because she was not able to even visit her for almost 2 years. He will not even meet her If not for the hospital calls for her. Their parents were abroad and he was the only person in the country for Ariah, he rushed to be with her. However, his company was really not in a good state at the moment so he was quite moody. His outburst was somehow related to the company Ariah.
Aris upon checking that Ariah was really okay from the doctor. He rushed towards the company because of a sudden problem but before leaving he asked for the maids to be with Ariah and ask them to call him if something happened.
Ariah just looked out the window how her brother went out after the arrival of the maids. She was sad but she don't really want to hurt herself even more. It's already enough that she was hurt in her past life. In this life, she wants to be someone that is surrounded by people who love her genuinely and wouldn't leave her alone.
Ariah rested until the afternoon and requested to return home before it turns dark. She doesn't want hospitals as it reminds her of her baby. Although she knew that she needed to let go of her baby, she still couldn't. But she promised that she will live a better life not just for herself but she will live better for her baby.
As soon as she returned home, she took a shower. She really felt like she needed a good shower. Hospitals are always not a good place to stay and even after a hospital shower she still wanted to shower after. After changing into her sleep wear and doing her night skin care she got her backpack and packed her basic needs and all the things she felt like her own. She really wanted to get away from Blake's family to start her own life again. She wanted to live alone. She wanted to do it as soon as possible. It will still be more than a year before the hospital will send the documents of the child swapping incident so she will try to act as their daughter but don't want anything from them.
She was really a newbie. She doesn't really know about a thing in life because she was pampered too much. How can she think of going away without even having a place to live. She can only call Jerry.
"Yes boss?" Jerry answered as soon as he picked up the phone.
"Buy me an apartment near my school. I need it tomorrow. I want you to renovate it real quick. Just make it simple and-"
"Whoa. Hold on boss. Since when did I become your Personal Assistant?" Jerry joked but Ariah just didn't get it.
"Can't you do it?" Ariah asked, annoyed.
"Boss of course. But please give me atleast 2 days. I can't just renovate it in 1 day after buying don't-"
"I want it for 1 day. I add bonus–"
"Yes boss. I'll try my best."
"Thank you."
"Bo-" Ariah wanted to just rest and cut the call. She just randomly searched on the net the design she wanted and sent it to Jerry. She turned off her phone and tried to sleep.