Sofia's POV.
The door opened.
Two men walked stood at the door. One walked in and the other hesitant.
They wore black business suits, likely arriving straight from Parker's Paint Corporation.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
They looked like Father. The resemblance hit me like a physical force — the same ebony eyes, the same sharp jawline.
Ethan stood slightly behind Stanzas at first, almost as if unsure whether he should enter fully. Stanzas walked in first, shoulders stiff, hands clasped too tightly in front of him.
I stood slowly.
"Hi," I said, my voice thinner than I intended. "I'm Sofia Gabrielle Parker."
Why did I introduce myself like a stranger?
They already knew who I was.
"Yeah… we know," Ethan muttered awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck.
Silence.
Stanzas cleared his throat. "You… you look…" He stopped. Started again. "You look good."
That was not what he wanted to say.
I could see it in his eyes.
Ethan gave a short, nervous laugh. "This is… this is harder than I thought it would be."
No one sat down at first.
Then I gestured to the chairs. "Please."
They sat stiffly.
Stanzas kept staring at me like he was memorizing my face. Ethan avoided my eyes.
It wasn't smooth. It wasn't cinematic.
It was uncomfortable.
Heavy.
"We're sorry," Stanzas finally said.
The words were blunt. Not poetic. Just there.
"For what?" I asked quietly.
Ethan inhaled sharply. "For… everything. For not knowing. For not—" He stopped. His jaw tightened. "For not doing enough."
I studied him.
There was something else there.
Anger.
Not at me.
At himself.
"At first," Ethan admitted, voice low, "I was angry."
The confession surprised both of us.
"Angry at who?" I asked.
"At… the situation," he said quickly. Then after a pause: "At you. One day we went to school when we came back home and you were gone."
The air shifted.
Stanzas looked at him sharply. "Ethan—"
"No, let me say it," Ethan interrupted. His voice wasn't loud, but it trembled. "I was a kid. I didn't understand. One day you were there. The next day you were gone. No explanation. I thought maybe… maybe you did something wrong. That's what Mom implied."
My stomach dropped.
"I didn't understand what dwarfism was back then," he continued. "All I knew was that our house felt different. Quieter. And I hated it."
His eyes finally met mine.
"And I hated that I didn't understand why."
Tears gathered in his lashes, but he blinked them back aggressively.
"I'm not proud of that," he said.
That felt real.
Not a perfect brother.
A confused child who grew up with unresolved guilt.
Stanzas exhaled slowly. "I never resented you," he said softly. "I was just scared. Every time we asked about you, Dad would shut down. Mom would cry. And then we'd get punished."
He swallowed hard.
"I tried to be strong for Stanzas. But I was a kid too."
There was a long pause.
The kind where no one knows what to say next.
"We wanted to meet you immediately but Saydai said no. She told us to give it sometime as at that time the both of you friendship was still in an infant stage. I was angry because she said no. But Stanz told me to reason with her." Ethan explained breathing sharply.
"We were at your graduation. We were at your competitions, we were at most of your awards in Singapore. It hurt that we couldn't celebrate with you in person. It .... it hurt... that we couldn't reveal ourselves. We tried to get mom and dad there but they... They didn't want to come. For so many years we watched you from afar. But I couldn't take it anymore. I felt like I couldn't do certain things in life until I made peace with my baby sister. I am happy to see you in face to face Gabrielle." Ethan said as tears rolled down his cheeks his voice trembling.
My throat tightened.
"You watched me?" I asked carefully.
Ethan nodded, wiping his face quickly like he was irritated by his own tears. "Not at first. Not right away. It took… years."
Stanzas added quietly, "The first time we saw you in Singapore, I almost walked up to you. I actually took a step forward."
Ethan let out a humorless laugh. "He froze."
"I didn't freeze," Stanzas muttered defensively. "I just—"
"You froze."
I watched them bicker lightly.
It was strange.
Familiar.
Painfully normal.
"We didn't know how you'd react," Ethan said. "What if you hated us? What if you didn't want to see us?"
"I didn't even know you were alive, I... didn't even know you searched for me? I thought you guys didn't care" I whispered as my voice trembled.
That silenced the room.
Ethan looked down immediately.
Stanzas' shoulders dropped.
"I'm sorry," he said again — but this time it wasn't polished. It wasn't structured. It was raw.
"I'm sorry I couldn't protect you, Ella."
The nickname broke something inside me.
But I didn't fall into their arms immediately.
I hesitated.
Years of loneliness don't dissolve in one afternoon.
"Why didn't you fight harder?" I asked, and my voice cracked despite myself.
Stanzas flinched.
Ethan answered instead. "Because we were scared of our own parents. We were only kids."
That honesty hurts.
But it felt real.
There was no heroic speech. No grand justification.
Just children who grew into adults carrying shame.
After a long, trembling pause, Stanzas stood up slowly.
He didn't rush toward me.
He opened his arms slightly — uncertain.
If I stepped in, it would be my choice.
That mattered.
I stared at him.
At both of them.
And then I stepped forward.
The hug wasn't perfect.
Ethan joined late, almost awkwardly.
We collided more than embraced.
But then something softened.
And we cried.
Not loudly.
Not dramatically.
Just three adults grieving a childhood that never finished properly.
Weeks Passed
Weeks passed and I told my brothers I wanted to see our parents. They invited me for dinner. Over the past few days I got to know that Ethan couldn't bring himself to start a family or get married because he felt guilty about what happened to me.
I told him it wasn't his fault. He told me now we could finally make a decision for his life.
I wanted to know why my parents did it.
Today was the dinner and I am matching in there with my head held high.
Author's Note:
Woo this was emotional 😭
She has been through so much and she needs all the love in the world.
I am anxious about this dinner.
Comment your thoughts, vote and share with someone.
Xoxo
Bella Angel Douglas