Recap:

His dark black suit, screaming riches, strength and ages of power that hasn't faded with age.

He was the man I had bumped into earlier.

****

"Hello Rose", the man who was my grandfather, with his lips tightly pulled together, called my name.

His expression told me he was stopping himself from the pain to consume him.

"Hello grandfather", I looked him right in the eye without needing validation from someone. I won't be scared anymore. 'Grandfather' was me being as formal as I could. He needs to earn 'grandpa'.

I noticed, one of the older men on the couches, indeed had a little smile playing on the corners of their mouth. He seemed to be the only unknown faces of all to have an obvious expression on his face.

"I am your grandfather as you know. I am very glad to finally meet you, as well as the rest of your family", my grandfather told me.

"As if we actually are", some remarked.

I turned around to see the person who spoke. It was a girl. She looked no older than Chris and the twins. She had a big smirk on her face as she looked me up and down.

Her long hazel brown hair bought out the color of her deep light brown eyes.

"Shut up Brittany", Grandfather looked at her with some disgust clearly visible on his face. It said more. Something more that told me he didn't like her or maybe never did.

"Okay granddaddy", she smirked seductively at him and glared at me savagely.

Grandfather, ignoring her nasty remark, looked at me and said, "I think it's time for you to meet the rest of your family", he smiled kindly at me.

With a cue from grandfather, a middle aged with his greying dark hair, stood up.

He was a big man, who wore a black Armani suit that screamed riches. He looked dry and untouchable, serious and scary.

"I am Johnny West, your father's first cousin. You grandfather's twin sister's son", he told me.

"Hello sir", I said quietly.

I felt like crying.

I don't think he likes me alot.

To my surprise, his voice sounded unthinkably soft when he spoke, "there's no need to call me sir, Rose. I am you uncle, not your boss".

"Oh", was all I could say.

I was confused.

He looked amused.

"I am Riinia, your aunty. Johnny's wife", a short woman with soft blonde hair and a warm smile stood up and introduced herself. She stood next to Johnny.

She wore an expensive dark gown with lace works and beautiful crystals shining and bringing out her fair skin. She was beautiful.

"Hi", I said unsure.

"Hi baby", she said and to my surprise, came closer to me and hugged me. Like I was her someone dear.

I hugged her back slowly.

"Blade, introduce yourself to your sister", uncle Johnny said sternly to a guy on the couch opposite to him.

A guy with a lot of tattoos and piercings stood up lazily. He wore a suit too, that made him look very different from others because of the tattoos he had. The angles of his face were very sharp, like carved out of stone.

Despite his not welcoming look, his smile was not unkind.

"Hey little Rose, I am Blade and I am 24 years old", he said in his deep voice.

I saw Brittany looking at him, well more like staring like a creep.

"Hi", I smiled sweetly at my cousin.

He pulled my cheeks and said, "Dean was right, your cheeks are soft. Like a baby", he grinned.

I narrowed my eyes at Blade.

"Blade, stop being incommodious towards your little sister", Riinia scolded Blade.

His grin grew wider but he went and sat back on his seat anyway.

"Dear Rose, I am Jeffrey, Johnny's younger brother and your uncle", a man said.

He was the man who was smiling earlier.

He had dirty blonde hair with a few strands of white in them. He looked very kind, with soft features and a smooth aura.

He wore a blue suit with his jacket tossed away and the sleeves of his white shirt folded up. His hair was a little messy.

"Hello", I told him with a smile.

He gave me a little fatherly pat on my head and said, "it's so good to finally see you sweetheart".

"Thank you", I smiled.

"I am Agatha, his wife", a beautiful dark woman stood up and smiled at me sweetly.

Her skin glowed and she looked very happy to see me. Her ruby colored gown and the beautiful necklace she wore made her look no less than a queen.

I smiled at her.

She came forward and hugged me. And I noticed uncle Jeffery looked at aunty Agatha with so much adoration.

"Hieieieieeeeiieiee Roseeieie", I saw a little boy look at me with shining eyes.

He was grinning.

"Um heyy", I said with a smile.

"I am Tatirius", he told me with a grin and stood up. He had crutches on both his arms, as he struggled to walk and reach me.

I quickly went near him and saved him the effort of walking the further distance. Then I said, "Oh! You're uncle Jeffery's son, Lijah told me", I said with realization hitting me.

"Yes", Tatirius grinned even more.

"Oh well, hiii", I said with equal energy that he showed and bent down at his level to hug him.

"Tat, stop behaving as if she's some kind of celebrity. I don't even know what's such fuss about an orphan", Brittany said with a bored look.

Grandfather looked furious.

"Brittany! That is no way to talk to your sister!", aunty Agatha told her, infuriated.

"Come on mom", she said in the same bored look.

"Brittany Smith West! Talk to Rose in this manner one more time and I shall forget you're my nephew's adopted daughter", Grandfather declared without any mercy in his voice.

Brittany lowered her gaze and sat down. But behind her lowered eyes, I could see the burning rage she was working hard to fight back.

"Dear Rose, I am very sorry about her behavior", uncle Jeffery told me apologetically and looked at Brittany maniacally.

"No uncle, it's fine", I told him. Reassuring that everything was fine.

He gave me a small nod, clearly ashamed of his daughter's behavior.

"Are you not gonna introduce me to my dear sister's daughter?", echoed a woman's voice throughout the room.

I looked at her.

She looked in her late thirties with her brown hair pushed up in a bun, a paintbrush holding them in place.

She wore a yellow dress and looked very simple, yet sophisticated.

She searched the room for someone and then slowly, her eyes settled on me. She took my appearance in and smirked at me.

"Aunty Katherine!", Chase exclaimed.

Her look was smug.

She then said, "Duh. Your favorite aunt is here kids", her smug look now changed to even more smug.

"Kathy, I told you to wait. Didn't I?", a tall broad man came up behind her and complained.

He looked nearly the same age as Katherine and looked very exhausted and tired.

He wore a white button up shirt and blue jeans.

"And you thought I would wait for your slow butt. You're getting old Dante", she rolled her eyes at him.

"I am not- you know what, fine. Drop it, I'm not gonna fight with you", he narrowed his eyes on her.

"Who cares", she shrugged. "Anyway", she continued, "I'm here to see my Rosy Blue", she clasped her hands together and looked at my brothers.

"Rose, I told you about our mom's sister, right? This is aunty Katherine, our mom's younger sister", Elijah told me.

"Oh."

"And he", he gestured at the man, "is our uncle Dante. Her husband".

"Where's Kish?", Rayan asked. Chris looked horrified for some reason at the name of the kid.

"No need to look like you're gonna die Chris. Don't worry, she won't have you apply lipstick this time", aunty Katherine told Chris.

My brothers snickered while Chris glared at them.

"Meeemememeeeeee, I'm hereeeee", a little girl came giggling in the room.

She looked about 6-7 years old. She seemed to be enjoying herself.

"I was told that I finally got an older sister. Where is my sister, I always wanted an older sister", she said, examining the room with a serious expression.

"Hey", I said slowly, looking at her.

"Hiii", she aggressively waved her hand at me and came running and literally jumped on me.

I fell down with a big bump.

I started laughing and caught the little girl and started tickling her.

"This is for throwing me down", I told as she protested and tried to get away.

I looked at the others. Everyone was laughing. Well, except Brittany of course.

****

"You knew it was me, didn't you?", I looked directly into my grandfather's eyes.

"I would never, in a million years, fail to recognize my own granddaughter. I know I haven't seen you in years but those eyes, only a West can have them", he told me with a small smile.

We were out of earshot of the rest of the family, who were talking and chatting with each other.

I had been talking and bonding with them. But after some time, I came to the corner of the room where my grandfather was standing alone. He had a glass of, what looked like alcohol, in his hand and was staring at the scene in front of him. His family finally reunited.

"Why didn't you tell me?", I asked him out of curiosity rather than anger.

"I wanted to wait. So I could properly introduce everyone to you. Myself included dear Rose", he told me.

"Ohh", was all I said.

Before he could say anything, someone said, "attention everyone".

I turned around and saw it was Riley who spoke. He lightly hit his glass with a spoon, an action to get everyone's attention.

"As you know, grandpa had something to discuss with everyone. He will be needing all of the family to meet here tomorrow after breakfast. As for now, we go and enjoy the party", he finished his small speech.

"Wait", Grandfather raised his hand and said, "there is someone who needs to be introduced to Rose before we head to the gathering", he said.

All of my brothers, except Alex, seemed to stiffen. Even my other family members seemed to have tensed. There was unspoken tension in the room.

Whoever this person is, must be someone who is not preferable by my family.

Alex came next to me and held my hand.

"Finally I see him", he whispered.

"Wha-", before I could ask him who 'he' was, grandfather spoke: "Apollo!"

And then, out of the darkest corner, a boy emerged.

He looked as old as Chris and the twins.

Wait, I didn't even notice him. Was he sitting there the whole time?

He wore a Gucci lapis lazuli suit.

He looked no less than a Hollywood celebrity. He walked towards me with such grace, he looked so sophisticated and… far.

His eyes were emerald green, a very unusual eye color.

"Rose, meet Apollo. You're half brother", grandfather said to my shock.

****

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