My Enemy’s Daughter

AMELIA LEAL

The automatic door of Queens’s main airport opens and a sequence of flashes goes off, Mom covers her face with her bag and I hurry my steps towards our car. I thought our return to Brazil was a secret, but apparently Dad is not in control of everything.

“Excuse.” I ask a journalist who tries to prevent my passage, asking a sequence of inappropriate questions.

“Amelia, how is your sister?” One of them asks, sticking some kind of tape recorder in the middle of my face.

Grunt, tired of being polite and using brutality to drive them away.

How do they know about Aurora if I found out about it less than an hour ago?

” Does your mother know about her lover’s death? Another asks, and I growl, pushing my hands through and finally touching the car door handle. I open it and go in, followed by Mom.

“Fucking vultures!” Mom growls as she gets in the car and slams the door, removing her sunglasses.

“How did they know about our arrival?” I ask, still looking in disbelief at the number of journalists outside the car.

She turns to face me, half unsure if the question was meant to be answered or just a stray thought.

“They find out everything.” He whispers, still eyeing me uncertainly.

I swallow hard and look away from him, correcting my posture and looking straight ahead.

“We’re going straight to the hospital.” I inform the driver, he nods and engages the car, starting in a few seconds.

“Don’t worry, your sister will be fine. Mom tries to reassure me, resting her hand over mine.

” I believe that our arrival is not going as you planned.” I snap, pulling my hand away from hers.

She clears her throat, picking up her cell phone and giving a tight smile.

“Well, you can’t control everything.” he says, a little awkwardly, and I look up again, knowing his anger encompasses far more than Aurora’s early birth.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath, finally processing the phone call Peter gave me as soon as the plane landed, he was nervous and was stumbling over words, but I managed to understand the part about Aurora needing to be hospitalized in a hurry due to the fact that her water broke before the time.

Eight months.

She was only eight months old, close to nine, and my nephew couldn’t wait any longer. I had to tell him that I was already on Brazilian soil, he sent our driver and asked us to wait, instead of taking a taxi, it turns out that this interim was enough to create an uproar outside the airport. I repeat to myself as I look at my reflection in the car window mirror, just a few seconds before entering the hospital, and I try to put myself back on track and put my life in order before facing reality. Repeating that not, I will allow myself to be controlled and puppet again. I am eighteen years old. I may not be seen as an adult by my parents and still be financially dependent on them, but I am mature enough to take charge of my own life. Fuck, I’m done feeding the thirst for Mr. Augusto Leal and I will no longer allow Mom to live for me, trying to make me what she never was when I was younger. I take a deep breath and let out a long breath, turn on the faucet in the sink and wash my face.

I can do this. ” I say to myself.

I look sideways at my mother, watching her expression indecipherable to me and as much as I try, I can’t see her as before, not after our conversation still at the airport.

??You took your time. Mom says as soon as I stop beside her, I give her a tight”lipped smile and take the seat next to her on the waiting bench. ” Our flight will be delayed a few minutes. ” She reports her, leafing through any magazine.

I nod, taking advantage of her distraction to check on her one more time. She is wearing skinny jeans just like me, but on her feet, instead of sneakers, are her usual sandals with very thin heels, but both she and I wear T-shirts of light fabric and light tone.

” How are you? I ask, I’ve been asking since we arrived in Missouri. She drops the magazine and looks at me, meeting my eyes.

“I already told you that you don’t have to worry.” Talk, touching my cheek with one of your hands like you did when I was little. I adopt a more serious, resentful expression.

“Don’t treat me like a child or hide anything from me, Anna. She grimaces, screwing up her face when I mention her name instead of calling her Mom.

Good.

Goal achieved.

“I’m not hiding anything from you.” She clarifies, looking slightly hurt. I press my lips together and stare at her, not looking away from hers.

“And who have you been talking to these last few weeks?” I ask, remembering how strange his behavior has been the last few days.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

“I’ve been talking to your father, my husband. I arch an eyebrow at him, finding his tone extremely forced despite his effort to sound natural.

She’s hiding something from me.

” My father?”

“Yes, your father.” He reaffirms, going back to leafing through the magazine in false interest, increasing my certainty that he’s hiding something from me.

“He doesn’t know we’re coming back.” I say, making him look at me again.

“It will be a surprise.” He says in a sweet, pathetic tone.

Snort.

” Don’t treat me like a child, I remember very well that I wanted to separate from Dad. I remind her, practically spitting the words in her face.

His face is displeased when he looks at me, but I hold my ground.

” I don’t owe you an explanation, Amelia Leal. Your father and I are trying to get closer, you don’t have to agree, but remember that all my decisions are made with you in mind.”

I snort again.

“And you thought of me when you asked for separation and intended to run away with your lover?” Tell me, dear mother. Was it me you were thinking of when you decided to throw it all away without telling me? ” I rave, drawing the attention of some people around us.

“Amelia” He starts, but I cut her off, holding up a hand to stop her.

“No, I’m tired of you. All of you.” I stand up, grabbing the handle of my suitcase and heading across the airport concourse.

She’s a hypocritical liar, just like Dad. Both, both of them have been manipulating me for all these years, and it’s only now that I can see, I’m good when they need me, but not good enough for them to trust.

Your big arms encircle my waist with inhuman strength, and I have to smack him on the back to get him to move away and let me breathe.

” Sorry. ” Peter whispers, running his hands through his hair awkwardly.

I smile tight-lipped, tucking a section of my hair behind my ear, and adjust my shirt, which has ended up riding in the suffocating embrace. “No problem, how are they? ” Her expression changes, becoming harder, darker, scared and I tense.

He looks exhausted, his shoulders are slumped, his hair is disheveled, and his dress shirt isn’t buttoned all the way down.

“It wasn’t a natural birth, but they’re both fine and resting.” However, my son will need to spend some time in the ICU under medical observation. I frown, not liking his expression and tone at all.

” What? Because? You said he was fine.”

He rubs his face with both palms of his hands and walks to the nearest bench, I follow behind him in silence, respecting his distance.

” He was born before his time, he also didn’t have enough weight, and he showed difficulty breathing, the doctor said it’s nothing alarming, but they still need to observe him. I grab his hand in mine and kiss it, pressing it hard against my lips. ” It’s going to be okay. ” I whisper, looking deep into her eyes, because that’s all I want.

“Thanks for coming back. He takes my hand to his mouth and repeats my act, being gentler in the gesture than I was.

For some reason, I don’t pull my hand away, I stay there holding his for all the waiting minutes until I’m allowed inside to visit Aurora. I don’t look in Mom’s direction as I pass her, but I feel her gaze burn into my back, and I can intuit she has a look of displeasure on her face.

“She’s sleeping, but you can come in.” I nod to the nurse, indicating that I understand, and enter the room.

I try to step slowly, without making too much noise, even though I know Aurora is sedated and won’t be waking up anytime soon.

You wouldn’t even be here if she was. My conscience spikes, making me smile as I look at my sister’s serene face.

“You wouldn’t be so relaxed if you knew I was here, would you?” I say, feeling my heartbeat accelerate.

“No, you’d be throwing me out before I even walked through that door. ” I point to the piece of wood that allows us privacy, even if she can’t look and snort, realizing that I’m talking to myself.

Rubbing my forehead with one of my hands.

“What the hell did I do to you? ” Exalted, feeling a tear come down.

Damn it.

“I just wanted a sister. Another tear falls and my tone changes to a tearful one. I can’t control it.” You lost a mother, but you denied me a sister all these years, and now I can’t even visit you when you’re awake. I suck air into my lungs, wiping away the tears that are streaming down my face, and leave the room, leaning against the door as soon as I close it.