Making Up With James

Three weeks later

James was in his living room, working on his laptop even though it was hard for him to focus. It had been hard for him to work clearly knowing that he was not on good terms with his sister but he had held onto the belief that Mireille would change her mind and leave Dante.

Holding that belief strongly, James had waited for three weeks.

He had only worked for about thirty minutes when he heard a car parking in front of the main building.

He got up on his feet. He wasn’t expecting anyone to come visiting today. His mind immediately went to Mireille and he quickly headed towards the door.

He had almost gotten to the door when the door opened and Mireille walked in.

Her baby bump was getting bigger and seeing her face, James knew he missed his sister. He however held back so as to know why Mireille had come to see him.

“Hello James.” she greeted.

“Mireille.” James called her name.

“Can I come in?” Mireille asked.

“Of… Of course.” James replied and Mireille walked past him into the living room.

She had missed James as much as he had missed her but she wasn’t letting him know that yet.

“Have your seat.” James motioned Mireille and she did so.

“Why did you come visiting? Have you finally reconsidered….”

“I really thought you’d be over thinking I would ever reconsider already. I already said it and I will say it again. I and Dante will be together till our death.”

“Then… Then why are you here? I remember telling you that I don’t want to be in contact with you as long as you are in contact with Dante.” James said to her and Mireille sighed.

Without a word, she reached into her bag and brought out an invite for her wedding.

“I just wanted to give this to you. We are still family after all, James.” Mireille said and got up from the sofa.

James looked at her outstretched hand and he was more than surprised to see a wedding invite. He grabbed the invite from Mireille and stared at it with shock.

“You guys are getting married next week?!”

“We had the pre wedding shoot two days ago and yes, the wedding is next week and I want you to be there, James. You are my only family so I want you to be there.”

“I won’t be there!” James threw the invite to the floor.

Mireille looked at the invite that laid on the floor and gulped down hard before raising her head to look back at her brother.

“Alright then. Even if you are not there, the wedding will still go on.” She forced out a smile.

“Mireille! You are really going ahead with this?!”

“Yes, James! Dante won’t be the horrible father you think he would be! I know Dante. I don’t know what sort of monster you see him as but I know he is not a monster to me or my child! So yes, I will go ahead with this marriage because I love him!” She said firmly, holding back the tears that threatened to fall at the refusal of her brother to join her wedding ceremony.

“I will take my leave then.” she grabbed her bag and was about to walk past when James grabbed her hand, stopping her.

“Mireille.” his voice cracked.

“I… I am sorry.” He pulled her into a tight hug and as much as Mireille didn’t want to hug him back, she could not stand it.

She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him back.

“I just wanted to protect you. I wanted to keep you safe, Mireille. I am sorry but please don’t stay away from me anymore. I can’t stand being away from you, Mireille. I am sorry.” James held onto her tightly, giving up on separating her from Dante.

That was impossible now. They were getting married and Mireille didn’t mind if he wasn’t going to be at the wedding. She definitely loved Dante too much than to let go of him so it was better to just give up.

“I am really sorry.”

“It’s… It’s okay.” Mireille slowly patted his back.

The both of them hugged for some time before pulling away from the hug. James held Mireille’s hands.

“I have something to tell you and please, do not hate me because of this. I did it for us, I did it so I could cater for us adequately.”

“What did you do?” Mireille asked.

“I… I…” James groaned, trying to get the words out of him.

“I am also involved in the same business Dante is.” He let out the words in the most subtle way he could but there was no reaction from Mireille.

“Mireille?” He called, not knowing what to make of her expression.

“I know already.” Mireille whispered the words.

“You know?” James was shocked.

“Dante told you? I swear whatever he said after that isn’t true. I didn’t join just because…”

“Dante didn’t lie to me. He told me that you did it to create a better life for the both of us. He told me about how you were struggling to make ends meet for us after all we were orphans after mom’s death and things were not really easy. He told me how you worked hard without telling me anything. He told me how his father had approached you and how you had taken it up because you wanted to make me live a better life and yes…. It did hurt me a lot to find out that all these while…” Mireille sniffled.

“That all these while, you have hidden this away from me and it also hurts that both men in my life are involved in this, I still can’t stay mad at you, James.”

“I am so sorry for disappointing you, Mireille.” James pulled her back into a hug.

“I am sorry for being a bad brother to you. I hid this from you all these while cause I thought you would be very disappointed and even hate me if you find out.”

“I can’t hate you, James. I feel betrayed but I still can’t hate you. Never.”

“Thank you so much, Mireille. Dante too, I… I think I do owe him an apology.”