Chapter 81 A Shameless Confession
"So, tell me… How has life been for the three of you over the last few years?"
Diana looked a bit guilty when she heard this. She had indeed been living a life of complete and total luxury. Something she had never been able to achieve prior to marrying Richard. Not only that, but she had begun adapting to the world of high society, going so far as to speak in a way that a common woman would not.
Perhaps it was because of this guilt that she did not immediately answer Alex\'s question. Instead, Kristina was the first to do so. She was still glum from hearing that Alex had forgotten his promise to her. One that she held dear in her heart for years, especially when she thought that her precious little brother was dead.
"Honestly, Alex… Life hasn\'t been good for either me or Maddie…"
The moment Kristina confessed this, Diana looked over at her daughter in shock, only to see that Madison was silently nodding her head in agreement with her twin sister\'s words. Diana was so stunned by this that she could not help but blurt her thoughts out loud.
"What do you mean, your life hasn\'t been good? You have wanted for nothing? Everything you have ever wanted has been given to you! How has your life been bad by any means?"
There was a hurt expression on both Kristina\'s and Madison\'s pretty faces as they gazed upon their mother with disbelief. They couldn\'t help but raise their voice in a way that caused several of the other patrons of the restaurant to look over at their table.
"What do you mean, how? You divorced our father, and then told us that our brother died! Do you have any idea how much that hurt Maddie and me? Believing that Alex was dead, and that our father had to grieve alone, it was worse than death!
You may have been living a glamorous lifestyle as the trophy wife of a billionaire, but most nights I went to bed hoping that I would not wake up the next morning, and would instead find myself reunited with my brother in the afterlife! And when I woke up in the morning, I would cry because I was still breathing!
The only thing that kept me going was knowing that Alex would want me to continue on without him! You have no idea how much we were hurting, while you pretended as if we were living in this happy family life without any faults!
If that wasn\'t bad enough, we had to deal with that pervert of a step-brother who kept trying to spy on us when we were changing or in the shower. For your sake, we acted like we were okay with this new life that you forced on us, but Maddie can attest we hated every moment of it!"
Diana was truly dismayed at this sudden revelation, while Alex was enjoying himself. He was happy solely because Diana\'s picture perfect lifestyle that she thought she had created for her girls was nothing more than an illusion. A figment of her own imagination. And if he was being honest, he was glad that someone had shared his misery for all of these years.
An argument quickly broke out between Diana and her daughters, as Alex sat back and enjoyed his meal, while watching the three women have a cat fight. Diana was quick to rebuke her daughters for never telling her this matter of what she believed was supremely important.
"Well, if you truly felt this way, and for so long, why did you never tell me?"
This, of course, caused both Kristina and Madison to scoff, as the younger of the two finally spoke up about her own personal feelings.
"You wouldn\'t have listened even if we told you! You were too self-absorbed with living the lifestyle of a social elite. The dinner parties with billionaires, the private flights to Europe, the designer brands and the thousand dollar haircuts you got from the salon! You cared more about these things than the wellbeing of your own daughters!"
This comment did not sit well with Diana, who gasped as she stared at her own daughters in disbelief. The anger and resentment they had felt for years was now coming to the surface, especially after they finally reunited with their brother, who, for five whole years, they believed to have been dead. Alex was, of course, enjoying every moment of this, and continued to do so when Diana began interrogating her daughters.
"How could you possibly believe that? I thought I was providing a better life for the two of you! Don\'t pretend like you did not enjoy the same luxuries I did!"
This, of course, had the exact opposite effect that Diana intended. Instead of admitting that they were the same as their mother, the two beautiful twins doubled down while pointing out the reason they so frequently bought frivolous things which were not the same as their mother\'s.
"Don\'t you dare compare us to you! The difference between you and us is that we would have rather still lived with our father and brother! We didn\'t have a choice but to wear those expensive items, because you threw out all of our previous belongings!
You thought they were too shabby for someone of the social elite to wear, even in the privacy of our own rooms! Did you know that Alex bought me one of the necklaces that you threw out? It was one of the few things I could remember my brother by, and you tossed it in the garbage! Because it was ill fitting for a member of high society to wear!"
Madison once more nodded her head in agreement with her twin sister, which caused Diana to grit her teeth in anger. It was not that she wanted her daughters to throw away their old belongings, but rather it was a demand of her new husband, who did not want "his" daughters dressing like commoners. And she was quick to bring up this point.
"You think I wanted you to get rid of your old things? I didn\'t care either way! But Richard demanded that the two of you do so, so that you looked like you belonged to the new social class you were entering. He made me be the voice of his will, specifically because he knew that neither of you would listen to him back then!"
Upon seeing that, this petty little catfight was about to escalate into a full-blown war. Alex finally sat up straight and placed down his wineglass, where he interrupted the squabble between his mother and older sisters.
"Ladies, please, did you forget where we are right now? How about we all settle down and try to enjoy this meal? It has been five years since I have seen the three of you, and the last thing I want to see is you all fighting because of me. Whatever grievances you may have had with one another no longer matter. Because as you can see, I am alive, and doing quite well for myself, despite living alone with the old man for the last five years…."
This last remark had its intended effect. Not only did it calm the three women down, but it stabbed Diana right in the heart, metaphorically speaking. There was, of course, a tinge of guilt that yanked at her heartstrings when she heard that the son she had abandoned had survived on his own, and had become a capable man in his own right and all of it without her by his side.
As for Madison and Kristina, the two of them were practically willing to do anything their beloved little brother said now that he was alive and well. Thus, Alex was once more quick to shift the conversation to something else.
"So…. Are the two of you in college? Or are you just surviving off of Dick\'s fortune?" n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
The two young women giggled when they heard Alex refer to their bastard of a stepfather by the nickname he hated most of all, and were glad to steer the conversation away from their personal problems. Kristina was the first to voice what she and Madison were doing at UNLV.
"Maddie and I both attend UNLV. I am currently working on my bachelor\'s in Art, where I eventually want to go on and study fashion design. While Maddie is trying to get her bachelor\'s in Graphic Design."
Alex was not surprised to hear this. Both of his sisters were always creative types. And he was happy to see that they were willing to pursue careers that they found to be enjoyable. However, there were some things he was concerned about regarding his sisters attending a university and was quick to ask about them.
"So, considering Dick\'s fortune, I bet the two of you go out partying quite often? I mean, you do live in Las Vegas, and you two are now adults, so you can enjoy all the debauchery a place like that has to offer, right?"
Kristina and Madison looked a little embarrassed when they heard this question. After all, they lived in the party capital of the world, and despite being invited to god knows how many parties. The two of them never attended one.
Maddie was an introvert who had a difficult time being at large gatherings, and Kristina didn\'t go anywhere without her twin sister. So if Maddie wanted to stay home and read a book, Kristina would do the same. Thus, they were a bit flustered when they admitted the truth to their brother, who seemed like the type who was often out drinking and partying.
"We don\'t party… But I bet you have been to a lot of fun parties? Can you tell us what that was like?
Alex chuckled when he heard this. He suspected that if his sisters were anything like how they were when he was younger, then they wouldn\'t be the type to do that kind of stuff. However, the truth of the matter was that despite being invited to a bunch of parties by a bunch of different girls, the only one that Alex had ever actually attended was the karaoke night he had with Dal and her friends. And thus Alex admitted this much to the surprise of his mother and sisters.
"Nah, not really. I went to one, and it wasn\'t really my thing. Do I drink? Sure, quite a bit… Do I smoke? Every day… Do I hook up with chicks? All the time… But to go out to a club, drop some molly, and dance around like an idiot? That\'s not my style. I\'m much too busy to waste my time on such trivial things.
After all, not only do I go to university, but I work a full-time job, in addition to training in MMA for my professional career. The fact that I\'m even able to balance relationships with nine different women while doing all of this is a miracle in and of itself."
The three women frowned at Alex when they heard this last part. Nine different women? How was it possible for one man to juggle so many relationships? Kristina and Madison both had hoped that these were just flings and not anything serious. And thus they were quick to ask about it.
"Alex… These women? It\'s nothing serious, right? I mean, you\'re not romantically pursuing nine different women, right? How could you be?"
Alex simply smirked when he heard this while taking a sip of his wine. He then blew his sisters\' minds with the multitude of relationships he was in.
"You really underestimate how much of a ladies\' man your little brother is, especially here in Korea, where I automatically get a +2 to attractiveness due to that fact that I\'m a foreigner. I\'m a Bona fide 12/10 here in Seoul.
"Would you two calm down? They are my step-sisters. There is nothing wrong with me having a relationship with them. After all, it is not like we are related by blood or anything. Our parents just happen to be married. Other than that, I am a complete stranger to them, or was when we first met. By the way you\'re acting, I might actually think that you were jealous!"
11:38
I can assure you, I\'m not interested in pursuing sluts for anything other than a one-night stand. The fact that I have nine lovers means that they are women worthy of my time and effort. For example, the first girl who I started dating is my younger stepsister Min-Ah… The second was her older-sister Su-Jin…"
When Diana heard that Alex was fucking his stepsisters, she almost choked on her wine, while the man\'s other two sisters gazed at him in disbelief. They were quick to shout at the man in a hysterical tone, one that once more drew the attention of the entire restaurant.
"Alex, how could you!?!"
"Alex, you mustn\'t! Siblings.... Shouldn\'t do those sorts of things!"
Alex, of course, was completely calm as he twirled his glass of wine before informing his two sisters of his reasoning for doing so.
"Would you two calm down? They are my step-sisters. There is nothing wrong with me having a relationship with them. After all, it is not like we are related by blood or anything. Our parents just happen to be married. Other than that, I am a complete stranger to them, or was when we first met. By the way you\'re acting, I might actually think that you were jealous!"
This last remark immediately caused the two young women to sit down in their seats and flush red with embarrassment. Jealous? Of course they were jealous! Why wouldn\'t they be when Alex had promised to marry them when they were kids?
The two girls had never acted on their feelings before, because they thought that they were related to Alex by blood. But now that they knew the truth, both of them wanted to pursue an actual relationship with their little brother. However, when they were finally able to reunite with the man, they found out that he was already in a romantic relationship with his two new stepsisters. It was simply intolerable!
Thus the atmosphere became awkward, as Alex and the three women slowly but surely finished the twelve course meal. By the time it was over, Diana, Kristina, and Madison were all a little bit too intoxicated as they climbed into the Rolls Royce and allowed Alex to take them to his penthouse.
After all, after Alex had shamefully confessed to being romantically involved with his new stepsisters, his mother and two sisters couldn\'t help but drink all the wine that Alex had ordered as a way to cope with this shocking information.
One way or another, when they finally arrived at the penthouse, the three women would be surprised to see Jung-Hyun, Hae-won, and Min-Ji all living in Alex\'s home.
If you would like to show support for the novel, please gift it with power stones, golden tickets, reviews, comments, collections, et cetera. And for every super gift I receive, I will publish an additional chapter either that day or the next!
Zentmeister