"No Longer Alone": Part 14

“Hi, Jack.”

“I’m surprised you’re talking to me.”

“Me too.”

“Don’t want to break up the reunion here,” Bryan interrupts. “But I think it’ll be better if I just take the chicken casserole and go. Thanks.”

“Of course,” Jack says as he hands Bryan the container. After my old bunkmate disappears around an old piece of debris, Jack turns back to me. “So, how have you been?”

“Oh, you know,” I answer, trying to think up a lie. I come up short. “Turns out I have a twin.”

“That’s cool!” Jack remarks, sounding genuinely happy for me. “It’s what you’ve always wanted!”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t think I needed a twin if I had a younger brother.” Figured it would be best if I addressed the elephant in the room before the conversation got any more awkward. Yet Jack’s head still lowers as he mumbles an apology. I have to make him repeat, however, so I can hear what he muttered.

“I said I’m sorry, Jaehyun. Truly. But you have to understand, I wasn’t planning to stay at the orphanage until college. I wanted a family, people I could rely on for food, water, and shelter. Stuff you couldn’t provide. Now I have my own bedroom, a closet full of clothes, and a choice of what I eat for dinner! But of course, I couldn’t just abandon you, so I came back. That’s when I saw the fire, and ever since then, I’ve been coming back, trying to help where I can. They said you got adopted, so I figured you were as good as gone. But here you are.”

I try my best to search for fault in his reasoning but find none. I wish I could blame him. I wish I could blame him for everything bad that’s happened to me. I wish I could blame him for the lies, the manipulation, and the abandonment. I wish I could blame him, but I can’t. At the end of the day, it was Jack who made life better. It was Jack that picked me up when I fell. It was Jack who was there for me every single day for thirteen years of my life. I can’t blame him for things he had no control over.

“Jack… I–I don’t know what to say. I want to forgive you. I want to say everything’s okay. But it’s not. I can tell you one thing, though,” I take a step closer to him. “You have been and always will be my best friend. You have been and always will be my brother. And brothers fight sometimes. I can’t promise everything will be how it was, but I sure want it to be. I’m willing to try if you are.”

I hold my breath waiting for a response. I count the seconds. 1… 2… 3… seconds pass before he finally answers.

“Dude, I’ve been willing to try for the past seven months!” he says as he pulls me into the biggest bear hug ever.

“If you guys are done with your love fest, I’d like to intervene.”