Entwine by Rebecca Berto Page A

guilty for not telling mum. She found what I’d written. Turned out, he’d been having an affair with the other woman for years. They broke up half a year later, after he and mum split anyway, but I found out that lady’s name was Alyssa Fawnheart. She had a baby, but I didn’t know it was your child until my mum saw you pass the house early this morning. She remembered you, and we spent some time …”
    Sarah stopped for a moment. She needed to catch her breath. She was too wound up, so she shook out her hands, and Malik removed his from her thigh. She shivered, and then looked at Malik again, feeling ready to finish. “… some time, and she told me and convinced me who you really were.”
    Sarah had never felt as bad as she did now, not since years ago, when a duck had been in the middle of the road in front of her. It moved left, right, and she couldn’t figure out where to swerve, in the end, running it over. She’d spent nights after that wondering what would happen to its mate and ducklings. She’d been responsible for ruining that innocent, poor little duck, and so many other ducks inadvertently.
    Now, looking at Malik, that didn’t compare. His tanned skin had paled, and she saw his Adam’s apple bob up and down repeatedly. His nose twitched, and then he scooted away a few inches, leaning back and looking to his lap, then around at the people running and sitting and talking, absolutely clueless Sarah had just ruined his life.
    Sarah didn’t want to say anything, much less could she say anything, but a sorry or a huge ramble of everything she was thinking. She sat still instead, and repeated hopeful thoughts that, in the end, made her lips turn up. Malik would surely come out with something even more outstanding than the events that had been unveiled since midnight. Something crazy, like the fact he had an identical twin with an identical name?
    Oh, who was she kidding? She lost her partial smile that instant, and just sat thinking nothing, staring at the concrete and the patterns in it.
    Malik finally looked at her, and Sarah didn’t have enough strength left to guess what he was thinking. She sat there like a snake’s skin, brittle, and hollow inside.
    “I don’t hate you, Sarah,” he said. “I just … how haven’t we seen each other somehow, or heard of each other before? It’s crazy.”
    Sarah sat up, edged closer. “I knew about a husband, but Mum … we’d been so close before, and it tore us apart. We only moved on by moving past it. We rarely talked about what Dad did, let alone her or …” You .
    “Hm,” he said. “I know what you mean.”
    Sarah, still gazing at him, let him see her take a big breath in, and then breathed it out. She wanted him to hold her, touch her, but didn’t want him too, for fear of hurting him. If he reminded her of the best and worst parts of her life, and she was only indirectly affected by her dad’s and Alyssa’s actions, Malik was right in the line of fire, taking all the shrapnel and crap that exploded from that mess. Imagining what type of reminder she was for him made Sarah sick.
    “It doesn’t matter,” Sarah said. Suddenly, she took his hands in hers, and her face was electric with passion. “Why should we let it ruin our lives? It was six years ago. Six ! We don’t have to have anything to do with them. I only see my dad every couple of months anyway. You’d never have to see him. I promise it will never happen. I know it’s crazy, because a day ago I didn’t know you existed, but you’ve changed something in my life and … and I feel. Feel so much with you. You’re like my puzzle piece. You unlock parts of me. I didn’t know those existed. But … ”
    Sarah saw his expression. This was not good. He should have seen the possibility in her words. He should have been as ecstatic as her. He wasn’t. Not one bit.
    “W … what?” she asked.
    “When did you properly speak to your dad last? Before that run-in yesterday.”
    Sarah’s