She felt like she belonged with them.

Everybody loved the adopted girl.

S:I:S:T:E:R

.

s'i's't'e'r

Len got to spoiling her the most.

After all, he does get the benefits from it.

Babies came from hospitals. If you've got a brother or a sister, all of you usually come from a hospital. Most specifically, you're all from your mom, you share the same mom, and that's what sets you apart from everybody else. She wasn't from either. She wasn't his sister. She wasn't their daughter. She was a stranger.

Len hadn't known where they had planned taking him. Of course, he had thought that wherever it'd be, he'd entertain himself with his PSP, which he had only been allowed using on weekends, humbly complied the deal as his parents bargained with their trump card, banana-flavored food that they consented buying every so often. He had sunken in indulgence, busy with his game ever since he'd clambered up the car, only saying little, replying to his parents who'd asked questions they hadn't normally have asked, but hadn't stopped playing since they had said nothing of it. It had been when they had pulled over that Len turned the console off, to only discover he'd been taken to an orphanage.

At first, hysteria broke out inside him.

Needless to say, he'd always been a difficult child to deal with.

His mother had tried getting him out first.

"Why did you take me here?"

"Honey, it's not what you think."

"How am I supposed to believe you?"

"Think about it, you're too old to be sent here."

"That's exactly what I'm afraid of."

Shannon had turned to her husband, looking as though she'd been ready to throw in the towel. Len had locked himself in the car for over fifteen minutes already. Wil, taking it as permission for whatever he'd had in mind, put both his palms on the side of the car and pushed.

The car had been moving violently as he'd shaken it, chugging sounds coming from the earth as the ground ate up the tires that had been digging deeper. The effect had been instantaneous: Len had opened the door so brutally his mother could've been flung to the North Pole had she not jumped out of the way.

So maybe cars weren't the best place to hide.

Len folded his arms, cursing the floor he was standing on. He'd burn this place to the ground. Granted, he wasn't right when he thought they were going to ship a first-class aristocrat like him to a random pigsty. He was too valuable to be sold off like that. Better to just keep him, right? Unfortunately for him, they were only of middle class, thus couldn't afford him the things he deserved and paid it with love instead. As much as he loved them back, he wasn't really in the same boat as them on the—

He shuddered.

That should be a bad word.

A-ad—

He gulped down his revulsion.

Adoption.

"Come on, Len, say hello to your new sister."

His parents and the headmistress of the orphanage were in the room while he stubbornly waited outside as if it could save him. Unbelievable. He rooted his feet to the floor as much as he wanted to pace around in retarded dismay.

Not wanting to overhear whatever they were talking about as much as be scolded in attempting to distance himself as far as possible within the confines of the building, Len stayed put, doing himself a favor by drowning the adults' voices with music.

That's why he didn't hear his mom call him the first time.

…get it what it is, what it does, what it isn't…

He nodded to the music.

…little bit of humble little bit of cautious…

"I'll go get him."

…trust me, on my I-N-D-E-P-E-N-D-E-N-T shit hustlin'…

This was taking forever.

…Chasing dreams since I was fourteen, with the four-track, bussing. Halfway cross that city with the backpack—

Len's ears popped with the sudden movement: Silence never hurt this much. His father snatched his earphones with such force.

"Hey!"

"Hey right back at you," scoffed Len, indicating his earphones. His dad did an odd angry dance of signs that could've implied he should get in.

Wil took his son by the shoulder and pushed him lightly—yeah, right—into the room. Len dug his heels to the floor just to delay his dad, though he was no match for his mom's stare. He ignored the headmistress of the orphanage, and did his very best to disregard the blonde girl sitting next to his mother as well.

He sat down on a chair that faced whoever it was; he fixed his eyes on the floor as the women were discussing. His father was standing next to him. Probably to make sure he wouldn't escape, Len thought bitterly.

"Len, meet Rin! She's going to be a part of our family now!"

Stiffly, he nodded at her. Small, wiry and a sight to delight in, Rin was too pretty to be hated. However, stubborn as Len was, he thought he never saw anything plainer in his life. Still, she seemed a damn sight nicer than girls his age.

"Nice to meet you!" Len's eye twitched. Did she actually think he'd let her shake his hand? Girls were a no-entry zone: At least, girls his age. Especially this girl. Now, however, Len held hers, found them surprisingly soft, and let go. He denied the feeling of wanting to touch again.

"The only relatives she has left are out of the country, though they handle her education, and she does well in school."

Len wanted to point out that he excelled in school, too, and with honors. He held his listless gaze. If the girl saw that, she didn't show it.

The headmistress was going on about what Rin did in life; "…spends most of her time drawing, or she attends swimming lessons. My, you wouldn't believe what the coaches were saying! 'The little tyke swims faster than the boys!' Like a jet ski, they said! Of course, she does the freestyle wrong, couldn't get her head down—"

They could chat all they want: Len wasn't listening. He was hardly in any of it, and even if he would say something they're more likely to side with themselves than him. So useless. He secretly slipped on one of his earphones—he always brought an extra pair—and rested his chin on one palm of that ear's side, not needing to pretend he wasn't interested. The adults were freely talking, while occasionally the girl would add details, but otherwise she was quiet. Friendly, yet knew when to talk.

"…isn't she, Len?"

Practiced in the art of half-paying-attention, Len nodded indifferently, withdrew his gadgets in a swift movement to look at his mom, who was giddy. She had her hands on both the girl's shoulders, Len saw; his eyes accidentally moved to her face, and he cursed himself for it, for he found it difficult to look away.

"She's blonde, she's got blue eyes, and you're hardly older than her—it's like you're really siblings."

We. Aren't.

He bit that down, and instead offered the best he could: The girl was smiling with such radiance he nearly smiled back genuinely before the thought of her living with him from now on stopped him. Len turned to his mom, who looked at him expectantly.

"Mom, can we talk outside for a second?"

Too pleasant to argue, his mother nodded, then bent down to say something to Rin—by which time Len had already retired the room to meet his mother out of earshot. She looked very excited—so much that Len didn't find the heart in himself to convince her to cancel the adoption.

Len hissed, "Why'd you do it?"

"We talked about this, Lenny—a daughter!" His mother's eyes pleaded understanding. "Your very own sister!"

"I don't want a sister. And from what I remember, I didn't sign up for this."

"Sweetie?" His dad came out of the room and tapped his mom on the shoulder. "Let me handle this. It's a guy talk. I think Rin'd be happy to let you take her downstairs."

The second Len saw Wil, he knew, just knew there was no way around this. His only salvation was Shannon's want to speak to him personally about this matter, except when Wil said the orphan's name, it seemed like she was persuaded out of it.

Shannon sighed, then looked at Len, who knew he was defeated and only glared in return, then Wil again. "Okay…okay. I'll leave him to you."

"Come on, Sport, give your mom a break. She hasn't smiled like that ever since." Len's father gestured to his mom. Shannon's smile vaguely reminded Len of Jeff the Killer's.

"I couldn't imagine what could've made her smile that way," muttered Len.

"Len." Wil folded his arms. "Sixteen years. Sixteen years of having to deal with you—sixteen years of being with the guys! How could your mother have felt?"

"I don't know, the same way she did when she married you?" said Len sarcastically. "I'm too old for this. I don't need a sister."

"But your mother—and I—need a daughter. I know it's hard for you—soon you'll be off to college—" You might be forgetting, but she's as old as I am. Why bother adopting someone my age? Len bit his tongue. "—and we'll grow up old, tired, sterile without ever knowing what it's like having someone who cuddles without actually asking for anything else—"

"Go cuddle Mom!"

"—someone's ballet to watch, a rehearsal to cheer on for, and a swimming competition to attend to…" his dad went on. "The point is, we know it's hard to accept somebody in a family so suddenly, and so fast. I say you give her a month—"

"A day."

"Grow some balls and take it like a man. She wouldn't bother you, Rin's too nice for that. You wouldn't even know she's there—but try and interact with her. I'm telling you this so you wouldn't spend a night in the porch again," Wil added warningly. "Got it?"

"And if she does bother me," Len said, "you take her back here. In the orphanage."

"And if you bother her, I'd do the same to you." Wil held out his hand: Len learned from experience to take it immediately and shake on it.

Together, the father and son proceeded downstairs: Headmistress Pavel was just escorting the ladies to their car outside, both of whom were speaking rather enjoyably to each other. The closer the boys approached them, the more words they caught.

"…have the guest room! …feel cozy…"

"Thank…! …comfortable…Len…okay?"

"…seem to like…get used to…don't worry…nice boy…"

"How're you girls?" their father said, finding it crazily not awkward to hug a fifteen-year-old girl you're going to consider family for the rest of your life. Len would've hurled on sight if he didn't catch those dazzling blue eyes.

"Just telling Rin here she'd be sleeping in the guest room for the night." As Len opened the car door, he avoided looking at his mom straight, though he knew she rolled her eyes.

"Oh?" said Wil with a weird tone. "T'ain't right for a man to let a girl sleep somewhere she don't like. You can have Len's room."

"Dad!"

"Just kidding, Champ!"

Groaning, Len shut the door.

Outside, Shannon ruffled Rin's hair. "Sorry he's a little rough. We told him we were going to the groceries to buy bananas, and now he's—he's bummed we aren't. I hope you're not too discouraged."

"No." At this, the blonde girl's smile appeared wirily coquettish. "I think we'll get along just fine."