SELENE ORLANDO.
~Ringing~.
The steady ringing of the telephone woke a beautiful young lady from her morning sleep.
She looked at the clock at the end of her small room and discovered that it was not yet three o'clock, groaning she reached over to receive it.
"Hello, Selene here. Who am I speaking with?"
"Miss Orlando, it's Mr John Calpier speaking and we have news" the man on the other side said.
Just by the tone, Selene sat up straight in her bed, her heart leaping to her throat at what the good or bad news could be.
Though she knew that it had to be about her brother which she saw in a photograph her dad gave her years before his demise, she wasn't expecting to get any good news but here she was preparing to listen to the news they had for her about her half brother.
"Yes, I'm all ears"she told him.
"We have just traced your last blood kin, although he is your half brother, he is still your last relative"
"And?" She asked hurriedly after the man finished his sentence.
"We have his number, he lives in the US other than that we didn't do much background checks"
Ignoring all other information given to her she said.
"Can I have his number then" she asked hopefully, "Could you wait a second" she heard some shuffling from the other side of the phone and she waited praying silently to herself, hoping.
After a short while the man returned.
"Do you have a pen and paper" he asked her.
"Yes? please do continue" he gave her the number, she thanked him then hung up.
Selene stared at the number for quite a long time debating whether to call Kelvin or not, as the man had said his name was.
She picked up her phone and saved the number to her contacts.
She paused on the dial and hesitated, questions bombarding her mind; would he really accept her as his half sister, sure he was older than her but would he, would he play the role of older sibling to her, what if he rejected her, just by this thoughts her hands became sweaty and she rubbed it on her old night robe that she usually wore every night to sleep.
She pressed the dial and a male voice filtered through her speakers.
"Hello, who is this?" A deep voice reached her ears, she swallowed unsure of what to say.
"Hello?, is this some prank?, cause if it is, I'm calling the cops and you will get your ass ..."
"Hello" Selene spoke up finally.
The caller on the other side hesitated before he spoke again.
"Who is this, please?"
"I'm Selene" she said biting her nails and looking around nervously, 'what to say; what to say'.
"Ok???" He sounded hesitant.
"I don't know someone of that name. So what can I do for you" he said.
"I'm sorry if I startled you, I'm just calling to see if you are okay" she face palmed herself after that statement for being an idiot, of course he was okay, why wouldn't he be.
She prayed that he would not notice that statement but he did because he paused for a long time before he spoke.
"Have we met before" he asked politely.
"No. I mean, technically we are far from each other by long distances...what I'm saying is that we have always been far from each other..." She was ranting before she was cut off.
"Who are you and what do you want?"he interrupted her ranting.
Selene took in a deep breath before saying.
"I'm your half sister" she paused and waited for the man on the other end to speak, soon laughter could be heard on the other end of the telephone.
"I'm sorry, you are my what?. Sweet heart nice try but I don't have any relatives" he said faking British accent.
"I'm not lying" Selene fired back at him.
"I'm your half sister" she said glaring at the other end even though she knew he couldn't feel it.
He must have caught on to the seriousness of her voice because he stopped laughing and spoke up.
"If you are my sister, then tell me the family's name"
"Ohh that simple, Orlando; I'm Selene Orlando, actually Selene Fernandez Orlando" she said.
Silence filled the other end of the phone and nobody spoke for minutes until Selene cleared her throat awakening Kelvin from his thoughts.
"Did...did you check that to make me believe or are you really an Orlando" he asked his voice getting tight in an effort to keep his scattered emotions at bay.
"Nope and how would I, if you like I can describe our dad, maybe then you will finally believe me" Selene said.
"Fine then, I'm all ears" he said, his voice loosening to a hushed whisper.
"Our dad was a well built man, worked at Corey cobbles and cuffs, I don't know where that is since I've never been to America, but you should know the one that makes shoes, he was of average height and had a birth mark of a small tooth on his neck and he also had a tattoo of my mother's name on his chest, and your mother's on his back..."
"Stop" A voice silenced Selene's description. Selene noted that her half brother's voice sounded strained like he was trying to reign in his emotions.
A noise could be heard of Kelvin getting up and walking towards somewhere before a fridge was opened and a glass sound heard.
'No doubt that's beer' thought Selene.
"Are you older or younger?" he asked after chugging down the cold beer and clearing his throat to make it less painful to talk.
"Younger" she whispered then heard a string of curses follow that, 'what did I say?' Selene thought; maybe he wanted to be the junior, she was so immersed in her thoughts before her half brother's voice reached her ears again, his voice was filled with panic and concern.
"Are you okay?, Are you hurt?, Is someone after you?, Where are you now?" He asked without waiting for a reply.
Selene smiled, her half brother did act the older sibling role, she was interrupted from her thoughts by his now over panicked voice.
"Hey, are you still there? Selene? Leave her the fuck alone, whoever the fuck you are" He called out into the phone.
"It's fine, no-one is here. I'm fine, I was just a little bit lost in thought" she said before she continued" and in case you wanted to know I'm in Spain, I have always been in Spain"
"That's funny, you don't sound like someone who lives in Spain"
"Well that is the perks of being a father's daughter..." She trailed off.
Silence was what ruled the entire three minutes, nobody talked, nobody moved, nothing but straight silence.
A silence that was broken by Kelvin's cough, "Let's forget about that now, shall we? We can't raise the dead even if we wanted to"
"Yeah, we should... ahem... forget about it" she responded nodding her head.
"Do you want to come over?, I mean to stay with me in America since it is just the two of us and you must be desperate to find me or else you wouldn't have decided to search for me or call my number" he said after a long pregnant pause.
"I'm not trust me but yes, I would love that. I've heard that America is quite beautiful at night with pretty lights and all" she responded cheerfully before she sighed.
"What is it?" Kelvin asked worried about the sudden change in her attitude, it was as if a balloon went from deflated to inflated then back to deflated.
"I don't have any money, so how will I travel there" she sighed and said.
"Don't worry about the money, I just need your account number and I will send you the money"he said.
"But..."She tried to stop him, before he interrupted her.
"I said don't worry Sis, I will take care of the money, after all I'm no stranger now am I? "
"No you are not" she whispered now ashamed of herself before she flushed at him calling her sis.
"Okay then start packing, you are leaving tomorrow"
"Tomorrow, already?" She asked stupidly like someone who had trouble hearing.
"Yes, why?" He asked curiously.
"I just think that tomorrow is too close, besides it's Friday, won't you allow me to greet my friends and neighbors good bye" she sniffed as if sad that he wanted to drag her away from the place she had always called home.
"Fine, till next week then" he spoke then stopped before he continued, "don't forget to call or don't worry I will call everyday till you are here beside me" he patted something beside him and Selene giggled.
"Do you know that you are acting like an over protective and possessive father" she giggled again and heard Kelvin laugh.
"Of course, I have to..." as he continued his voice began to crack with emotions, "you are the only one I have left, so I must protect you", chugging of more beer could be heard from the other side.
"Thank you" was all Selene could say.
She heard him mumble a you are welcome before she hung up on the phone.
She stared at the number before smiling and then placing her phone on the night stand beside her.
Adjusting her pillow, she laid down and fell back asleep thinking of all the adventures she would have in US and her half brother and her dad's work place.
She must have thought that when she gets to America things will be good not knowing that Fate has a way of playing match maker games and what it had in stock for was big, bad and sexy.
Two days later Selene stared at her now empty house that she had lived for most of her life after leaving her aunt's house, she sighed and rubbed the worn out walls and closed the door gently giving the keys to the caretaker and heading to the airport.
After all the necessary documentation she sat on her chair in the airplane, anticipation eating her guts and soon her heavy eyes closed shut.
