Hello, my name is Natalie, and a year ago
everything in my family changed completely... because it turns out that my father had an
illegitimate son! One day I was at home while my parents were
still at work. Someone knocked at the door. I opened it, and there stood a grandma and
a little boy, he was like 5 years old. The boy waved to me and ran into the house. I was confused, and this old woman explained
that he would stay for a couple of hours, that my parents would be fine with it, and
that I should look after him. I was like “What?” but this mysterious
grandma was already leaving. Okay... I guess? The boy’s name was Joshua, and he was a
very nice and well-behaved boy. I played with him for a while and made him
a sandwich. He kept asking me “When will daddy come
home?” I was super-confused. I called my parents, and they didn’t answer
at first, but then my dad finally answered and he was NOT happy to hear about what had
happened. Soon my parents came home, and they looked
at this kid like he was some kind of mythical creature. They were just STARING at him. They went to the kitchen area, completely
ignored the kid, and started whispering. My mom was extremely angry and my dad was
basically panicking. They tried to keep it quiet, but it was clear
that something weird was happening. At some point Joshua shyly made his way toward
my father and asked him “Are you my daddy?” He continued to ask him questions, but dad
just kept... staring at the boy, it was like he was scared of him. Mom was covering her face with her hand in
embarrassment. Joshua... tried to hug my dad, but instead
of hugging him back, dad was stiff and not really responding in any way. He was just... standing there. Joshua got upset and confused and he kept
looking at me, and dad, and mom. I felt sorry for him, but most of all, I was
trying to figure out what was really happening. Soon, the old lady returned to take poor,
confused Joshua home. My mom was so angry that she could barely
look at the old woman, but she was trying to hide it. My father raised his voice at her, asking
what she thought she was doing. She calmly answered, “You should take responsibility
for your actions. If you want to see your son, here is my address.” She gave him a piece of paper and left. Joshua waved his hand to all of us in desperation,
but I was the only one who waved back at him. I immediately asked a bunch of questions,
but my parents were ignoring me, continuing to quietly argue with each other. My mom took the paper with the address from
my father, crumpled it, and threw it into the trash. After that, she went to her room and dad followed,
ignoring any questions I had. I went to my room, and tried to listen to
my parents through a wall. But let’s be honest - it was clear what
happened. I couldn’t believe that my father could
cheat... Knowing I wouldn’t get any answers from
my parents, I picked up the address from the trash. A few days later I went to the old lady’s
house. She had the same face as before - she was
always calm and collected. I asked her if I could see my... brother,
and she nodded. When I went into Joshua’s room, he was super
happy to see me and he hugged me. He was such a sweet boy. He immediately started to show me all of his
toys and drawings and we played games and it was very sweet, except for the parts when
he would ask...uncomfortable questions like, “When will daddy come?”, “Are you my
sister?”, “Was that my mom?” I liked playing with him, but I couldn’t
give him any answers to his questions. Finally he was so tired, he fell asleep. The old woman asked if I wanted some tea and
I decided that it was a good time to finally find out what happened. I was ready to ask her so many questions,
but she decided to tell me everything herself, without trying to hide any details. It turns out that my father had had an affair
with her daughter, who was in her twenties... I was so shocked because I never knew anything
about this, but I suddenly remembered how my parents were stressed and angry about five
years ago. My mom definitely knew about it… So their affair ended when this woman got
pregnant and my father didn’t want anything to do with it. The woman herself was broken by this and she
never wanted the child so she... moved somewhere else without leaving a trace, she didn't even
tell her mother where she was going. Stubborn as she was, the old woman decided
to raise her grandson herself and not contact my father in any way. Well, together with her husband. She got a bit more emotional when she was
talking about him - he was a very kind-hearted person. But he died a few months ago, and it was too
difficult to raise a kid all by herself. So she reluctantly decided to finally contact
my father, because she needed help. Of course she wouldn’t ASK for it directly,
it just wasn’t her style. As I was walking home, I was so shocked by
all of this - my father wasn’t the person I thought he was. I looked up to him, and now he seemed like
someone completely different. But I believed that he would do the right
thing, so I decided to talk with him. When he was home alone, I asked him how he
could cheat on my mother and how he could leave his son alone like that. He didn’t know Joshua’s mother left and
he wanted to concentrate on our family... but everything he said was just excuses. I was disappointed in my father, but wanted
to give him a second chance. I told him that, now, he could take care of
this boy, because he clearly needed a father. My dad agreed, but he clearly didn’t want
to do it at all. He said that he would spend some time with
Joshua, but not in this “crazy woman’s” house. So instead, we would go see him at playgrounds
and parks. Joshua was always happy to see my father and
was always trying to talk to him or play with him, and my father tried... but it wasn’t
really genuine. Sometimes he would stay at our house, but
only when my mother wasn’t home - she didn’t want to see Joshua or even hear about him. I guess it was too painful for her, because
this little boy was a reminder of my dad’s infidelity. I felt sorry for Joshua because he was such
a sweet little boy, but it got even worse. Pretty soon my father stopped seeing Joshua
and even me and my mom. He always stayed late at his job because he
had “so much work to do.” Everyone knew it was a lie because he had
never done that before, but we never talked about it at all. Mom was acting like everything was alright,
but I could see how heartbroken she was. I continued to see Joshua because I felt so
guilty. He was my half-brother after all. And he was always happy to see me, but a little
disappointed that his daddy wasn’t around. And he wasn’t allowed in our house anymore
because my mom had forbidden it. She hated him. One day we were playing at a playground not
far from our house, and Joshua fell into a big puddle. He was soaking wet from head to toe and needed
a change of clothing immediately. I had no choice but to go home and ask my
mom for it. When we arrived and I asked my mom, she refused
and said that he should get a change of clothing at his own house, which was like an hour from
ours. I tried to make mom change her mind, but she
kept saying “no.” It was painful to hear, especially for Joshua. He couldn’t understand why was she against
it and why she wouldn’t even look at him while she was talking. The whole way home, he was extremely upset
and cold. We couldn’t take a taxi, so we had to take
the bus. As we were rushing to finally get Joshua home,
he suddenly stopped and started doing something in the grass. After a minute, he gave me a bouquet of dandelions,
and asked me to give it to my mom, because he thought he had upset her somehow. I couldn’t believe how kind he was, and
that he thought that it was his fault somehow...I was never like this when I was 5. Afterward I headed home. I gave my mom the bouquet saying, ""Joshua
wanted me to give it to you."" She looked at it for a long time without touching
it, with a weird look on her face. Afterward, she took them and threw them into
the trash. I was upset because I watched Joshua collect
them while he was wet and freezing cold. In the evening, as I walked by the trash can,
I noticed that the dandelions weren’t there anymore. After this... my mom started to tolerate Joshua. She would let him stay in our house at first,
then she started cooking for him, and in just a month's time she was talking with him a
lot. She still struggled and it was still hard
for her to look at him, but she was realizing that it wasn’t Joshua’s fault. I was extremely happy to see all of it. My father, on the other hand, didn’t like
it at all. When he found out that mom started to like
Joshua, he was angry. He would tell her that she did it just to
spite him, to remind him of what he had done. She didn't even try to answer to him because,
by this point, she had lost all the respect she had for him. Then my father forbade us to see Joshua because
he was HIS son. I didn’t want to tolerate my parents never
listening to or answering me, so I started to “share my thoughts.” After another argument, I barged in and shouted
at my Dad: “You don’t even CARE about Joshua, you don’t care about ANYBODY except
yourself!” and every time he would say, “Stay out of it!” And mom... mom would just basically ignore
him. She was tired. After all this time, she finally decided to
share what she thought with me, after all those months of silence. She wanted to get a divorce from my father. She forgave him for cheating because she needed
him in the family, but now, seeing him running away from his responsibilities and blaming
everyone around him for them - she didn’t want to anymore. She was very sorry for treating Joshua badly,
but she couldn’t look at him without remembering what my father did. It was... hard for me, because I still loved
my father. I still believed that he could be better. Then he finally came to me, but it was far
from him trying to be better. He told me that he cheated because my mom
didn’t respect or love him anymore. He begged me to go with him when they got
a divorce. I remembered Joshua and how much he wanted
to see his father, and it made me feel sick... because I felt the same. He was never home. So I refused. At least my mom tried. Later I found out that he tried to take Joshua
away, but his grandma wouldn’t let him and even called the police. It was so funny how hard he tried NOW, when
he realized that nobody needed him anymore… Well, they got divorced. And I have seen him once or twice since then. I see Joshua regularly, though. He often stays at our house and we both love
him. He even calls mom...well, “mom.” She smiles every time he does that, although
it still hurts when he asks “Where’s daddy?” And I don’t know where he is. I mean, in his life. But I still hope that he will change and all
of it still hurts. This was a long story, so thanks for listening! Tell me what you think in the comments, and
don’t forget to subscribe.
