Chapter 47: Arc 2: Chapter 3: Family

As he enters his new life, Merlin tires to hide the secrets of the past. Even when facing Miss Peggy Carter, Merlin did not reveal the existence of the Coulsons' family in an attempt to protect them.

He doesn't want his once-family to get into trouble again because of him.

But when facing Fury's questions, Merlin eventually revealed the name of his cousin May Reilly.

On one hand, he needs to use this way to make Fury give up on digging into his past. On the other hand, after 2 years of wandering, Merlin also yearned to be reunite with his family.

Compared to the Coulsons family, the existence of May Reilly had a special meaning to him.

Although he had not met May for many times, the bondage of blood cannot be easily cut by any disaster and distance.

In a regular cafe in Queens, Merlin sits in the table by the window, he's trying to dispel other emotions from his mind in an attempt to calm himself down, but as the time on his watch approached 12, he slowly begins to get more nervous.

Before he began his wandering, his cousin May would almost come visit her cousin from New York to Wisconsin.

At first, eh came with Merlin's aunt, and later when she died to sickness, his cousin would come alone.

Merlin in his childhood loves this lively cousin of his, every year, she would bring gifts and appear in front of Merlin punctually on his birthday.

As Merlin grew up, his cousin also matured. Merlin pretty much witnessed his cousin grow from a young girl who liked flower dresses to an intellectual woman who always wear a quiet smile and round glasses.

She had perfectly inherited the excellent bloodline of the Reilly family, she was pretty, as every time she brought Merlin for a stroll on the streets, she would attract much attention.

Just like...just like a model.

Merlin could still remember, a summer day one year, his younger brother, the silly Phil had secretly told him that when he grows up, he would have Sister May as his wife.

Huhu, don't think Phil is gonna fulfill his wish.

Merlin smiled, when he was 17, his 23 year old cousin got married; her husband was supposedly a local engineer in New York. Unfortunately, Merlin had permanently disappeared on the world before his cousin could bring her husband to celebrate Merlin's birthday.

Time always passes by quickly when one is reminiscing about the past, when Merlin snapped out of his recollecting, the time on his watch had reached 12:25-am.

Merlin raises his head as if he had a premonition, to see a familiar figure walking into the cafe with a man accompanying her.

Merlin instinctively stands up and waves his hand at May who was entering the cafe, just like how he did in the past 17 years.

May Reilly also senses something and turns around, she turns around with her sun hat, and she immediately saw Merlin who was waving at her from the table by the window.

She had never met the young man before.

But...she had an oddly familiar feeling when she saw Merlin waving at her.

As if she had seen this scene before, it felt familiar.

The familiar feeling surges in her heart, which makes her walk towards Merlin subconsciously; but her husband grabs her hand.

The slightly fat Ben Parker shakes his head at his beloved wife: he takes a step forward and leads his wife towards Merlin's side.

He examines Merlin for a few seconds, then with a cold face and threatening tone, he asks:

"Are you Merlin?"

"Yes, I am."

Merlin looks at his cousin, her pretty eyes were full of doubt and 陌生, which made him uneasy.

But he soon adjusts his emotions, and makes a 'please' gesture to the two, saying:

"Have a seat, cous...no, Miss May, and Mr. Ben. Let's talk while seated."

The three of them sits on their seat, the atmosphere becomes somewhat awkward.

In the eyes of Merlin, the pretty lady in front of him was his family; but in the eyes of May and Ben, Merlin was just a stranger who suddenly appeared.

If they didn't receive the mail from the  regarding Merlin's existence, they wouldn't have any interactions with Merlin.

"I'm sorry."

After a few minutes of silence, Merlin suddenly speaks and breaks the silence.

He sincerely apologizes to the May and Ben in front of him:

"I know because I arranged this meeting without prior notice, you're both doubtful of me, doubtful of me being a fraud and my identity, this is normal."

Merlin lets out a breath, he takes a blood test result from his handbag and hands it to Mr. Ben.

He says:

"We've never met before, so it'll be very hard for me to convince the both of you to accept me; so before our meeting, I pulled some strings to get proof, I hope you don't mind."

"What is this?"

May's husband, Mr Ben Parker did not care about Merlin's apology; he looks down at the test report Merlin hands over and slightly frowns:

"This looks like a DNA test result?"

"It is."

Merlin looks at May straightforwardly and says:

"This is the DNA test result between me and Miss May, because I deemed it easier to convince you with science than with compassion and words. The DNA similarities between us are 15%, sufficient enough to prove that we are of the same family."

Hearing Merlin's words, May who was sitting beside Ben suddenly snatches the DNA test result from her husband's hand, and after reading it, she raises her head in surprise and looks at Merlin, there was  gentleness in her eyes.

"I truly am your brother, Miss May."

Merlin lightly says:

"I did not lie to you, I'm your family."

"But I'm more curious about how you got my wife's blood sample!"

Mr Ben's expression was not good, this was normal, as anyone would be angry if they encounter a situation like this.

"It was from the physical examination."

Merlin had memorized the notes Fury had given him, he tells the two in front of him frankly:

"I asked some friends in the hospital to get your blood sample in your last physical examination. I know this is hard to accept, but believe me, I mean you no harm when I did this...in fact, if you're still not convinced, we can go to any hospital right now and do another DNA test."

"The physical examination from half a month ago?"

Relieve flashes through May's pretty eyes, she looks at her husband and says:

"No wonder the physical examination came so suddenly, and it was free; I wondered how there was something as good as that."

"I understand what you're thinking."

Mr Ben nods at his wife, but he still told Merlin with a dissatisfied expression:

"But I cannot tolerate such 'peeping into others personal life'. Merlin, what exactly do you do for a living?"

"I'm a public official."

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Merlin takes out his identity, the fake one of course, and hands it to Mr Ben, he continues:

"You can verify it's integrity on the internet or with the police station, I have the time to wait."

Merlin tells Miss May:

"I've been waiting for 22 years, I don't mind to keep waiting until you truly accept me."

"MTA Tunnels and Bridges?"

Mr Ben reads the name word by word, he looks at Merlin confusingly and says:

"I've been living in New York for 26 years now, how come I've never heard of this organization before?"

"Because we keep a low profile, Mr Ben."

Merlin lowers his head and hides his embarrassment by taking a sip of water, and he changes the topic:

"Or, can I call you, brother-in-law?"

"No, don't call me that now."

Ben was not accustomed to someone calling him by that name.

He looks at Merlin, there was still a hint of suspicion in his eyes, but the DNA test result in front of him was reminding him that he may have a brother-in-law in his life starting from today.

"Let's talk about you, Merlin."

Compared to her suspicious husband, May had accepted the fact in her heart.

In reality, when she first saw Merlin, she had noticed the similarities on Merlin's face, and those slightly strange eyes.

The young man whom she had never seen before gave her a strange sense of familiarity, if it's true that he is her brother, then the strange feeling could be explained.

But May was not a stupid person, she looks at Merlin:

"21 years ago, on 1971, I was 6, so I remembered clearly, Merlin. My mother had received agonizing news on the phone, we rushed to Wisconsin because her only brother had died in a fire along with his wife and son. My mother was mournful, she did not want to believe this was true, and my newborn younger brother who died in that fire, was also called Merlin."

May rubs her forehead and tells Merlin:

"It's not that I don't believe you, it's just that it's all so sudden; it's hard for me to take in the fact that you're alive. Do you understand?"

"I understand, it's just as hard to take in as resurrection, but truthfully, this isn't our first time talking, cousin."

Merlin looks at May who had a tangled expression and smiles, he tells May:

"I don't know if you remember this, but on August 2 years ago, there was a call to your apartment...by someone who claimed to be your younger brother?"

"Yes! I remember!"

May raises her head and says in surprise:

"I thought it was a prank call, and you're saying that the call from Wisconsin was from you?"

"It was."

Merlin explains lightly:

"I had just graduated college that year and I went traveling to Wisconsin."

"I went to the ancestral home of the Reilly family, it had been rebuilt into a park. I heard from some elderly ladies that a young woman from the Reilly family had married to New York when she was young, so I followed the trail and found the number left by my aunt in the local police station; I was excited, so I made the call."

As he reaches this point, Merlin smiles and says:

"I remember being scolded by you then, I knew at that time, that without concrete evidence, my intelligent yet stubborn cousin won't acknowledge my existence, which is why it dragged on to now."

"I'm sorry, May, I should've come looking for you earlier."

"No worries, no worries."

After hearing Merlin talk about what happened 2 years ago, the suspicion she had towards Merlin in her heart had mostly disappeared. 

There was no way a scam would be planned 2 years ahead of time, even if there was such a large scam, it would not be for middle class residents like herself and Ben.

As soon as she thinks that the young man in front of her was her younger brother, May had a strange feeling in her heart, that this is what everything was supposed to be like.

She should've had a younger brother that she deeply cherished and cared about. As soon as the thought came in, it could not get out of her mind.

Under the emotional urges she felt, May's eyes went red and she reached out to touch Merlin's face. Merlin hesitated but did not dodge and let May place her fingers on his face.

May gently says:

"Have you been living by yourself for all these years?"

"I wasn't really alone."

Merlin gently smiles and says:

"When I was young, I made some friends in the orphanage I grew up in. I was sent to a foster family when I was twelve, my foster parents...they're both nice people, they brought me to New York.  I've been living in Manhattan for years now, though I never realized that me and my family were only a 30 minutes drive away."

"When I first discovered about you in Wisconsin, cousin, you don't know how excited I was. When I knew that I won't be spending the rest of my life alone, I was truly happy."

Merlin lets out his true feelings which made his eyes teary. To not let May and Ben notice the abnormality in his eyes, he turns around, takes off his glasses and wipes his tears.

And when he turns back once more, he had a gentle smile on his face, he holds May's hand and tells her:

"This is a gift from fate. It was fate that led me to you, cousin...I swear, I swear that I won't ever leave you again, I won't allow anyone, or anything, take you away from my life again."

"Mm Mm."

Tears fill up may's eyes.

Trigon's power can erase memories, but it cannot erase true feelings.

Even without the support of experience, the bondage between blood still resides; as soon as May lets go of her doubts, the 2 years of blocked and suppressed feelings gush out like tidewater.

She steps forward and hugs Merlin, as if she was hugging a treasure she had lost, not willing to let go.

Beside the two people, was an emotional Mr Ben, who had already teared up.

The slightly fat yet sensible man wipes his face with tissue while saying:

"My god, I may have gone mad, but this is too heartwarming."

"Merlin, from now on, you're part of the Parker family now."

"You need not live your life in solitude now, brother-in-law will take good care of you. Sob."

 

 

 

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