Sorry the update is two days late! Usually I update every Tuesday and Saturday, but this week I've been very busy. I hope you enjoy the chapter.

To be honest, I have absolutely no clue how to respond to his sudden change in attitude. In the time I've known him, I'm not sure if I've ever actually seen him smile. I didn't even think he had it in him to be nice, let alone to ever apologize for anything.

"It's fine, but if you don't mind, can I ask what brought about this sudden change in attitude?" Maybe he has an ulterior motive. I suppose his Aunt Charlotte could have threatened him the same way she threatened him to get him to agree to live in this camp to keep him safe so he would be nice to me since she used to be my mom's friend. However, that seems really unlikely since Charlotte doesn't seem to like me near as much as she likes my mother.

"I suppose I do owe you an explanation. When my aunt told me why she and your mother lost contact, I assumed you would know about it and would side with your mother. However, I realize I've been unfair to you and for that I sincerely apologize."

I wonder what he's referring to. My parents were always secretive people, so I have no idea why Charlotte and my mother stopped being friends. In fact, I didn't even know Charlotte existed until she showed up at our house to talk to my mother about the isolation camps.

"Why did they stop being friends? Until your aunt came talk to my mother about the camps, I never even knew they were friends."

"Aunt Charlotte and your mother were born into two very high ranking families in the Scientific Elite. Since they were so close in age and so highly ranked because of their parents, they grew up as best friends. Some people who didn't even know them would occasionally assume they were sisters because of how often they hung out together. Both of them were exceptionally bright students and were looking forward to very successful careers as part of the Scientific Elite.

However, your mother was kind hearted and instead of choosing the path of the Elite, she wanted to be a doctor and help those who are less fortunate like the Srats. As she began her training to be a doctor, Charlotte grew obsessed with studying genetics. They remained close friends at that time even though they did not see each other as often. At one point, Charlotte introduced one of the other interns in the genetics Labs to your mother. Eventually, two got married and that is the man you know as your father.

At the time, the genetics lab was just beginning their research in trying to create the perfect human being. They believe if they change the right genes while the child is  still developing in the womb, then they can create the perfect person. The experiments, however, got out of control. The children being experimented on were dying, so your father tried to contact the king. However, his message was intercepted by the wrong people and they threatened your mother's life if he didn't drop it and leave the Scientific Elite quietly.

So your father went against his beliefs to protect your mother who was at the time pregnant with your oldest sister Lillian. He withdrew his complaint and they left to become Srats. When I first met you, Charlotte told me that your parents were the ones condoning me experiments and that had been kicked out of the you eat because of how barbaric they were. However, I recently learned that Charlotte agreed with the experiments and is now in charge of them as they are still being done. I do not understand why my aunt lied to me, but I apologize for how I treated you. I hope we can become friends."

Wow, it's a few moments before I can even formulate a response. I just learned more about my parents in a few minutes, then I do learned about them the entire time I lived with them and grew up under the roof in the house they raised me. I always knew they were secretive, but I never thought they keep such a big part of their past from me. This makes me even more curious about what the contents of that journal may contain. I will need to make it a priority to decode it as quickly as possible.

"Thank you for telling me about this. As I'm sure you can understand, this is a lot to take in. If you don't mind me asking, how did you find out you're always lying to you?" I hope he doesn't mind my curiosity. I'm just trying to figure out more about this story and how he knows more about my parents than I do.

"I overheard a conversation between her and one of the other senior geneticists. They were talking about what a big loss to the department it was when your father, who apparently was one of the brightest intern they had ever seen, had to be forced to resign from the Elite. Afterwards, I confronted my aunt about the conversation and she finally told me the truth."

I feel bad for him. Realizing his aunt has lied to him about something like this must have surprised him just as much as I am at learning these shocking facts about my parents. I can't help but wonder what his opinion on the experiments is. He hasn't condemned his aunt, but she is also the only family he seems to have so he may not want to alienate her.

"I am glad you decided to tell me the truth. Although, I do wish you hadn't made such quick judgments about me when we first met. Then again, I can't exactly blame you. Your aunt did lie to you about my parents. Now that you know the truth, I would like it if we could become friends. It would be nice to not come to work everyday knowing I'm going to have to work in complete silence with somebody who obviously doesn't want me here." He seems grimace at my words, and even though they are true, I can tell he genuinely regrets the way he has treated.

"I'm sorry I made you feel unwelcome. I really would like it if we could become friends. To be honest, it hasn't been very easy for me to work till please silence alone like this either. I just didn't want to talk to you out of loyalty to my aunt and the Elite. However, it would seem there is a lot about both of them I don't know. In fact, I'm only just now starting to understand I've been completely clueless about a lot of things."

"It's alright." I look at the clock realizing almost an hour has passed since we began talking. "Although, we should probably start working before someone gets on our cases about slacking on the job. What research are we doing today?" He glances at the clock looking just as surprised as I am at the amount of time that has passed.

"We are continuing to study all the stages of the plague in detail to try and isolate which symptoms always occur and which ones are only in certain people. The head of our department is beginning to grow concerned that there could be more than one strain of this going around."

"Let's get to work then." I reply, and for once I am not dreading a long lonely day of work.

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