I pick up my phone and all I can hear is sobbing. 'Renée? Are you okay?' I ask. Surprised that she called me in a sad moment, I go to my room to listen what she has to say, leaving my father and Mathieu alone in the living room.

'Sophia and I broke up.' My heart stops beating for a moment hearing that sentence. I did not thought that would ever be possible. 'When was that?' I ask carefully. 'Two weeks ago. I have been a mess, I couldn't say it out loud, I could not believe it.' I want to hug her so badly now.

'Juliette, can you make the pain stop?' She starts crying again? 'I can't,' I sigh and take a seat on my bed. It breaks my heart that I can't help her and be there for her. She wasn't this heartbroken when her relationship with Kai ended. After a while she tells me what happened and starts to calm down, as if hearing it from herself makes it easier to process.

Mathieu knocks on my open door and mouths: 'What's wrong?' I pat on the bed. My brother takes a seat and listens to the phone as I put it on speaker. Renée is still explaining. '... and then she said she wanted to break up. That night was awful. I offered to sleep on the couch, because I wanted her to be comfortable on her last night. She started a whole fight about it. And the next they at the airport, she didn't even look at me when she said goodbye.'

I lean my head on Matt's shoulder, while I listen to Renée ranting about how these last two weeks were. 'Why didn't you tell us sooner?' Matt's question hangs in the air. Renée probably thinks about why he's answering the phone. 'She was too devastated to say it out loud,' I explain. Mathieu nods understanding the situation.

'How are things at home?' Renée changes the subject like it's nothing. 'It's alright. We miss you,' Matt says. 'Yes, it's quiet without you.' Renée chuckles. 'How is papa holding up?' Mathieu starts laughing. 'Our father is our father. He did got a job at a vet clinic, so he can finally do what he loves,' I say. 'Oh yeah! He told me about that. I am really happy for him.'

'We think he's in love,' Mathieu blurts out. 'Oh really?' Renée asks surprised. 'Well, he has been "meeting up with his coworkers" a lot lately, even when he wasn't a part of the clinic yet. James and I followed him one evening, he was meeting up with a woman.' Renée is silent for a moment. 'Did she seem kind?' She sounds hopeful. 'Yes, she seemed kind,' Mathieu says. 'Good, papa deserves someone kind.'

We talk about little things going on in our lives and it seems to calm down our sister. Eventually she starts laughing and talking about her live at Stanford. Renée told me about the phone call our mother made when she left, but she has never heard from her again. I do still speak with our mother, just not as often as I used too.

'I am sad that I won't see you this summer,' Renée suddenly says. 'Don't be, you got a great opportunity and got every right to take it.' I look at my brother and smile at him. 'I know, but still. I don't want to lose you too,' she says. 'Ren, you can't lose us. We are family, each other's blood,' I say. I can't see my sister, but I am sure she is smiling. 'We can come visit you before you start your internship? I am sure dad wants to go too.'

Our conversation doesn't end much later when the doorbell rings. We hear our father open the door. 'Oh, I don't really think she wants to see you, Patrick,' I can hear my father say muffled by the distance. We can hear a lot of protest from my ex-fiancé. I sigh and get up. On my way downstairs I can see he has entered the house. My father is too kind to ever push someone back.

'Patrick, please leave,' I say. 'No, I want to talk to you.' 'You got that chance a year ago.' I take his arm and guide him firmly to the front door. 'I miss you, Julie,' he says and tries to take my hand. 'I don't miss you. It's not my fault Ms. Plastic broke up with you and you finally got sense.' I open the door and wait for him to make his way out. Offended he leaves the house and I slam the door behind him.

'Ms. Plastic?' my father asks confused. His frown makes his wrinkles come to live even more. 'Yeah. She was his ex, she had plastic breasts. Anyway he was apparently cheating on me with her. I am glad I saw what mom got me into and I am out of that relationship and he is out of my life.' My dad smiles at me with a pained expression in his eyes. 'I wish I could've stopped her from mingling in your life,' he softly says.

I hug my father. 'It's not your fault.' He sighs relieved and hugs me back. After hearing some footsteps, two arms join us and hugs us tightly. 'Yeah, papa. Niets is jouw fout ,' says James. It breaks my heart that I never really learned how to speak Dutch. I can say basic sentences and understand everything, but it feels wrong that I can't even speak my father's native language my brother and sister do know.

Mathieu and I were born in Brussels, we went to school there too until Renée got born. She was born in Hasselt. We moved there to be closer to my aunt. Her husband was really ill at that time and passed away a couple of years ago. I went to a boarding school in Paris, my mother decided that so I could learn how to speak proper French. Mathieu and Renée went to school in Flanders and picked up the language. It did help that our father spoke Flemish to them at home when our mother was visiting us.

After our uncle passes away, we moved back to Brussels. I had already graduated secondary school and started at university, Matt did a year later. In Renée's fourth year – at secondary school – our mother had already decided that we would move to England once she graduated. And so we did. Matt and I could've stayed, but I already met Patrick. I fell in love with him fast and we got engaged not soon after.

Mathieu was head over heels about James and decided to move too. Renée and Mathieu were so happy that we were moving closer to their best friend or lover. And I of course was "happy" to move in with my fiancé. It's still a mystery why I wasn't allowed to move in with him sooner, I was an adult and I had a job and a degree.

Now I have a degree and am finding a job – that I need my degree for – while working at the bowling alley. But for now, I like working there. It gets my mind of all the fancy and expensive stuff my mom wanted for me and her. I have this fancy law degree and I don't even like it that much.

We release each other from the hug and smile. 'I am making dinner tonight. Will James come over? Colin is invited too. If that works with their exams. And do you have someone special to invite, Juliette?' I laugh at my father and shake my head. 'I think you have someone special to invite,' I say and gently push his arm. His face turns red and Mathieu and I start laughing. 'James will probably come, he's been texting me all day that he wants a break from studying. I'll ask Colin.'

My brother takes out his phone and starts calling his boyfriend. I look at my father as he speaks again. 'Maybe we should ask Sophia to join us? She might be lonely?' I bite my lip and fidget with the sleave of my woollen sweater. 'They broke up,' I say and suck in some air, in waiting to my father's response. 'Oh,' he says a little sad.

It still surprises me that my father started to speak English more. Maybe he feels more confident now that my mother can't make fun of his accent. Or he might be practising so he won't be shy when talking to this new woman. 'We could invite her? She can say no.' I nod and call Sophia.

'Hello?' she asks nervously. 'Hi, Soph. We were wondering if you would like to join us – me, my father, Mathieu, James and Colin – for dinner? My dad's cooking, you know how well he can cook.' She is silent for a while and takes a breath. 'I don't know. Did you talk to Renée recently? And you would still invite me to dinner?' I press my lips together, hearing her sad voice. 'She told us today. She's an absolute mess.' I can hear her sigh relieved, like she's not the only one being sad.

'I love to be invited, but I still have a lot of work to do. Maybe some other time?' she sounds so polite. 'I totally understand. Would you like it if Colin would bring some leftovers to you?' I bite on my nails while I wait for an answer. 'Yes, I would like that. Thank you, Juliette.' 'No problem, take care Sophia.' And with that she ends the call. My father looks at me, his eyes telling me he is waiting for an answer. 'She's not coming. We can give Colin some leftovers to give her.' My father nods and goes to the kitchen.

Mathieu walks past me to the kitchen and I follow my brother. 'James and Colin are coming. Colin did ask if his roommate could come over too. Apparently they already agreed to eat dinner together as a break from studying.' My father nods. 'Everyone is welcome,' he mumbles concentrated and opens the fridge.

Later that night, our father made tapas, he loves tapas. He was probably waiting all week to cook it. We take a seat at the dining table as soon as James, Colin and Elton arrive. 'So how is it going?' my father asks James, Colin and Elton. 'Really good. Graduating this year makes me motivated,' James says happily. My father smiles proudly at him, so does Mathieu. They have the same smile, their eyes light up and there are small wrinkles that form in the corner of their eyes.

'It's okay. I am doing better than I did last year,' Colin nods to himself. 'That's wonderful!' my father blurts out happily. He then looks at Elton, who is inspecting some tomatoes. 'We have other food too, if you don't like this.' Elton looks up at my father. 'No, it's really delicious, thank you for inviting me too. And to answer your question... I am doing good. It's hard sometimes, but it is what it is.'

James starts a conversation about how Renée's doing and how proud he is of her. But soon the break up is being conversated. I think none of us saw it coming. We all thought they would work things out, but they didn't and we have to respect that.

The translations in order:

'Nothing is your fault.'

Wordcount: 1926