"Exactly! I can't allow an imprudent brat like you to spoil the family's dignity. Don't even try running away for tomorrow." My father warned sternly, before storming out in anger,without glancing at me.
To me at that moment, I want the world to stop. If possible, go back the previous day and change all of this; the fact that my father also agreed to sell me out, is quite unfortunate.
Is it a crime to exist in this world?
"I hope you enjoy You new marriage." Linda said tilting her head dramatically, as if examining a raw species. As she patted her hair slowly.
I smacked her hands aside, eyes blazing.
"Don't you dare touch me with those disgusting hands;" I spat.
No matter the circumstances, I'm still three years older than her. She was the one who owe me respect, not the other way around.
Linda was about to retaliate, when they door opened and correy walked in. My shoulder once slumped, lifted over so slightly, I pressed a palm to my chest, where warmth flickered beneath my weight. My fingers stopped trembling.
How ever, my expectations took a tragic turn.
The moment, I saw my boyfriend and my step sister locked in an intimate kiss right in front of me.
I froze.
My heart didn't just break -- it implodes. Time slowed and for a second, the world around me blurred in silence. The laughter I had now rang like a cruel echo in my ears.
Inside me creaked, not loud, not dramatic, just a silent shattering that left me hollow.
When my eyes fully Met his. His expression flickered not with guilt, but with mild surprise. As if I'd walked on a conversation. He shot a contemptuous gaze at me, filled with hatred and rejection.
"Someone like you didn't worth me in the first place, a cheap slut! Listen carefully, o have a good relationship with Linda, and intended to end things with you the previous day. It was so disgusting, that you eventually show your true self before I did." He uttered those harsh words at me, without pausing for a second.
My fingers trembled, then curled into a fist. The corner of my lips no longer knew how to lift. Silent sobs came in waves--no sound, just the sharp rise and fall of my breath, as if I were drowning on dry land.
Then my stepsister finally glanced my way, her lips curling into some thing that wasn't quite a smile.
"oh," she said lightly as if she had just spilled a tea.
"You were not supposed to find out like this."
She tilted her head, almost daring me to speak. Correy couldn't even look at me in the eye.
I turned around without a word, before tears could fall. I wouldn't give them that satisfaction.
But as I walked away, my legs trembling beneath me, something inside me hardened. This doesn't seem to be betrayal, it seems to be war rather.
I didn't know where I was going at first— away from their touch, their smell, their betrayal.
But my fee led me somewhere familiar. some where I used to go, when I still believed the world was soft.
The old people behind the house. Overgrown and forgotten.
Forgotten, much like me.
I sank into the cold stone bench, the sky above the gray and breathless. A single breeze moved the leaves– restless just like I was.
I sat there not to cry or hide, but to become something new.
The longer I sit in the garden the more memories began to rise. Uninvited and bitter.
It started from the first time I met him. That lazy smile, the way he looked at me, like i was the only girl in the world. The silly me, easily felt for those little tricks he played on me.
Back then I mistook charm for depth. I thought his silence meant he was thoughtful and mysterious.
But now, I realised he wasn't listening – he just didn't care.
I used to believe love was sacred. That it helps people to be together and make them better.
O now saw love for what it really was; a weapon.
All the late night – talks. The whispering of
"I love you."
The way he smiles at me,the laughter, the secrets we share the promises of forever – they weren't sacred. They were strategies.
I replay them like a reel spinning out of control.
There were signs. How he flinched, when I got too close to the truth. How he always had an excuse – always just enough affection to keep me hoping.
I gave him my trust, like it was unbreakable. And it broke it, like it was disposable.
The worst part wasn't the betrayal. It was how much time I gave away building something futile.
Loving him made me soft. Loosing him made me steel.
But now, every memory was poisoned. Every word, a lie dressed in warmth.
And for Linda.
I remember when she first moved in. She hated every thing at first – my room, the way I smiled too much. But I tried.
I shared my things with her, gave her space, softened my self so she wouldn't feel overshadowed.
I covered for Her. Stood between her and consequences more than I could count.
I loved her like a sister even when she made it hard. Even when she back bites me disguising it as a joke. She knew where exactly to cut. And she did it with a smile.
She didn't just steal him. She watched me love him, trust him and still choose to ruin me.
It was then I realised, betrayal doesn't comes with knife. It comes with familiar faces.
Bit if she thinks she's taking everything from me, she's wrong. She didn't take my strength she woke it up.
My heart didn't ache anymore. They don't deserve my tears. They deserve to know what version of me they've unleashed.
The version of me that still believed on innocence, family and honesty.
She's dead now.
Gone in a blink.
As for correy.
The girl who love him is gone. And what's growing in my place, isn't someone he'll be able to control again.
"Prepare for tomorrow auction. Let's see who bid for you slut!"correy remarked as he entered his car, interrupting my thoughts.
An escape thought came to my mind, about tomorrow auction.