3. 

The amount of information in that single sentence was overwhelming.

The customers who had been quietly watching suddenly burst into low, excited whispers.

“I just heard that the girl who fell called the other woman her sister…”

“So which one is that man’s wife?”

“This family is a complete mess!”

“Didn’t that little girl just say her mommy and—”

I no longer had the energy to care about what anyone else thought.

Watching Daniel appear right after that little girl, I finally saw the truth clearly.

The person my husband and son had been secretly meeting behind my back

was my estranged older sister—Anna.

And I had never even known that my husband knew my sister, whom I hadn’t seen in years.

In front of everyone, that strange little girl called my husband “Daddy.”

Like she was protecting her mother from a bad woman, she angrily attacked me.

Her big round eyes glared at me, filled with accusation and disgust.

And all I could think was how ridiculous all of this was.

I looked at my son, who had run to the girl’s side and now looked completely at a loss because of the sudden turn of events.

Instead, I looked straight at Alex and forced my voice to stay calm.

“What exactly is going on, Alex? You owe me an explanation.”

Alexander’s face darkened, his jaw tightening as he scanned the people mocking us. But it did no good, his expression grew even darker, probably because he had never been humiliated like this in public before. He had always been the golden example.

He immediately lowered his head and scolded the girl in a low voice,

“How many times have I told you, Lisa? I’m just your uncle. You can’t keep calling me Daddy!”

The girl was startled by his tone.

She took a step back, and tears instantly welled up in her eyes.

Seeing the situation freeze awkwardly, Anna stood up from her chair.

She looked as if she had twisted her ankle but was forcing herself to stand anyway.

She hurried over to the girl and pulled her tightly into her arms, assuming a protective posture.

Then she lifted her head.

Tears came immediately as she apologized to me.

“Please don’t blame her. It wasn’t her fault. I failed to give her a whole family, and she’s still so young, she can’t tell that the man she had always looked up to and gave her company was not her father

If anyone deserves the blame, it’s me. I shouldn’t have asked Alex for help. I was just desperate. My child was sick and had to go to the hospital, and I had no one else… Jenny, you understand, don’t you? You’re a mother too. Please don’t hold this against my child. She’s just…”

She choked hard, as if saying all that had drained every last bit of her strength.

She couldn’t go on.

She covered her face and sat back down on the chair, crying.

Her daughter—Lisa—forgot to cry herself.

She reached out her small hand to wipe Anna’s tears away and comforted her in a childish, tearful voice.

“I’m sorry, Mommy. I’ll never do it again…”

It was always like this.

Looking at Anna’s performance—so sincere, so pitiful—I couldn’t help but take a step back.

It felt like my old nightmare was replaying itself right in front of me.

The well-dressed men and women around us had already shifted from watching for entertainment

to looks of sympathy and being moved.

Some of them even shot me accusing glances,

as if I were the one bullying a helpless single mother and her child in public.

As if the most appropriate thing for me to do right now

was to step forward, announce that I forgave her, and reconcile with her.

Even though she was the one who had suddenly reappeared in my life after years of absence and, without my knowledge, stole my husband and my son away from me.

No matter how many times it happened,

I could never understand why Anna could so easily win everyone’s affection.

Only then did Daniel seem to finally realize what was going on.

Like a knight protecting a princess, he hurriedly spoke up,

“Yes, Daddy, Mommy. I was the one who suggested sharing Daddy with Lisa.

Don’t blame her…”

Something inside me snapped.

My chest tightened abruptly, as if invisible hands were squeezing my ribs. The air thinned, sharp and insufficient; I gasped for breath, but only shallow, useless inhales came, doing nothing to stem the panic.

My heartbeat thundered in my ears—too fast, too loud—drowning out the room, the voices, the stares. My vision blurred at the edges, the world closing in, pressing down on me from all sides.

My fingers went numb, then cold. A familiar, terrifying dizziness crept up my spine, and suddenly I wasn’t sure I was standing on solid ground.

I knew this feeling. Panic attack. I hated that I knew it.

At that moment, there was only one thought in my mind.

Leave.

I turned and walked away, but Alex grabbed my arm.

He held me firmly and pulled me into a warm, solid embrace.

Then he raised his voice and announced,

“Everyone, please disperse. There’s nothing here worth gathering around for.”

Everything that followed felt like a montage from a movie.

By the time I finally calmed down,

I was sitting in the restaurant’s VIP private room.

Alex had his arm around me, his large hand gently stroking my hair again and again to comfort me.

“It’s okay now, Jenny. We’re in a safe place.”

I looked up and saw Daniel standing nearby, looking at me worriedly,

like a child who knew he had done something wrong.

It felt like all my emotions had been drained by that panic attack.

I wearily pulled myself out of Alex’s embrace—

I had to do that, or I would lose the courage to confront him.

“Daniel, sweetheart,” I said, my voice abnormally hoarse.

“Mommy needs to talk to Daddy about something that isn’t appropriate for you to hear.

Can you step outside for a moment?”

After Daniel left, turning back every few steps to look at me,

I looked at Alex again and said,

“Just like I said before, you owe me an explanation, Alex.”

Alex looked at me with deep guilt.

My terrible complexion must have scared him.

After all, I had always been a strong woman.

He reached out to comfort me, but I slapped his hand away.

He sighed and said,

“I’m sorry, Jenny. I think I’ve completely messed everything up.”

“Do you remember? Today is your birthday.

It’s only the fifth birthday we’ve spent together.

I wanted to give you a surprise.

I’ve always known that your relationship with your family isn’t good

and that it’s something you’ve always been heartbroken over.

So I privately worked with your sister Anna

and hoped to prepare a birthday surprise for you together with her…”

I blinked my dry, red eyes and refused to let him off the hook.

“How do you even know her?” I asked.

After we fell out seven years ago, I had never seen Anna again.

And Alex and I had only been married for five years.

How could he possibly know Anna?

“Actually…” Alex explained in a low, dejected voice,

hanging his head like a big boy who had done something wrong.

“Anna was the one who came to me.

She said there was a misunderstanding between you two…”

I couldn’t listen anymore.

“You idiot, Alex,” I said.

The tears I had been holding back finally fell.

I wiped them away hard and repeated in a low voice,

“You’re an idiot.”

“What’s wrong, Jenny?” Alex hurriedly hugged me again.

This time, I let him.

“Don’t cry anymore. It breaks my heart when you cry.”

How could I possibly tell Alex—

that my entire adolescence had been lived in my sister’s shadow?

That she had practically ensured that everyone in our small town

saw me as a freak, a disgrace,

the only stain on golden girl Anna Walsh?

The moment I had the ability to live independently,

I fled that town and came to New York.

Meeting Alex and marrying him,

I thought I would never have to face the shadow of my past again.

Who would have thought that Anna—

that terrifying monster I called my sister—

still refused to let me go?

Looking at Alex’s concerned expression, I thought:

He must have been deceived by Anna.

Just like my parents, my first love, and Uncle Bobby next door.

She had used that strange ability of hers on him,

tricking him into believing that we were loving sisters.

And I absolutely could not let Anna take him away from me.

He and Daniel were the best things that had ever happened in my life.

When I finally stopped crying in Alex’s arms,

I grabbed his hand and said,

“You can’t believe anything Anna says, okay?

She and I—we hate each other.”

“Promise me you’ll stay away from her, okay?” I begged.