Chapter 3 Punishment

After Hans left, I lay in my bed in a daze. I had been lying there for goodness knows how long when I looked up and then saw Autumn in the room. 

While I lacked a good relationship with either of my siblings, Autumn was more of a neutral type and for some reason, I had wanted to sympathize with her in whatever she did. However, after sleeping with Hans, a pang of guilt engulfed my heart instead, and I refused to face her, instead turning towards the wall.

Autumn lay down beside me on the bed in her attempts to coax me. As she came closer, I realised I was still naked under the sheets and pulled the blanket around me more tightly. She stared at me with a strange look in her eyes. 

I knew instantly it had something to do with my nakedness, obvious from my bare shoulder blades. Her words confirm my suspicion. My sister, despite being older than me by four years, could be rather daft in her words.

“Winter, how did you ever become so provocative? As far as I recall, you never slept in the nude.”

Was she serious in asking such a question? Does she never have needs of her own? I ranted silently, wanting to slap myself on my forehead. Discomfort still lingered in my body and I doubt she would ever understand the pain she caused me when she accepted the union between her and Hans.

Was she that dumb to not realise how Hans and I had a connection? Hans and I had always been close since childhood. Or could she be just pretending?

“You don’t understand me,” I uttered painfully. I feel bitter about how she had robbed my prince from me. I resented my family in my heart. Yet, she has always acted as an angel and expected Hans and everyone else to pity her for her weak mind and heart. This weakness of hers, made me hate her even more.

“Yes, I don’t,” Autumn admitted. “But it doesn’t mean I can’t care about you. No matter what, I am your elder sister. You are my responsibility. And when Hans and I marry, you will be his responsibility as well.”

It is the first time she has ever said that to me, and it makes me wonder why she was suddenly saying all these things. I know my hatred for her stemmed from my jealousy for her being our mother’s favourite and her taking Hans from me, even though it was Hans himself who was trusting enough to agree. 

But if not for her acting pitiful, would Hans have agreed?

“Why are you here?” I questioned, glaring at her with a spiteful look. “Are you here to boast that you’re the eldest, so you’re Mother’s favourite, and now you have stolen Hans away?”

Immediately, Autumn looks as if I had just stabbed an ice spear through her. She turns pale and appears to be in shock.

“It’s… it’s Hans who wants me to care about you,” she admitted. The shocked expression never leaves her face. 

“He said, as an elder brother, he has failed his duty and led to you cooping up yourself in your room and keeping yourself from us for years. He is worried about you as he sees you as his younger sister!”

I was speechless. All these years, Hans was the one who had accompanied me and appeared to fathom me because he used to be that way when he was young. If anything, we were birds of a feather. But he seemed to change suddenly. He became so unpredictable. 

First, he was asking me to forget him and the next moment, he wanted to have sex with me. I no longer know what was on his mind. The seventeen-year-old shy boy who gave his first kiss to me and lay with me on the grass to watch the stars is no longer present. Right now, the man who appeared suddenly in my bedroom asking for a secret relationship is deeply confusing me right now.

Securing the blanket around my body I mustered all my strength and faced Autumn. To everyone, my sister was like a dying patient where everyone treated her as she was a porcelain doll, fragile enough to be broken anytime. To me, she had stolen everything from me. She destroyed my future with Hans, leaving me with nothing.

I am furious. My fingertips ignited with a red flame almost suddenly. It’s the biggest flame I have ever seen. While my family members believe I don’t have powers, I know this fiery heat in me manifested when I was extremely agitated. 

The good girl in me was gone. I shouted barbarically, “You could have all the men you wanted in Tyi, but why Hans? I loved Hans since I was young, but now, you… You robbed him from me! I hate you! I hate you forever!” I repeated my cries a few times, directing the flames at her.

Autumn looks aghast as the sleeves of her dress kindled with the small fire I have just created. She blew on them frantically to put them out while trying to defend herself, but to no avail. The fire that arose was no ordinary flame. She flinched from the burns on her wrists, appearing innocent and apologetic.

“Little sister, I swear… I didn’t know! But please, little sister, please, please, please let me have Hans. Just consider it as my plea to you.”

She fell to her knees and implored me with her sad and pathetic voice. 

I ignored her. By now, at her twenty-two years of life, she must be quite the expert already. I continue to point at her with my fingers, sensing my power intensify. Her sleeves were now charred from the force of my energy.

“No, anything else I can give up to you, but not Hans! I’ve loved him for longer than you could have ever liked him! If you insist on having him, I will enter into fair competition with you to claim him as my husband!”

At that juncture, I was flaring up so savagely that I forgot about her condition. Her wrists were blackened in some spots, and she had stopped trying to blow out the flames. Suddenly, she fell to the floor limply, clutching her heart.

“I need to marry Hans… if I don’t before I reach twenty-two…. I will die…. young,” she gasped, struggling for air. I focused my mind amply to deplete the flame on my fingertips, then pulled my sister up with all my strength. 

“Sister, don’t die! I’m sorry I said those things to you,” I patted her back in a panic, forgetting my anger in my fluster. “Wake up!”

Fortunately, she was still breathing. I loosened her clothes so she could take a few deep breaths and held her hand attentively. I forgot that she is my love rival and my mother’s favourite, because I knew I would not ever forgive myself if her weak heart acted up or if she died on the spot. I had to cast aside my selfish thoughts of owning Hans for now. It was a matter of life and death. 

I dragged on my robe quickly and returned with some water, which I fed to her instantly. Elder Brother did not live with us, and none of our parents were at home. The servants had all gone out with our parents, leaving an empty house.

After a few minutes, she coughed and the redness returned to her cheeks. She thanked me profusely, although I was not happy in giving her what she wanted. I left the room without a word, not sure what to think.

I left for the woods, headed to my hiding place since childhood.

………………………………………………………………

The lake deep in the woods 

I sat by myself, tossing stones into the lake one by one and watching the water ripple. One by one, the memories of Hans and I playing kite and throwing stones by the lake resurfaced in my mind. I clenched my fists, preventing the tears from falling from my eyes.

After some hours, Hans appeared. I had least expected his presence, so I ignored him as I tossed stone after stone into the water endlessly.

“How long are you going to ignore me like this?” He faced me aggressively, while staring into my eyes intensely. When he received no answer from me, without asking, he lifted up the bottom of my dress and fondled my thigh obsessively. The way he handled me told me he was punishing me sensually, but I couldn't cave in so easily!

I swallowed down my guilt and attempted to stay calm. His touches drive me insane, and it took all I had to prevent myself from opening myself to him.

“I heard you were the cause of your sister almost collapsing today,” he suddenly declared with a deep tone, touching my thigh even more intimately. “I told you, we are supposed to have a secret relationship. I won’t allow you to continue this stupidity, Winter Yale.”

His eyes sparked devilishly as turned towards me, making my heart race with his aggression. I threw my arms around him and sobbed uncontrollably. 

“You manned up,” I mumbled amidst my tears. “I’ve been waiting for this moment for such a long time.”

As if responding to what I just said, he launched his lips upon mine and kissed me predatorily.