Sasha is back

Adeline

The night passed in a haze of restless tossing and turning. Sleep denied me of it's embrace, slipping through my fingers like grains of sand. I couldn't bear the thought of signing those divorce papers, couldn't fathom the idea of giving up on us without a fight.

After everything, despite the indifference that had always been in our marriage from the start, I still loved Xander. And I couldn't let him go without at least trying to understand why he was so determined to leave.

As the first light of dawn filtered through the curtains, I made a decision. I would go to Xander, confront him, demand answers that he had so callously refused to give me. I needed to know why, needed to understand what had made him do this. Although he has been cold to me since marriage, he has never mentioned divorce. I need to figure out why he suddenly asked for divorce.

I dressed quickly, my hands shaking with nerves. I didn't bother with breakfast, couldn't stomach the thought of food when my world was crumbling around me.The journey felt like an eternity.

Finally, we arrived, and I paid the driver before stepping out to the sidewalk.

The doors flew open, and I saw Xander slipping into the backseat of a waiting car. I couldn't let him slip away, not now, not when I was so close to finding out the truth.

I hailed a taxi, my hands trembling as I gave the driver hurried instructions to follow the car in front of us.

Finally, we pulled up outside my father's house. My brows furrowed in confusion.

My father's house.

Why would Xander be here? Why did he bust my father in private? Could it be that he couldn’t wait to tell my father that we were getting a divorce?

I paid the driver hastily and stepped out onto the sidewalk, my heart pounding in my chest as I watched Xander climb out of the car. Without a second thought, I followed him, my steps quickening.

As I approached the front door, I could hear voices drifting through the air. My pulse quickened, a knot of anxiety tightening in my chest as I reached out to knock.

The door swung open, revealing my father standing in the doorway, a look of surprise crossing his face as he saw me.

"Adeline, what are you doing here?" he asked, his brow furrowing. I didn’t have time to answer my father’s question. I can’t wait to walk into the room and find Xander. Hope he hasn’t had time to tell my father about our divorce.

As I stepped into my father’s house, the sound of laughter and chatter greeted me. The people in the room were chatting so happily that no one even noticed my arrival.

I tried to force a smile, to blend in with them.

“Xander, why didn’t you wait for me to come to Daddy’s house alone?” I tried to make my voice sound natural as if we were both planning to go home together.

Hearing my voice, everything died. The laughter? The chatter? It all died.

Xander didn’t take time to put away the smile on his face and looked at me with a frown.

And then, as if to compound my senses of displacement, I saw her - my sister.

She sat next to Xander. My eyes widen in surprise when I saw her.

My sister, who had been missing for three years, turned out to be back. No one has informed me of the news. Everyone in the room had already known it, except for me. My arrival ruined their reunion and celebration.

For a moment, we simply stared at each other. Then with a smug smile, a smug smile that only I could understand from childhood, she crossed the room to greet me.

"Adeline," she said. “My dear sister, welcome home.” She walked up to me with a smile and hugged me.

I couldn’t help but shudder. She was still as hypocritical as before, and those bad memories had awakened again.

I swallowed hard, struggling to find the right words to say. "I... I didn't expect to see you here," I admitted, .

"Hey, babe," he called out, his voice warm and inviting. "Come sit."

I nearly moved my feet, when I heard, “babe.” Well, that certainly was a huge improvement from a divorce.

But my feet came to a halt, when Sasha took to his direction.

My heart skipped a beat as I watched Sasha, my sister, make her way over to him. She settled into the space next to him, their shoulders brushing.

"Thanks, Xander," she said as she leaned in to plant a kiss on his cheek.

I struggled to make sense of what I was witnessing.

My husband.

Sasha.

Babe?

Xander, the man who had always been so distant and aloof, was suddenly showing affection to my sister. He was displaying so much affection towards her in a way that I had never experienced.

"Come, Adeline," Sasha said, gesturing for me to join them. "There's plenty of room."

But I remained rooted to the spot, unable to tear my gaze away from the sight before me. Xander, my husband, had called my sister "babe," had invited her to sit with him in a way that had left me feeling like an outsider in my own family.

I couldn't help but wonder what it meant, this sudden closeness between them.

Xander reached out to tuck a loose strand of hair behind Sasha's ear.

"You look beautiful today, babe," he murmured. "As always."

Sasha's laughter bubbled up in response, her cheeks flushing with a rosy hue as she leaned into his touch. "Oh, stop it," she teased. "You're too much."

But Xander only smiled, his gaze fixed on her.

"You know it's true," he said, his voice soft but earnest. "You always have been."

"What are you doing here, Adeline?" My stepmother's demanded, her eyes flashing with suspicion. "Are you here to cause trouble again? To harm my daughter?"

My head whipped in her direction.

I recoiled, my heart pounding in my chest as I struggled to find the words to defend myself.

"No, of course not," I stammered, my voice shaking with indignation. "I would never do anything to hurt her. I just... I just wanted to be with my family."

But my stepmother's eyes remained cold.

As if she would rush up at any moment if I had intention of hurting Sasha.