My Wife's Brother Complex

The moment Lily's phone rang, she glanced down at the screen. She pressed the receiver to her ear with one hand, covering it with the other, before slowly walking toward the window. I caught a faint trace of joy in her voice as she spoke. "Ross has agreed. He said as long as you work hard, the house won't be a problem." The next day, I swallowed my pride and asked a former school friend for help. He agreed to introduce Finn to an assistant position. When I shared the news with Lily, her face lit up with a smile, and I couldn't help but feel a deep sense of satisfaction in my chest. The sight of her so happy filled me with warmth. Two days later, I was having a quiet dinner with my wife when my phone vibrated incessantly with calls from my friend. His voice was full of frustration, but he managed to calm himself before speaking. "Ross, I'll tell you the truth. That brother-in-law of yours is nothing but trouble. I gave him an assistant job, but he's acting like I've hired a go

After parting ways with Josephine, I sat alone in the park for a while longer, allowing the alcohol to wear off. The crisp evening air was a welcome relief, and I found myself reflecting on how suffocating it would be to return home, to that place where anger and tension simmered just beneath the surface. The sun set slowly, casting long shadows across the park. What had once been filled with the laughter and chatter of children had now fallen silent. Even the usual noise of playful kids had died down as their parents called them home. The autumn breeze carried a chill, and I could feel the last remnants of my anger dissipating with it. I flicked the dust off my jacket and decided it was time to head home. But as I stepped through the door, the house was plunged into darkness. There were no lights on. I stopped for a moment, puzzled. Was the power out? "Honey?" "Finn?"There was no response. The silence was thick and oppressive. Finn was nowhere to be found either. Fro

Why weren't there any signs of what had happened in the storage room? It was as though yesterday had been nothing but a nightmare—a hallucination of my own making. Just then, my phone buzzed with a message from Lily. She said Finn was back, and he had brought his girlfriend. She told me to hurry home. The joy in her words was unmistakable. After all, the siblings had grown up without a mother. Finn was alive? My heart, which had been clenched in fear, suddenly loosened. I knew it—I knew Lily couldn't have done such a thing. She had always been gentle and obedient. It was all a product of my stress, my mind playing tricks on me. Just a figment of my imagination, nothing more. I hurried home. The doorbell rang, and Finn opened it. The moment he saw me, his expression soured. He rolled his eyes and muttered, "You decided to come back? Well, if you have the guts, don't come back at all." I couldn't help but feel that something in him had changed, like there was something di

It turned out that Lily's brother was Josephine's husband. Josephine told me that her husband had an older sister named Lily, who had always been very protective of him—anything she had, she was willing to give to him. But a few days ago, something strange happened. Late one night, just as they were about to go to bed, his sister called him. He had been acting mysteriously, claiming they were about to come into some money. He rushed out in a hurry and hadn't been back since. Josephine hadn't been able to get ahold of him—his phone was off, and he had completely disappeared. As she spoke, a chill ran down my spine. So what I saw that day had been real. But then… how could I explain the fact that he was with me the very next day, having dinner?I looked at her. "You need to stay calm. Your husband… he might already be dead." I explained everything I had witnessed that day, making sure she understood it all clearly. She froze, her expression blank, as if she were trying t

The next day was Saturday, and I told Lily that I was going on a business trip for the weekend, that I wouldn't be home for the next couple of days. The truth was, I didn't want to tell her anything more. The trust between us had long since crumbled. My hometown was in a small county, and once I arrived, I still had to take a two-hour bus ride to reach it. By the time I got there, it was already afternoon. My old house was silent and empty. I headed straight to the matchmaker's house. Just as I arrived, I saw the matchmaker and her family sitting down to eat. They greeted me with wide smiles and called me over to join them. I smiled, agreeing, and took my place at the table. It was a small, square table where everyone sat together.The matchmaker looked at me, her face instantly flushed with guilt. "Ross, I'm so sorry. It's all my fault, really," she said, her voice filled with regret. I was confused, unsure of what she was referring to."What do you mean? I'm doing fin