Chapter 1

Matilda’s POV:

On my 24th birthday, I sat alone at a distance, watching the party ahead of me.

The soft music from the garden outside filled my ears, as I knew what today was all about. It was my twin sister’s and my birthday. But while my whole family favoured her, they shadowed me in the house.

The guests were celebrating Maya. Her achievements. The fact that she was more intelligent than I was. Every young woman in this city wanted to make friends with her. She was the star, and I was the cloud, the empty darkness that filled the sky.

“I regretted having you as my daughter. Just don’t show yourself and ruin your sister’s day.”

My mother’s resentful words from earlier today hit me hard like a slap as I continued to drown myself in more alcoholic drinks, seated alone at a distance. The maids moved past me as they went to serve the guests.

I watched with teary eyes as the arriving guests all brought beautiful gifts for Maya. She stood there, poised in a beautiful silver gown that swept her feet, with beautiful flowing details at the edges.

I, on the other hand, sat alone, dressed in a simple white straight dress. My father didn’t care what I wore. Neither did he care to wish me a happy birthday.

My mother stood proudly beside my sister. Her smile spread across her face, and her makeup shone from afar.

My older brother, Calvin, was the proudest. His friends praised him and congratulated him for having a worthy sister. No one asked about me. No one remembered it was my birthday.

They partied, celebrated Maya, and my parents even allowed her to bring her fiancé, Samson Finley, over. After all, it was her birthday, too.

I staggered to my feet as I got tired of watching them. The soft music faded. The happy cheers and wishes echoed behind me as the night fell.

Of course, I was used to my family. I tried. I tried to achieve a little of what my sister did. But my brain wasn’t built for that.

Despite being a 24-year-old woman, I merely passed high school. I tried countless times to sit for the admission exam into the university, but I failed.

I remember trying the previous year, before I tore up the paper and gave up hope of writing any exams again.

Maya had already graduated as a renowned marketing expert, and I was here, juggling from one tutorial centre to another, knowing I would fail the exam.

I couldn’t process the stuff written. Even when I was given an expo, I just couldn’t seem to know what to write.

My hand shook as I held the pen. I was slow and clumsy, as my mother would say. They gave up hope on me after I failed the fifth examination and wasted five years after high school trying one last time.

The memory stung, as I was slow. My sister was ahead of me. She was smart. She radiated beauty. But I knew that despite my lack of academics, I was good at other things, like designing.

I loved the craft of bead making, doing crochet wear, and making jewellery. But my mother never let me own any of them.

“In the history of the Roland family, no one, I repeat, no one is as useless and lazy as you. How do you sit here knitting in my home? Do you think you can make a living with these?”

She picked up a beautiful, yellow crochet top that I had made and glared at it with venom.

“Lora!” My mother yelled.

A few minutes later, Lora, a middle-aged maid, barged into my room on the first floor. I was subjected to using the maid’s room.

“Burn this trash. Don’t let me see any crochet or wool in this house. I don’t want to see any. Otherwise, consider yourself fired. We, the Rolands, pride ourselves on working in an office setting and sitting in a million-dollar empire, not this useless stuff,” Mom stated.

Her tone was cold and detached as she glared at me.

“Let me make it clear to you, Matilda. As much as I dislike the fact that I’m your birth mother, you’d better focus on your tutorials until you pass your grades. Else, you will die an old maid in this house.”

Her eyes glared at me with hatred before she stepped away from my room and shut the door hard. The sound rattled the walls in the room.

I sat on the floor, crying and wailing, tears streaming down my cheeks.

~~~~

As I staggered back to find my room, losing my balance, I stumbled and collapsed on the stairs at the back of the yard.

My parents had warned me earlier to avoid the front porch.

“Keep away from that front area. We don’t want the guests asking questions about your achievements and embarrassing yourself.”

My mother had arrived at my room earlier today to warn me. She didn’t wish me a happy birthday. She glared at me, her large blue eyes, like mine, filled with hostility.

She hated that I resembled her. Maya and I were identical twins. But while my sister was sharper and acted faster, I was slower and not the daughter my family wanted.

I collapsed on the stairs, and I heard the maids discussing me from a distance.