CHAPTER TWO

LILY'S POV

I couldn’t feel my legs when I ran out of that room.

The image was burned into my mind…my fiancé, the man I was supposed to marry in less than a month, lying in bed with my sister.

My sister.

Every breath I took felt like I was swallowing glass.

The sound of their voices still echoed in my head, their whispers, the way his hand touched her skin the same way it used to touch mine.

I didn’t even know how I got home.

My body just moved, driven by pain and shock.

When I opened the door, the familiar scent of home hit me…cooked stew, detergent, the faint smell of my mother’s lavender oil.

It felt like stepping into a world that had no idea my own had just crumbled.

“Lily?” My mother’s voice came from the kitchen.

“You’re back early… what happened to your face?”

I didn’t answer….I didn’t even know what expression I wore anymore…grief, rage, or disbelief.

“Lily!” she called again, wiping her hands on a towel as she walked toward me.

Her eyes widened.

“Why are you shaking like this? Did something happen? Talk to me!”

But I couldn’t.

My throat burned, my heart was racing.

The moment I tried to open my mouth, my voice broke apart.

I brushed past her, went straight to my room, and locked the door.

And then, the moment I was alone, I broke.

I fell onto the bed and cried so hard I thought I would never breathe again.

Every tear felt heavy with humiliation.

Every memory of Aiden…every “I love you,” every promise felt like a cruel joke now.

How could she do this to me?

How could my sister do this to me?

There was a light knock on my door.

“Lily?” My mother’s voice was gentle now, careful.

“My child, please open this door…you’re scaring me.”

I pressed my palms against my ears and tried to shut everything out but then I heard another voice outside, faint and trembling.

A few minutes later after my mother's constant knock on my door, I heard another voice.

“Mom… please don’t disturb her…She just needs some rest.”

Adira.

My body froze.

Even hearing her voice made my skin crawl.

The audacity, the calmness as if she hadn’t just destroyed everything I loved.

But then my mother’s tone changed.

“Adira, what’s going on? You both left this morning to God knows where and now Lily is home like this? What happened between you two?”

“Mama, nothing happened.” Adira said softly.

“I think… I think maybe she saw something wrong, but it’s not what she thinks.”

I shut my eyes.

My tears stopped, but my anger started to rise again.

Not what I think?

So she was going to lie now? Pretend nothing happened?

I heard footsteps.

My mother’s voice grew sharper.

“You’re lying to me..you know something….Tell me the truth, Adira!”

“Mother, I swear, it’s not what you’re thinking….”

That was it.

That was all it took for something inside me to snap.

I flung open the door so hard it hit the wall.

Both of them jumped..my mother from shock, and Adira from guilt.

She looked pale, almost frightened, and tried to take a step back, but I was already walking toward her.

“Not what I think?” I said, my voice trembling, my chest rising and falling fast.

“Then tell Mom what exactly I saw, Adira… Go on. Tell her what you were doing in bed with my fiancé!”

My mother gasped so loud it echoed through the entire house.

For a second, time froze.

The only sound was my mother’s heartbeat pounding through the silence.

“Oh goodness!” she whispered, clutching her chest.

“Lily… what did you just say?”

Adira looked down, tears filling her eyes.

“Mama, please…”

“Don’t ‘Mama, please’ me!” my mother shouted, her voice breaking.

“What is my daughter talking about? You… you were with Aiden?”

“Mama, it’s not…”

“Answer me!” she screamed.

“Were you with your sister’s fiancé?”

When Adira didn’t answer, my mother staggered backward, her hand gripping the wall.

Her breathing became uneven, like she might faint.

“You!” she said, pointing at Adira with trembling fingers.

“How could you? How could you do such an abominable thing to your own sister? What kind of woman are you?”

Adira broke down crying, but I couldn’t feel sympathy.

I was standing there, watching my family crumble, and all I felt was numbness.

“Mama,” she sobbed,

“I didn’t plan it. It just happened, I swear…”

“It just happened?” I shouted, cutting her off.

“You slept with my fiancé, Adira! That’s not something that just happens! You made a choice!”

My voice cracked.

“You made a choice to betray me… and for what?”

Adira covered her face, crying harder.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you…”

My mother was pacing, her hands on her head.

“Oh God, what did I do wrong to deserve this? What did I do wrong?”

“Mama, please don’t cry,” Adira begged, reaching out, but my mother slapped her hand away.

“Don’t touch me!” she cried.

“I raised you two to love each other, to protect each other, not to destroy each other!”

Her voice trembled as she turned to me.

“Lily, my child, forgive me… Forgive me for raising a snake under my roof.”

I swallowed hard, my voice barely a whisper.

“I can’t even recognize her anymore, Mom.”

Adira was on her knees now, crying uncontrollably.

“I’m sorry,” she said, over and over.

“I didn’t mean for it to go this far.”

“Then why?” I shouted.

“Why would you even think of doing that to me, Adira? You knew how much I loved him! You helped me plan the wedding! You watched me try on my dress!”

Her shoulders shook, and then she lifted her face… eyes red, voice sharp, raw, almost angry now.

“Because I was tired!” she screamed.

“Tired of watching you get everything! The attention, the love, the good man, the better job…everything, Lily! Ever since we were little, you’ve always been the lucky one! I got the leftovers!”

Her words sliced through me like a knife.

“Mama always bragged about you,” she continued, her tears flowing.

“You were the beautiful one, the smart one, the one who got the ring from the man every woman wanted! And I was supposed to just smile and be happy for you?”

My mother clutched her chest again.

“Adira… are you hearing yourself?” she said weakly.

“This is your sister you’re talking about..your older sister!!”

Adira laughed bitterly through her tears.

“Yes, my sister…The perfect daughter. The one who never fails… I got tired of being second best, Mama. So when Aiden started paying attention to me, I didn’t stop him.”

Her voice dropped, trembling.

“I wanted to know how it felt… to be the one someone chose over her.”

Silence filled the room…it was thick, heavy, and painful.

I stared at her, unable to move.

Every single word hit me harder than the last.

It wasn’t just betrayal.

It was envy, deep-rooted, festering envy that I never saw coming.

Mama sat down slowly, her hand covering her face as she wept quietly.

And I stood there, staring at the sister I thought I knew, realizing that what broke me wasn’t just losing my fiancé… it was losing the one person I never thought would hurt me like this.

The sound of my mother’s sobs echoed through the house, and Adira’s last whisper trembled through the air…

“I never meant to fall in love with him… but I did.”

And that was when I realized…

this wasn’t the end of something.

It was the beginning of ruin.

“Did you just say you love him???!!"