Ttt
1681 Words
The sun filtered through the cracks of the old, wooden kitchen walls, casting thin stripes of gold across the dusty floor. The morning breeze carried the smell of fresh pepper and smoke as it slipped in through the open window and fluttered the edge of the curtain. The pots on the clay stove were already steaming. The sound of sizzling oil echoed softly as Erika lowered pieces of fish into the pan.
Pascaline stood by the wooden table, slicing onions slowly. Her hands moved, but her mind was far… very far from that kitchen.
She blinked. The sting from the onions blurred her vision, but the tears falling were not just because of vegetables. She tried to sniff quietly so Erika wouldn’t notice.
This kitchen had become a sanctuary of peace for her. Something simple. Something real. Something she never thought she would crave.
From behind, Erica stole small glances at Pascaline.
Pascaline’s eyes shimmered too much. Her movements were too slow.
Erica smiled to herself, assuming it was the onions.
But inside Pascaline’s chest, something ached.
Her heart felt like it had been squeezed and pinned down.
Her mind kept replaying that moment.
The moment Mr. Dary saw her.
The moment she waited for him to help.
The moment his face was full of deep surprise.
But the Emilia came from behind and ….
Pascaline dropped the knife and pressed her palm to her chest.
He saw me… I know he saw me.
Her thoughts trembled.
What did Emilia inject in him? Why didn’t he wake up? Why didn’t he come back? Did that thing clear his memory?
She squeezed her eyes shut as another image flashed in her head.
Emilia.
That wicked smile.
That cruel syringe.
Pascaline swallowed hard.
What did she do to him…?
While Erica arranged more fish in the oil, she heard Pascaline sniff again. She turned her head slightly.
Pascaline stood frozen, knife in her hand, tears quietly falling.
Erica frowned.
Something wasn’t right.
She set the fish aside and turned off the stove with trembling hands.
“Pascaline?” she called gently.
No answer.
Pascaline kept staring at the onions, like she was lost in a world that only she could see.
Erika stepped closer.
“Pascaline… what is wrong with you?”
Pascaline wiped her face quickly with the back of her hand.
“It’s nothing,” she whispered. “Just thinking about something.”
But her voice betrayed her. Too soft. Too fragile. Too broken.
Erica hesitated. She had wanted to ask this for days. Ever since Pascaline moved into her small home. But she never found the courage.
Now… the moment was hanging in the air.
“Actually…” Erica said, voice quiet, “I’ve never really asked.”
Pascaline blinked at her.
“Asked what?”
Erika looked down, fingers twisting the edge of her apron nervously.
“How you ended up here. In this village. In my house.”
She swallowed.
“What happened to you?”
The kitchen fell silent.
The oil stopped sizzling.
The wind died down outside.
Pascaline dropped her gaze. Tears gathered again.
“You won’t understand,” she murmured.
Erika took a step closer.
“I will try.”
Pascaline shook her head. Her chest was tight. The room felt smaller.
“It is a long story… a disturbing one.”
Erica remained quiet. She didn’t push further.
Pascaline let out a shaky breath.
“Could you imagine that I once had everything?” she whispered.
Erica’s eyes widened.
Pascaline wiped her tears with her apron and forced herself to speak.
“I didn’t come from a poor home. We were not royalty or anything like that, but we were comfortable. We had everything we needed. We lived in peace. We had a beautiful home. A family.”
Her voice softened.
“And I worked. I had a career. I was a doctor.”
Erica gasped.
Pascaline nodded slowly, eyes distant.
“I was engaged. Getting ready for my wedding. A future I had dreamed of since I was a girl.”
Her breath trembled.
“But everything came crashing down.”
Her throat tightened.
“Because of my sister.”
She dropped the knife completely.
Her hands trembled.
“I didn’t know envy could be so deadly. I didn’t know that your blood could be the one to destroy you.”
Erica’s heart squeezed painfully.
Pascaline could no longer control it.
“It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. Mr. Dary and I… we were perfect. We were planning our future. And I thought…foolishly…that I involved my sister too much in my life.
Her tears fell freely now.
“But my sister wanted everything that belonged to me. My career. My fiancé. My life.”
She pressed her palm over her heart.
“She took it.”
She closed her eyes.
“Emilia didn’t even hide it. She was bold. Very bold. She ruined me and without thinking…without considering all that I have sacrificed for her.”
Pascaline shook her head slowly, disbelief and pain fighting in her chest.
“I saw him. He saw me.”
Her lips quivered.
“But he didn’t save me.”
The memory hit her like a punch.
“He just stood there. Silent. Empty.”
She grabbed the edge of the table to steady herself.
“And that day, everything died for me…that dayyy.”
Erica’s eyes filled with tears.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered.
Pascaline forced a weak smile.
“It is not your fault.”
She inhaled deeply and straightened.
“Sometimes… things hurt.”
She wiped her tears and picked the knife again.
“Let’s cook.”
Erica didn’t move right away. She watched Pascaline with a mixture of awe and heartbreak. The strength this woman carried was enormous, yet so invisible.
They returned to cooking quietly.
The fish sizzled again.
The pot of stew bubbled softly.
But the room no longer felt the same.
⸻
Meanwhile… on the other side of the city…
Vivian sat alone in a room that looked too perfect to ever hold pain.
A luxurious suite. Crystal chandelier. Silk curtains. A floor so shiny that the reflection of her broken face stared back at her.
She was curled on the floor, arms wrapped tightly around her knees.
Her hair hung loose around her shoulders. Mascara stained her cheeks.
Her chest rose and fell with uneven breaths.
“I am a Dary,” she whispered to herself.
She repeated it again.
“I am the heiress of the Dary family.”
Her voice cracked.
She wanted those words to hold weight. To soothe her. To make everything feel right again.
But they didn’t.
She trembled.
“I am the only daughter of the Dary bloodline.”
Her voice shook harder.
But the doubt… the fear… the truth kept clawing at her.
What if it’s not true…?
She remembered her grandmother’s voice.
Cold. Sharp. Cruel.
“You are not a real Dary.”
Vivian squeezed her eyes shut.
“No… no… she was just angry. She didn’t mean it. She couldn’t have meant it.”
But her grandmother’s voice echoed again.
“Your existence… was an arrangement. Not a blessing.”
Vivian’s body went numb.
An arrangement…?
Not a blessing…?
The words carved themselves into her soul.
She bit her lip until she tasted blood.
Everything she ever believed… everything she ever built her identity on… was cracking.
She felt like a puzzle with missing pieces.
“So what am I?” she whispered.
If she wasn’t a real Dary…
Then who was she?
Her breathing quickened.
“So my entire life… was a lie?”
Vivian shook her head violently.
“No. No. I am the heiress. I am the face of this family. .”
But her own voice sounded weak.
Doubt crawled into her bones.
She looked down at her shaking hands.
“What if I was only a project? What if they really had me through surrogacy? What if I was just… convenient?”
Her chest tightened.
Her eyes filled once again.
“I can’t tell Victor…” she whispered.
Her voice cracked.
“I can’t.”
Because what if she wasn’t enough without that title?
What if Victor stayed with her because she was a Dary?
What if… without that name… no one chose her?
Her body shook with silent sobs.
She pressed her forehead against her knees.
“I have nothing.”
Her tears dripped onto the floor.
“I am nothing.”
She cried harder.
Her sobs filled the room, bouncing off the expensive walls like echoes of her shattered truth.
⸻
Back in the small wooden house
Erica watched Pascaline quietly, heart heavy.
She now understood something.
Pascaline was not broken because she was weak.
She was broken because she had loved deeply.
Because betrayal cuts deeper when it comes from the heart you trusted.
Erica walked over and placed her hand gently on Pascaline’s.
“You are still a doctor… even if the world forgot that.”
Pascaline looked at her, stunned.
“And one day… someone will fight for you. Someone who will not be blinded, controlled, or manipulated. Someone who will see you.”
Pascaline swallowed.
A single tear escaped.
“Someone will choose you,” Erica whispered.
Pascaline looked down at her trembling hands.
“I hope so… one day.”
The kitchen filled with silence again.
But this time, it wasn’t empty.
It was healing.
⸻
Far away,Vivian pressed a hand to her chest.
“I just want someone to want me… even without the Dary name.” She didn’t know why she was thinking like this…she had Victor right? But she was not somehow convinced.
Her voice broke.
“I want someone to want me… for me.”
⸻
The world shifted silently.
Two women.
Different lives.
Different battles.
Both drowning in pain caused by the Dary family.
Fate was preparing something they couldn’t yet see.
A collision.
A revelation.
A storm.
And when the storm breaks…
Nothing will ever be the same again.
- Writer
