The Shadow of My Elder Sister

Stella's POV: Cecilia Morris was my twin sister. We looked exactly alike except for the small mole beneath my eye. We even fell for the same man, Cooper Bennett. But Cecilia was Cooper's official girlfriend. Whenever she went out with other men, I could only pretend to be her and keep Cooper company in her place. Cecilia dated Cooper for five years, and I slept with him for five years too. I thought we had hidden everything perfectly. Then one afternoon, Cooper forgot to hang up his phone, and I heard him talking to his friends. "You've been sleeping with Stella. Cecilia doesn't get mad?" Cooper laughed. "She has no idea. Besides, Stella is the one who keeps pretending to be her and shamelessly throwing herself at me. She practically delivers herself to my bed. How am I supposed to say no?" "Damn, Cooper. You're something else." Cooper gave a quiet, mocking chuckle on the other end. So he had known all along that I was pretending to be Cecilia. And all along, he had been pretending too. I gripped my phone as a chill swept through my chest, as if his words had punched a hole straight through it. "You've been sleeping together for years. You really never caught feelings?" Cooper lowered his voice. "I wouldn't say I feel nothing. But you all know the things Stella has done. My mom would never let me marry a woman like that. The woman I marry has to be respectable, with a spotless reputation." Cooper fell silent for a moment. "Sometimes I wish I could marry both of them. That'd be the dream." His friends burst out laughing. "So you want both sisters? Too bad." "When are you going to let me try Stella? She clearly loves throwing herself at men." "Count me in. She has plenty of guys on the side anyway. One more won't make a difference." "Do whatever you want," Cooper said. He said it so casually, as if none of it mattered. My blood ran cold. So Cooper and all his friends had known for a long time. I had liked Cooper from the first time I saw him at college. After that, I couldn't stop thinking about him. Cecilia discovered my little secret. She laughed at me and said, "Want to bet I can get Cooper within a month?" I shook my head and told her to stay out of it. But I had forgotten that Cecilia had loved taking things from me since we were children. The more I didn't want her to do something, the more determined she became to do it. This time was no different. Less than a week later, I saw Cooper outside Cecilia's dorm in a brand-new Aston Martin. My eyes burned as I hid at the edge of the crowd. Cooper opened the trunk, revealing a sea of red roses. 10 drones circled above the dorm, each towing a banner. Amid the cheers, Cooper handed Cecilia the roses and the car key. "Cecilia, be my girlfriend." I felt like a vampire hiding in the shadows, watching everyone else bask in a world full of love. Cecilia took the roses and the key. She took Cooper's love too. Across the crowd, Cecilia caught sight of my red-rimmed eyes. Later, she told me, "I was only messing around. He's the one who took it seriously. Don't you like him? You can pretend to be me and have some fun with him too. We look almost exactly alike anyway. When I get bored of him, I'll give him back to you. You know me. I'm never going to settle for one man." Maybe I had lost my mind, because I actually agreed to become my sister's shadow. Her little game lasted five years. When I asked her yet again when she planned to break up with Cooper, she said, "Cooper's getting ready to propose. He's too good to pass up. His family has money and influence, and he's handsome and well-educated. If I marry him, I'll have everything I could ever want." "What about me?" I grabbed her hand and demanded. She had promised to give him back when she got bored. Cecilia yanked her hand away. I knew she was about to laugh at me again. "After all these years, you're still this naive? That's embarrassing. Figure something out yourself. Go find another man. It's been five years. Aren't you tired of Cooper yet?" I was furious. "How can you treat Cooper like this? If he finds out we've been lying to him, he'll be devastated." My persistence irritated her too. "What did I do to Cooper? He's the one who insists on worshipping the ground I walk on. How is that my fault?" "Aren't you afraid I'll tell him?" I demanded. "Go ahead. Then we'll see whether he believes me or you." Her words carried the same casual indifference as Cooper's. Each word pricked at my heart like a needle.