Sister or for?
1132 Words
Sabrina’s POV
I still couldn't forget how it had felt, like someone had tipped a bucket of ice over my head.
How ironic and amusing? That I and my sister would be pregnant, at the same time, for the same man.
“Phillip is quite a sharp shooter, don't you think?"
Enough.
I couldn't take it anymore.
"Dar—mother in law, I'd like to go up to my room and think."
"Up to your room?"Phillip intercepted. "Look, I understand that you aren't happy about this, but I think you should try to adapt to it and not ignore it. You both are carrying my children, you should be together, in my presence."
I nearly gagged.
“No. No, Phillip. I will not adapt. I will not pretend like this betrayal is something holy or acceptable.”
Freya’s laugh came next. “Why fight it, sister? I’ll be gone just a week or two before you in this journey, and we both know what that means. My child, Phillip’s firstborn, will come first, before yours.” She leaned forward, her words syrupy with triumph. “Firstborns set the order of important men. That has always been the way of families like his.”
I blinked. “You think womb timing makes you a queen in someone else's husband's house? You think priority is earned by sneaking into a bed that was never yours?”
Phillip’s hand waved like a tired king pacifying squabbling courtiers. “Sabrina, don’t take it so harshly. We can work something out. You both are important—”
“Important?” My laugh was bitter ash. “To you, Phillip, I’m not a wife. I’m an ornament you can shuffle aside when your appetite shifts from sister to sister.”
Darla’s rosary beads clicked between her fingers as she finally snapped. “Enough, Sabrina. Don’t dramatize what can be solved with compromise. This marriage was born out of contract, not some fairy tale of romance. You knew it then, and you know it now. A business contract binded you and my son together, but your union can also be… adjusted.”
I turned to her, stunned. “Adjusted? You mean replaced, or rather erased?.”
She held my gaze without flinching. “If Phillip wishes to marry Freya, it will not cost you harm. You’ll still have your place, your child and our powerful family name. This isn’t about betrayal to you, you never married Phillip, or rather, he never married you because of love. You must learn not to mix feelings with agreements.”
My blood burned. “Agreements? Is that what you call my vows? My tears? My body given to a man who never looked at me beyond obligation? You dare stand there and tell me I should nod while he drags my sister into the same covenant?”
“Sabrina,” she said softly, with the pity that wasn’t pity at all, “you were married out of necessity. Do not rewrite the story to something else, your parents left debts and phillip rescued you, paid off what your family owed, took care of you as his own, took care of them too before they passed. Do not deceive yourself sweetheart, this union was duty, not desire. If it had not been Freya, it would have been another woman sooner or later.”
My nails dug into my palms.
Phillip’s voice came again. “Mother is somewhat right, Sabrina. This isn’t about choosing one of you over the other. It is about expanding and balancing. We can all coexist in this if you’d only calm yourself.”
Freya smiled wide then, leaning back, her hand curling over her slight stomach like it already carried a crown. “See? It could work beautifully. Sister-wife and I. And my son, his heir, first in line to inherit the family business one day, to bear the Anton name.”
I folded my arms.
"I still won't allow it."
“Sabrina,” Darla cut in, her tone suddenly sharp, as if I were a child stamping her feet. “It is not your place to allow or forbid. The same way Phillip married you, Phillip can marry whoever he wishes. He is free. You would do well to remember that before your temper costs you more than you can bear.”
I stared at them in further disbelief, at all of them, feeling the foundation of my world shatter into shards I could've never expected.
_________
It was raining slightly, but I didn't care, even as I wandered the streets barefoot like a ghost.
Earlier, when Freya announced with a smirk that she’d be moving in permanently “for the comfort of the child, of course”. I snapped. We quarreled, calling each other nasty names.
Mother-in-law raised her hand and told Phillip plainly that he should send me out of the house till Freya calmed down.
As though my unborn baby was already less. As though the child I carried in my belly was a fragile inconvenience compared to Freya’s precious heir.
And Phillip, Phillip didn’t defend me. He only rubbed his forehead like I was a nuisance.
So I walked out.
I didn't take my purse or my phone, not even a shawl. The guards at the gate stared like I had lost my mind, but they didn’t stop me.
The streets were buzzing with life though, vendors shouting, cars honking, lovers strolling hand in hand, but to me it was just noise in a tunnel.
At some point I stopped walking and just sat. I found myself near a corner, where two couples laughed heartily and exchanged smooches, genuine kisses. And I wondered, was that what marriage was supposed to look like? Companionship, warmth, belonging?
Not contracts and clauses?
My chest tightened uncomfortably with the thoughts in my head. What would happen to me now? To my baby? Everyone had already chosen Freya. Phillip, Darla, the whole Anton family name, what was left for me? A shadow life? A forgotten wife with a child raised in second place?
Tears burned in my ears and fell before I could stop them. I rubbed at my face furiously, but the more I wiped the wetter it became.
And so I sobbed till it attracted attention.
I must have stood up and walked further eventually because when I looked up again, I was on a road. People were yelling.
But at what?
“Shift!”
“Madam, move!”
But I couldn’t move. My legs were rooted to the tar and my mind was unfocused.
The last thing I saw before the lights fizzled to white was a car. I felt the impact, blood spurted from my lips, my chest was on fire, and my body? Bloodied.
- Writer
