The Only Choice I Had
Ria’s gasp traveled through the entire living room. She stared at her sister in surprise, her legs trembling at the shock that came with Emily’s slap. There was nothing that pained her more than the slap she just received. Not even the fact that she got caught in the act, that the drama of her pregnancy was finally ending and that she wouldn’t be able to use her pregnancy as an excuse to take money from Jimmy’s family. Nothing else pained her more than her sister’s slap.
It was on rare occasions that Emily ever raised a hand at her. She was adored in the family, the last daughter who caught everyone's attention with a wink when she was born. The child that was known as the cutest and smartest. Emily adored her and would fight with anyone who came on her part. When they were younger, they would both fight with Elaine just because she crossed Ria’s path or try to discipline her. She’d thought that even if the whole world turned its backs on her, Emily would never.
She’d thought that the bond they shared was unbreakable but the sting on her cheek made the truth of the situation crash over her, a single tear dropping from her eyes to her foot. “Emily,” she forced out, her lips quivering.
“Don’t you dare fucking call my name, you bitch.”
She took a step backward. Emily never raised a voice at her nor did she ever curse her. Not even where she tried to harm Elaine by putting a fire reactor in her dress did Emily hit her. This here was unexpected. She’d thought Emily would be supportive no matter what happened.
“Sister Emily, you hit me.”
“And I will hit you a million and one times more if you don’t start speaking this instant. How dare you deceive everyone? How dare you lie to our very face?”
“Stop yelling. My baby…” She trailed off, remembering that there was no longer any baby to use as an excuse to get away with things.
“Oh, stop. There is no baby and everyone knows about it now. You’ve been pretending, lying to my face even after claiming that you love me the most in this world. Is this how bad you’ve become, Ria?” Emily couldn’t stop the anger that washed through her at her sister’s betrayal. She thought that she knew Ria. That the cute little girl that she raised would never do anything bad without reason. But it turned out that she thought wrong. She didn’t know the girl at all.
“Is this how we raised you to be, Ria? I can’t believe this.”
“Can you stop? It’s not a big deal.”
“Not a big deal? God, what do I do?” Emily threw her head backward a bit and blinked back her tears. But the emotions became too much and she couldn’t help but let them out, letting her tears stream down her cheek freely as the truth of Ria’s betrayal hit her like a wave. “You even lied to mother. Everyone treated you so well even when you whined and asked for money all the time. We tolerated the shits that you pulled and even ignored Elaine when she was pregnant for real all because of your attitude. We wanted you to be happy. We danced to your tunes and this is how you repay us?”
“Why is everything about Elaine?”
“Shut the fuck up and grow up!” Emily yelled and shot a hand at Ria, pushing her backward on her shoulders. “Grow the fuck up.”
Sensing the incoming fight between the two sisters, Elaine swooped in between and then stretched her hands forward to keep them at arm's length. “It’s okay, you both. We can all talk this out like adults, okay? Let’s sit down and talk about this.”
“She lied, Elaine,” the oldest sister cried. “She made a fool out of me. Wait, why aren’t you surprised about this just like everyone else, did you know about this and keep it a secret to yourself?”
“Of course not. I came here immediately I found out about it,” she paused. “I’ve been keeping tabs on her.”
Ria’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets. It was no wonder why she’d felt eyes on her all the fucking time while going on with her day’s activities. She’d felt really uncomfortable when she left the house to go take the new month’s fake baby bump. So it turned out it was Elaine’s doing all along. “You’ve been what? Why can’t you just let me leave in peace? My life is ruined because of you, let me fucking be.”
“I’d let you be if you don’t try to kill me all the time, Ria. You tried to kill me at the last gathering we had. You’re not to be trusted and this fake pregnancy of yours has exposed you to the whole family. Everyone can now see you for who you really are.”
“This was what you wanted, right?”
“It is. It’s such a wonder how you don’t even feel remorse for doing this to us. To your husband and the people expecting the baby. Lying about a life is not something small, Ria. Do you know how everyone feels right now? I for one know how it feels to lose a baby not to talk of finding out that there was no baby in the first place after so many months.”
Elaine’s words brought Ria to tears. She covered her face with her palms and sobbed hard into it, her tears almost a river. “I didn’t want to do it, I swear. I didn’t want to deceive anyone at first. When I realized what I was doing, I was way too deep into it and I didn’t have the courage to say anything to anyone anymore. Not after the love and care that I’d been shown after I announced my pregnancy. I didn’t want to lose that love and care and so, the only choice I had was to lie.”
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