Substitute Wife for the Mafia King R18-Chapter 332: Failure
What I forgot to pause and think about at the time was how I would feel about all this and what was about to happen to all of us.
"Thanks for the present, I guess. Can I get some alone time with my sister?" I requested before smiling at the two gentlemen in the room. Bradon and Desmond exchanged glances before quietly taking their leave.
It felt like I aged a couple of years over the duration of less than 20 minutes. All the stress and effort that it took to find the right words to explain to my sister everything that happened after she ran away with the love of her life until present made me feel like I shaved a couple of years from my lifespan. I reached up a hand towards my hair before twirling the strand with my fingers while I prayed that all the stress wouldn’t give me white hair. Although it was challenging at first to start the conversation with my sister, I somehow managed to tell her about everything that happened from my fake marriage to Anthony, who turned out to be Bradon substituting in for his younger brother, to my plan of helping out the prince end the monarchy rule in the country.
Diana listened so patiently, which was quite unlike her. She rarely made any comments, but she did show signs that she was very surprised and shocked at some of the details that I revealed. Everything was just so connected to each other as one thing led to another so naturally. It felt like I had entered a slippery slope, and then I found myself just spiraling downwards. Apart from the fact that she was shocked, I couldn’t tell what else Diana was thinking.
"So, that’s all that happened," I said to conclude my very long, winding story.
Diana stared directly at me before blinking her eyes rapidly a couple of times, and I could tell that she was finding it difficult to wrap her head around everything that I had just told her. I pressed my lips into a tight line as I gave her time to silently absorb all that I had told her. While, Diana was deep in thought, I also began thinking about what would happen now that my sister had returned. If I had to be honest with myself, my feelings were so mixed, and there was a huge sense of uncertainty that made me unsure of what exactly I thought would be best for the both of us.
"Leya..." my sister called my name, and her voice shook with intense emotions.
For reasons that I did not understand myself, I felt tears stinging the back of my eyes, and it felt like I was ready to burst out crying at any moment. Perhaps I was once again reminded of the unfortunate fate that we shared as twin sisters and how that made our lives so complicated.
"I am extremely sorry," my sister said with a very painful look on her face.
Her eyes were glazed over with tears as she stared at me. I watched with a heavy heart as her entire face slowly crumbled, and then she began openly weeping. Of course, I knew exactly what she was apologizing for, but surprisingly, I didn’t feel that she owed me any kind of apology at all.
"There’s nothing for you to be sorry about. Stop crying right now, Diana. It’s okay," I said in my attempt to comfort her.
At that moment, it felt like we were two little girls who had gotten lost together. My sister sat next to me on the hospital bed as we wrapped our arms around each other and cried softly, as if we were scared that the world outside would hear our sounds of misery and infringe upon our privacy.
"I really didn’t know. I really didn’t think that something like that was going to happen when I told you to marry Anthony. Trust me, I didn’t know that they were going to switch Anthony with his brother," my sister apologized, but then her voice started shaking, and I could see her clenching her fists. I could tell right away that Diana was angry; however, I wasn’t certain who exactly she was angry at.
"It’s fine. It’s not like you could have known," I replied while feeling surprisingly calm.
"This is all my fault. It’s all because of me that you had to go through all of this. How could I ever leave you to marry such a man?" Diana said as she took my hands into hers. My heart clenched tightly in my chest as tears streamed freely down her face. Her eyes and lips were swollen red from crying, and she shook her head from side to side as if denying what had already happened.
"It’s fine. Please stop crying," I said as I pulled her into my embrace again. I stroked her back in circular motions, exactly in the way that I knew that she liked it. My sister’s sobbing became louder as she cried harder, and her body trembled even more intensely in my arms.
"This is all my fault," my sister whimpered over and over again.
When I held her at arm’s length, I could see just how distraught she was from the look on her face. She wouldn’t stop crying as she reached a hand to my face before stroking my cheek softly.
"I honestly thought that we could both have what we always wanted. I honestly thought that finally things would go our way. I mean, is that too much to ask for?" my sister said before her face twisted in painful regret. I stayed silent because I didn’t know what to say as I waited for my sister to continue.
"I thought we could change our fate. I thought that we could take charge of our own lives. So, how did things end up this way?" she asked, and she sounded and looked so lost and clueless.
I was instantly reminded of the face that she would often make when we were younger. Whenever Diana did something wrong or something that she regretted, she would come crying to me for help, with that lost and clueless look on her face as if she couldn’t believe that things had not worked out the way that she had planned.
–To be continued...
