Fire roars in my gut. It roars and raises its head like some kind of an animal.
A dragon breathing fire.
Is this what he’s been feeling all this time? This… heat and fury.
“Well, if you heard everything then you know why.” Then she grabs my arm and digs her nails in my flesh, hissing in my face. “It was a mistake. I don’t want my mistake plastered all over the world. I’m not like you. I don’t revel in bad behavior. I don’t take pride in it.”
A flush overcomes my face, a flush different than the anger that I’m feeling.
A flush of embarrassment at my own betrayal against her.
But I won’t let it overcome me right now.
I can’t.
I can curse myself and punish myself later. Right now, I have to be strong. For him.
For my Arrow.
“Mistake? Cheating on your boyfriend is not a mistake,” I snap at my sister for the first time.
I never thought I’d see the day. I never thought I’d be mad at her for anything.
But then, I never thought she’d betray Arrow like this.
“Oh, and you know a lot about boyfriends, don’t you?” She grits her teeth.
“I know about lies. Youliedto him. For months. You lied to me when I asked. You lied, Sarah.”
“So? I don’t owe you the truth, do I? I don’t owe you anything. And I told you to stay out of it. I told you to stop askingquestions because this is my life. And it has nothing to do with you but you wouldn’t listen.”
I suppress the pain in my chest at her callous words. I suppress the urge to scream,I’m your sister. Doesn’t that mean something to you?
But again, this isn’t about me. It’s about him.
“What about him? You owed the truth to him, didn’t you?” I ask, my arm going numb in her grip. “How could you do that to him? You slept with his best friend. Not once but for months and you lied about it.”
“Listen, I don’t need this from you, okay? I don’t need you to tell me what’s right and what’s wrong. I did what I did because I was trying to save our love. I lied to him to spare him the hurt and I won’t apologize for it. Once we were married, I would’ve stopped and none of this would’ve happened.”
I fist my hands, seeing my sister in a new light. “God, are you listening to yourself? You were having an affair with another man. Behind Arrow’s back. He loved you. He loved you so much, Sarah. And you loved him. God, I thought you loved him. I thought your love was this… epic, untouchable thing and I…”
I was wrong.
I wassowrong.
Because how can this be love?
How can months of lying be love? How can you hurt someone the way Sarah has hurt Arrow if you love them?
You can’t hurt them.
That’s the thing about love. You can’t hurt the one you love, not deliberately. Not the way Sarah has done.
So I was wrong about everything. And Sarah was right. She told me not to meddle and yet, I didn’t listen.
I meddled and brought them together and now he’s gone somewhere and I’m having this argument with my sister. The sister I thought could do no wrong.
God, I’ve been so naïve.
