Chương 7
"This agreement is important, but it does not tell us everything."
"What else do we need?" Emily asked.
"Proof that your parents understood the arrangement."
Sarah looked confused.
"They signed it."
"Yes."
"But?"
"But a signature does not always explain intent."
Priya placed the paper down.
"If this becomes a legal issue, we need to know what happened afterward."
Emily felt a familiar frustration.
She wanted the truth immediately.
She wanted someone to open a door and show her everything waiting on the other side.
Instead, she was back in paperwork.
Dates.
Signatures.
Questions.
"How long will this take?"
Priya looked at her carefully.
"Longer than you want."
Emily laughed quietly.
"That seems to be the theme of my life."
Sarah glanced at her.
There was sadness in her expression.
"I never noticed."
Emily looked back.
"I know."
The words were not cruel.
They were simply true.
After leaving Priya's office, they stopped outside on the sidewalk.
Neither sister moved toward their cars.
The winter air was sharp.
People walked around them carrying coffee cups and shopping bags.
Everyone looked like they were heading somewhere certain.
Emily envied that.
"I should postpone the wedding."
Sarah said it so quietly that Emily almost missed it.
She turned.
"What?"
Sarah looked at the street.
"I can't get married while this is happening."
"Sarah."
"I mean it."
Her hand went to the ring.
"I keep looking at this and thinking about how much of my life was built on things I didn't understand."
Emily softened.
"That doesn't mean your marriage is fake."
Sarah shook her head.
"Maybe not."
A car passed, spraying water near the curb.
Sarah stepped back.
"But I don't want to walk into a church pretending everything is fine."
Emily studied her.
That was the first time she had heard Sarah choose something difficult over something beautiful.
"You love Mark?"
"Yes."
"Then talk to him."
Sarah looked afraid.
"What if he thinks I'm a mess?"
Emily almost smiled.
"Everyone is a mess."
Sarah gave a small laugh.
"You really changed."
"No."
Emily looked down.
"I think I just stopped pretending."
That evening, Emily returned home and found a voicemail from her father.
She almost deleted it.
Instead, she listened.
"Emily."
His voice was quieter than usual.
"I know you are talking to Priya."
Emily froze.
How did he know?
He continued.
"Your mother saw the email."
Emily frowned.
What email?
Then she remembered.
Priya had probably sent a request for records.
Nothing secret.
Nothing dramatic.
Just a legal process beginning.
"I don't know what your grandmother told you," Robert said.
"But there are things you don't understand."
Emily sat down.
The sentence bothered her.
Not because it was false.
Because it might be partly true.
"Your mother and I made mistakes."
A pause.
"We were trying to protect this family."
Emily listened carefully.
"From what?"
Her father did not answer because he was not on the phone anymore.
The voicemail had ended.
She played it again.
Protect this family.
The phrase stayed with her.
Later that night, she searched through old messages.
Not because she expected to find anything.
Because she needed to do something.
She found one from her mother sent two years earlier.
Don't tell your grandmother about Sarah's situation.
Emily stared at the screen.
She had forgotten it.
Or maybe she had never understood it.
Sarah's situation.
At the time, she assumed it meant school stress.
A relationship problem.
Something normal.
She searched the conversation.
There was no reply from Emily.
Just her mother's message.
I don't want her worrying.
Emily felt a chill.
Grandma had known.
Maybe not everything.
But something.
She called Sarah.
Her sister answered quickly.
"Did you find something?"
"Maybe."
Emily sent the screenshot.
Sarah was silent after reading it.
"Sarah?"
"My mom told Grandma not to worry about me."
"Yes."
Sarah's voice became small.
"I was sixteen."
Emily waited.
"I thought everyone was disappointed in me."
The confession came unexpectedly.
"What happened?"
Sarah took a breath.
"I got caught cheating on a test."
Emily blinked.
"What?"
"It was stupid."
Sarah laughed once.
A painful sound.
"I was failing math. Everyone thought I was the smart one. I couldn't admit I was struggling."
Emily leaned against the counter.
"Mom helped you?"
"She fixed it."
"How?"
"I don't know."
Sarah paused.
"She talked to the school."
Emily remembered the years afterward.
Sarah's perfect grades.
Her confidence.
The praise.
The way everyone said she was gifted.
"And you thought you had to keep being perfect."
Sarah was quiet.
"Yes."
For the first time, Emily saw the shape of her sister's prison.
It was different from hers.
But it was still a prison.
"I hated you sometimes," Sarah whispered.
Emily closed her eyes.
"I know."
"No."
Sarah's voice cracked.
"I don't think you do."
Emily sat down.
"I thought you were getting everything because you deserved it."
Sarah swallowed.
"I thought you were better because you didn't need anything."
The words stayed between them.
Two sisters who had spent years standing on opposite sides of the same misunderstanding.
Neither one had seen the other clearly.
"Sarah?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you still want to marry Mark?"
A long pause.
"Yes."
"Then don't let this family decide what your life is."
Sarah breathed out.
Emily nodded.
After they hung up, she looked again at Grandma's letter.
There was one line she had not noticed before.
The truth will hurt less than living inside someone else's version of you.
Emily traced the handwriting with her finger.
For years, she had believed she was the forgotten daughter.
Now she wondered if both daughters had been trapped by a story their parents created.
A story where one child was fragile and one child was strong.
A story where nobody was allowed to simply be human.
The next morning, Sarah arrived at Emily's apartment carrying two coffees and a look that told Emily she had barely slept.
Emily opened the door before Sarah knocked.
May you like
"You look worse than yesterday."
Sarah handed her a coffee.
