Farewell, Sisi

Alec Gray was my secret crush back in high school.

When my face was slashed and they bent my fingers back until the bones nearly snapped, he was the one who saved me.

So, naturally, we ended up getting married.

After the wedding, he was devoted, gentle, and faithful.

But on our third wedding anniversary, when I went to his office to surprise him, I overheard a phone call. "You didn't like Selina back then, so I had her bullied to please you. And still, you left the country without looking back. I married her just to get back at you for leaving me. Serena, you're the only one in my heart. Every time I see Selina, I'm reminded of how much I love you."

Yet later, when he saw blood flowing from me, his eyes turned red like a madman.

1

Hearing Alec's tender words to the woman on the other end of the line, I couldn't hold back my tears anymore. They streamed down my cheeks, dripping onto the back of the hand gripping the doorknob.

Light and soundless, leaving no mark

Yet I felt as if my entire world had just collapsed.

Serena Burgess was my twin sister. When our parents divorced, our mother took me away. Scarlett believed I had stolen her mother, so in high school, she made me her target.

I became the outlet for all her rage, and for her gang of so-called friends too.

Until sophomore year, when she went abroad.

I thought I could finally breathe.

But the day she left on that plane turned out to be the day I almost died.

I had always been a top student. The day our grades were posted, during the second break, a group of boys and girls dragged me into a storage room.

Just because I was number one.

They crumpled up my grade sheet and stuffed it into my mouth, laughing wickedly. "Number one in the class, huh? So glamorous! What's the matter now? Can't even speak?"

Then came the usual beating and insults I had long grown numb to.

I closed my eyes, my earlier joy completely wiped away, my senses shutting down as if to protect me.

But this time, they weren't satisfied.

The ringleader snarled, like I had provoked him with my silence. "Playing dead, huh? Who do you think you're fooling, Miss Perfect?" he roared.

They held me down, their hands everywhere, pinning me so I couldn't even twitch. Then he grabbed my hand, forcing my fingers back one by one until the joints strained and popped.

The sharp crack of bone ripped through the air as white-hot pain exploded in my skull.

Blood seeped from torn skin, dripping onto the floor while agony burned through every nerve in my fingertips.

No strength to beg. No voice to scream.

Time stretched endlessly. Tears streamed down my face, but the sound stuck in my throat.

He still wasn't satisfied. He stomped on my hand, then slashed two deep cuts across my face with a knife.

Tears streamed down my face, stinging as they slipped over the open gashes, mixing with blood before dripping onto my uniform.

He burst into cruel laughter, pointing at me like I was some freak show for the others to enjoy.

When they had had their fun, they left the storage room in a pack, laughing like nothing had happened.

Leaving me bound and gagged, crumpled on the floor, alone.

I don't know how long I lay there before I blacked out.

When I woke up, I was in a hospital bed.

And there he was-Alec Gray.

His eyes bloodshot, dark circles under them, a rough shadow of stubble on his chin.

He was the one who brought me here. The one who made those bullies pay.

No exaggeration-he gave me a second chance at living.

But now, it all feels like a joke.

I was shaking with rage, but beneath it all, a crushing wave of despair swept through me, draining the very life out of my body.

And I realized, the man I thought was my savior, my redemption, was only playing a part to win Serena back.

My heart was breaking beyond control, while just through the door, Alec and Serena were flirting like nothing was wrong.

His voice was dripping with affection, every word so gentle it felt like a soft caress.

2

I stumbled out to the fire escape and broke down in tears.

Why? Why did it have to be like this?

He used to be so good to me.

He paid all my medical bills. He even stayed by my side through every painful day in the hospital.

When I woke up and touched the hideous scar on my face, he held my hand, brushed his fingers gently across it, and looked into my eyes. "Sisi, don't feel ashamed. You're beautiful, no matter what."

After I returned to school, I heard those bullies were expelled. No one dared touch me again.

Even though I knew he and Selina had been high school sweethearts, I still fell for him.

He was the first person in my life who ever treated me that well.

When we were in college, he knelt before me with a cake in his hand and said, "Sisi, give me a chance to love you. Please."

I drowned in his eyes and said yes without hesitation.

He saved me when I was at my lowest and most broken, never caring about my appearance. I believed he would love me more than he ever loved Serena.

Looking back now, the "Sisi" he always called was probably Serena, not me, Selina.

"He's my salvation," I once wrote in my diary.

And now?

I let the tears stream down my face.

Alec's words hit me like a hard slap, nearly shattering me.

When this beautiful dream crumbled, leaving behind only schemes and betrayal, I was shocked to realize I had nowhere left to turn.

I married him right after graduation.

Because of my insecurity about my appearance and Alec's advice not to overwork myself, I never went out to work. The only thing of value I ever did was offer a few ideas for his company.

If I leave him now, I have nowhere to go.

My father only cared for Serena, and my mother remarried and never wanted me in her new life.

When I called her during the bullying, sobbing for help, she said, "Don't call me again."

Then she hung up, ignoring my desperate pleas for help.

So Alec became the only lifeline I had in this world.

And now that lifeline felt like a noose tightening around my throat, dragging my heart down into an endless pit.

3.

I stumbled out of Alec's office and sank onto a nearby park bench.

The spring sunshine was warm on my skin, but all I felt was a chilling cold inside.

The musty, rotten smell of that old storage room flooded my nostrils again, reminding me that these past few years of peace and harmony had been nothing but a carefully crafted lie.

I was still that girl, curled up and struggling to breathe amidst the bullies' moods-their anger, joy, and cruelty suffocating me.

I don't know how long I sat there before a car pulled up beside me.

It was Alec.

He jumped out anxiously and pulled me up from the bench.

"What are you doing sitting here?" he asked.

I looked at him with hollow, tired eyes. "Alec, today's our wedding anniversary."

He nodded. "Yeah, babe. I bought a cake. It's in the backseat. And there's a necklace for you too."

Noticing my gloom, he handed me the necklace.

I opened the box.

Alec was always generous, and the necklace was a custom piece from some luxury brand.

But now, seeing the engraving "S" on it felt like a knife twisting in my heart.

Was that the "S" of Serena, or the "S" of me, Selina?

I couldn't help but give a bitter smile as I gently touched my belly.

Yes, I was pregnant.

This was supposed to be the surprise I planned to give him on our anniversary.

But now...

4

Despite everything, I still planned to keep this child.

This little one was connected to me by blood, soon to be the person closest to me in the world.

That child would give me a true home.

No matter what...

But then the unexpected happened.

A week before my birthday, Alec kissed me and asked, "Babe, your birthday's next week. Let's throw a birthday party."

I nodded, numb and indifferent.

On the day of the party, Alec dressed me in elegance and luxury.

The woman in the mirror wore a mask, revealing only a pair of clear almond-shaped eyes, her delicate features framed perfectly.

I wore a custom-made gown, a pure white mermaid dress adorned with diamonds like stars scattered across the night sky.

After hesitating, I took off the mask, revealing the lower half of my face.

An old scar stretched across it, marring what was once a delicate beauty.

Harsh, glaring, impossible to ignore.

I turned and prepared to face the guests.

For years, I had been too ashamed of the scar to ever show myself without a mask. But now, knowing the truth of the past, I didn't want to live in such fear anymore.

I used to worry that Alec's friends and business partners would mock him for having a wife with such a frightening face. Now, it seemed that worry was all in my head.

This was the first time I faced the world without hiding behind a mask.

I took several deep breaths, trying to steady my restless heart.

When I went downstairs, I saw a group of people gathered around a woman.

She looked strikingly like me, but without the horrifying scar on her face.

It was Serena.

Anger bubbled up inside me, almost impossible to control.

How could I have forgotten? Today wasn't just my birthday - it was also Serena's, my twin sister's birthday.

Alec stood next to Serena. One tall and graceful, the other ethereal and stunning - they made quite the picture.

I studied Serena closely.

Years apart had only made her more beautiful.

Unlike my shrinking self, she had always been proud and confident, like an elegant white swan.

My eyes fixed on the delicate necklace around her slender neck - the very same necklace Alec had given me for our anniversary.

A metallic, bitter taste rose in my throat as my knuckles whitened from clenching my fists.

How ridiculous.

Wasn't this supposed to be my birthday party? So why was Serena here, acting like the hostess?

I slowly descended the stairs.

The faces crowding around Serena - many were familiar, people who had bullied me before.

Their faces blurred together, dragging me back into those dark, hopeless high school days.

But the sharp sting of the ring on my finger pulling me back to the present snapped me out of my memories.

As I scanned the crowd, their eyes finally settled on me.

Whispers rose like a swarm, swirling around me.

"Who is that woman? That scar on her face is terrifying..."

"That's Selina Burgess? Why is she here?"

"She even came downstairs."

"Is she here to bully Serena?"

Alec's face darkened, and he shouted, "Enough!"

He started walking toward me, but Serena stopped him.

Her expression was sorrowful, tears threatening to fall. "Alec, it all started because of me. Let me go and apologize to Selina." Her words hung in the air as tears finally spilled from her eyes.