Chapter 5
In the afternoon, the wedding concluded successfully. After sending the guests off, my alpha father immediately darkened his expression and continued urging my mother to call me. I had brought the greatest embarrassment to his alpha life.
Delilah’s eyes were red, and the few rhinestones at the corners of her eyes glistened with tears. She held my father’s hand and spoke soothingly, “Let it go, Dad. Peachy is still just a child; she might just be throwing a tantrum. As her sister, I shouldn’t hold it against her.”
Indeed, a rare glimmer of tenderness
crossed my father’s usually indifferent face.
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Abelard, clearly displeased, said, “Sis, you’re just thinking too highly of her. You treat her like a sister, but has she ever treated you as one?”
Delilah bit her lip, looking as if she were on the verge of tears.
I stood by, watching her, and felt a deep sense of irony. Delilah was always like this. The favoritism shown to her by the family was so blatant that it could not be ignored, yet she still felt it wasn’t enough. I knew she despised me, resenting me for every perceived slight, blaming me for “killing” our brother, and using my omega status as the perfect scapegoat.
At first, my mother, though she didn’t like me,
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wasn’t so harsh. On my birthdays, she would bring home a cake to celebrate.
But just as I was about to make a wish with the lit candles, Delilah suddenly burst into tears. She wiped her tears away and forced a brave smile.
“It’s nothing,” she said. “I just remembered that today should have been a celebration for both of us. Poor little brother…”
Her words made my mother’s face change instantly. I clasped my hands together, ready to make my wish, when my mother abruptly snatched away the candles.
“Eat, eat, eat! All you ever do is eat! Do you even have a heart, Peaches? Your brother died because of you!”
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I was stunned, staring at her in shock. My mother, even angrier, swept the cake into the trash.
After she went to her room, I looked at Delilah through tear–filled eyes. With no one else around, she finally revealed her true feelings.
At ten years old, Delilah’s face, though still bearing a gentle smile, spoke with a venomous edge.
“Peaches, why did you have to be born?”
She brushed her warm fingers across my face and then suddenly pinched it hard.
“Mom and Dad used to love only me. Now
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you’ve taken their love away. You should have died with your brother.”
I could never understand why she hated me so much. Yet, after Abelard was born, she treated him with such kindness.
When I was in college and Abelard was about to start high school–the most crucial year–my father was preoccupied with dealing with a pack of invading wolves, and my mother was focused on training soldiers to assist him.
My mother insisted that I drop out of college to take care of Abelard, but I refused.
She looked at me with cold, piercing eyes. “Peaches, don’t you understand the situation with the pack? How can you be so selfish?”
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After I went to college, Delilah, now twenty–two, suddenly decided she wanted to learn the piano. My mother had my bed and wardrobe thrown out and packed my clothes into storage.
My bedroom was transformed into Delilah’s piano room. She posted a video on social media of herself sitting at a new, expensive piano, bathed in sunlight, her smile serene.
When I called back, my mother, still angry that I wouldn’t listen to her, spoke coldly. “Now that you’re so independent and refuse to listen to me, why should we keep your room? You don’t plan on coming home anyway.”
Delilah took the phone. “Peachy, please don’t
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upset Mom. When you come back, you can share a room with me. We’ll make sure you have a place to stay.”
Even though she tried hard to hide it, there was still a hint of amusement in her voice. Just a month after I left, she was eager to have me out of the house. And my mother chose to silently approve and indulge her.
