I'm sorry

Rochelle broke the hug and leaned her head back. She stared at Ander disturbed. One moment she was getting ready to go to dinner with him and the next, she was in his arms. It confused her.

"Say that again," Ander pleaded.

He looked expectantly at Rochelle expecting her to speak to him as his wife did. Dressed in her clothes and standing there before him it was as though Raya hadn't left his side at all.

"Say what?" Rochelle asked startled by his actions. He was looking at her the way she had seen him looking at Raya when the girl was still alive and it didn't sit well with her.

She wasn't her sister and as the world had made abundantly clear, she can never even fit in her shoes. She lacked the grace that her sister had and hence, she was always in her sister's shadow.

"You know what I want Raya," Ander said taking her hands and closing the distance between them. She wished that she should comfort him and tell him that she was still there with him.

The reality without her was unbearable. It had only been a few days since she died and left him behind and he was falling apart.

Rochelle stood still in his arms, too scared to move. She didn't know how to break it to the man that she wasn't her sister. Or the fact that her sister will never come to him. again because of her.

It broke her heart to see him in that condition. A reminder that her selfishness separated a man from his wife forever. She opened her mouth, but no words came out.

Tears flowed down her eyes. The situation was getting out of hand and it was getting hard to breath.

"Why are you crying, dear?" Ander inquired from her wiping her tears with his thumb. His hand felt warm against Rochelle's cheek. She felt even more guilty.

She pressed her lips together and remained quiet. She didn't have it in her to clear the misunderstanding with Ander that his wife was gone from the world forever. Raya was never going to be with him again, she wasn't ever going to be able to love him as she was no more.

"Did your sister say something to you?" Ander raised a question. Rochelle went stiff. "You know that nothing will ever make that girl happy. You have to stop letting her suck the oxygen of the room you are in," he advised her.

Rochelle blinked. Unable to process his words, it was rare that her sister ever spoke about her feelings to her. It was always her ranting on and on about this and that and how unfair life was.

She never thought about how her words would affect her sister or how hurt they made her. She had never been a third party to see how other people saw her.

Ander's words hit home and they hit hard. She had sucked every breath out of her sister. That Raya wasn't breathing anymore, she was dead.

Her jealousy and envy blinded her so much that she didn't realize her wrongs until it was too late to change. Raya was gone and she was going to get her back, she would never get the chance to say sorry to her.

The chance to make up for all her shortcomings. A chance to be the sister that Raya deserved by her side. Death was irreversible and the regrets in her heart will follow her to the end of time.

She had never known how much her sister loved and adored her. After all the sacrifices the girl made, she was left behind with the guilt of her hatred.

She had learned her lesson, but it was too late.

"I'm sorry," she uttered apologetically.

Ander blinked hearing her words. He stared at her and met her gaze, looking into her eyes, he dropped her hands. He stepped back in a hurry and glanced away from Rochelle.

The reality dawned on him that she wasn't his wife. The softness in his eyes vanished being replaced by cold eyes full of hatred.

"Sorry for taking her away or for being happy to take her place?" Ander fired a question at her.

Rochelle shot her gaze at him, she wondered what part of her indicated that she was happy. She was the opposite of happy, she was sad, angry, confused, and regretful but not happy.

She shook her head at his accusations. It was not what she desired, she wished that he would know that she wasn't interested in being Raya and no part of what was happening was what she wanted.

"I never wanted her to..."

"Save the lies for someone who doesn't know you," Ander uttered.

Rochelle opened her mouth to defend herself but he started walking away uninterested in what she had to say. She was left alone in the room startled and confused.

Her heart breaks into pieces from Ander's accusations. She wasn't sure what she would do to get the man to change his opinion of her.

She regretted everything that she had done. It wasn't fair and Raya deserved better, and she was going to prove it by fulfilling her last wish. She will love and care for everything that Raya loved and make sure that they don't miss her so much.

Rochelle stepped forward, straightening her back. She got mentally and emotionally ready to meet the rest of Raya's family for dinner.

She opened the door and trudged outside the room. She locked the door behind her and looked ahead.

"Mommy," a little boy rushed over to her and gave her waist a big hug.

Rochelle froze.