Hypocrisy

Hypocrite! Lily thought angrily and calmly opened the white envelope. Before showing one of Nelli's snapshots to her sister. With an empty gaze she looked at Nadine, who suddenly stared with great interest at the photo in her hand. Her flushed face lost all color.

Lily had a strange feeling while doing this, especially since she did not like to threaten people, let alone her own sister. She hadn't planned this either, if Nadine would have been just a guest at her wedding today...

Nelli had only given Lily the threatening snapshots as a prophylactic measure. She had known Nadine almost as long as she had Lily.

But today her younger sister didn't want to give Lily any choice and tried to push her into a corner again, forcing her to take this drastic step, which was against all moral concepts of the girl. Lily realized that at that moment she became one of those hypocrites who claimed to stand up for their ideals. Yet she betrayed all those ideals, as soon as the smallest stone was in her way. She knew she was a coward. A part of her wanted to back down immediately. The tension in her body made her rigid. She forced herself to stay calm on the outside, although inside she wanted to die out of nervousness. "I got some more of these. Still dying to share my secret?!"

"What do you want!"

Lily shook her head speechlessly. An iron disappointment was building up inside her. She was tired from all the arguments with Nadine. She didn't know what had gone wrong in her sisterly relationship. That Nadine must hate her so much. But she was aware of one thing. There was no salvation for either of them. All they would ever do was hurt each other. Lily had to draw a line in the sand to save her own heart. "Frankly, I don't care what you and Pascal are up to behind my back. I've put it behind me. But please don't drag me into this. I've had enough of your games, and I only hope to be left alone by the two of you in the future. I just wish you all the happiness in the world, be happy together. That's all I want." It may be true. Once she had been bitterly wounded by the betrayal of her nearest and dearest. But that was long ago. Time had healed her heart. She wanted nothing more to do with them. That was the truth. Now she could only look back at the events of the past from afar and do what a big sister would do. Although it hurt her she wished Nadine happiness in her life with all her heart. But this happiness would no longer be built on Lily's back.

Nadine laughed bitterly. "My happiness! What bullshit! They won't be able to protect you forever." Hysteria cut through her bright voice like a sharp knife. The tone became rougher and sharper, all hypocrisy disappeared from her words. "All right, maybe you won this round. As you wish, I will quietly watch your wedding from the back seat. But there will be consequences!"

Nadine gave the bride a look dripping with hate before she hissed out of the room again.

Tired Lily leaned against the edge of the table. Looking into the flickering eyes of her reflection, she forced herself to smile. "Fighting!" She called to herself and threw her fists in the air in front of her face. "You must stay strong!" She tried to talk her way out of it before she asked the team of stylists into the room again.