Chapter 5

"When did Jasper and Sophia get together?"

I asked, keeping my voice down, my fingers gripping the phone case tightly.

Father coughed a few times, his voice weak:

"Not long after you all came back from the trip, Sophia got pregnant. Jasper said the child was his and he wanted to marry her."

He paused, then added: "That's when you found out."

I closed my eyes.

Not long after the trip.

That meant during the Hawaii trip, they were already together.

If I didn't go, I'd be making room for them.

The next morning, I drove them to the airport.

Sophia walked ahead, arm-in-arm with Jasper, chatting and laughing.

Mom was beside them helping Sophia push her suitcase.

Dad patted my shoulder and told me to work hard at home, then hurried to catch up with the three of them.

Jasper turned back and blew me a kiss: "Wait for me to come back and take you out for good food."

Sophia covered her mouth and giggled beside him.

I stood at the departure hall entrance, watching the four of them disappear into the security checkpoint.

They were a family. I was the outsider left behind.

In the afternoon, the family group chat started blowing up.

Sophia posted a video of the ocean-view room.

Jasper had filmed it for her. In the frame, she wore that bikini, twirling on the balcony with the azure sea behind her.

Mom replied: "Sophia is so beautiful."

Jasper posted a photo of himself with Sophia, captioned: "Helping Rayne take care of her little sister."

They were standing very close. His hand rested on her shoulder.

Dad liked it.

No one tagged me.

No one said "too bad Rayne couldn't come."

I muted the group chat notifications.

At 11 PM, Jasper sent me a private video message.

The text read: "Baby, look at the ocean view."

I clicked it open.

The video showed the hotel room with the lights on.

Sophia came out of the bathroom wearing a white bathrobe, her hair wet. When she saw he was recording, she screamed and lunged to grab the phone.

The two of them laughed as they tumbled onto the bed.

The video cut off there.

Immediately after, he sent a message:

"Sorry, sent that to the wrong person. Meant to send it to my buddy. Sophia coming out of the shower startled me."

Sent to the wrong person.

In the hotel room, Sophia in a bathrobe, him recording.

I stared at that video three times.

The first time, my hands shook.

The second time, my eyes stung.

The third time, I felt nothing at all.

I opened the hotel booking page and clicked cancel.

I opened the airline app and refunded all the return tickets.

Finally, I logged into the banking app and found Jasper's supplementary card.

It was linked to my primary card with a fifty-thousand-dollar limit. I changed the limit to zero.

Twenty minutes later, my phone vibrated frantically.

Caller ID: Dad.

I watched the name flashing on the screen. I didn't answer.

It rang once, twice, three times.

On the fourth ring, a text came in.

"Rayne, have you lost your mind! Why can't my credit card be used! Call me back!"

Sender: Jasper.

I flipped the phone over, screen-down on the table.

Then I took a shower, dried my hair, and got into bed.

Before sleeping, I glanced at my phone one last time. Twenty-three missed calls, over forty messages.

I'll deal with it tomorrow.