But when you told me the whole story I felt like throwing up

22

Valentina's POV
My heart race as I scanned my surroundings. The celebration was full of people. More people than what I expected.
I thought it was going to be like a family get together, but no. The whole Uchiha clan was there. I was so nervous. So nervous that I was playing with the pearl necklace I put around my neck to hide the scissor cut from earlier today.

There was no reason to be nervous. Everyone was chilling. Walking around, talking. Having fun. Plus, I blend right in with my dark hair. And I knew people.... I knew Sasuke, Karin, Itachi. It's not like I was some weirdo who showed up uninvited....or at least that's what I desperately wanted to believe.

"Bro are you okay?" Sasuke asked me with a smirk across his face. "You look scared out of your mind!"

I looked at him confused. He is a completely different person now that the Uchiha are all alive. And it's all thanks to me.

"She's fine," Karin quickly spoke for me. And I'm glad she did. It's been difficult for me to talk. What if I went mute again in the middle of the party. I imagined my new tongue just falling off from my mouth and that would become another reason for people to look at me weird.

"Look Lily. This is my older brother Itachi," Sasuke introduced me to Itachi as he was passing by.

I shook Itachi's hand feeling speechless.

"Yes...we've met before," Itachi said and I felt my heart drop. Did Itachi really recognize me?
"We've bumped into each other a few days ago in Konoha."

I felt myself relax. For the first time I was glad that Itachi didn't recognize me. I didn't have a plan if my real identity became known.

Obito joined the conversation and I felt a ringing in my ears. Unable to make out what he was telling Itachi. But the way that Sasuke, Itachi and Obito smiled and talked made it obvious how happy they were with their lives.
Their happiness over mine. The price I had to pay for everyone to be happy was to be alone.
But I will be happy this time.

I made eye contact with Itachi again. The way he looked at me..
Like if he was trying to remember, but there's no way he could recognize me after all these years.
The way Itachi looked at me was different than how everybody else in the party has looked at me. Itachi didn't judge me. He was so kind.

I was snapped to reality as Karin politely excused herself from the conversation and dragged me along with her. "Why is wrong with you? At least try to hide your obsession with him." Her voice was like a whisper but I could perfectly hear it despite the loud music and multiple people talking.

Karin took me inside Itachi's house. My eyes scanned the living room while my brain created scenarios of me and Itachi living in this house and raising his daughter as our own.

"Lily this is Lilian," Karin interrupted my thoughts as she introduced me to the other woman. The woman I hated. The woman whose reflection I wanted to be, Itachi's wife.

"Nice to meet you," she shook my hand with a genuine smile across her face. Lilian always so kind, makes me sick to my stomach. If only I could have beautiful feelings like her. Lilian smiled at me and I forced a smile back completely ignoring the pain it caused my sensitive-due-to-the-bleach face.

Karin, Lilian and me sat down on a table. I just sat there full of jealousy. How Lilian knew how to talk to people. Kept the conversation going. Everyone wanted to talk to her. So kind, so beautiful.

I've always loved Karin, she's like my sister, but at this moment I hated her. Why would she bring me here with that other woman? Did Karin bring me here so that I could see how everyone liked Lilian? How Lilian was better than me in every way?
Did Karin want to make me feel bad? Because she did. I would kill myself in front of everyone if there was something sharp nearby.

"Hey Lilian-Chan! Karin-Chan!" A cheerful feminine voice greeted Karin and Lilian.
I looked up by instinct.

A woman with long brown hair and purple stripes across her cheeks.
A pregnant woman.

"Hi Rin-Chan!" Lilian exclaimed hugging her. But there was no need for Lilian to say the pregnant woman's name.
I knew she was Rin. The image of Obito choosing her, choosing death over having a life with me was still fresh in my head.
The image of Obito's full attention being on Rin while I died was fresh in my mind.

I could never forget.