Heartbeat

03| Secret

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Mila's POV

The happiness is infectious.

It starts as a tingle in my fingers and toes, much like the feeling I have when I'm anxious, but instead of worrisome it's warm. I feel it pass through me like a warm ocean wave, washing away the stress of my day to leave me refreshed inside.

As the wave fades I savour the memory of its gentle touch. The feeling is a blissful evocation of time spent with him everyday. How I loved those days when we walked on the sand and simply talked, laughed and made silly jokes. Those were the days my love, and I enjoyed every minute.

"I couldn't believe he popped the question Mia! Look at the ring!" I showed her the ring the moment I reached home.

She smiled weakly as tears of joy flowed down her cheeks before I pulled her gently for a hug.

Mia is my twin sister.

We were born 7 minutes apart, yet this 7 minutes caused us to encounter a totally different fate.

I am the older one, she is the younger one.

I am an extrovert, she is an introvert.

I am the healthy one, she is the unhealthy one.

I am the apple of my parent's eye, she is the unloved one.

She was diagnosed with a heart condition since birth and needed long term medical treatment.

It happened at the time when my father was at rock bottom. It was the time when his business went downhill and he had served time in prison for embezzlement, a criminal offense committed by his business partner. 

To make things worse, my grandmother suffered a heart attack due to the sudden news of his imprisonmen and he never got to see her at her deathbed. 

My father blamed the series of unfortunate events on Mia.

He sees her as an unlucky figure, a jinx of the family.  

When he was released from prison, he made a comeback in his career. He had learned from his mistakes to never trust anyone easily again and was ruthless when doing business.

He was still the same loving father to me, but not to Mia anymore.

He would lock her in the room at the basement and never wanted to see her when he was home. He blames her for every small things that happened to anyone in the household.

Despite the efforts from my mother and myself trying to salvage their relationship, he chose to turn a deaf ear to everything that we say. 

Although Mia always put on a strong front in front of me, I know she was deeply hurt by our father's behavior.

As a result of his negativity, Mia became inferior and insecure. She believes that she is an unfortunate figure and that her existence was unwanted. 

Due to my father's unfairness, I tried to love Mia on behalf of him.

Knowing how Mia longs to see the outside world, I would always share my daily encounters with her and take plenty of photographs for her.

Then there was once, she sneaked out of home, alone.

I vividly remembered the incident 10 years back. My mother and I were all dead worried when we could not find her in her room. It was also the first time I saw our mother crying. 

Yet my father was sipping his wine and reading the newspaper on the sofa as if it was not something concerning him. 

"Aren't you worried?" my mother questioned him as she walked towards the phone.