Chapter 4 Ties of The Past

Flashback

Janice's hands move slowly to ward off the sun. She plans to spend time with Callista this afternoon, painting in their backyard. Some maids had prepared canvases and all the simple painting utensils a 10 and 15-year-old would need.

Callista, her older sister, had already learned to paint two years ago. Janice always admired her sister's paintings, and she won several painting competitions at her school. One day, when she starts high school, Janice will be in the painting competition, just like her sister. Therefore, now she works hard to improve her skills and produce such magnificent paintings as Callista did.

"I think you should put some red on there." Janice pointed to a flower drawn by her sister.

Compared to Janice, Callista's paintings clearly look much better. But something bothered her, and her sister always gave a slightly less conspicuous color on every plant and flower she drew. Looks like Callista doesn't really like the flowers and plants in her painting

"Is this your painting?!" Callista placed small pallets and flat brushes that she had just used to sharpen the angle of the image.

Janice flinched for a moment, then she stepped back.

"Just look at your pathetic painting. You should put a lot of color in there!" Callista looked at Janice's paintings with a pitiful look.

Janice breathed quietly. Well, Janice is still learning. Of course, her painting is not as good as Callista's. Besides, it's impossible for Janice to compete with Callista's paintings. Even though Janice had learned for years, she believed Callista's skills would never be defeated.

"Hey, girls! What are you doing?"

Two young men came from behind and made Janice turn her head enthusiastically. She was glad that Jacob and Julian finally visited their home.

Let Janice explain. Janice and Callista's parents knew Jacob and Julian's parents, so they eventually met at some of their father's business events and became closer by visiting each other. Jacob has been Callista's school friend since they were in elementary school. And Julian is Jacob's older brother. He is one year older than Jacob and Callista. Among them, Janice is the youngest. Their age difference often makes Janice unable to follow the conversation or the game they are doing.

"Jacob, what do you think about my painting? I was nervous because I hadn't been in the competition for a long time. Do you think I can win this competition?" Callista lay on Jacob's arm.

Callista was closer to Jacob than Julian because they were the same age and went to the same school. Or maybe because Jacob is more talkative than Julian, who is always busy with his books. Julian was very quiet. He rarely spoke and would just follow Jacob wherever he went.

"Nice. You always make good paintings." Jacob's comment as he moved his hand to touch the angle of Callista's drawing that began to dry up.

"Just good? Oh, I thought you would compliment me on my paintings." Callista took off his arm and walked away from Jacob with a sullen face.

Janice, Callista, Jacob, and Julian go to the same school. Their schools have elementary, high, and senior high schools in one location. Janice and her friends often saw Callista and Jacob at several school locations. Some of Janice's classmates said that Jacob and Callista were dating.

"You always make perfect paintings, Callista. Don't be insecure. Whenever you run a competition, I'm sure you'll win." Jacob spoke in long sentences because he didn't want to make Callista more angry.

"Well, how about a look at my other collection of paintings? You can make comments to help me feel more confident."

Jacob's words can make Callista's mood change instantly. She was happy again. Now she began to pull Jacob's hand into the house to see her collection in the small gallery that had been built to keep their paintings. Yes, at first, the gallery was created to collect the paintings of two of them. But now, the room is only dominated by a Callista's painting.

"Sure," Jacob said with pleasure, "Julian, let's come to look at the Callista's collection!" He turned around, looked at Julian, and waved his hand to his brother.

Julian lifted the book in his hand and then answered calmly, "I'll wait here."

"Oh, come on, why are you so busy with that book? The 12th-grade exam is a long way off." Callista turns around and pulls out Julian's hand.

One interesting piece of information that Janice missed in her explanation of Julian was the fact that he would graduate earlier than his peers because Julian had an acceleration program.

"I want to read my book," Julian answered, raising his eyebrows.

Janice was curious, so she approached Julian timidly and peeked at the contents of the book he was reading

"Well, let him do whatever he wants to do, Callista. Don't bother my brother, or you'll make me miserable all day because he's upset." Jacob stopped Callista who was still whining and tried to force Julian to go along with her.

"Your life is very boring. I hope you realize that being smart doesn't change anything. We're destined to inherit the company no matter what happens." Callista shrugged her shoulders and walked away from Julian.

Janice heard a lot about the heir to the family company. According to her friends, an heir is the eldest son in the family, he will take care of the family company after his father retires. However, since Janice's parents had no sons, it seemed Callista would be the heir. Besides that, Callista is the older daughter in her family. She is also more powerful and more competent than her.

"Well, that's your family rule. Not the same as my family." Julian says.

Callista squints her eyes. It's normal for Callista to get annoyed when someone doesn't do what she wants.

"Come on, Callista."

Realizing that things were about to get worse, Jacob chose to pull Callista's hand and force her to go into the house.

But when he neared the door, he turned his head again. "Janice? Aren't you coming with us?"

Someone finally noticed her existence. She thinks she's been an invisible creature ever since.

To be honest, Janice wanted to go with Jacob and Callista because she usually couldn't enter the gallery carelessly. Callista had the key to the room because she didn't like seeing other people come in and look at her paintings. Only certain people—who have received permission from Callista are allowed to enter the gallery. And yes… Janice hadn't visited the room in a long time.

Janice indeed wants to come to visit her gallery. However, when she saw Callista's angry face, Janice finally gave up and decided to shake her head.

"No, I want to stay here" After that, Janice fell silent and stared at her picture long and long.

After that, Janice was silent and stared at her painting. Even though no one pays attention to her work, Janice is still proud that she finally managed to finish her painting.

It didn't matter if no one appreciated her, Janice was used to being knocked out by her sister's shine and ability.

"Nice painting," Julian commented while covering his face with a book.

Janice turned her head. She blinked slowly, feeling disbelief at what she had just heard.

"Really?" She asked, unable to mask the enthusiastic look clearly on her face.

"Yes."

Janice smiled widely. This is the first time anyone other than her parents gave her painting a good grade.

"Thank you." The remnants of a smile were still evident as she spoke to Julian.

There was no reaction from Julian. He just raised an eyebrow and turned his attention back to the book in his lap.

Since then, Janice's thought of Julian has changed. She was no longer a child who wanted to play with her sister's friends, but there was another feeling that came every time she was close to Julian. Happy. That's how Janice felt.

She just turns out Julian wasn't as bad as she thought.

***

Janice awoke from her sleep because of the sound of a ringing alarm quite loudly. Her head immediately throbbed with pain when she realized she had just fallen asleep on the table, not on her bed.

She remembered that last night she was busy taking care of the flower ordering process in her shop, which was difficult to get supplies from several flower plantations. She doesn't know if it's just her feelings or if all the plantations are deliberately refusing her order.

However, she didn't want to get too caught up in her suspicions. Last night, after struggling to find a new supplier, she finally found a plantation that was willing to be her supplier. The flowers there were much more expensive, but she had no other choice. Of course, she didn't want to see her florist run out of flowers.

After showering and applying natural makeup, Janice got ready to go to the flower shop. Even though it was so late, she decided to keep coming. What would people say if she didn't come to the store while all the employees worked hard from morning to night?

The doorbell rang at the apartment door just as Janice was about to open it.

She was already in front of the door, so she decided to open it without looking at the intercom screen on the wall near the living room, about four steps from where she was standing.

Janice frowned when she saw a woman standing with her back to her. Even from behind, Janice knew who had come to visit her apartment. How could Janice have forgotten the one person she missed so the most?

"Mom?"

Janice almost dropped the phone and the car keys in her hands.

Her body trembled as she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

Her mother… came to see her?

Is Janice dreaming? Janice shook her head stupidly. Of course, she wasn't dreaming because she remembered that she had just woken up a few minutes ago to the sound of her cell phone alarm.

Without saying anything, her mother entered the apartment and sat in the living room with a stiff gesture as if she felt uncomfortable.

Janice smiled, trying to give the best welcome to her mother.

"I'll make tea for you, Mom. I hope Mommy doesn't—"

"No need." Her mother cut in quickly.

Janice blinked for a second and then decided to come out of the kitchen because it seemed her mother didn't want to drink her tea.

No problem, maybe now her mother's habits have changed. Perhaps she doesn't drink tea in the morning like before

"Cancel your marriage plan."

Without bothering to look at Janice, her mother handed her a photo showing Callista who was on vacation with Julian, her fiancé. They seem to have arrived in Japan and are enjoying their holiday together. What a beautiful photo. Julian looks gorgeous, and Callista seems perfect, as always. But the fact behind the picture wasn't as beautiful as it looked. Julian was her fiancee, but he went on vacation with Callista, which is Janice's sister.

"Do you know that Callista and Julian… are together?" Janice turned the photo sheet. She didn't want to hurt herself even more by forcing herself to keep staring at the photo where her older sister and fiancé posed like a couple on a romantic getaway.

"Do you need to hear an explanation from someone else? By looking at this photo, you should be able to come to your own conclusions." Her mother looked at her scornfully.

Janice closed her eyes. Trying hard to remember the beautiful things in her life to hold back her tears. People say that good memory can make us distract from a broken heart. But unfortunately, almost all the good memories that Janice remembers, have Julian in them. He has always been a part of her life, which completes her happiness until five years ago, a terrible incident occurred and made Janice lose her happiness until now.

"I… I don't know why Mommy bothers to come to me in the morning when I know you are very busy,"

"Don't be too wordy. We don't need to talk about it. Get straight to the point. Cancel your marriage."

Janice looked at her mother with hurt eyes. It was really hard to believe that after making an ultimatum that she would not come to her daughter's wedding, she still had to say another hurtful sentence.

Did Janice have to cancel her marriage to Julian because Callista was in a relationship with him? However, wasn't the purpose of this marriage is Julian's revenge on her? And Janice deserved all the punishment that Julian prepared because she had hurt his heart. Janice let Julian live in misery, she made Julian suffer every time.

"What did you expect, Janice? Julian loves Callista. He married you only to avenge you. He hate you. Don't you know it?"

And it turns out that her mother knows the reason behind her marriage to Julian.She knew everything, but she didn't seem to care about her. She was just trying to fight for Callista's happiness, who was now on vacation with Julian. Only Callista, no Janice's name in her mother's heart.

She didn't know why she felt jealous when she should have gotten used to her mother's greater love and care for Callista.

"Is it all because of Callista? Is she loves Julian?" Janice asked.

Her hands were clenched at her sides, trying to hold back the burst of emotion that suddenly overtook her heart.

After so many years she had gotten used to holding herself back, this time she too would do the same.

"Julian loves Callista, and so does Callista. You can't be between them. You need to know that you will not get what you want. After you destroy all of our happines, please don't come to destroy Callista's happines. You don't know how hard she is trying to get up from her sadness."

There was a sad look in her mother's eyes, but she immediately changed her expression and looked away, reluctant to look at Janice.

Hearing her mother's words made Janice realize how much she loved Callista and cared about everything about her sister. But why didn't her mother care about Janice? If she cares about Callista's sadness, so how about Janice? If she cares about Callista's happines, so how about Janice?

Even her mother knew that Janice had loved Julian all this time. But she still asked Janice to cancel the wedding.

"Mom, will you be angry if I say that I choose to continue this marriage?"

'Because I love him so much..' Janice continued the sentence quietly in her heart.

"You're going to live in misery between your husband and your sister's relationship?"

Janice nodded her head sadly. If that's what she has to do, then it seems like Janice will have to start getting used to being hurt. Because for the last five years, Janice has been friends with disappointment. So maybe it won't be difficult to endure the same wound again.

"Yes."

"You're an idiot, Janice. You've always been stupid. Unlike Callista who is much smarter than you in every way."

Her mother got up and walked out of Janice's apartment. She did not turn her head, nor did she say goodbye or give a parting smile. She just kept walking steadily to leave Janice who was still frozen alone.

Since the first, she had always lost to Callista. Her sister, who is beautiful, bright, and has many talents, is certainly not worthy of being compared to Janice, who is always mediocre in everything. Janice is not a suitable rival for Callista. But fate made them born as sisters so Janice had to accept the fact that for the rest of her life, she would always be overshadowed by the comparisons and judgments of others towards her and Callista.

Nevertheless,, Janice still didn't expect her mother to say such a hurtful sentence to her. People will only speak to inflict pain and make her suffer more. And Janice must face all of this for the rest of her life.

Maybe if she was a normal person, then she would avoid everyone who could potentially hurt her, but unfortunately, she is not a normal person. Rather than run and go away from the world that always hurts her, she prefers to accept it all.

Because she knows all those hurtful sentences were deserved to her because of her past mistakes.