The restaurant incident

Three months ago. 

 The conference room hummed with quiet tension, the air thick with unspoken alliances and simmering rivalries. 

Shock rendered Karma speechless, her lips parted but no words came out. That..that was her revolutionary idea. 

The idea she'd spent so many sleepless nights working on. 

Her stepsister stood at the podium, her blond hair tied into a ponytail. She flashed a blinding smile at her audience and everyone cheered. 

It was a quiet murmur of approval, so vastly different from the roar of confusion inside her head. 

She stood up by rote, her chair making a scraping noise. Everyone stared at her with distaste. 

Seraphina glided to her seat, beautiful and radiant, as if she hadn't just stole someone's work.

She smiled at Karma with her brightly lit hazel eyes, she received a stony stare instead. 

Agitated and barely conscious of her thoughts, she was glad when the meeting was declared over. 

She grabbed Seraphina's hand and dragged her into a narrow corridor. She turned to her stepsister with an expression of extreme disbelief. 

"Look Karma, I can explain," she began hurriedly. 

Cold air whipped her face, making it pink. Tension bunched her shoulders together and she stood with her arms akimbo.

Karma nodded her head, making a motion with her hand. 

"I did this for you. I swear, I'm on your side. This idea…I do not want it to go to waste. It's all you've been working on." Her voice was trembling, her face earnest as she grabbed hold of Karma's hand. 

"You did it for me?" Karma snatched her hands away with disbelief.

 "Did you realize what you've done?! You stole my idea" She whispered, the words clogging her throat.

She blinked back the tears rapidly, "All my efforts, everything is going to go to you!" 

Tears streamed on Seraphina's face, shimmering wetly on her made up face. Agony shone on her face and she hiccuped.

"Don't you see?" Seraphina said, her voice laced with urgency. "Nobody would accept this idea as yours. Nobody would be in support of it, if it's coming from you." 

Karma took a step back, her back colliding with the green wall. The tears hung on her eyelashes, and she took a deep breath. 

Anger churned inside her belly, urging her to do something. To move. To shake Seraphina vigorously.

But Karma knew her sister's argument was a sound one. 

"I see," but she didn't. She sniffed and flashed a wet smile at her sister. 

Seraphina had always been the pretty talker of the two stepsisters. Her twinkling eyes and ready smile earn her whatever she was looking for. 

Nobody stood a chance. Whatever Seraphina wants, she gets.

"I know you'll understand," Seraphina grabbed her hands in her perfectly manicured ones and smiled brightly, "you always have. You're the best thing that has ever happened to me." 

Hurt flared in her sternum, and her vision swarmed with tears. She had really given it her all this time. Hoping that when her father sees this, he'll be proud of her. 

Perhaps he'll glance her way for once.

But this was her sister. Could she really hold the grudge against her?

Karma nodded, her smile warming. How could she stay angry at that innocent face for long? 

"Let's grab dinner after work." Seraphina's chipper voice made her smile. 

"Oh but I have plans already." Karma's voice was apologetic.

She had made plans with her fiance tonight, with the strong hope that her proposal would be accepted by the board committee meeting. 

"With Ethan?" Seraphina inquired sweetly. 

Karma did not notice the hard and calculating look that flickered on her face, but then it was gone in a minute. 

Karma nodded. 

"Oh but that's just perfect! We could celebrate with him." Seraphina cooed. 

Karma shrugged hesitantly, not really sold on it. She had missed her fiance with these past weeks filled with her busy schedule. 

But Seraphina wiggled her eyebrow in a way that forced a laugh out of her. 

"It's been so long since our last trio dinner. Let's make this one about my celebration. Father was talking about my promotion!" She giggled. 

Anger spiked her blood once more, but she managed a smile. 

"I'll call Ethan and let him know." Karma said, her hands moving involuntarily to rub her chest. 

Seraphina kissed Karma's cheeks repeatedly and glided away. 

Karma stood there, her back inclined to the wall. She took deep breaths, reminding herself that to be a bigger person. 

The bigger person she'd always been. If this promotion went to her sister because of her idea, then it wasn't really a bad thing. 

She would work her ass off and come up with a new one. She always has. 

She wiped the corner of her eyes and pasted a small smile firmly on her face. 

She grabbed her phone and dialed a number. The receiver picked up on the last ring. 

"Hello?" she said into the phone. 

"I'm quite busy Karma, what can I do for you?" Was Ethan gruff reply. 

Karma swallowed against the constriction in her throat and forced her voice to be bright, "Do you remember our plans for tonight?" 

"As I said, I'm quite busy. If there's anything important…" 

"Seraphina wants to join in. Just like the old times." She rushed on. 

The receiver end was silent for a while, in which Karma could hear the thump thump of her heart. 

"Did she now? Quite good of her to join us. I'll be there." His voice was softer, a good deal nicer too. 

"Okay then." She took a deep breath and said, "I miss you." 

"You know I miss you too. I have to go now." 

The call was disconnected with a light beep. 

Somehow, she didn't think he was excited to meet with her. He sounded far more excited at the mention of her stepsister appearance. 

But perhaps she was reading too muc

h into things as Ethan likes to accuse. 

She was going to have dinner with her stepsister and her fiance, yet she stared at her reflection in the office glass, she had never felt so invisible.