"1…2…3, cheese!" Ka-chick! The picture was taken, but everyone still had that genuine smile on their faces even as they dispersed to go about the celebration—well, everyone except Katie.
Katie was never the type who was good at faking a smile for so long.
She could feel the corners of her mouth hurt from all the forced smiles, and felt relief when she stopped smiling.
“Okay, now everyone gather, let's make a toast to the hottest, youngest couple," Katie's mom said as she took a bottle of champagne, ready to pop it.
Katie put on her fake smile again as she took her wine glass to where everyone now gathered.
They made the toast after the clinking of the glasses, and Katie took a sip. But the sight of Maggie and Joe being all lovey-dovey made it feel like she was trying to gulp down gravel.
Everything just felt so wrong to her, and she hated herself for feeling that way, but she couldn't help it. The thought that she was meant to be the one beside Joe, the one he looked at like he saw the only meaning of life, the one he was willing to spend his entire life with—it made her heart ache.
“Hey Katie, be a darling and help me get more wine from the house,” her mom snapped her out of her “what-if fairytale.” And reminded her that she didn't just hate herself for hating her sister's happiness, she also hated her mom.
“Sure,” Katie was quite happy she got an excuse to escape this cheerful nightmare of hers, although going back into Maggie and Joe's huge glass mansion made her remember all her regrets.
She went into the house, grabbed two bottles, and was about to leave the room before she stopped.
“Oh, what the hell? I can't go back there and act like I am alright,” she said as she sat down and popped a bottle open. She didn't even need a cup as she gulped the wine directly from the bottle.
She intended to drink her sorrows away, but for some reason, she started having revisits to the memories of the past.
She was just 22 years old back then when her career took off. She met Joe when he had nothing and still had just dreams of making it in life through his video game programming.
One night Katie was alone with her mom in the dining room. They were just having normal talks when Katie brought up something.
“Mom, I forgot to tell you. I am planning to invest in Joe's project.”
Immediately, her mom spewed the wine she sipped and laughed and asked her, “Wait, you are kidding, right?”
Katie didn't know exactly how to feel; she felt sad, angry, and ashamed all at once.
When her mom saw her face then she knew Katie wasn't making a joke, “OMG, you aren’t kidding,” Katie’s mom said, concerned.
“B-but…” Katie was still trying to figure out what she wanted to say.
“Look, it can never happen, you guys can't just work out. I let you see him at first because I thought you were smart. You have a life, but he is still dreaming; the only thing he is going to do is drag you down.”
“You don't understand, Mom, I love and trust him.”
Katie's mom looked at her with disappointment. “You should end it now before it goes even further. I want the best for you, and I don't want you to end up with someone like your dad. Please. I can't argue with you the way I argue with Maggie.”
That night Katie went to bed crying and thinking all night. She loved Joe, and she loved her mom too. Somehow, she had expected her mom's reaction. Her dad was never a responsible man, and then one day he disappeared with all they had, and after that Katie's mom saw any man who wasn't rich as her ex-husband.
Katie felt like she had no choice; Maggie was always the disappointment, while Katie was the golden child, so Katie didn't want it to change.
The next week, Katie didn't even have the courtesy to tell Joe to break up with her in person. She sent him a text with her mother's words, “…we can't work anymore. I feel like you’d just keep dragging me down.”
After that, she ghosted Joe and avoided him till he gave up on trying to reach her.
Two years later, Maggie met Katie, telling her how Joe was broken when she ended it with him because she was the only one who believed in him, and it broke him to hear those words from her.
So, eventually, Maggie was there for him, and they ended up forming a connection.
When Maggie told Katie she and Joe were now together, Katie couldn't care less. Besides, she thought, “Mom would never support it,” so she gave Maggie a go-ahead.
But now here she was sitting on the floor alone with a bottle of wine while her mom celebrated her sister and Joe.
“Ugh, what am I doing? I am a horrible person hating my sister's happiness,” she felt disgusted by all her thoughts—no matter what, if there is one thing that was never going to change, it was her love for Maggie.
Just like that, she was back to hating herself; it was like a cycle of hate. She hated that her sister was happy with Joe, she hated herself for feeling that way, she hated her mom for all the horrible advice, and finally, she hated her dad for making her mom the way she was. Who knows? Maybe with more knowledge, the hate could go beyond her dad.
But Katie snapped out of it, “What am I even doing?” she asked herself again.
“No, I love my sister and I am happy for her, my mom controlling my life is over, the cycle of hate is over, and I will learn from my mistakes instead of sulking,” she said.
Katie picked up an untouched bottle of champagne and went back to the celebration with a genuine smile.
Katie told herself the power of hindsight couldn't change the past, but she could learn not to repeat her mistakes, although the lessons came late.
