Chapter 62 - Memories III: Rejection
It was on that day that my relationship with my little sister changed.
A day when she confronted her feelings for me.
Her desire to marry me.
However, at that time my feelings of love for her were nothing but familial love.
Though, faint feelings of desire to agree to her proposal were also there.
It might be because of that realization that I decided to distance myself from her.
I wanted her to be safe and happy.
Accepting her feelings would have placed both her and me on a road full of thorns.
Challenges that we would face when facing society in such a relationship.
The refusal of the people around us as their gaze of condemnation and disgust directed toward us.
I did not want my little sister to feel such things.
However, what I feared was the perception of my parents if I and my little sister were to engage in incest.
Would they look at us with disgust like the other people will give?
Would they talk to us properly?
Or perhaps separate us from one another?
Thinking about that line of thought, I became worried about being separated from my little sister.
And so I decided to squash the growing feeling that I had for my little sister.
However, without realizing it, such a decision ended up being the reason for separating myself from my sister.
Ironic, isn't it?
Despite not wanting my parents to separate me from my sister, my decision still ended up separating me from her.
What's even funnier was that my parents were actually siblings that engaged in an incestuous relationship. The very same relationship that I feared they would disapprove of me having with my own blood-related little sister.
It was pathetic just thinking of what I had done in the past.
I had always thought that the decision I made was the correct one.
Always rationalizing that I did it for my sister's happiness while thinking that her feelings were only temporary, and such feelings would go away with time.
So I squashed all her attempts of trying to progress our relationship. However, in doing so, I committed a massive mistake, and that was the blatant disregard for what my little sister felt as I stood firm with my decision.
I did not think or even consider what she would feel as I rejected her advances, and now I am seeing the consequences of my action in front of me.
***
At night when the moon was high up in the sky, its moonlight shined upon the resplendent beauty of a big garden just outside a mansion.
However, the beauty of the garden seems to not reflect the current situation happening inside.
In the middle of the garden, a young girl who had yet to reach the age of eighteen stood in shock as she watched her big brother slowly walk away from her.
"B-big brother…." The young girl, Yue muttered in pain as her voice slowly quivered.
Her legs trembled before she fell to her knees.
With one arm raised, she reach out for the figure of her big brother.
"No… big brother." She weakly said as tears starts to pour out of her eyes.
Her weeping slowly got stronger and stronger the further Avery's figure walks away.
When Avery disappeared from the garden, reality finally struck her as she realized that her big brother had left her.
She cried in pain as she thought about whether she had done the right thing.
She confessed to her big brother and told him that she wanted to be his lover.
But instead of the answer that she was hoping to get, she got a flat rejection from her big brother, stating that his love for her was only familial.
She refused to accept that it was the case, the love and attention that her big brother gave her was real.
He never made a fuss whenever she made a joke about them being lovers and such.
She thought that maybe he felt the same.
But reality showed how wrong she was.
So she cried in pain realizing that maybe perhaps she was wrong.
As she cried, the present Avery watched everything from the side while feeling every single emotion that his sister felt.
Not only can he feel her emotions, but he also had access to her thoughts so he knew what was happening inside her mind.
***
Sadness, regret, pain, shame, and guilt.
These were feelings I felt as I watched the scene in front of me.
Seeing her like that made me want to run after my old self and give him a punch straight into the face.
I was selfish back then only thinking of what my thoughts were without looking into the feelings of the person most affected by my decisions.
I thought I did the right thing and that this was all for the future of my little sister.
But was my decision correct?
My little sister is crying and in pain.
Is she happy?
Before I got to proceed with my thoughts, the scene around me shifted.
I was in the middle of the hallway and there I saw my little sister going after my old self.
"Big brother! Would like to read this book with me?" My little sister asked as though the previous confession she made did not exist.
However, the nervousness that was transmitted to me shows that her front was merely an act to stay strong.
"I-I am sorry, but I have something to do today." My old self said.
As those words left the mouth of my old self, another emotion was transferred to me and felt a big pang of pain in my heart.
"O-ohh, it's okay b-big brother! You have work to do, right? So you have to focus on that!" My little sister said with a forced smile that hid the pain inside her.
My old self then left my little sister in the hallway as she watched him walk away in pain.
The scene shifted again.