He Called My Sister His Fiancée, So I Chose Someone Else

The day after we announce our engagement, my fiancé calls my sister his fiancée. There's a photograph. Chloe is pressed against Julian's side, his hand resting on her waist. Beneath it, from his verified account, are two words. My fiancée. By morning, strangers are calling me the woman trying to steal my sister's man. The families' announcement mentioned the Bennetts and the Hayeses. Mine included a picture of Julian and me. Apparently, his comment settles which sister he actually wants. I send him a screenshot. Explain this. It's evening by the time he replies with two voice messages. "Chloe was crying after your post. I was comforting her. I didn't know someone was taking pictures." Then: "The comment was just to cheer her up. You're the one I'm marrying, Audrey. Don't make it a thing." I play the second message again. Five years together. Two months asking when we could finally announce the engagement. Five years of hearing that Chloe was sensitive, that she'd feel left behind, that waiting a little longer wouldn't hurt me. Now he's made an announcement of his own. I type: Then marry her. Our engagement is over. He calls immediately. "Are you serious?" "Yes." "You've upset Chloe." I look at the photograph on our side table. It was taken after he proposed. Chloe wanted one with us. Then she wanted another because she didn't like her hair. In the picture Julian chose to frame, she's holding his arm. Only half of me is visible in the frame. "Did you read the comments?" I ask. "It's the internet." "They're calling me a homewrecker." "And you know you're not." Chloe's voice comes through the phone. "Can I talk to her?" There's a rustle. "Audrey? Please don't fight because of me." I close my eyes. "I'll ask him to delete it if it bothers you." "You don't need to ask him anything." "Oh. So we're okay?" "No." She goes quiet. I hear Julian ask what I said. Then he's back. "She's your sister." "I know who she is." "Then act like it." A sharp crack sounds behind him. Fireworks. I recognize the music that follows. The waterfront festival. We'd planned to go together last summer. Chloe had a bad breakup that week. Julian took her instead. "You're out with her." "She didn't want to sit at home." "But I should?" "Audrey, please. We'll talk when I get back." "What is there to talk about?" "Our engagement party is in six weeks. Both families have invited people." "Then tell them it's canceled." His voice hardens. "You don't cancel a wedding over a comment." "It isn't a wedding. And it isn't just a comment." Another firework explodes. "What?" I speak slowly. "I'm not marrying you." The call ends. A message follows. Couldn't hear you. We'll talk at home. I stare at it. He heard enough to call me unreasonable. Apparently, he missed the rest. I open the post again. The photograph has been copied onto three society gossip accounts. Someone has placed my announcement beside it. Two sisters. One fiancé. Awkward. Below, a woman I've never met writes: Her own fiancé won't claim her. Take the hint. There's a small heart beside the comment. I tap the list of people who liked it. Julian Hayes. For a moment, I can't feel my fingers. Then I take another screenshot. I save the voice messages, too. When I call my mother, she answers with a sigh. "I've seen it." "Then you know why I'm calling." "Your sister's been crying all evening." I look at the framed photograph again. "I'm ending the engagement." "Don't say things you can't take back." "I mean it." "Your father and I have known the Hayeses for thirty years. There's a venue booked, Audrey. Invitations." "I'm aware." "What am I supposed to tell people?" For once, I don't help her find a gentler version. "Tell them Julian announced he was marrying Chloe. Tell them I'm no longer available." "Audrey—" "Cancel my place at the party." I take the photograph out of its frame. For the first time, I see the full picture. There was room for me. He'd folded my side of the photograph out of sight.

Julian comes home just before midnight. Chloe lets herself in with her own key. "Still up?" she asks. "Were you waiting for us?" I'm sitting in the kitchen. Neither of them mentions the post. Chloe fills a glass with water, drinks, then tops it up and hands it to Julian. He finishes it. "Oh." She looks at me. "That was mine. Sorry. You don't mind, do you?" I think of the ice cream she passes him after taking the first bite. The coffee she orders too sweet, knowing he'll drink what she leaves. Her feet in his lap while I clear the dinner plates. Julian sets down the glass. "Your sister isn't going to lose sleep over a little thing like that." He looks at me. "Right?" "I'd like your key back," I tell Chloe. Her smile disappears. "What?" "You have your own apartment." "But Julian said—" "She has a room here," he interrupts. "I know. You gave her one." It used to be the room where I planned to work. Before the desk arrived, Chloe said she hated driving home late. Julian bought a bed. "You agreed," he says. "No. You told me after you'd done it." Chloe moves closer. "If you really hate having me around, I can leave." "I don't hate having you around." "Then why are you doing this?" I look at her. She was five when my parents adopted her. I was nine. For years, I saved the last piece of cake for her because I knew she worried there wouldn't be enough. I used to think that once she felt secure, she would stop checking whether she could take what was mine. Now she's twenty-four, standing in my kitchen with my fiancé's jacket over her arm. "I'm ending my relationship with Julian." She catches my hand. "Please. You've been together so long." Her nails press into my skin. I pull free. She stumbles backward. Julian catches her. "What the hell, Audrey?" I hold up my hand. Four small red marks. He barely looks. "You could've hurt her." Chloe leans against his chest. "It's okay. She didn't mean to." "Don't apologize for her." I wait for him to move away from her. He doesn't. The curtains behind them are pale green. Chloe chose those. She chose the wallpaper in the dining room, too. Julian said she had a better eye for that kind of thing. When I suggested changing the light over the stairs, they both explained why the one they'd picked was perfect. I've lived here for two years. I'm still waiting for it to feel like my home. Chloe wipes beneath one eye. "Maybe I should go." "You're not being thrown out," Julian says. "This is your home, too." Something in me finally gives. Not loudly. I don't cry. "You're right." He looks relieved. I turn to Chloe. "You don't have to move out. I will." Julian follows me upstairs. "You've made your point." I lift my suitcase onto the bed. He catches my wrist. "Enough." I look at his hand until he releases me. "This is what you're doing? Packing because I tried to make your sister feel better?" "You liked a comment mocking me because my own fiancé wouldn't claim me." He looks away. Just for a second. Then back. "I'll have someone clean it up." "Will they clean up what you said to me, too?" He exhales. "Audrey. We're getting married." "No." "You don't mean that." I fold a sweater. He watches me for a moment. Then his voice goes cold. "Fine. Go stay with your parents. Calm down." The door slams behind him. I keep packing. At seven the next morning, I send an email to Julian, both sets of parents, and the event planner. I am ending my engagement to Julian Hayes. I will not attend the engagement celebration. Please remove my name and image from all event materials. I attach nothing. The words don't need evidence. My phone lights up before I zip the suitcase. Nathan Cole. We've known each other for years through work and mutual friends. Once, before Julian and I got together, Nathan asked me to dinner. I wasn't ready. He never made that my problem. His message is short. I saw what happened. Do you need anything? For once, I answer honestly. Help carrying a suitcase.