Rebirth: The New Bride Wants A Divorce-Chapter 389: I do not expect forgiveness

Anna listened in silence as Kathrine spoke, each word painting a childhood she had lived but never fully understood. The neglect. The way she was seen only when something was needed. The way affection always felt conditional, borrowed, never truly hers.

When Kathrine finally fell quiet, Anna spoke.

"What changed?" she asked.

The question was soft, almost fragile, yet it carried a weight that made Kathrine’s chest tighten. Anna held her tears back with sheer force of will. Her eyes glistened, but her gaze remained steady, demanding the truth.

Kathrine opened her mouth, then closed it again.

For the first time since the conversation began, she had no defense. No justification. No carefully framed explanation. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

"I..." Her voice faltered. "I do not know."

Anna’s lips trembled, but she kept her composure. "Something must have changed," she said. "Because I did not just lose my mother’s love. I gave it away. Over and over."

Kathrine felt the words like knives.

"You know what hurts the most?" Anna continued quietly. "I still did everything they asked of me."

Kathrine’s eyes burned.

"You remember when you were sick," Anna said. "When the doctors said you needed a kidney."

Kathrine nodded, her throat closing.

"I did not hesitate," Anna said. "Not because I was treated well. But because I wanted to be needed. I wanted to belong."

Her voice cracked despite her effort to stay strong. "I gave you my kidney, because he said that’s what a good daughter does helping her sibling. And even then, nothing changed."

Kathrine’s knees felt weak. How could she forget it, because after that she started to feel pity for Anna. It was that time when she finally started to open up, yet keeping the boundaries.

"You got to keep everything," Anna went on, her tone calm but devastating. "The love. The security. The place in the family." She looked at Kathrine then, truly looked. "And I kept proving myself, hoping one day it would be enough."

Anna paused, nodding slowly to herself, as if the pieces had finally fallen into place.

"But I guess I know why now," she said, a hollow laugh breaking through her tears. "Because I never belonged there."

The sound of it shattered something in Kathrine.

Anna laughed again, softer this time, even as tears streamed down her face. It was not humor. It was resignation.

Kathrine stood frozen, feeling painfully small. Pathetic. There was nothing she could say that would not sound like an excuse. No defense strong enough to erase what Anna had endured. And for the first time, she did not try to justify herself.

Because Anna was right.

Whatever she had gone through was not an accident. It was the result of choices made by everyone around her. Including Kathrine.

Anna drew in a shaky breath and wiped her tears with the back of her hand. When she looked up again, her eyes were red but steady, as if something inside her had hardened.

"Do you want to know who my father is?" she asked quietly.

Kathrine’s breath hitched.

She had never asked. Never dared to. Some truths felt too dangerous to touch. But now, standing here, she realized she had always wondered.

Anna did not wait for an answer.

"Collin Fort."

The name crashed into Kathrine like a thunderbolt.

Her eyes widened, disbelief flashing across her face. "No," she breathed. "That is not possible."

But Anna only gave a bitter smile. "It is."

Kathrine felt the ground shift beneath her. Collin. The man who had torn their lives apart. The man whose name carried nothing but destruction and fear.

"He is the reason everything feels wrong," Anna continued softly. "Why I was always treated like an outsider. Why I never fit, no matter how hard I tried."

Kathrine shook her head, her heart pounding. "Anna, I did not know. I swear."

"I know," Anna said. "And that somehow makes it worse."

Silence wrapped around them, heavy and unforgiving.

Kathrine stared at her sister, the truth finally settling in with cruel clarity. Anna had not just grown up unloved.

She had grown up carrying a secret that had poisoned her life long before she ever understood it. And now she had no idea what she could make out of it.

Kathrine stood frozen as tears welled in her eyes, blurring everything in front of her. For a second, she thought her legs would give out. Then instinct took over.

Before she fully realized it, she was moving.

She crossed the small distance between them and wrapped Anna tightly in her arms, holding her as if letting go would make her disappear. Kathrine’s breath came in shaky gasps as she pressed her forehead against Anna’s shoulder.

"I am sorry," she whispered, the words breaking apart in her mouth. "I am sorry for everything, Anna. Please forgive me."

They were the same words Anna had heard the night before. The same apology, spoken through tears and regret. Back then, they had felt hollow, drowned under alcohol and confusion.

This time, they were raw.

Anna stiffened at first, her body refusing the comfort out of habit. For years, she had learned not to expect warmth, not to lean into it. But Kathrine did not let go. Her arms tightened, her apology repeating softly, desperately, as if she were trying to stitch together something long torn apart.

"I failed you," Kathrine murmured. "I was a child, but that does not excuse what I did. I saw you hurting and I chose myself. I live with that every day."

Anna’s hands trembled at her sides.

"And when you gave your kidney," Kathrine continued, her voice cracking, "I realized how cruel we had been. You saved his life. You saved a family that never truly protected you." She swallowed hard. "I was ashamed. I still am."

For a moment, there was only the sound of Kathrine’s quiet sobs.

Then Anna spoke.

"I do not forgive you," she said softly.

Kathrine froze, her heart shattering in her chest.

But Anna did not pull away.

"I do not forgive you yet," Anna continued, her voice steady but fragile. "Because what happened cannot be erased by an apology. It shaped my entire life."

Kathrine nodded against her shoulder, tears falling freely. "I understand."

Anna slowly lifted her arms and rested them against Kathrine’s back, not fully embracing her, but not pushing her away either.

"But," Anna said quietly, "this is the first time you did not try to justify it. The first time you did not make it about you."

She pulled back just enough to look at Kathrine’s tear stained face. "That is what I did not expect."

Kathrine looked at her, hope and guilt tangled together. "I do not expect forgiveness," she said. "I just needed you to know that I see you now. Truly."

They remained there, holding on to that fragile truce, knowing that healing would not be quick or easy. But for the first time, the truth was no longer buried.

And neither of them had to face it alone.