Substitute Wife for the Mafia King R18-Chapter 374: Life as a Shadow
It was one thing for me to have fallen in love with him, but a completely different matter altogether to expect Bradon to be in love with me as well.
"How can you be so ridiculously blind? He is so in love with you. It is so obvious that I’m sure that everybody can tell as well just from looking at him and when the two of you are together. Everyone can see it as plain as day," Diana said with a sense of urgency and exasperation as if she couldn’t understand why I didn’t share her views.
"It’s all just acting. Whenever we are together in public or when there are people around, he’s just acting like Anthony would," I replied. When Diana shook her head softly from side to side, I could tell that she didn’t believe a word I was saying, and for a moment, I felt like my words weren’t truly convincing.
"I’m pretty sure that you can’t even convince yourself with those words. What you’re saying is not true, Leya, and you know it better than anybody else. Listen, if he doesn’t care about you, then why would he make sure that I am here to explain the truth behind that day so that you wouldn’t misunderstand him?" Diana continued desperately explaining to me. It was very evident that she was frustrated that I wasn’t following her words. I could tell that my sister was dead serious and that she was very confident in her views, but at the same time, it was extremely difficult for me to truly believe that Bradon was in love with me.
It’s just got to be some kind of mistake or just another misunderstanding...
"He asked for you to explain to me?" I asked blankly.
"Yes, as I just told you. He even went as far as to make it a part of the conditions for me to see you here," Diana reaffirmed once again. Everything felt extremely overwhelming, and I wasn’t sure how to connect the dots or wrap my head around my own feelings. Instead of trying to deal with how I felt, I decided that it might be better for me to focus on the facts. I turned my focus wholly on Diana as I sat up a little straighter in my seat.
"What’s wrong?" my sister asked, her eyes slightly narrowed my way.
"I actually have something quite important to tell you," I said before taking a pause. Diana probably never thought that her devious little plan would lead me to finding out the truth about how Bradon had taken his younger brother’s place before in the past, similarly to how I have taken Diana’s place.
Somehow, we both ended up acting as the shadow of our sibling. But when I was younger, I never truly considered the consequences of swapping places with my sister. It just seemed like fun, and when we could fool other people around us, it became a convenient tool for both of us to thrive and find a way to deal with life under the pressure of our parents’ expectations. I certainly couldn’t foresee the mess that our careless actions could have gotten us into in the future.
"Actually, after leaving the hospital, Bradon came looking for me," I began telling my story.
"Well, I guess I’m not surprised. He rushed out of the room soon after, and I knew that he was going to find you," Diana said without any excitement as she waited for me to continue with my story. I decided to skip all the details of where Bradon had found me and all the emotional drama that we both went through.
"After he found me, we had a bit of an argument, but in the end, we managed to clear up some of the misunderstandings. After that, we began talking, and he told me something extremely surprising," I said hesitantly as I realized that I was still finding it quite hard to believe myself.
"What did he tell you?" Diana asked curiously, and I could tell that I had her undivided attention.
"I’m actually not sure how it happened or when it happened or how much of it happened, but Bradon told me that he took Anthony’s place before in the past," I confessed as if I was revealing my own sin.
"What? What do you mean by he took Anthony’s place?" my sister asked as her brows creased into a frown.
From the astonished look on Diana’s face, I could tell that she had a pretty good guess at what I was trying to tell her. Despite that, it seemed like she was having a hard time believing it. After all, who would have thought that there was another pair of siblings who were practicing the same things that we did without us knowing and without anyone catching on?
"It’s exactly like you are suspecting. I know that it’s hard to believe, but I also don’t see why Bradon would have to lie about such things. Also, let’s just say that I have good reasons to believe that what he told me is true," I began explaining while talking quite fast as if my emotions had gotten the better of me. My sister looked even more confused than before, and I could tell that she couldn’t quite follow what I was saying.
"Wait. You’re not making any sense. Back up and tell me everything again from the very beginning," my sister demanded.
I took in a deep breath before letting it out slowly as I tried to gather my nerves. The issue was quite complicated, and I knew that I had to pick my words appropriately to make sure that I could get the right story across.
"Well, after talking, I figured that Bradon shared some very accurate memories that aligned with the experiences and events that I was supposed to share with Anthony in the past. I guess based on that, I began to believe him when he told me that he took Anthony’s place before when we were younger. Just like how we would switch places or I would take your place sometimes, Bradon also did the same for Anthony," I said as I tried to keep my voice from shaking.
–To be continued...
