2: 2
I took a cab to the restaurant I'd booked, and the whole way there I kept asking myself: when had it started between her and Drew?
The first time I brought Drew home to meet my sister was three years ago.
I'd just graduated. That first meeting hadn't gone well.
Sophia had been hurt before by a worthless man, and her ex happened to look a little like Drew, so she dumped every bit of that old resentment onto him.
Drew spent months working at it before she finally softened and agreed to let us date.
Two years ago, Sophia suddenly went out of state on her own. She said she needed to clear her head. When she came back, she was already pregnant.
I asked her whose it was. She wouldn't say, only that it was some worthless man.
I thought she'd gotten tangled up with her ex again. I even wanted to go confront the man for her, but she stopped me.
She said she didn't want me getting mixed up in her business. It never once crossed my mind that it was because the baby was Drew's.
Little details started coming into focus.
Drew was a tech lead. He rarely traveled for work. But in the two years Sophia was gone, he went on so many "business trips."
So it had all been there to see the whole time. I was just too much of a fool to see it.
By the time I got to the restaurant, my friends were already waiting.
They looked surprised that I'd come alone.
After all, I'd told them long ago that I'd hidden a ring inside my birthday cake, to see how Drew would react.
If he wouldn't propose to me, I'd do it myself.
Facing their questions and puzzled looks, I just shook my head. "No proposal."
That was when Sophia called.
The moment I picked up, there she was on the screen, carrying Yoyo out of the house.
"Lucy, I really didn't mean to ruin your birthday. I'm leaving now. Drew will come be with you soon."
It was raining outside. Sophia had no umbrella, holding Yoyo tight against her, her hair already soaked, her bangs plastered wet to her forehead.
Drew came running up behind her, held an umbrella over her, and snatched the phone.
"Lucy, do you have any conscience at all? You pushed your sister to this over a birthday. You know she came out of having Yoyo with health problems, that she can't take the cold!"
The words had barely left his mouth when Sophia collapsed against him, and Drew shouted at her in a panic, "Sophia! Wake up, I'm taking you to the hospital."
Before the video cut off, all I saw was Drew draping his own coat over Sophia and pulling her into his arms.
My friends beside me saw it too, and they understood without another word. No one asked me anything more.
On my twenty-fifth birthday, I watched the two people closest to me betray me at the same time.
