Page 2 of Wicked Surrender

“Oh, you didn’t have to go to the trouble,” Mai replied. “It’s nothing.”

“Nonsense,” Mark, her boyfriend, said as he draped his arm around her shoulders. “That promotion you just received this week is most definitely something to celebrate.”

Yeah, right.I chewed more, just so I could keep my mouth full and not have to verbalize another congratulations for her.She kissed ass to get it, just like Dad knowing the owner was how she got the job to begin with.

“It’s truly remarkable,” Mark gushed, staring at her like the freaking perfect boyfriend he was. Adoration shone in his gaze, and I fought a grimace at my mother sighing, practically swooning at the “perfect” couple appearing so in love with each other.

“You work so hard all the time,” Mark said. “I feel blessed to even know you.”

“Oh, hush.” My grandma giggled slightly, smiling as she shook her head. “You two are just wonderful for each other. I’ve always said you darlings are just a match made in heaven. Don’t you think so, Richard?”

My grandpa nodded, more concerned about eating his meal than expressing joy about how well Mai and Mark suited each other.

Every dinner, my mother and grandmother had to mention how lovely Mai and Mark were together. Nothing was ever said of Ethan sitting next to me, but that didn’t surprise me. Ethan and I didn’t look like a perfect match. He never gave me those sappy, adoring looks. He never spoke up to compliment me. On a different level, he was only here to kiss ass to my dad too.

If Ethan ever tried to look at me like I hung the moon, I’d probably recoil and give him aWTFlook of disbelief.

“I can’t help but wonder if we’ll be hearing wedding bells soon,” my grandma added with a wink at Mark.

He chuckled, and I worried that they’d see my grimace. Sometimes, it took conscious effort to prevent my expressions from being too loud.

“You never know…” Mark teased.

Mai smiled like a blushing virgin.

Oh, for fuck’s sake.

“Laura, don’t you think they make such a lovely couple?” my mom asked me.

I nodded, shoveling another big bite into my mouth so I wouldn’t have to talk.

It was never a competition between me and my sister. I learned from an extremely young age that the rules of the universe meant I’d never be able to compare to Mai. That was just how life was—something out of my control. She was the firstborn. She could do no wrong. And I accepted it.

Despite what my best friend once claimed, I wasn’t jealous of Mai.

But it was sickening how it never changed.

If you want your life to be different, then stop being so compliant. Stop being so obedient.

One day, I hoped I’d follow those thoughts and find a reason to stand up for what I wanted once and for all. Because no matter how well I faked happiness while I was overlooked and dismissed, I knew I deserved better. I deserved love, recognition, and respect.

I just lost hope I’d ever find those here, with the people who should always remind me of my worth.

“So, how are classes going, Ethan?” my dad asked.

Again, I checked out and over-chewed my food just to keep my mouth full so I wouldn’t be able to talk just in case someone remembered I was alive and present. But I was familiar with this. It was the same old song and dance where no one would inquire about me. No one would ask how my classes were. They wouldn’t show interest in how I was excited for summer to come.

Nothing.

Listening to Ethan reply to my dad—more like listening to an employee straining to get his boss’s approval—I regretted more and more that I’d ever been coaxed into dating him at all.

“Yes, sir. I can’t wait to start in the fall,” Ethan replied.

Even that didn’t spark a reaction or thought out of me. I’d been dating him for a year now, and the idea of his leaving town to go to med school didn’t faze me at all. I wouldn’t miss him. It would be a breath of fresh air, actually, to not have to fake that I enjoyed his boring, dull company.

Wait. He’s not going to ask me to continue some kind of a long-distance thing, is he?

Dammit. He would. He was so used to dating Dean Chen’s daughter and having an “in” like that. Of course, he’d suggest that we not break up. I’d need to start planting reasons we should.

---