The Half-Sister
After work, Victoria stopped by the shopping centre. The chief accountant’s anniversary was coming up, and their department had tasked her with picking a gift. She’d spotted a few options and snapped pictures with her phone. Tomorrow, she’d show her colleagues and buy whatever they chose. As she rode the escalator down to the ground floor, she longed to escape the bustle and crowds.
“Victoria?!” a woman’s voice called out suddenly.
She turned her head to the left, scanning the faces of those ascending, but saw no one familiar.
“Victoria!” the voice called again.
This time, Victoria glanced behind her and spotted a girl with fiery red hair, hurriedly descending the upward-bound steps.
“Wait for me downstairs—don’t leave!” the girl shouted.
Victoria stepped off the escalator and waited. The bright red hair vanished briefly at the top before reappearing, hurtling downward as the girl pushed past startled shoppers. The vibrant locks made it hard to focus on her face.
“Emily!” Victoria gasped, recognising her half-sister.
“The one and only. Surprised? I’ve been wandering the city, hoping to bump into you. Knew it would happen eventually. There’s a café here—let’s sit.”
“How long have you been in town?”
“Two weeks already. I’m so glad I found you,” Emily said warmly.
They settled into a quiet café booth. Victoria studied her half-sister—blazing red hair, mascara-clumped lashes jutting like pine needles, lips painted the same shade as her tresses. Her delicate, doll-like features gave her a cartoonish charm.
Emily was only four years younger, barely twenty, but her scrawny frame and childish attire made her look like a teen. A pleated miniskirt, sheer tights with black knee-high socks, chunky white trainers, a cropped denim jacket, and a tight pink vest—nothing about her screamed adulthood. Victoria noticed people staring.
“You look amazing,” Emily remarked just as the waitress brought menus. She immediately buried her nose in hers, ordering a pizza, cake, and coffee. Victoria stuck to just coffee.
“I’m starving—honestly dizzy with hunger. You’re lucky, Victoria. You can eat anything and stay slim. Me? Eternal diets,” Emily sighed.
“Really?” Victoria raised a sceptical brow. Emily had always been thin as a rail.
“You’ve not seen my mum. A proper heifer, she was. No wonder Dad left her. You got the good genes. Do they have beer here?”
“You can ask, but I won’t—I’m driving.”
“You have a car? Blimey! Listen, does your office need staff? I’ve been here two weeks and still no job.”
“How have you been managing till now?”
“Robbed dear old Dad,” Emily giggled. “He’d just drink it away anyway. After you left, he hit the bottle hard, got sacked, scraped by with odd jobs. Then he shacked up with some canteen cook who swiped food for him—free rein after that.”
Victoria listened, stunned—though perhaps she shouldn’t have been. She’d never liked Emily’s father. When Mum brought him home, she’d accused Victoria of jealousy. He came with Emily in tow. Victoria had been in sixth form then, prepping for uni.
From day one, they clashed. Emily helped herself to Victoria’s clothes without asking, staining them. Mum defended her—”You’ve plenty, don’t be selfish. Emily grew up without a mum.” Victoria knew Mum just wanted peace, but it stung. Then came winter, and the awful diagnosis. Four months later, Mum was gone.
Her so-called stepfather expected Victoria to work straight after school, but she fled to the city. She’d been skimming from grocery and cinema money while Mum was alive. She enrolled, lived in halls, and worked evenings at Chicken Cottage.
After graduation, she landed a proper job, saved relentlessly, and mortgaged a flat within a year. She’d met Daniel at work—six months ago, he helped her buy a second-hand Ford.
“What qualifications do you have?” Victoria asked, snapping back to the present.
“Victoria, seriously? School barely done, worked at a kiosk. Dad’s lost the plot these days—boozing, jobless. Think that’s why I’m here? Found himself another drunk, now they’re at it non-stop. No future back there.”
Victoria almost smiled. A kiosk worker indeed had no prospects.
“What job are you after, then?”
“I’d make a brilliant secretary. Your boss young?”
“Middle-aged and married, with a secretary already.”
“Shame. Won’t scrub floors, just saying,” Emily declared as the pizza arrived, eyes gleaming.
“If you need money, does it matter whether you’re shuffling papers or mopping? I’ll ask around,” Victoria lied. Letting Emily into her office? Like inviting a fox into the henhouse.
“Love life sorted?” Emily pressed. “Not married—no ring.”
“No. But I’ve a boyfriend. Two years together, planning to wed.” Another lie. They’d dated that long but never lived together. Daniel often stayed over, but his ill mother kept him from proposing—he wouldn’t burden Victoria with her care.
Emily wrinkled her nose.
“I thought you were smart. If he hasn’t proposed in a year, he never will. It’s now or never,” she lectured.
“Since when are you the expert?” Victoria muttered, glancing at her ring. Emily followed her gaze.
“His? Bit plain.”
It stung. Emily loved flashy things. Victoria adored the delicate band, its tiny diamond. Daniel had brought it back from Amsterdam, along with matching studs. At work, colleagues cooed over them—wasn’t that proof of love? She bit her tongue.
“It’s a diamond.”
“So he’s loaded?” Emily paused mid-bite.
“Hardly. He just loves me.”
Emily eyed her oddly, then looked away.
“You? Seeing anyone?” Victoria countered.
“Searching. Lived with one…” She sighed. “I won’t settle. Rich, with a flat and car, or nothing.”
Ah, so that’s why Emily was here—husband hunting. In that get-up? Unlikely. Victoria drained her coffee, eager to leave but sensing Emily wouldn’t let her.
“I should go,” she said, flagging the waitress. Emily didn’t protest Victoria footing the bill despite eating most of it.
“You’ll ask about the job?”
“Yeah,” Victoria said, rising.
They walked to the car park in silence.
Victoria and Mum had lived alone after Dad left. Then Mum met Emily’s father. Victoria despised them both—always sensed his falseness. When Mum fell ill, she blamed them. Doctors said cancer, advanced. Emily’s dad turned to drink. Miraculously, Emily never found Victoria’s hidden savings—her ticket out. Memories flickered like sped-up film as they reached the car.
Time to part.
“Victoria, you renting?”
“No, mortgaged.”
“Wow. Mind if I crash a bit? Till I find work.”
“Where’ve you been staying?” Victoria braced herself.
“Mate’s place.” Emily glanced away. “Wanted out ages ago.”
Letting Emily in? No more privacy with Daniel. But those puppy-dog eyes—hard to refuse family.
“Get in,” she relented. Emily beamed, darting to the passenger seat.
“Flat’s one-bed. Fold-out sofa in the kitchen. That do?”
“Course!”
Over the next fortnight, Emily slept or scrolled her phone while Victoria worked, then vanished nights, reeking of smoke and booze. Clubbing for men, no doubt. No job in sight.
“Any luck?” Victoria finally asked.
“Was about to ask you,” Emily countered.
“Only cleaners wanted—beneath you, I know.”
“Tired of me? Kicking me out?”
“No. But I like my space. Clubbing’s pricey—surely you can rent somewhere?”
“Blokes pay for me,” Emily scoffed.
“No surprise.”
Daniel asked when she’d leave. Visiting him was awkward—his mum’s presence killed any intimacy. He sympathised but grew impatient. Then Victoria found a stain on her favourite dress—Emily swore she’d not worn it. Liar. Just like childhood.
“Could work at Chicken Cottage like I did. But why, when I pay her way?”
“Let me talk to her,” Daniel offered.
One evening, the doorbell rang. Emily answered in tiny shorts and a clingy top.
“Bloody hell,” Daniel muttered, taking her in.
Dinner was a parade of flirting—elbow nudges, batting lashes. Victoria excused herself. Then came Emily’s shriek.
“Stop it. Your charms won’t work on me. Sick of exploiting Victoria? Jobs exist—you just won’t take them. Failed to bag a sugar daddy, so you’re after me?”
“Let go—it hurts!” Emily hissed as Daniel tightened his grip.
“What’s—” Victoria froze in the doorway.
“He attacked meAnd as the years passed, Victoria often wondered what became of Emily, but she never saw or heard from her again—just as she had silently hoped.
