I was happy for Charlotte. I thought I was doing the right thing.

She loved Ben and had been nagging me for the permission to marry him so, being the good big brother I was, I decided to organize their wedding.

Charlotte twirled, her wedding dress swirling and glittering.

“You have to wait till the wedding day,” I reminded her.

She laughed. “Yeah. Also… are you okay with this?”

She was so innocent sometimes. “As long as you’re not annoying me, then yes.”

And as long as the jerk doesn’t trouble you, I thought.

Truth was, I wasn’t sure about Ben. Sure, he had a nice family, a good job, but few days back I had caught him smoking with his friends.

Not a thorough gentleman either. But Charlotte was convinced that no man was better than him.

Maybe I was wrong. Maybe Ben was a good guy after all. Or else my sister wouldn’t have chosen him. Besides, she and Ben looked so happy together.

That night, I drove to Ben’s house. Charlotte had designed various wedding cards but she couldn’t choose the final one. So I decided to ask Ben about his opinion.

The door of his house was wide open, so I went right in.  After all, I’m going to be part of Ben’s family soon. I didn’t need permission to enter my sister’s future house.

But where was everyone? The living room, the study room and the kitchen were empty, though the lights were on.

They probably went out for a bachelor’s party as well, but why was the door open? Why were the lights on? They’re going to have a high electricity bill this month.

I was about to leave, when several voices laughing whooshed through my ear. The voices came from a locked room, which I had mistaken for a bathroom. Were they trying to prank me or something?

I pressed my ear against the door, curious.

“…tomorrow,” Ben was saying; I recognized his hoarse voice, “we’ll get Daniel’s signature.”

“Yay!” someone cheered. “And then we’ll be rich, rich, rich!”

“We’ll be swimming in money,” someone else exclaimed.

“Yes,” Ben agreed. “Soon, his property will be ours.”

Someone coughed. “People work hard to achieve their goals. And you-”

“I’m sacrificing,” Ben argued. “I faked my love for Charlotte-”

The wedding cards crushed as my hands clenched to fists.

“-and marrying her just to get their property. And the plan is going beautifully. I’ve already got Charlotte’s sign and property, but it’s not much. Daniel will give us a huge amount.”

Enough. My blood was already boiling. I couldn’t believe this was going on behind our backs.

I slammed open the door, making the family scream in shock. Thankfully, the door was not locked.

Before I could speak, Ben threw a flower vase at me. I dodged it, but the vase shattered on the wall and one of the broken pieces raked my arm.

I gritted my teeth. I’d deal with this minor cut later.

Ben aimed a punch at me, but I ducked, grabbed him around the chest and threw him on the floor. His backbone probably broke, because he winced and didn’t try to get up. I didn’t care. I tore the wedding cards. I tore the papers he wanted me to sign.

I approached the frightened family. “You’re lucky I haven’t killed him or anything more serious. Charlotte believes in second chances. Be grateful.”

***

“Are we there yet?” Charlotte asked me for the forty-ninth time.

I was lost in my own thoughts about yesterday. As her big brother, I should’ve known all this coming. I should’ve found about all of this earlier.

Putting all the guilt aside, I tried to focus on our trip. Charlotte had been crying and heartbroken for a long time, so to distract her mind from Ben, we decided to go for a road trip. But we forgot the food in our house so we decided to go to a restaurant. We hadn’t reached there yet, and Charlotte kept bugging me with the same question again and again: “Are we there yet?”

“No, Charlotte,” I repeated, “and this is the fiftieth time you’ve asked me.”

She groaned but then tapped my shoulder urgently. “Stop the car! It’s a beautiful sunset! Stop the car, I want to take a picture!”

I parked the car at the edge and followed her gaze, staring at the sun half-dipped in the horizon, and the sky mixed with a brilliant shade of pink and orange. Charlotte took picture after picture, shouting, “Perfect lighting… perfect view… miraculous! Absolutely wonderful!”

I smiled. It seemed like she had forgotten Ben already and I wasn’t going to remind her. I just wanted her to live this moment for now.