can't lie anymore

I swallowed my saliva, not knowing what to say now. I had been found out, and I didn't know if he knew that I had already transferred money to Irina. I was now very afraid to imagine how angry he would be if he found out about the money.

"Daisy..." Richard approached me, his face just about 5 cm from mine.

"Richard," I whispered tremblingly.

"What do you mean by doing all this to me? You sent a lot of money to her through your friends," Richard whispered, continuing to stare at me with an intimidating look that made me uncomfortable.

"I didn't mean to make you angry or...disrespectful as a wife," I said nervously, stepping back, but he kept approaching. "I was just helping her...and actually, we only communicated today."

"Have you ever thought about the consequences of what you're doing?"

"Yeah, I mean...." I turned my face away, then quickly walked towards the couch. "I know you might be very angry because you hate her, because she hurt you, embarrassed you... but I didn't have a choice when she said she was in trouble there...so, I had to help her, whether I wanted to or not." I turned to look at Richard, and he followed me.

Richard fell silent, pacing slowly in front of me while clenching his fists. It made me shudder in fear. I was afraid he couldn't control his anger now and would hit me. No, I never imagined being a victim of domestic violence!

"This is outrageous, Daisy!" he exclaimed, gritting his teeth.

I lowered my head. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to help her...anyway, she's my sister," I said fearfully.

"Yeah, it's very natural for a younger sister to want to help their older sister!" Richard replied, pushing me to sit. He also sat down, staring at me with a sharp gaze. "But you should have used your smart brain to think!" he pointed at my head.

I looked down even more, afraid to look at his angry face. Slowly, tears flowed down my cheeks. I never thought it would be like this. I never thought I would see that angry face again after he showed me love and affection for days.

Richard leaned back on the couch, staring ahead while still clenching his fists.

"You're crazy, Daisy. I know I've done wrong to your family, but you know, I also got betrayed because of it," he said angrily. "I returned everything, I helped your family restore the company's situation because I was happy enough with you...I tried to forget how Irina played me, I tried to be a good husband and son-in-law...but now you're playing me... you secretly sent her money, my money that I gave specifically to you, for your living expenses... this isn't about me going Bankrupt, but this is about pride!"

I was silent, bowed down, not quite understanding what he meant. Just now, Daddy said he was kind, but now he's angry. I was really surprised now.

"You used my money to help Irina and Ferdinand, while they were already my traitors...you're like feeding the person who has hurt your husband, it's not fair, Daisy!" He looked at me again with anger, his eyes even redder. "That's not fair! She ran away with that guy from me, and then you give my money to her... it's like you're trying to cheat me, deceive me... even though I've trusted you, I started to love you!"

I sighed with sadness, realizing where my mistake was.

"You disappoint me!" Richard turned his face away again, bowed his head, and squeezed his hair. "Or maybe you planned all of this from the beginning?" He turned, looking at me.

I immediately shook my head. "No, we never planned anything."

"Then what's the point of all this? Are you also going to be like her? Pretending to love me but in reality, you will only play with me as she did?"

"No, that's not true!" I kept shaking my head, wiping my tears from time to time. "What I did today had nothing to do with what happened before. It was all spontaneous because I wanted to help her... that's it... I didn't mean to hurt you. And I never thought that sending your money to her was also a mistake, I just realized it was wrong, and that I didn't respect you as my husband... I'm sorry."

Richard fell silent, bowing his elbows onto his thighs. Now, I didn't know what to do; I didn't know how to calm him down.

"I'm really stupid, I'm pathetic... forgive me!" I said spontaneously.

Richard looked back at me. "You should have asked your parents to help her, not you," he said.

"She's afraid of them..."

"Even if she's afraid of them, just let it be. That's the consequence she has to face for her decision!" Richard said, still angry. "You're a little sister... you shouldn't help her, she should help you. But what happened to you today was because of her, she's not a good sister, you should understand, he doesn't deserve your attention!"

"I know..." I nodded through tears. "I just thought I wanted to help her... She's my sister, she was complaining... of course, I was sad."

"And she never felt sad about what happened to you because of her actions... you don't know, maybe she never thought of you," Richard said, I saw him sigh, as if controlling his emotions. "If she were a good sister, a good woman, she would never hurt us," he continued.

I just kept quiet.

"Don't you think he's cruel and wicked to you, your family?"

"I think so... I'm also sad about her behavior all this time," I said mournfully. "But... I can't care. She's my sister, we used to live together... I'm sad when I see her in trouble."

"And keep doing it until you're tired of her actions. She will never make you calm; she will always make you rely on her," Richard said, then stood up. "But never use my money. I won't let her or Ferdinand have fun with my money!" he continued, then walked towards the toilet.

Brakk...

I flinched as the toilet door slammed shut. I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, trying to calm down.

I walked towards the bed, lay down there, and hugged a pillow. In silence, the memory of Irina causing chaos in this family seemed to reappear in my mind. Yeah, I couldn't deny that she was selfish; she just left after pretending to be willing to marry Richard until Richard believed her and prepared for a grand wedding. She made Dad and me face difficult situations, even Richard's family endured shame. And even though she made a mistake, I didn't know why Mommy still believed she could win Richard's heart more than me. Everyone seemed to care more about her, and worried about her, even though she was in trouble because of her actions.

"If only she had rejected him before the wedding plans were made, maybe Richard wouldn't have harbored such deep hatred towards her. Maybe he wouldn't have been this cruel," I said through tears, taking off my glasses and placing them on the table.

Click...

I heard the sound of the door opening and thought it was Richard coming out of the bathroom.

"Why are you crying?" he asked in a low voice.

"It's nothing," I whispered, my voice suddenly hoarse.

I felt Richard sit at the edge of the bed behind my calves. I wanted to look at him, but I was afraid. His anger from a few minutes ago had left a traumatic impact on me, but I also couldn't face him because I felt guilty. I shouldn't have helped Irina, who had already trapped me in this loveless marriage.