Chapter 0002

~RAINBOW

I was startled by the scream as I staggered back two steps.

"It's a ghost! Jean! A ghost!" She screamed.

This shattered my heart into two and what was left of it sank into the pit of my stomach. My soul burned at her reaction and it hurt that this was only happening because of my scars.

The girl looked younger than Jean. We could have been around the same age bracket. She had blond curls that showed off her piercing blue eyes while clad in a pale blue dress.

Jean suddenly hugged her as the tall and strong man that he was. "Relax, this is just Rainbow, my girlfriend. I told you about her," he assured her.

She stopped her frantic screams immediately and became calm. "Oh, the one who got burnt for you?" She asked and I could not tell if I imagined it but there was a hint of bitterness laced in her tone.

I knew that I did not like this girl already. She had shown off how much of a drama queen she was. There was no reason for her to react the way that she did.

"Jean? Who is she?" I asked without any hint of amusement in my voice.

I made it clear to our guest that I did not like her.

"Rainbow, you remember my family took in a small girl when we were younger, don't you?" He asked. I nodded slowly and he placed his hands on both her shoulders before pushing her forward to me. "Well, this is Jasmine, my little sister," he said in his kind voice

The sound and mere sight of him had a way of cooling off my temper. It even helped me forget the mockery outside of the hospital. His home was usually my safe space but now, it was becoming hard since we were no longer alone.

"Hi, sister-in-law, I have heard a lot about you. This piqued my interest and made me want to meet you. I would have loved to see you when you were hotter though, too bad that's over now," she said instead.

I tilted my head at her as I was still trying to understand if she had complimented or insulted me. I decided to drop it for Jean's sake.

"I'm here for school, so I might be popping up here for a while. I hope that's okay with you," she said nicely.

"Not a problem at all. Rainbow is a nice person and she could never object to letting my sister come over whenever she wants to," Jean answered for me. It was not like the decision was in my hands anyway.

Then I remembered the doctor's news at the hospital. I took out the cake from the carton. "Jean? I have something important to tell you," I announced with an expectant smile.

"Oh my goddess! Is that chocolate cake?" Jasmine exclaimed and grabbed the cake from me. "It's my favorite! Jean, you told her to get me this cake, didn't you? You're so full of surprises!" She exclaimed happily.

I glared at her wide eyed and gritted my teeth hard to abstain from saying something rude. "The cake's for Jean, not you, Jasmine," I said through clenched teeth.

"Oh," she said in a defeated voice.

I nodded once at my little triumph and I waited for her to hand it over to him when she changed everything again at the eleventh hour.

"Big brother Jean? Can I have your cake, please?" She asked politely.

I also turned to Jean as I waited for him to give her an answer. I had gotten the cake specifically for him. He was supposed to have it alone or better still, with me.

"Of course, you can have my cake, you're my sister. I'm sure Rainbow won't have a problem either because she is a great person," he announced and smiled like a child.

I gritted my teeth at his answer. This was nowhere near what I had expected. I decided to move on to the reason I had bought the cake instead. "Jean? I have something to tell you," I tried again.

Yet Jasmine suddenly interlocked her hands with Jean and made to pull him away. "Let's go eat this delicious cake together," she offered.

I widened my eyes at Jasmine's nosiness. Could she not just leave him alone?

Jean looked torn between me and Jasmine. In the end, he sighed and turned to me. "Can it wait till tonight, when I come to bed?" He requested.

Since he gave me his pleading eyes and because I did not want to look rude, I gave in.

"Fine, it's okay. I'll wait," I answered.

"You're the best!" Jean exclaimed and allowed Jasmine to pull him away.

I knew I was not supposed to act this bitter but I could not help it. I sighed and went up the stairs to our bedroom. I felt exhausted from the entire day's event and I must have fallen asleep at a point because the next time I woke up, it was already late into the night and Jean was still not back.

This angered me instantly. I sprang up to my feet and barged downstairs. I met them drinking wine together without any care in the world that I was waiting for him.

"Jean? When where you planning on coming to bed?" I suddenly asked. My tone was not friendly at all.

"Rainbow, we're celebrating. Jasmine got to go to her dream university and I'm so happy for her," he muttered instead. From the way he dragged his words, it was obvious that he was drunk.

"Jean, all day, I've been trying to get you alone so that I would discuss something important but you've been so hell bent on being with Jasmine! When will you have time for me? Don't I mean anything to you anymore?" I snapped.

Jasmine suddenly broke into tears. I threw her a disbelieving look. Why was she crying and why now?

"This is all happening because of me. I'm so sorry for getting between you two. I just wanted to spend time with my brother after so long. I didn't mean to affect your relationship," she cried.

I balled my hands into fists but kept my cool.

"Look at what you've done, you've made her cry!" Jean exclaimed and I was taken aback by his tone.

He had never raised his voice to me before, not even in a drunken state yet he was doing it now.

"It's okay, little sis," he apologized to her before turning to me. "Is it so wrong for her to want to spend time with me? You see me every day yet Jasmine only comes yesterday and you start behaving like a jealous bitch!" He yelled.

I gasped at his choice of words and retreated from them. "I'm going to bed," I concluded and walked away from them.

I tried to tell myself that it was only the alcohol speaking as I shut the door to our room. Jean could never mean any of the things he said.

As I fell back on the bed, I told myself that everything would be back to normal by the morning. He would apologize to me and hopefully; Jasmine will be gone soon and we would be back to our usual lives.

Yet as I drifted into an empty and dark dream, my mind mocked me and reminded me of how ugly I had become. Maybe I cried in my sleep, I could never know but I knew that I felt miserable and I had the worst night ever because it was the first time since the accident that I had to sleep alone.

The next morning, a scream from someone in the house startled me awake. Panic and alarm sliced through my heart as I feared that something bad might have befallen Jean.

I stormed out of my room and followed the sound to the guest room. I barged in and froze at the sight I saw.

For on the bed, sat Jean and Jasmine, completely naked.