After arriving at Alicia’s room, I knocked on the closed door, but there was no response.
However, I sensed some movement inside.
I let out a small sigh and turned the doorknob.
The room was dimly lit, with no lights on. Alicia was sitting on the edge of her bed, gazing out of the window.
“I’m sorry for just coming in,” I apologized quietly.
Alicia raised her head to look at me.
Her tears had already dried up.
After blinking a few times, I gradually adjusted to the darkness.
I could smell a faint scent of blood as my senses became more acute.
I was taken aback.
I took a few steps closer, and as I sat in front of Alicia, she flinched.
There was blood on her bent knees.
“Did you fall?” I asked.
“…I just felt a bit dizzy, so I rushed to the room…”
“Did you injure yourself anywhere else?”
“No, I’m fine. It’s just a scratch.”
Alicia’s voice sounded composed.
She didn’t even cry.
When I was the one who almost fell, tears started flowing uncontrollably down her eyes, but she seemed unaffected by her own fall.
It was strange.
Didn’t Alicia usually tremble at the slightest sight of blood?
After all, she used to get distraught just from seeing a minor injury due to the trauma Katie had left.
I felt a sense of both dissonance and familiarity.
It’s as if I was looking at my old self.
Hiding secrets, grappling with them, eventually getting devoured by them.
Someone who had done nothing wrong should not feel any guilt, yet I was completely consumed by it as though I had sinned. I was not unaware of my own thoughts.
Because I am a sinner.
Because I am a liar.
Because that person is so much more important than me.
“Alicia.”
As I gently held her cheeks, we locked eyes.
I couldn’t tell if this fear was mine or Alicia’s.
Emotions might be contagious.
“Can you tell me honestly? What’s wrong?”
When I asked, a startled look filled Alicia’s eyes.
Her eyelashes trembled, and she stared at me in silence, only to avert her gaze.
It took a moment for her to regain her composure.
“Nothing’s wrong.”
“No, there’s definitely something. What’s going on?”
I asked again, but her gaze didn’t return as I expected.
Alicia lowered her head.
“Nothing is wrong, I told you, right?”
Her response was more intense than before.
Indeed, emotions are contagious.
As Alicia became more agitated, I found myself growing tense as well.
My heart raced.
The stronger the denial, the bigger the secret.
“Look me in the eyes and tell me. Is there really nothing wrong?”
Alicia hesitated for a moment. Her slightly parted lips closed tightly, and her head shook from side to side.
“…Nothing’s wrong.”
The small answer came out like a sigh, and I felt the tension drain from me.
Was I pushing her too hard?
But…
‘If I don’t do this, you might keep bottling it up forever.’
The secret could gnaw away at her until it would leave her broken.
I clenched my teeth.
As frustration and anger welled up inside me, it became hard to breathe.
After a few shallow breaths and a quick massage of my temples to ease my oxygen-deprived mind, I felt a little better.
“Alright, if you’re so determined not to talk, what can I do?”
“……”
“But, if it gets too tough, lean on me. I’m your older sister.”
Older sister.
That was when it happened.
As the words left my mouth, her eyes, which had been vacant and distant since earlier, suddenly snapped back to me.
The dryness around her eyes from earlier rapidly turned wet.
Her tightly sealed lips trembled, and they shifted to a deep crimson.
Her damp eyes told the same story.
“Sister…”
Her pale lips, which had been sealed, parted, and with a quivering voice, tears streaming down from her eyes became visible.
I stared at Alicia, taken aback by her clearly visible emotions.
“Ali—”
“Sister, you don’t know anything. How terrible I am, how many lies I’ve told, what I’ve taken away from you…”
Sister, you don’t know anything.
With a soft murmur, the world fell into a solemn silence.
The hand that had been cradling Alicia’s cheek dropped down without me realizing it.
Her words alone revealed to me that Alicia already knew the secret I had so desperately wanted to keep from her.
“You… How did you…”
* * *
‘What on earth did I say?’
Regret came swiftly.
Alicia regretted her words the moment they left her mouth.
Under normal circumstances, she would have just glossed over it, but in the heat of the moment, her impulse took over.
Her heart thudded against the silence that clung tightly to her voice.
She avoided looking at her older sister, who was also at a loss for words.
The warmth of my hand on her cheek slipping away felt as though Alicia’s heart dropped alongside it.
“You… How did you…”
And so, she wasn’t even able to hear the murmur that followed.
“It’s nothing…! It’s nothing at all.”
Alicia stood up abruptly and forcibly lifted Rosetta to her feet.
Though there was no strength behind her gesture, Rosetta, still bewildered, moved as Alicia led her.
Alicia continued to stare into the void as she pushed Rosetta away, speaking rapidly as if making a hurried apology.
“Maybe I spoke nonsense because I’m a bit tipsy. Forget about it. I’m fine, so please go back and rest, Sister.”
Rosetta was gently pushed a few steps away.
But it ended there.
Her sister’s body, which had come to an awkward halt, wouldn’t budge no matter how hard Alicia pushed.
It felt like she was trying to move a boulder.
Gulp.
With a dry swallow, Alicia, drenched in sweat due to her nervousness, uttered,
“…S…Sister.”
The moment Rosetta turned around in response to Alicia’s call, Alicia, who had been pushing Rosetta’s back, lost her balance.
A-Ahh…
She closed her eyes and made foolish sounds, but she felt no pain.
Instead, there was only warmth embracing my body.
Ha…
With a shallow breath, she opened her hazy eyes.
Even in the darkness, those golden eyes shone the brightest.
Alicia, who had embraced Rosetta with all her strength, blinked her eyes repeatedly.
Soon, a voice reached her.
“How difficult it must have been, Alicia….”
It was an endlessly comforting whisper.
However, the warmth surrounding my body was so comforting, and her sister’s trembling voice was so gentle.
Tears welled up in Alicia’s large, blinking eyes. Soon, tears fell down quickly.
Trying to hold back sobs, her lips were pursed together.
Her eyebrows followed suit over her tear-soaked eyes.
With her face crumpled, Alicia trembled and cried.
She embraced Rosetta immediately, her tight hold almost enough to take her sister’s breath away as she had given all her strength.
Although Alicia was trying to stifle her cries, her entire body showed clearly that she was crying.
A trembling body.
The front of Rosetta’s dress becoming soaked.
Sobbing breaths.
Rosetta felt all of these sensations, Rosetta gently swept and patted Alicia’s back.
“How difficult it must have been, Alicia.”
Again, she repeated those comforting words.
* * *
After Alicia’s crying subsided, the two of them sat side by side on the bed.
Despite the slight awkwardness and embarrassment that had followed the emotional outburst, they couldn’t help but think that it wasn’t such a bad thing.
After all, it’s common for people to become closer when they share tears.
Stealing a glance at Alicia, Rosetta was the first to speak.
“Alicia, there’s something I want to ask you.”
“…What is it?”
Alicia’s answer came with a hesitant and muffled voice, and I almost burst into laughter.
But I held it in.
It wasn’t the right time to laugh.
“We have different birth mothers, but we’re still family. We’re still sisters, aren’t we?”
“…Of course.”
Alicia, who had hesitated for a moment, nodded in response.
“Have you ever resented me for being the only one with a different birth mother all this time we’ve lived together?”
“What are you talking about!”
This time, the answer came without the slightest hesitation.
Her response seemed to carry a hint of disgruntlement, as if the question itself was ridiculous.
When Rosetta turned her head to look at Alicia, it was only then that Alicia realized her own reaction was a bit too intense.
Her cheeks turned red, and she stammered out an explanation.
“No, it’s just that… You asked such an obvious question, so… I’ve never even thought about that. No matter who your mother is… you’re just… you’re my sister…”
Her words trailed off intermittently. As she spoke, she realized that she had inadvertently brought up what she had been hiding until now.
The questions seemed oddly related to her secret.
‘Could it be…’
Did you find out?
It can’t be.
Isn’t this a secret that I barely even found out through my dream?
Even though Alicia had let slip a few things in the haze of alcohol earlier, deducing this huge secret from just that was unreasonable.
Alicia glanced at Rosetta, trying to gauge her reaction.
Unlike the restless Alicia, Rosetta appeared calm.
Even her voice was steady.
“I feel the same way. I don’t care at all about who we were born to.”
“……”
“We’re family and we’re sisters. And you’re my one and only younger sister no matter what anyone says.”
However, despite her calm voice, Rosetta’s words carried significant weight. In the gradually thickening atmosphere, Alicia hesitated to speak.
“…Sister.”
Two pairs of golden eyes met in the empty space.
Similar, yet different.
Different, yet similar.
Rosetta, with her distinct gaze fixed on Alicia, smiled warmly.
“Alicia, it’s a bit late, but I have something to confess to you.”
Alicia couldn’t find words to respond. She had a vague idea of what this ‘confession’ might be.
No, it wasn’t vague—it was certain.
An odd, unwavering certainty.
Sister… She already knew what I’ve been hiding.
And with that certainty, Rosetta’s lips slowly parted.
“Alicia, it seems that…”
We’ve been switched at birth.
After arriving at Alicia’s room, I knocked on the closed door, but there was no response.
However, I sensed some movement inside.
I let out a small sigh and turned the doorknob.
The room was dimly lit, with no lights on. Alicia was sitting on the edge of her bed, gazing out of the window.
“I’m sorry for just coming in,” I apologized quietly.
Alicia raised her head to look at me.
Her tears had already dried up.
After blinking a few times, I gradually adjusted to the darkness.
I could smell a faint scent of blood as my senses became more acute.
I was taken aback.
I took a few steps closer, and as I sat in front of Alicia, she flinched.
There was blood on her bent knees.
“Did you fall?” I asked.
“…I just felt a bit dizzy, so I rushed to the room…”
“Did you injure yourself anywhere else?”
“No, I’m fine. It’s just a scratch.”
Alicia’s voice sounded composed.
She didn’t even cry.
When I was the one who almost fell, tears started flowing uncontrollably down her eyes, but she seemed unaffected by her own fall.
It was strange.
Didn’t Alicia usually tremble at the slightest sight of blood?
After all, she used to get distraught just from seeing a minor injury due to the trauma Katie had left.
I felt a sense of both dissonance and familiarity.
It’s as if I was looking at my old self.
Hiding secrets, grappling with them, eventually getting devoured by them.
Someone who had done nothing wrong should not feel any guilt, yet I was completely consumed by it as though I had sinned. I was not unaware of my own thoughts.
Because I am a sinner.
Because I am a liar.
Because that person is so much more important than me.
“Alicia.”
As I gently held her cheeks, we locked eyes.
I couldn’t tell if this fear was mine or Alicia’s.
Emotions might be contagious.
“Can you tell me honestly? What’s wrong?”
When I asked, a startled look filled Alicia’s eyes.
Her eyelashes trembled, and she stared at me in silence, only to avert her gaze.
It took a moment for her to regain her composure.
“Nothing’s wrong.”
“No, there’s definitely something. What’s going on?”
I asked again, but her gaze didn’t return as I expected.
Alicia lowered her head.
“Nothing is wrong, I told you, right?”
Her response was more intense than before.
Indeed, emotions are contagious.
As Alicia became more agitated, I found myself growing tense as well.
My heart raced.
The stronger the denial, the bigger the secret.
“Look me in the eyes and tell me. Is there really nothing wrong?”
Alicia hesitated for a moment. Her slightly parted lips closed tightly, and her head shook from side to side.
“…Nothing’s wrong.”
The small answer came out like a sigh, and I felt the tension drain from me.
Was I pushing her too hard?
But…
‘If I don’t do this, you might keep bottling it up forever.’
The secret could gnaw away at her until it would leave her broken.
I clenched my teeth.
As frustration and anger welled up inside me, it became hard to breathe.
After a few shallow breaths and a quick massage of my temples to ease my oxygen-deprived mind, I felt a little better.
“Alright, if you’re so determined not to talk, what can I do?”
“……”
“But, if it gets too tough, lean on me. I’m your older sister.”
Older sister.
That was when it happened.
As the words left my mouth, her eyes, which had been vacant and distant since earlier, suddenly snapped back to me.
The dryness around her eyes from earlier rapidly turned wet.
Her tightly sealed lips trembled, and they shifted to a deep crimson.
Her damp eyes told the same story.
“Sister…”
Her pale lips, which had been sealed, parted, and with a quivering voice, tears streaming down from her eyes became visible.
I stared at Alicia, taken aback by her clearly visible emotions.
“Ali—”
“Sister, you don’t know anything. How terrible I am, how many lies I’ve told, what I’ve taken away from you…”
Sister, you don’t know anything.
With a soft murmur, the world fell into a solemn silence.
The hand that had been cradling Alicia’s cheek dropped down without me realizing it.
Her words alone revealed to me that Alicia already knew the secret I had so desperately wanted to keep from her.
“You… How did you…”
* * *
‘What on earth did I say?’
Regret came swiftly.
Alicia regretted her words the moment they left her mouth.
Under normal circumstances, she would have just glossed over it, but in the heat of the moment, her impulse took over.
Her heart thudded against the silence that clung tightly to her voice.
She avoided looking at her older sister, who was also at a loss for words.
The warmth of my hand on her cheek slipping away felt as though Alicia’s heart dropped alongside it.
“You… How did you…”
And so, she wasn’t even able to hear the murmur that followed.
“It’s nothing…! It’s nothing at all.”
Alicia stood up abruptly and forcibly lifted Rosetta to her feet.
Though there was no strength behind her gesture, Rosetta, still bewildered, moved as Alicia led her.
Alicia continued to stare into the void as she pushed Rosetta away, speaking rapidly as if making a hurried apology.
“Maybe I spoke nonsense because I’m a bit tipsy. Forget about it. I’m fine, so please go back and rest, Sister.”
Rosetta was gently pushed a few steps away.
But it ended there.
Her sister’s body, which had come to an awkward halt, wouldn’t budge no matter how hard Alicia pushed.
It felt like she was trying to move a boulder.
Gulp.
With a dry swallow, Alicia, drenched in sweat due to her nervousness, uttered,
“…S…Sister.”
The moment Rosetta turned around in response to Alicia’s call, Alicia, who had been pushing Rosetta’s back, lost her balance.
A-Ahh…
She closed her eyes and made foolish sounds, but she felt no pain.
Instead, there was only warmth embracing my body.
Ha…
With a shallow breath, she opened her hazy eyes.
Even in the darkness, those golden eyes shone the brightest.
Alicia, who had embraced Rosetta with all her strength, blinked her eyes repeatedly.
Soon, a voice reached her.
“How difficult it must have been, Alicia….”
It was an endlessly comforting whisper.
However, the warmth surrounding my body was so comforting, and her sister’s trembling voice was so gentle.
Tears welled up in Alicia’s large, blinking eyes. Soon, tears fell down quickly.
Trying to hold back sobs, her lips were pursed together.
Her eyebrows followed suit over her tear-soaked eyes.
With her face crumpled, Alicia trembled and cried.
She embraced Rosetta immediately, her tight hold almost enough to take her sister’s breath away as she had given all her strength.
Although Alicia was trying to stifle her cries, her entire body showed clearly that she was crying.
A trembling body.
The front of Rosetta’s dress becoming soaked.
Sobbing breaths.
Rosetta felt all of these sensations, Rosetta gently swept and patted Alicia’s back.
“How difficult it must have been, Alicia.”
Again, she repeated those comforting words.
* * *
After Alicia’s crying subsided, the two of them sat side by side on the bed.
Despite the slight awkwardness and embarrassment that had followed the emotional outburst, they couldn’t help but think that it wasn’t such a bad thing.
After all, it’s common for people to become closer when they share tears.
Stealing a glance at Alicia, Rosetta was the first to speak.
“Alicia, there’s something I want to ask you.”
“…What is it?”
Alicia’s answer came with a hesitant and muffled voice, and I almost burst into laughter.
But I held it in.
It wasn’t the right time to laugh.
“We have different birth mothers, but we’re still family. We’re still sisters, aren’t we?”
“…Of course.”
Alicia, who had hesitated for a moment, nodded in response.
“Have you ever resented me for being the only one with a different birth mother all this time we’ve lived together?”
“What are you talking about!”
This time, the answer came without the slightest hesitation.
Her response seemed to carry a hint of disgruntlement, as if the question itself was ridiculous.
When Rosetta turned her head to look at Alicia, it was only then that Alicia realized her own reaction was a bit too intense.
Her cheeks turned red, and she stammered out an explanation.
“No, it’s just that… You asked such an obvious question, so… I’ve never even thought about that. No matter who your mother is… you’re just… you’re my sister…”
Her words trailed off intermittently. As she spoke, she realized that she had inadvertently brought up what she had been hiding until now.
The questions seemed oddly related to her secret.
‘Could it be…’
Did you find out?
It can’t be.
Isn’t this a secret that I barely even found out through my dream?
Even though Alicia had let slip a few things in the haze of alcohol earlier, deducing this huge secret from just that was unreasonable.
Alicia glanced at Rosetta, trying to gauge her reaction.
Unlike the restless Alicia, Rosetta appeared calm.
Even her voice was steady.
“I feel the same way. I don’t care at all about who we were born to.”
“……”
“We’re family and we’re sisters. And you’re my one and only younger sister no matter what anyone says.”
However, despite her calm voice, Rosetta’s words carried significant weight. In the gradually thickening atmosphere, Alicia hesitated to speak.
“…Sister.”
Two pairs of golden eyes met in the empty space.
Similar, yet different.
Different, yet similar.
Rosetta, with her distinct gaze fixed on Alicia, smiled warmly.
“Alicia, it’s a bit late, but I have something to confess to you.”
Alicia couldn’t find words to respond. She had a vague idea of what this ‘confession’ might be.
No, it wasn’t vague—it was certain.
An odd, unwavering certainty.
Sister… She already knew what I’ve been hiding.
And with that certainty, Rosetta’s lips slowly parted.
“Alicia, it seems that…”
We’ve been switched at birth.
