Chapter 2
As soon as we left the hospital, Hazel made a beeline for the passenger seat.
She slipped into the car, buckled herself in without waiting for anyone else, then rolled the window halfway down and looked up at me. "Sacha, I get carsick. You don't mind if I sit up front, right?"
Normally, I'd let her have the seat without a second thought, but this time, I didn't say a word.
I looked at Rufus.
He kept a straight face, as if nothing was wrong.
I pressed my lips together. "I get carsick too."
Hazel's face froze.
Rufus frowned, giving me a displeased look.
I shot him a defiant look.
I repeated, "I get carsick too."
Hazel sat quietly in the passenger seat, saying nothing, her eyes rimmed with red as she gazed at Rufus.
"Sacha, don't make a scene," Rufus said softly, his voice full of reproach.
Sacha glared at him. "So wanting the front seat means I'm causing drama now?
"Hazel gets carsick, but I can't? You know I..."
"Alright!" Hazel hurried out of the car, her eyes red as she clung to Rufus's sleeve.
She said, "Rufus, please don't fight with Sacha. She's pregnant. I'll let her have this seat."
Even as she said that, she looked at Rufus with an aggrieved expression.
Rufus looked at me, disappointment written all over his face, his brows furrowing even more.
His tone got noticeably harsher.
He said, "Sacha, because you're pregnant doesn't mean you get to throw a tantrum.
"Hazel's been carsick since she was a kid. Everyone in the family knows that. Do you really have to pull the pregnancy card to take the seat from her?"
A sarcastic smirk appeared on Sacha's face.
So, as his wife, I didn't even get to sit in the front seat.
Whenever I asked for anything, it was always called snatching.
Hazel had grown up with Rufus.
They were childhood sweethearts, inseparable since they were kids. Their families even used to joke about marrying them off one day.
Even when Rufus decided to marry me, everyone around him kept urging him to think twice.
His best friend even took me aside and told me I should step back and not try to compete with Hazel for Rufus.
To everyone else, Rufus was someone I had snatched away from Hazel.
But when he proposed to me, I asked him directly if he was marrying me because my dad had saved his life.
He said no.
I told him seriously that my dad was doing his duty as a firefighter. He would've done everything he could to save anyone.
I said that Rufus didn't have to give up his marriage because of my dad's dying wish.
I wondered what Rufus said back then.
He said, "I am marrying you not because of your father. It's my own choice. After all this time together, I really think we're a good fit.
"I know people around me have said some nasty things to you, but you don't have to listen to them. Nothing anyone says will change that. As for Hazel, there's nothing between us.
"She's like a little sister to me. If we were ever meant to be, it would've happened already."
I believed him.
Rufus never actually said he loved me, but he told me we were a good match, and he married me even though everyone was against it.
I felt that he must have cared about me. Otherwise, he would not do it.
But now, I realized that I was so wrong.
I was ridiculously wrong.
Even Rufus thought I was fighting Hazel for everything.