THE ICY COLD BROTHER-IN LAW

TWO. THE ICY COLD BROTHER-IN LAW

"I'm happy you came."

Buckling her seatbelt, Brynlee turned to Lillah who was now in the car with her.

“The clam pasta you made last night was delicious. I'll have to ask for the recipe after this."

“The recipe is nothing special, my dear sister. Do you remember that your mother used to make clam pasta?”

“I don't remember if my Mom used to cook clam pasta? Uh, my memory is really bad.”

"It's ok. It was a long time ago, anyway. It's normal if you forget about it," Lillah patted Brynlee’s shoulder lightly.

"There are many forgotten pasts. But one thing I remember most is you used to be the busiest girl in our neighborhood. You were always busy, whether at school or at a church youth group."

“Ahh… I remember that. You always refuse to join us. I always offer you to join in. Our group used to be understaffed, you know?”

Brynlee chuckled, remembering the past. “I used to be very shy. Even now, I’m still shy.”

“But you managed to control it really well. I was surprised to learn of your very drastic change. When our father and mother died, you immediately made a big decision to pursue your dreams in the culinary field. No one can stop you from getting what you want. Even though you used to be known as a shy girl.”

She was not at all impressed by Lillah's praise. She slipped sarcasm into the praise she gave her. Even though many years had passed, Lillah still thought of her as a selfish, loner girl.

“If I postponed my plans even for a moment after our parents died, I would definitely lose all my opportunities to pursue my career forever. Honestly, I found it hard to leave the house which, for years, had been the most comfortable place for a shy girl like me. Just imagine how much time I spend at home compared to you, Lillah? I'm not a super busy girl like you. Most of my time was spent at that house with Mom and Dad."

Lillah managed to catch a bit of bitterness in her sister's emotional voice. Maybe she had misjudged Brynlee all along. Especially after she got a little incitement from Elyseen last night. Deep down, she firmly believed that Brynlee wouldn't have left home if she didn't truly feel like she had to leave to pursue her career. Unbeknownst to her, Brynlee had been harboring sadness over the sudden death of their father and mother. Brynlee was not someone who chose to cry for days in front of their relatives who came to their home to express condolences. Brynlee always hid her sadness without ever sharing it with anyone.

"Sorry that I wasn't there for you all this time."

With a smile, Brynlee turned to Lillah. “I was never there for you either. That's why I'm so grateful you got Elyseen as your husband. He's the right guy and, of course, loves you very much."

Without saying anything, Lillah just smiled slightly in response to Brynlee's words.

They were both silent while waiting for the traffic light to turn green. After that sensitive conversation, both Lillah and Brynlee took a few minutes to reflect on their attitudes towards each other so far. But unable to bear the silence that suddenly enveloped them, Brynlee finally spoke when the traffic light had turned green.

“How did you and Elyseen meet—”

Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnn

Brynlee's words hung in the air. The sound of a long horn startled her and broke her concentration in an instant. Her ears buzzed along with the extremely loud honking sound around her and the loud crashing sound which was very deafening.

Her body jerked forward. Her head hit the windshield hard. The windshield shattered into pieces, and the shards rained down on her body. Her whole body was in a lot of pain. She wanted to move, but something caught her leg as well as her body. She was still attached to the driver's seat because the seat belt was wrapped around her entire body.

Brynlee struggled to get out of the wrecked car. People outside began to scatter towards her car with various expressions of panic. She kept trying to free herself from her chair. Her bloodied hands tried to remove the seat belt from her body. She turned to the right, sad to see the condition of her sister who was seriously injured. Her head was bleeding, and her eyes were closed. Her sister's lips still curled into a faint smile, a trace of a shy smile, because Brynlee had asked a tantalizing question about her relationship with Elyseen before her car crashed.

Brynlee couldn't see anything clearly. Her vision blurred, and her ears were ringing, as if there were thousands of bees flying in her ears. Thick white smoke emerged from the burning hood and made her panic even more. Her head hurts. Blood dripped from her temples to her eyes, but she did not lose consciousness. She could still feel her ten fingers tingling on the steering wheel. She vaguely heard people outside telling her to get out of her car before it exploded.

"Lillah."

Her hoarse voice tried to call out to Lillah, who didn't respond at all. Through the corner of her eye she could see Lillah's body was pinned against the body of the car and there was blood all over her face and neck.

Brynlee choked with fear. Cold sweat dripped down the back of her neck and forehead. She tried her best to get out of the driver's seat which, luckily, wasn't too damaged. Only shards of window glass rained down on her, but the seat wasn't as damaged as Lillah's.

She finally managed to push open the jammed left door with her bleeding left foot. It felt excruciating pain, but Brynlee tried to hold it in order to save herself and Lillah from the car which was about to explode.

"Please save my sister."

Her voice was barely a whisper in the crowd of people who witnessed the accident.

“The ambulance has arrived. You must be taken to hospital immediately.”

"No. I want to wait for my sister until she gets out of my car.”

“You are injured, miss. Your sister will be treated by a medical team as soon as possible."

"She's trapped in the car. Please save her," Brynlee whispered hoarsely.

With legs as weak as jelly, she was led by a man in a white uniform into an ambulance. Brynlee cried silently, remembering Lillah's face covered in blood. Once again, she had become a selfish woman who left her sister with the people trying to pull her out of the wrecked car.

"Miss, can you tell us what your name is?"

“Brynlee... Brynlee Reagan. And…” Brynlee's breath began to falter. The pain and panic attacks made her breath hitch to the point that she was unable to speak fluently.

“—Lillah Flyn.”

“Miss, do you want to lie down? Miss… Miss… Miss Reagan…”

She could still faintly hear the sound of the medical team calling her name. But the pain that hit her head felt like the stab of a thousand nails. She couldn't stand the pain. She wanted to sleep for a while to forget the throbbing pain in her head. She hoped she would feel better when she woke up. Or maybe she would never wake up forever.