Having siblings can be a joyful ride but not every sibling is caring, protective or loving. While catfights and arguments are a regular show in every sibling’s life, me and my sister’s relationship is very different from everyone’s. It’s mostly because I hate her with all my heart. She is the sole reason why I haven’t found true love yet.

She has always been the one in our family whom everybody admires and appreciates. She is athletic, confident and exceptionally beautiful. She has always been the one whom everybody wants to talk to, whether in school or college. My relatives always favour her over me because I am the less intelligent and less beautiful one. My sister has been the ‘perfect child’ with perfect grades and looks. And I have been the one who loves art. I never had big ambitions because my sister has been there to fulfil all of them. She towers over me and never lets me shine even during my best moments. My parents love her more and I have to live with the fact that I have such a sister in my life.

My sister never tried to bond with me. She looked at me as if I was beneath her. We have had separate friend groups ever since school—hers is the popular one while my friends were mediocre and just…normal. Again, I am fine with it. But then came a time when my sister did something so awful that I would never be able to forgive her.

I was fine with everything she stole from me, but I couldn’t forgive her for stealing my love.

I met a man through my art class. He was tall, dark and very handsome. We loved chatting about art and the different pleasures of life. Days turned to weeks and weeks turned into months; we talked so much and eventually, we began seeing each other. I loved being with him because he genuinely cared about me and what makes me happy. We went on dates, drew and painted together. Things were perfect. We had been with each other for over a year and at that point, we both somehow knew that we loved each other. But then he kept asking me about my family. No matter how much I loved him, I wasn’t sure if I wanted him to meet my sister. But I eventually agreed because I had faith in my love.

But unfortunately, I shouldn’t have been so sure.

And exactly that happened, what I had feared. All my family members loved my boyfriend. I took my boyfriend to our family home for vacation and within a span of the next few days, I could feel my sister eyeing him. And my boyfriend, surprisingly showed no signs of stopping when it came to talking to my sister. All that time, he looked so enamoured by her. We spoke less during that vacation but I still decided to trust my relationship over my jealousy. When we got back, he looked so distant and disturbed. And shockingly, fights between us increased and in the next month, he broke up with me. He said, “I need someone who can level up with me and make me feel good about myself.” I was heartbroken. Even after several tries of getting him to say out loud what made him break up with me, he didn’t budge.

Guess what? When I visited home the next time for vacation with the whole family, there he was, standing hand in hand with my sister. I was right all along! She even succeeded in stealing him from me. I couldn’t believe how naive I was to let this happen right under my nose. And what hurt me the most was my family members praising my sister and my ex for being the perfect couple.

I broke ties with my sister from that day. I couldn’t bear to look at her anymore. I had no confidence left and my self-worth shattered to pieces after this big betrayal. My sister has everything, yet she has to steal from me, stoop so low!