Late one night, scrolling through my phone, I stumbled upon an anonymous post. [My sister-in-law is in love with me. Should I be with her?] It had only been up for half an hour, but the comment section was already a dumpster fire with over a thousand replies. One user called it out: [Another rage-bait post. You’re really using incest-lite as a gimmick to farm karma? Does your sister-in-law know you’re spreading this crap about her?] The original poster (OP) shot back immediately: [Spreading crap? After the way she acts around me?!] [What way? Seducing you?] someone pressed. [Not seducing, exactly. But she warms up milk for me every morning. She takes me out to dinner when I get off work. When I fight with my brother, she’s always the first one to comfort me.] [My brother’s out of town for a few days, so I’ve been dressing… lighter. And it’s working. After dinner tonight, she went straight to her room. She’s afraid that if we’re alone together, she won’t be able to control her feelings for me.] [Besides, I’m younger than my brother, in better shape, and I know how to treat a woman. If she had met me first, my brother never would have stood a chance.] The comment section was a sea of ellipses. […I don’t know if your sister-in-law is into you, but I know for a fact you’ve got a massive, unrequited crush on her.] [OP, please go see a therapist. It sounds like your sister-in-law is just being nice to you, like you’re her little brother.] [You guys don’t believe me?] OP was getting pissed. [I’m going to go ask her right now!] I was curled up in bed, thoroughly entertained by the drama. The next second, a knock came at my bedroom door. My brother-in-law’s voice drifted through the wood. “Maya? You asleep?” 1 I glanced at my phone, then at the door. I didn’t move, didn’t make a sound. A few seconds later, a new notification popped up from the post. [I think she’s asleep.] A chorus of digital jeers followed. [OP chickened out, didn’t he?] [Just go to bed, dude. Your sister-in-law only has eyes for your brother. She’s not into you.] [Seriously, OP. Go see a doctor.] [Heh, how did you know my sister-in-law is a doctor? You’re right. I should book an appointment with her so I can see her more often. Maybe it’ll give her the courage to finally confess her feelings for me.] Reading that, I went cold. I was now certain. The original poster was my brother-in-law, Ethan. And the sister-in-law he claimed was secretly in love with him… was me. I took a deep, shaky breath and rolled over, feeling a wave of exhaustion. My phone lit up again. An update from Ethan: [She’s definitely not asleep. I heard her move. She’s just too shy to open the door for me.] I held my breath, frozen. The comments immediately lit up. [Lmao. The self-delusion is lethal.] [OP, you should record a video when you ask her. We all want to see her reaction.] Ethan replied: [No, I can’t film her. She’s shy.] A user shot back: [Is she shy, or are you scared?] [You don’t get it. She’s beautiful even when she’s embarrassed. At the wedding, my brother just kissed her on the cheek in front of everyone, and she blushed so hard she couldn’t even speak. It was adorable.] [I’m not the coward. My brother is. He only dared to kiss her cheek. If it were me, I would have kissed her on the lips. Her lips are so soft. They look so… kissable.] I covered my face, unable to look at the screen anymore. Ethan, who always seemed so normal, so straight-laced, was coming off like a total creep. A new comment appeared: [OP, is your brother not good to you?] Ethan’s reply was instant: [My brother’s great. But she’s better. My stomach was killing me last week, and she made me soup and stayed with me.] [And then?] Ethan: [And then my brother came home, and she went to take care of him.] [But I get it. She has to put on a show in front of my brother. I don’t have a right to her yet, but I’m working on it. I’ll earn my place.] What was I even reading? A sigh escaped my lips. That soup was originally for Leo. He had to work late, so I gave it to Ethan instead. I couldn’t help myself. I typed a reply in the comments: [Is it possible she just sees you as a little brother?] [No way,] Ethan wrote. [I know she cares about me. It was raining today, and she sent me a text reminding me to bring an umbrella.] I pressed my fingers to my forehead. I’d sent that text to my entire family’s group chat. I heard a soft shuffling sound from the hallway. It sounded like Ethan had sat down, his back against my door. He posted another update. [If she doesn’t like me, why has she been avoiding me these last few days?] [She won’t even meet my eyes. You know what they say, eye contact is a spiritual kiss without the carnality. She must want to kiss me for real but is too afraid.] One user replied: [Okay, that actually makes a little sense. If she’s suddenly avoiding you, she must be hiding something.] [But based on what you said earlier about ‘dressing lighter’… what exactly were you wearing?] [A lacy butler costume,] Ethan wrote. The comment section fell silent. A hot blush crept up my neck as images of Ethan’s outfits from the past few days flashed through my mind. Leo had only been gone for three days, and in that time, Ethan had already paraded around in six different “light” outfits. Sheer shirts, tops with strategic cutouts, a pearl body chain… I hadn’t just been avoiding eye contact; I’d wanted to claw my own eyes out and scream indecent exposure. I had assumed Ethan just had some… unique hobbies. Now I realized he was wearing those things for me. I would have preferred the unique hobbies. A new comment voiced my exact thoughts: [Dude, you’re probably scaring the hell out of her.] I bit down on my duvet, nodding furiously. I’d been so terrified I’d barely looked up all week. Ethan refused to believe it. [No way. The way she looks at me is different.] [I’ve made up my mind. I’m telling her how I feel tomorrow.] [Love is something you fight for, not something you wait for. Instead of waiting for her to work through her feelings, I’m going to make the first move. While my brother’s out of town, I’m going to make her mine.] The comments erupted. [Don’t do it… I really don’t think your sister-in-law feels the way you think she does.] [OP, do you have good insurance? I can get you a referral to a great psychiatrist. Let’s get you healthy before you confess anything, okay?] [Your brother is going to kill you.] Ethan: [For her, it’s worth it.] I took a deep breath and typed one last comment. [I suggest you don’t confess. Otherwise, you might not even have a family left to come home to.] Just then, a video call from Leo popped up on my screen. Outside my door, I heard Ethan scramble to his feet, followed by the notification of his final, hurried update: [Gotta go. My brother is calling to check up on his wife. He’s so damn insecure, calls her every single day. So annoying.] 2 I waited until I was sure Ethan was gone before I answered the call. Leo’s face filled the screen. He had deep-set eyes, a strong nose, and a jawline so sharp it could cut glass. They were brothers, but where Ethan was a charming, boyish kind of handsome, Leo possessed a magnetism that was both intense and commanding. It was that look that had stolen my breath at a friend’s wedding three years ago, compelling me to walk right up and ask for his number. “Why’d it take you so long to answer?” he asked. His voice, low and rich, rumbled through the phone. I opened my mouth, Ethan’s delusional words swirling on the tip of my tongue, but I swallowed them back down. It wasn't about protecting Ethan; it was about preventing Leo from flying home and breaking both his legs. “I was asleep,” I lied. Leo studied me, his gaze sharp and unwavering for a couple of seconds. “Really?” “Mhm.” His expression softened, the hard lines of his face relaxing. “The project isn’t going as smoothly as I’d hoped. I might have to stay a few more days.” “It’s okay,” I said, my smile feeling a little tight. No big deal. I’d just have to get better at avoiding Ethan. He asked casually, “Ethan hasn’t been giving you any trouble, has he?” My fingers tightened on my phone. I kept my face neutral. “He’s been quiet. Just… likes to, uh… change his clothes a lot.” On the other end of the line, Leo scoffed. “He better be quiet.” “But still… keep your distance,” he added. “He’s an adult now.” I nodded quickly. “I will.” Leo raised an eyebrow, a flicker of surprise in his eyes. “How come you’re so agreeable this time?” I looked down, avoiding his gaze. I couldn’t exactly say, Because I just found out your brother has a massive, creepy crush on me. “Didn’t you used to say he was just a kid?” he pressed, his tone probing. “He’s twenty-two. That’s not a kid,” I said softly. Thinking about how my kindness had been so horribly misinterpreted made my ears burn. Leo watched me for a moment, a thoughtful look on his face, but in the end, all he said was, “Remember to lock your door.” After we hung up, I refreshed the post and saw Ethan’s latest update: [Tomorrow, I’m making a candlelight dinner. When she’s moved by the gesture, I’ll tell her everything.] Users were begging him to calm down. Ethan replied: [She’s so good to me. There’s no way she’ll say no.] I silently turned my phone off. It was clear that just keeping my distance wasn’t going to be enough. 3 Five in the morning, before the sun was up. I tiptoed out of my bedroom, shoes in hand, holding my breath as I passed Ethan’s door. I didn’t exhale until I had softly clicked the front door shut behind me. After finishing a long surgery, I checked the post again. Ethan had been posting nonstop since seven a.m. [My sister-in-law is gone. No warm milk this morning…] [I bet my damn brother said something to her behind my back.] [I can’t give up. I have to rescue her from him!] The comment section was on fire. [OP, has it ever occurred to you that the milk was basic hospitality, taking you to dinner was to keep you from starving, and comforting you was to maintain peace in the family? You’re not special to her. Stop being delusional.] [Why’d you delete my comment, OP? You can’t save someone who doesn’t want to be saved.] [Dude, stop trying to reason with him. This kid is a lost cause. Just let his brother beat him up.] I rubbed my temples and closed the tab. At seven p.m., Ethan updated again. He posted a picture: a dining table draped in a white cloth, set with steak, candles, and even rose petals. [Candlelight dinner is ready. Just waiting for my angel to come home. She’s going to be so touched when she sees this.] The comments exploded. [He’s actually doing it? I’ll bet five hundred bucks she turns you down flat.] [I’ll raise you a thousand and bet your brother comes home and rearranges your face.] Ethan shot back: [She won’t say no.] [And my brother won’t hit me. He always wants the best for her, and I’m the best. He should be happy to see us together.] The comment section was flooded with question marks. [???] [That logic… does your brother know you think that way?] [Does your SISTER-IN-LAW know you think that way?] [I honestly don’t even know where to begin with this.] I silently upvoted that last one. Checking the time, I put my phone down and went back to my patient charts. It wasn’t until the charge nurse reminded me my shift was over that I realized it was already 10:30 p.m. When I got to my front door, the lights were still on. Through the window, I could see Ethan sitting at the dining table, glancing at the door every few seconds. I turned around and walked to a 24-hour CVS. I lingered in the aisles until 11:30, figuring he would have given up and gone to bed by then. When I pushed the door open, only a small nightlight glowed in the living room. Ethan was asleep on the sofa, a bouquet of roses resting near his hand. The steak was cold, the candles burned down to melted stumps. As quietly as possible, I cleared the dishes into the kitchen, scraping the food into the trash. Even the roses and the card tucked inside them went into the bag. After cleaning everything up, I went to my room, and left the house again before dawn. Walking down the empty street, I felt like a fugitive. 4 The next morning, I got a text from Ethan: [Maya, did you come home last night?] I paused from typing up my notes and simply replied: [What’s up?] The little bubbles indicating he was typing appeared for a long time before he finally sent back two words: [Nothing.] His cold tone was a relief. It seemed he’d finally gotten my hint. Coming home late was my way of saying it was never going to happen, and cleaning everything up while he slept was my way of saying we should pretend it never happened. Ethan was smart; he had to have understood. It wasn't until I opened the post again that I realized how naive I’d been. Ethan was on a posting spree: [WTF! The candlelight dinner vanished into thin air.] [I know I fell asleep in the living room waiting, and when I woke up, everything was gone. Cleaned up.] [I didn’t see my sister-in-law, just a ghost. I asked if she came home, and she never answered.] The comments were full of laughing emojis. [Maybe you cleaned it up in your sleep?] [She definitely came home, saw it, and got rid of it all.] [My guess is she’s figured you out, and this is her way of gently rejecting you.] I silently upvoted that comment. Beneath it, Ethan replied hesitantly: [Really…? But if she knows how I feel, why won’t she just say something?] [I thought we both felt the same way…] The replies were brutal. [Are you sure it’s mutual and not just you projecting?] [Dude, the person she loves is your brother. Not you.] Ethan immediately fired back: [You don’t know anything. My brother tricked her into marrying him. She doesn’t actually love him.] [Do tell.] Ethan’s reply came quickly: [My brother fell for her at first sight. He found out she was a bridesmaid at his employee’s wedding and went specifically for her, dressed to the nines. He knew what he was doing, using his face to get her attention.] [Then one time she got drunk, and I told my brother to unbutton his shirt a little while he took care of her. With his face and that body, who wouldn’t get flustered? She basically forced herself on him.] [Another time, he wanted to buy her a purse, but I told him to get her a custom set of surgical scalpels instead. Her eyes lit up when she saw them. The next day, she said yes to his proposal.] [There’s nothing between them but manipulation. I’m different. My feelings for her are real.] The comments were in an uproar. [Wait, so your brother’s entire successful courtship was orchestrated by YOU?] [OP, I’m confused. If you like your sister-in-law so much, why did you push her toward your brother?] Ethan replied, indignant: [I had never even met her back then! My brother guarded her from me like I was a thief. If I’d seen her first, we’d probably have kids by now.] One comment hit the nail on the head: [Your brother probably saw this coming a mile away. That’s why he kept you two apart.] [Brothers with the same taste. He was afraid you’d try to steal his girl.] Reading that, it suddenly clicked. I finally understood why Leo had always been so subtly, deliberately keeping Ethan and me at arm’s length. I used to think he was overreacting. Now, I realized he was afraid Ethan would develop feelings for me. But Leo really did play his cards close to his chest. I had always believed our first meeting was at that wedding, and that I had been the one to pursue him. Now, it seemed Leo had known who I was long before that. And he had intentionally used that handsome face of his to catch my eye. What bothered me more was the memory of that night. I was drunk, and Leo was taking care of me, his shirt collar slightly open, his breathing ragged but restrained. I’d thought I was the one who initiated things, but looking back now, his every subtle reaction was perfectly calibrated. Even his suppressed groans had a faint, alluring quality. I should have been angry, but instead, my cheeks were burning. To think that Leo had been watching me for so long. That he had been the one to fall first. As I was lost in thought, Ethan posted another update: [My brother’s coming back soon. I’ve decided to lay my cards on the table before he gets here. When it comes to winning someone’s heart, I’m a pro!] I immediately closed the page and sent a text to Leo. [When exactly did we first meet?] And then: [And you better get home soon. Someone’s trying to wreck it.] 5 The next day at noon, just as I stepped out of the exam room, Ethan was there, blocking my path in the hallway. There were dark circles under his eyes. He looked at me, his expression pitiful. “Maya… have you been avoiding me?” I sighed internally. The moment I’d been dreading was finally here. “Ethan, the flowers and the card from the other night—I threw them away. You should know what that means.” I tried to step around him, but he grabbed my wrist, his grip surprisingly strong. “I have something to say to you.” Without another word, he pulled me into a deserted stairwell, the heavy door clicking shut and sealing us off from the rest of the hospital. Before he could speak, I cut in. “Ethan, I’ve always seen you as my own little brother.” His eyes suddenly lit up. “Really? Closer than you are with Leo?” I was speechless, momentarily stunned by his bizarre interpretation. “That’s not what I…” I tried to explain, but he took a deep breath and interrupted me. “Maya,” he said, his voice dropping, the tips of his ears turning red. “I know… I know you like me, too. You’re just worried about what people will think, and you’re shy, so you keep trying to run away from me.” He paused, as if gathering his courage. “So… so I decided I can’t wait anymore. I have to be the one to make a move. Maya, I like you. I’ve liked you for a long time.” He stumbled over the words, his cheeks flushed a deep crimson. He looked like any other young man experiencing his first crush. “Ethan,” I said, keeping my voice as gentle as possible. “You’ve misunderstood. My feelings for you have only ever been familial. Nothing more.” The color drained from his face. “Is it because of Leo?” he asked urgently. “Did he force you to say that? He’s so cold and rigid, he doesn’t know how to be gentle. He’s manipulative! He doesn’t deserve you! He…” He launched into a tirade, listing all of Leo’s supposed flaws, his voice growing more agitated. I listened quietly until he ran out of steam, then shook my head. “This isn’t about him. You can’t force these things. I don’t have romantic feelings for you. You’re a great guy, and you’ll find someone who is right for you.” Ethan’s eyes welled up, and without warning, tears began to roll down his cheeks. Seeing him cry made my chest ache. My voice softened. “Don’t be like this, Ethan…” Just then, he suddenly grabbed my hand. With his other, he lifted the hem of his t-shirt, revealing the black lace lingerie wrapped around his waist. “Just… just touch it, Maya.” His voice was choked with tears as he stubbornly tried to press my hand against his stomach. “My body is way better than my brother’s. Please, just give me a chance…” I was so shocked I could barely move. My fingers were inches from the lace when a cold, sharp voice cut through the air. “What the hell are you two doing?”
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