The Dark Horse

38

Third person

Angie sat back on the plush bed of her luxurious apartment she shared with Aden. She was happy for her sister to work so hard. But still, there was this ugly head of resentment that arose.

It's not that she resented her sister. She resented her condition. She resented the whole world. Past years have been very rough for her.

Angela Parish was the epitome of perfection. She was always used to stand on top. She had beauty and brains. A straight A student that her teachers adored, a face to die for, and every move had elegance that was in her bones, she had so many admirers she forgot the count of how many confessions she received each month.

She was the pampered girl who was never once frowned by the others. If anything, she always received admiration for being the unparalleled beauty with brains.

But all that changed when she joined the hospital to work with her mother. Being a Parish and the daughter of the best doctor in the country, she was never bullied like other interns. She never had to do stupid menial jobs like other interns. She was always treated with respect. Unfortunately, that also meant she was that her work was never appreciated.

No matter how good she did, it was never enough. She was always asked for more. And despite her hard work, she was still just a shadow of Parish name since greatness was in her genes. It was like her every action was watched through a microscope, every flaw multiplied several-folds, every accomplishments hidden under Parish name. She had no existence of her own.

She had to work twice as hard to get half of the admiration a normal person would get. And being brought up as the pampered kid, it was hard for her to accept the change of situations. Even her boyfriend and his family treated her so nicely because she was a Parish.

On top of that it was her family, specially her sister-in-law that kept on giving her a hard time. It was always about Anna at home. How brave she was to take the world on her own. How strong she was to take up all the challenges on her own and never complain about it. Anna didn't so even Angie was not allowed. It made her want to ignore Anna. She knew she was being unreasonable. But she just couldn't help it.

Things only got worse when Astrid married into their family. She always criticized her for everything. Why she didn't call Anna everyday like the rest of the family, why she didn't attend Anna's graduation party. It made her resent her whole family.

But when she received Anna's gift, a beautiful and luxurious dress from the designer who won Golden Fashion awards, she just couldn't hold herself back. It filled her with guilt to ignore the sister she always pampered because of the other's hash words. She contemplated on how to talk to her again and finally made a call.

Though she was happy to know she was still working so hard to achieve her dreams, it also brought the resentment back. Aden had pleaded her to talk to her father for an investment on the new project he was planning to start. It was just ten million. His father could surely gather that much. But he straight out rejected saying it was nighter worth his time, nor money.

But now he invested fifty million just like that on her sister's new business. Even Oli gave twenty-five million. This was so wrong.

"Angie." Came a sweet voice and she turned to see Caroline Morris, her boyfriend's sister and her friend.

"Caroline." Angie gave a small smile

"What happened? You look down. Something happened in hospital?" Caroline asked with fake worried look. The other girl was important to her and her family so she had to be attentive to her.

"No. It's nothing." Angie replied.

"Come on Angie. I thought I was your best friend." Caroline said with a pout, wanting in on the gossip. She loved seeing Angie's misery.

"I talked to Anna." The name brought back resentment in Caroline. She hated Anna Carlin. That bitch, with no proper support took over her. There she was, sighing one album after another with famous music companies and singers, and here she was, even with her father's support, she had no famous work of her own. But the girl didn't know that it was one and the same person.

"Your sister?" She asked. "What did she do?" Rivalry between sisters could easily be used by her.

"She was polite and lovely. It's dad and Oli that are giving me a hard time. You remember I asked dad for ten mil for Aden?" Caroline nodded and Angie continued, "Dad just invested fifty mil for Anna's start up business."

"What!" Caroline was shocked. If the Parish family preferred Anna over Angie, then all the things they did to please Angie were in vain.

She quickly comforted Angie not forgetting to add a few words against her family saying how unfair they were and if she didn't stand up for herself, she would be left with nothing and no one, and then made her leave. She had major news for her family.

"Really?" Aden gasped gritting his teeth.

"So what?" Their father said. "Anna is the useless daughter of the family. They are just piting  her. It's Angie that's actually valuable to them."

The black sheep of Parish family was not a secret to anyone.

"But dad, those people doesn't like me. It is because of me they have gotten harder on Angie. She just doesn't realise it yet." Aden voiced his doubt. He had felt the disdain of the Parish family ever time ge visited them.

"So what? As long as Angie doesn't want to, nothing could be done." Their father reassured.