Chapter 2: Twisted Affection
Genius. A single word that can crush most people. Unparalleled talent and gifts to the point that it's unfair. What did they do to get the favor of the world? Did they save the universe in their past life? Do they truly deserve such gifts?
What's more frustrating is to be a sibling of one. No, more than a sibling, it's more frustrating to be the twin of one. All the comparisons between the two individuals can crush your hope that all that's left are envy, jealousy and hatred.
As the younger twin sister of a once-in-a-millennium prodigy, Althea already learned how to cope with the unreasonableness. After all, she lived with such kind of pressure her whole life.
However, what would the whole world think if this genius, the revered and star of the world, is hopelessly kneeling and begging for her attention? That in this world, the only thing that this genius can't possibly obtain is the heart of the crushed younger twin sister.
"Mop the floor over here," Althea coldly ordered as she watched another girl with the same appearance as her hurriedly went to fetch the rag and mop the floor where she pointed.
The enthusiasm of the girl with the same face irked her. So much for being called a genius. This genius of yours is here mopping the floor on my orders. This gave her a deep sense of satisfaction and quelled some of her inferiority complex.
Sometimes, she'll feel guilt, but it'll be washed by the joy of trampling the dignity of this pride of the heavens under her feet.
"Don't dirty that collar if you don't want to be punished harder," she even tugged at the chains connected to the collar on her twin's neck. It made the mopping girl lean forward that she almost crashed her head into the floor, but Althea did not care and just stared.
When the girl finished mopping the floor, she stood up to fix her messy appearance and stared at Althea intensively. Only the blind can't see the reverence and worship in her eyes for Althea. Those feelings are almost dripping from her eyes, after all.
When Althea stared back at her, the girl shyly looked downwards, her cheeks are obviously blushing and even her ears are red.
'Sister looked at me! She looked at me! Ah! I'm so happy I can die!' these are the thoughts currently swirling inside the girl's mind.
Althea can easily guess this as her face warped with disgust.
She tried to ignore the uncomfortable feeling and reluctantly approached the collared girl to remove the collar.
The girl obediently stayed in her place and waited with bated breaths as her younger twin sister came near her to remove the collar. Her breathing increased and she's now heaving heavily.
"Fix yourself and leave," after removing the collar, Althea coldly said without looking at the girl once. Pouting, the girl can only leave quietly as to not irk her sister.
When her twin left, Althea heaved a sigh.
When did everything become so twisted? Why should she be the only one to suffer under the pressure of such a brilliant starlight?! She can clearly remember the past where she has no problems, no envy, no hatred. Just the innocence of a child.
Everything started when they entered elementary, where her twin's talents blossomed and got noticed by many of the higher ups of the country.
In first grade, they were innocently playing and learning from their class adviser. They were considered as advanced students, as their age is a bit younger from their classmates. However, her twin is considerably smarter and aced a lot of the tests the teacher gave. She can only praise the other and marvel at how she can answer the difficult questions.
When they reached the second grade, it showed just how vastly superior her twin is from her. She can memorize the lessons faster and solve difficult problems leisurely. On their seventh birthday, their parents gifted them a piano, which ignited her twin's curiosity towards musical instruments. The church's choral instructor took it upon himself to teach her twin and the siblings obviously spent lesser time together.
In their third grade, her twin won the second place of the Regional Science Quiz Bee. She also got sponsorship from a renowned company in the country's capital. Althea didn't know the specifics, but it seems that her twin met an executive from the company during the time of her contest and exchanged ideas with the said executive. This amazed the said individual of her twin's ingenuity and offered to sponsor her schooling.
It quickly broadened her twin's horizons. Offers were given left and right, comparisons started, and she was left with a bruised ego, the ego of a growing child.
As an eight-year old, how can she accept that she's not as good as her older twin sister? This is unacceptable! Unfair!
Althea very much wanted to shout out the whole world that the two of them got born almost at the same time, with the same starting point, the same parents and face, so why is it that her twin got it all?! Is it because she got out of their mother's womb earlier than her?!
In fourth grade, her twin became a chess prodigy. She went and snatched the gold medal from another province and became the national champion in their grade. She didn't have much contact with their family until they finally got the news that her twin once became the country's national champion in the Science Quiz Bee.
Honors and praises were heaped unto the once-in-a-millennium prodigy that revealed herself to the masses. And the useless and untalented younger twin got thrown mud into her face. Her classmates bullied her, saying that she's so untalented that she's tainting her twin's genius name.
Although their parents tried not to show it, as a child, Althea is sensitive and can feel their disappointment in her. What should she do?! Her older twin is a genius, please don't compare her with an ordinary human being!
In the fifth grade, her twin was welcomed to an international summit as a child representative. She spoke with people from other countries and made relations with them along the way. Whenever Althea watched the news of her older sister's achievements, it made her face crumple and her heart ache. It was hard for her to maintain her sanity in the face of monstrous capabilities. It's better to just accept defeat and live like a normal person.
However, it seems like her face is the one thing that prevented her from having a normal life. Being an identical twin, there were almost no difference between their faces, and the expectations that other people had on her twin sister were also pushed unto her. And if she can't reach their expectations, they would pile their disappointed gazes at her.
She very much wanted to curse for the whole world to disappear.
Althea continued to live her life even if it meant that she would bear so much pressure in her tiny shoulders. She swears. Once she's grown up and can be independent, she'll live far away from their hometown, from the place that started it all, from the place where her sufferings began. She'll live in a city, kilometers away so that she can finally be free from the shackles that were given to her.
So, she studied hard. Only by studying and learning can she escape from her cage. She managed to become the top student in the school and even if they disdained her academic results in comparison with her twin sister, her heart felt lighter than ever.
She can achieve something, and she won't be tied to that heartless monstrosity of a sister!
Only until she stepped into the gates of her chosen high school that she realized that all her hopes were in vain. There, by the door of her section's classroom, a face so familiar to her was standing, as if waiting for her.
The girl anxiously looked at the obviously branded wristwatch on her left hand, and when she looked up, she saw Althea. Her expression obviously brightened up and the very first words she said implied the relationship between the two.
"Sister!" the girl practically flew towards her. And in a blink of an eye, the smiling girl arrived next to her.
"It's been a while! It's a good thing that I'm not late for school, or else I won't have face to greet my sister," the girl said in a bragging tone, and her smug face looks like she's asking for praise. Althea can see an imaginary tail wagging behind the girl.
"Andrea," Althea finally whispered after calming herself.
She can't believe it. After a few years, she's finally face-to-face with the monster. And the monster is even smiling so brilliantly at her.
Her call seemed to improve the mood of the girl for several levels.
"Sister remembered me! I knew it! Eun-cha lied to me!" the girl pouted before smiling again.
"Sister let's go in first. Do you want to be desk mates? If that really happened, I can die with happiness," the girl kindly helped Althea carry her bag and led her to a desk by the window, where they can see the school field.
"Why are you still studying?" after a few minutes of contemplation, Althea finally managed to ask this one question.
Her twin is without a doubt a genius. Quiz bees, competitions, international summits and whatnots, she can immediately finish schooling and enter the workforce. Why would she bother entering high school? Is it to play around? Or is it already the limit of her twin's genius?
If it's the first one, then this monster really has a sick hobby. But if it's the second one, then the world finally has eyes and can see!
The girl tilted her head to the side, as if thinking, before finally smiling again.
"I was sent to experience life in school. They said that I'm still young, so in order for me to develop my social skills, I have to enter school and interact with classmates," she answered with a face that doesn't know what's wrong with what she just said.
Of course, what she said was just part of the truth. Andrea was supposed to be sent to have an outreach program for a year in another country, but she resisted and told her sponsors that she might have an attack if she can't meet her sister this time. The sponsors already experienced several attacks from Andrea in the past few years and they don't want another repeat of the tragedies, so they consented and had her experience life with her sister.
It's a good thing that they can now have a leash on this rabid dog they raised. Or a bone.
Andrea is obviously a rabid dog. And this dog wanted to be together with her bone. If they can utilize this bone, well they can control the dog better.
There's no way that Andrea would tell her beloved little sister about the struggles she has to face just to be together with her again. She just smiled innocently, as if schemes have not formed in her mind a thousand times since seeing her younger twin.
"Hmm, then that would be awesome," Althea mindlessly said. Her thoughts revolved around the fact that her monster sister was sent to experience life and not because she exhausted her talents already.
And that's when all hell broke loose.
A teenager that grew up with an inferior mindset and a genius who longed to be with her sister. The combination of the two can only be a disaster.
During the first few weeks of their reunion, Althea kept a close eye on how she presented herself in front of the monster. She can't afford to be embarrassed. She worked hard to enter this school, and she won't let the presence of this monster affect her mood.
Soon, however, she lost all patience as their classmates continued to compare the two and even wonder at their faces.
Whenever they get home, the smiling face of Althea would suddenly turn into a frown and she'll impatiently shout at Andrea. The absence of their parents at home became a chance for Althea to torture the mentality of this genius twin sister of hers. She even specially bought a collar for this ever-accepting sister of hers.
At first, it started as a way to vent her anger and jealousy. The monster also wholeheartedly accepted, and she did not hear a hint of complaint. Then, it morphed into something that pleasured her, her eyes gleaming with glee every time her twin whimpered in pain.
It was a twisted pleasure. One that broke her rationality time and time again. It was a relationship that defies the current norms in society.
After every session, Althea would wonder why her sister put up with her.
She's a genius, a talented person valued by the country. Her words are treasured by everyone, and she can twist lies into truth if she so wishes. She can reveal Althea's sadistic side to the whole world, and everyone would pity her for becoming the victim, ousting Althea to be an outcast.
But she did not.
She embraced Althea's anger and hits, never once complaining about the pain and frustration. She never fought back, even if she bleeds and tears formed at the corners of her eyes. She never talked back, even after Althea humiliated her and destroyed her dignity to pieces.
Althea grew up lacking in love, while Andrea basked in it.
Althea wished to get rid of her inferiority, feeling pleasure in inflicting pain upon the prodigy who has the same face as her.
Andrea, on the other hand, developed narcissism that her sponsors found hard to cure. She would look disdainfully at her peers, exhibiting hostile behavior and arrogance. They then remembered about the inferior twin that she has and hoped that seeing an inferior version of herself would cure her narcissism.
However, they did not calculate the fact that upon remembering her twin sister, Andrea would riot, demanding to see her sister at once. She rebelled, until they allowed her to be with her sister again.
Sure enough, Andrea stabilized when she went to school with Althea. Although she has to take her assignments online to not part with her sister, Andrea still fulfilled a lot of their tasks and became obedient.
Once again, they miscalculated the inferiority complex of the twin sister of their little rabid dog.
Andrea enjoyed being submissive towards someone who has the same face as her. She found it addicting to see her twin torture her. She loved seeing her sister's face morph into that of pleasure while inflicting pain unto her, and the guilt that comes afterwards.
Two girls with the same face but different fates, different desires, and different longings.
Two girls that silently acquiesced to this kind of relationship.
Two girls that developed affection towards each other in this kind of blood-bounded bond.
Two girls that will continue such twisted affection until society forbids it.
~ Fin ~
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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