Chapter 11 – You Were Supposed to Be Mine

【Fred PoV】

Sylvia and I spent the afternoon together…

We had a good time… I’m sure she loves me… judging by the way she looks at me.

Every little detail speaks volumes… She blushes every time she sees me and looks away, as if she’s trying to hide something.

Her gaze searches for me… what else could be right.

“Fred-dono…”

“Please… without the ‘dono.’ We’ve talked for a long time now without you using it, and I… well…”

“Yes… well… I have to tell you something…”

Before she could speak… a boy entered the house… he seemed to be a lumberjack…

“Hi honey…”

Honey?

Who’s honey?

Who?

Sylvia?

No… she’s not anyone’s sweetheart but mine, right?

She can’t be anyone’s sweetheart…

“Hi honey!!”

Sylvia answered with a smile…

What’s going on here?

Honey… honey…

Is she smiling at someone else?

What?

How?

WHY?

“Sylvia… what’s going on…”

I tried to contain myself…

There must be some explanation… it can only be this… it has to be this… that’s it…

Maybe they’re brothers… we’re in another world, maybe he’s her brother… maybe here they call brothers “dear”…

It can only be this…

…

… It has to be this…

“Fred… I want to introduce you to my future husband… his name is…”

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOO, HE ISN’T YOUR HUSBAND, HE IS YOUR BROTHER…”

“He’s not my husband yet, but he will be…”

“Yes… dear…”

Inside my head, a storm of denial raged.

I refused to let that cursed word fall from my lips.

I could not accept him as “husband.”

He was nothing but a temporary interloper.

He was a false claimant.

He was an unwelcome usurper of our destiny.

Every time that word echoed in my ears, my heart twisted in fury.

I would never allow Sylvia to call him what he was meant to be.

“Fred… you’re my best friend… I want you to get along… please… I want you to get along with my husband…”

“HE’S NOT YOUR HUSBAND, HAHAHA, I KNOW THIS IS A PRANK. YOU’RE PUNISHING ME FOR TAKING SO LONG TO DECLARE MY LOVE, RIGHT?”

“A prank? Are you seriously confessing your love for me? What on earth are you talking about?”

“What do you mean, ‘what I’m talking about’? We love each other… you always said that you loved me⁉️”

“No… Fred… listen… I’ve always liked you as a friend, that’s all. I’ve always made that clear… but as my husband… it’s different. I love him, and I want you to be his friend too…”

“HAHAHAAHHAHAHA, THIS HAS TO BE A PRANK…”

My mind spun with a feverish logic.

I told myself it was all a cruel joke.

A punishment for my delay.

A twisted test of our destined future.

But every syllable she uttered confirmed the nightmare.

I could not let her call him “husband.”

I would never allow that title to belong to anyone but me.

“Fred… you’re scaring me… what are you doing… stop…”

“WHAT AM I DOING… I’m getting him out of the way… he’s the one who got involved in our relationship. If it weren’t for him, we would have been dating… then engaged, and then we would have been married…”

Her fiancé stepped forward.

He placed himself between us like a feeble barrier.

“Get away from her, Fred,” he pleaded.

I heard his voice trembling.

I saw the fear in his eyes.

I heard Sylvia’s soft cry: “Fred… you’re scaring me… what are you doing… stop…”

My vision narrowed.

All I could see was the man blocking our destined future.

I lunged forward with a wild, unhinged determination.

I smashed into a wooden beam near the door.

The impact shattered a panel.

Splinters of wood flew into the air.

Sylvia screamed in terror.

Her cry was drowned out by the pounding of my heart.

I advanced further, lost in a haze of twisted longing.

I could not bear the thought of her loving someone else.

I had to remove this interloper.

Her fiancé struggled to push me back.

He raised his arms in a futile attempt to shield her.

But I was driven by a desperate, distorted need.

I slammed him against the wall.

The fragile paneling groaned under the force.

Dust and debris rained down around us.

The house trembled as if protesting my actions.

Sylvia’s screams mingled with the sound of breaking wood.

I barely registered them.

My sole purpose was to reclaim what was mine.

I saw his eyes widen in shock.

I noticed blood forming on his cheek.

A dark satisfaction surged within me.

I reached for a jagged stake from a fallen beam.

Its rough surface pressed into my palm.

I gripped it tightly as if it were the key to our future.

If I eliminate him, nothing could ever come between us.

That act would cleanse our destiny of betrayal.

I advanced with a manic, distorted determination.

“FRED… STOP PLEASE…”

Her voice came again, desperate and trembling.

But it was lost in the chaos of my thoughts.

I drove the stake forward.

I watched as it plunged into him.

I saw his eyes widen in pain.

I heard his body collapse onto the floor.

Blood seeped around the stake, staining the debris red.

I stood there, the silence after his collapse overwhelming me.

My mind was a tumult of raw emotion—raging anger, seething love, and a cold determination that bordered on madness.

Every beat of my heart hammered the belief that I had done what was necessary.

In that shattered moment, reality warped into a single purpose: nothing must stand between Sylvia and me.

The air was thick with the scent of blood and broken wood, and the sound of my ragged breathing was the only response to the chaos I had wrought.

I could feel the weight of destiny pressing upon me, urging me forward.

Every shattered fragment of that ruined house whispered promises of a future free from betrayal—a future where I alone would be the keeper of Sylvia’s heart.

I felt an unsettling calm settle over me as I surveyed the devastation.

The world seemed to slow down, each moment etched in my mind with grotesque clarity.

The very thought of her gentle smile and warm touch drove me to this point, blurring the line between love and possession.

I was both savior and destroyer, lost in a maze of twisted desire.

I stepped over the broken remnants of him.

I moved to where Sylvia stood.

Her face was a mask of horror and disbelief.

“Sylvia… we can be boyfriend and girlfriend… he’s gone…”

She tried to cling to him, her hand reaching out in a futile gesture.

But he lay still on the shattered floor.

Her house was ruined around us.

Every fallen beam and shattered board was collateral damage.