The Story about Amanda

My brother by blood, Eric Wilson, was having an affair. I found out about it. However, I chose not to tell his wife. Instead, I blackmailed him into buying me three luxury handbags. Chapter 1 My brother, Eric Wilson, was cheating on his wife. A designer boutique I frequented had just received the season’s latest collection. A sales associate I knew called and asked if I wanted to come in for an early look. As luck would have it, Eric was there when I arrived. He was lounging in the seating area. His long legs were propped up on the coffee table. He was probably bored because he was scrolling through his phone. A slender, curvaceous woman stood with her back to me as a sales associate helped her choose a handbag. She turned around and asked him with a hint of coquettishness, “Eric, what do you think of this one?” My eyebrows rose with interest. Did she just call him Eric? I knew that businessmen like my brother always had women around them, married or not. Whether those relationships were innocent was another matter, but those women usually addressed him as “Mr. Wilson,” “Sir,” or “Boss”. It was the first time I had heard one of them call him by his first name so intimately. Eric casually looked up from his phone and smiled. “Anything you like is fine with me.” Tsk, tsk. Just listen to them! In broad daylight, too. What a pair of cheating tras... Ahem. What a shameless couple. I walked over and placed a hand on Eric’s shoulder. Then, I mimicked her coy, singsong voice from behind him. “Eric, I want a handbag too.” Without even turning around, Eric knew it was me. He let out an exasperated laugh. He reached back and gave me a playful swat on the head. “You little brat, knock it off.” I affectionately wrapped my arms around his neck from behind and looked at the woman. Sure enough, she had stopped browsing. She stood where she was, studying me closely. She was beautiful and poised, almost like a movie star. More importantly, she did not seem like just another pretty face. She looked sharp and composed, like a woman who knew exactly what she was doing. Even after seeing how affectionate Eric and I were, her expression did not change, nor did her smile falter. Only a hint of wariness entered her eyes as she hesitantly asked Eric, “This is...” Eric kept his answer brief. “My sister, Emma.” She relaxed almost imperceptibly, then regarded me with a curious expression. “Oh, so you are his sister,” she said before introducing herself. “I’m Tiffany McCann.” After a brief pause, she looked at me and added, “We’ve met before, but you’ve probably forgotten.” Her name did sound vaguely familiar, though I had no idea when we might have met. I ignored her and leaned closer to whisper in Eric’s ear. “Does Amanda know you’re shopping for handbags with another woman today?” Amanda Wilson was my sister-in-law, Eric’s wife. However, the threat did not faze him. He did not so much as furrow his brow before replying indifferently, “Pick whichever handbag you want.” I put on a wounded expression. “Is that really the kind of person you think I am? Amanda and I are so close. Do you think you could buy my silence with one handbag?” Eric remained perfectly composed. “Three. That’s my final offer.” I knew he did not actually care whether Amanda found out about the other woman. He was certain she would never dare ask him for a divorce. Knowing better than to push my luck, I immediately perked up and said sweetly, “Deal! You are the best brother ever.” It must have been my lucky day. I had scored three free designer handbags without paying a cent. I did not care about the style. I simply chose the three most expensive ones and was done in no time. As I was leaving, Tiffany gave me an overtly enthusiastic goodbye, but I ignored her. I might not have liked Amanda, but I disliked shameless women like her even more. It was not until I was halfway home that it suddenly hit me. I finally remembered why the name, Tiffany, sounded so familiar. Tiffany McCann was the name of Eric’s first love. She was the only woman he had ever been serious about before he married Amanda. Chapter 2 Eric and Amanda’s marriage had been arranged by their families, with both families being of comparable social standing. In truth, my family was nouveau riche. My grandfather had made his fortune in coal mining. By my father’s generation, the family had moved into the jewelry business, but really, we had only traded coal for precious stones. Besides, coal and diamonds were both made primarily of carbon. The same was true of my family members. Whether we dealt in coal or jewelry, we were still nouveau riche at heart. That was why Dad wanted Eric to marry a young woman from an equally prominent but more cultured family. He hoped she might lend a little refinement to the next generation of our family. Amanda was the perfect candidate. Her father was an art appraiser, while her mother was a renowned painter. Amanda herself had earned a graduate degree from a prestigious university. She was exceptionally intelligent and was only twenty-three when she graduated. Afterward, she joined her academic advisor in researching a deadly infectious disease. The work did not pay much, but it was highly respected and sounded deeply impressive whenever anyone heard about it. Unfortunately, she had since given all of that up to become Eric’s housewife. I remembered Eric being twenty-eight when he was introduced to Amanda. Twenty-eight was the prime of a man’s life. It was the age when he was eager to build his career, yet Dad expected him to get married and allow himself to be tied down. The idea was particularly absurd where Eric was concerned. I was five years younger than him and had witnessed every rebellious phase he had ever gone through. Eric had always been wildly popular with women. He was rich and strikingly handsome, with the kind of charisma that drew people in. He carried himself with a lazy, effortless confidence, rather like a well-fed cheetah strolling across the savanna without a care in the world. He had always been the most popular boy at school, and people naturally followed his lead. Since high school, only the prettiest girls ever rode on the back of his motorcycle. There was a different one every few weeks. As well as he treated me, I had to be fair and admit that Eric was an unapologetic womanizer. So, one could easily imagine how much he resented and resisted the arranged marriage. The first time Dad seriously brought up the match over dinner, Eric had scoffed. I still remembered his exact words. “She already has a master’s degree at twenty-three? Dad, have you lost your mind? She must be some socially inept nerd who has spent her entire life buried in books. “I bet no one else would marry her. Why are you so determined to make your own son’s life miserable?” Dad ignored his complaints. Without even looking up, he asked, “Are you going to meet her or not?” Eric went. At that time, he and several friends had secured a parcel of government land for a major development project. They were at a critical stage. Their funding could not afford to be disrupted. Eric was fiercely proud and hated being threatened more than anything. Under ordinary circumstances, he might have dug in and waited Dad out, but too much money was at stake. There was no point cutting off his nose to spite his face, so he swallowed his pride and compromised. The evening felt less like a date and more like a formal meeting between two families, with both sets of parents seated opposite each other. I actually had a very good first impression of Amanda. She certainly looked nothing like the awkward, bespectacled nerd Eric had imagined. She was fair-skinned, with beautiful eyes and a naturally gentle demeanor. However, her appearance was not what struck me first. It was her presence. She gave the impression of someone kind and accepting, yet sheltered from the harsher realities of life. There was something wonderfully pure about her. My parents smiled throughout the dinner. It was obvious that they were very pleased with Amanda. Eric, however, liked a very different type. His taste had not changed in years. He preferred curvy bombshells with long, wavy hair and bold, glamorous features. To make matters worse, Eric arrived late that evening. He had done so deliberately. Chapter 3 Although it had happened three or four years ago, I remembered it vividly. I was normally oblivious to awkward situations, but even I had wanted to disappear from embarrassment. When Eric finally arrived, he did not even bother sitting down. He picked up the nearest glass of red wine and went straight over to toast Amanda. In a deliberately flirtatious voice, he said, “Amanda, darling, forgive me for keeping you waiting. Let me make it up to you with a drink.” I had to hand it to him. He had somehow managed to sound spectacularly sleazy. His behavior was also incredibly forward and rude. Even worse, he had clearly come determined to sabotage the entire dinner. When Amanda raised her glass to meet his, he deliberately spilled some of his wine onto her. She was wearing a white blouse. The red stain spread across her chest. The wine soaked through the fabric and faintly revealed the outline of her bra underneath. I did not dare look at my parents’ faces. Amanda’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jordan, were seated across from me. Mrs. Jordan was a beautiful woman, but she had not smiled once all evening. From the moment Eric walked in, a deep frown had settled between her brows and never left. Amanda, however, handled it with remarkable poise. She plucked a large garden rose from the floral centerpiece and pinned it over the stain. Its densely layered petals were creamy white with the faintest blush of pink, every bit as lovely as she was. It covered the wine perfectly. Once she had adjusted it, she looked up and smiled at Eric. There was something so sweet and guileless about that smile that even my heart melted. She looked even younger than her age. She was only twenty-four at the time, just one year older than me. “It’s all right,” she told Eric. Eric seemed caught off guard. He said nothing and only took his seat after a long pause. After we returned home, we all assumed the match was dead in the water. My parents might have been very pleased with Amanda, but what respectable family would approve of their daughter marrying a man who had behaved so frivolously and disrespectfully at their very first meeting? The next day, Mom called the Jordan family without much hope. Mrs. Jordan answered. Much to Mom’s surprise, she did not reject her outright. Our family had an exclusive arrangement with a coastal fishery known for its sustainably caught, exceptionally fresh seafood. It happened to be peak lobster season. They had just sent us a large catch along with a selection of other seafood. Mom invited the Jordan family over for a lobster dinner. After all, seafood fresh off the boat was nothing like what one normally found in stores. Mrs. Jordan did not sound enthusiastic, but she remained polite. She merely said that Amanda had been spending a great deal of time at the laboratory and might not be free. She would ask Amanda and get back to us later. Amanda called back that evening. She sounded rather shy as she thanked Mom for the invitation and explained that she would only be free after leaving the laboratory on Saturday afternoon. Mom was delighted and immediately arranged for Eric to pick her up from the laboratory. Eric was stunned when he was given the task. He displayed the utmost resistance to the decision that had completely disregarded his personal will. During that period, he was constantly at war with the family. Nothing angered him more than having other people dictate how he should live his life. When I came home on Friday evening, Eric and Dad were locked in a standoff in the living room. The floor was covered in debris, presumably from something Dad had smashed. He was accustomed to commanding absolute authority in business. So, he tolerated no defiance at home either. The living room had been deathly quiet. Our housekeeper crouched on the floor, carefully gathering the broken pieces without making a sound. Eric stood there with the lazy confidence of a young lion that had finally grown powerful enough to challenge the leader of the pride. Looking Dad directly in the eye, he said, “You can save yourself the trouble. I already have someone I love. “I can bring her to dinner tonight if you want. If grandchildren are what you’re after, we can give you two in three years.” Chapter 4 A vein throbbed at Dad’s temple as he pointed a trembling finger at Eric. “I turned a blind eye to all those women you used to fool around with. But if you bring some stranger into this family, I’m going to kill you.” Eric laughed. His lips curved upward, but his eyes remained cold. “She’s hardly some nameless stranger. Her name is Tiffany McCann. She’s an honors graduate from Camford. “She’s gorgeous, and she has the body of a model. Why can’t I marry her?” Dad snatched up a glass and made to throw it at him. Realizing that things were about to get ugly, I hurried over and linked my arm through Eric’s. I gave the inside of his elbow a discreet pinch, warning him to stop. Then, I turned to Dad in my sweetest voice. “Come on, Dad. You know what Eric’s like. I’ll talk some sense into him.” I practically dragged him out of the living room in the next moment. I could understand how Eric felt. As the daughter of the family, I had always been spoiled and indulged. Eric had never been given the same freedom. His entire life had been planned for him from childhood. His schools, his major, and his future career had all been decided in advance. Every step of his life had been mapped out and placed firmly under our parents’ control. After graduating from high school, Eric had wanted to spend a few years in the military and prove himself. He signed up without telling the family. Dad had intervened when he was on his way to report for training. Without even discussing it with him, Dad used his connections and a sizable donation to secure him a place at a prestigious university overseas. He then forced Eric onto a plane and sent him abroad to study finance. That kind of parental control was suffocating. Still, sympathy was not going to solve his problem, so I tried to reason with him. “It’s just one woman. Do you still want that development project or not? “Play along for now. No one is asking you to marry her tomorrow. “Eric, you’re usually ten steps ahead of everyone. Why are you choosing to go head-to-head with Dad now? Are you stupid? “Also, no offense, but with the way you’ve been behaving, Amanda might not even want to marry you. Just see her a few times. If she decides that she isn’t interested in you, Dad won’t be able to hold it against you.” Exasperated by his stubbornness, I decided to spell it out for him once and for all. “You only have to humor one woman. Swallow your pride, play the long game, and pull the rug out from under Dad when he least expects it. “There’s an easy way out, yet you insist on confronting him directly. What exactly do you gain from that?” His eyes narrowed slightly as he fell into thought. I knew I had gotten through to him. Sure enough, Eric went to pick Amanda up from the university as promised on Saturday. I went along with him. We parked outside the main entrance to the campus. Eric got out and leaned casually against the car, smoking as he waited. I remained in the back seat, watching through the window. Groups of students crossed the campus, chatting and laughing with youthful energy. It was not long before I spotted Amanda. She wore a simple white T-shirt and jeans. Her jet-black hair fell loose to her waist. The setting sun glowed behind her as she hurried toward us, making her pale face seem almost luminous. She jogged the rest of the way and reached the car slightly out of breath. Her forehead was lightly damp with sweat. Her cheeks were flushed. Her bright eyes were fixed on Eric. They crinkled at the corners as she smiled. “Sorry to have kept you waiting.” Eric flicked the ash from his cigarette and studied her face for a moment. Then, almost as an afterthought, he put out his cigarette. He smiled too, subtle and knowing, like a hunter watching unsuspecting prey wander willingly into his trap. He looked infuriatingly handsome. His voice was gentle. “Don’t worry. We haven’t been waiting long.” To my surprise, the air between them suddenly became almost romantic. I lowered the rear window and leaned out with a cheerful smile to greet Amanda. At that time, it never occurred to me that they would actually end up married. Chapter 5 Amanda fell in love with Eric and even agreed to marry him. My brother Eric had never been willing to share the details of his love life with his younger sister, so to that day, I had no idea what he did during their supposedly fake courtship to win Amanda’s heart. At that time, I had told Eric to swallow his pride and play along until the development project was secure. Once Dad could no longer use the funding as leverage against him, Eric could end the relationship. I never imagined that Eric would play the part so convincingly. Amanda might have been brilliant, but when it came to love, she was innocent and trusting. Somehow, Eric made her fall in love with him and agree to become his wife. They had not been together very long. After a little over a year, they began discussing marriage. The path to their engagement was neither smooth nor honorable, because Dad apparently forced Eric’s hand. He used both the development project and Tiffany’s education and future career as leverage against him. In the end, Eric gave in and agreed to marry Amanda. Amanda knew nothing about any of it. That suddenly reminded me why Tiffany had said we had met before. It had been at Eric and Amanda’s wedding. Just as the bride and groom were exchanging rings, I had received a call from security. The security guard sounded deeply uncomfortable as he spoke with great caution. “Ms. Wilson, there’s a young woman here who says she is someone from Mr. Wilson’s past.” A good sister knew when to quietly clean up her beloved brother’s messes. I slipped out without attracting anyone’s attention. At that time, I did not know Tiffany’s name. The woman was distraught. Her face was streaked with tears. She clutched my sleeve and demanded to know how Eric could possibly be marrying someone else. I was impatient with her. I gave her the contact information for my personal business manager and told her to call. She would receive a very generous payment for her emotional distress. Then, I walked away. My manager called me later to confirm the arrangement and made a sizable payment on my behalf. After that, I simply put the whole thing out of my mind. Besides, at the time, I did not believe Eric had been completely forced into marrying Amanda. At the very least, he did not seem to dislike her nearly as much as he pretended. One particular memory from after their wedding reinforced that impression. Mom and Dad were very traditional people. They believed a home should be filled with the warmth and bustle of family life. Dad had a firm rule that no one in our generation could leave the family estate and establish a separate household while he was still alive. Even someone as rebellious and independent as Eric had no choice but to obey. Naturally, Amanda moved into the family home after marrying him. Amanda and I got along fairly well in those days, mostly because there were very few people our age in the house whom either of us could talk to. Whenever Eric was away overnight on business, she would sometimes come to my room clutching a pillow and ask to spend the night with me. Once, I asked her what had made her want to marry Eric. Lying on her stomach, she still had the guileless innocence of a girl, softened by the bashfulness of a young woman in love. She showed me a photo album. The exact date was written beneath each photograph. The pictures had been arranged chronologically according to their dates. The first photograph had been taken during a beluga encounter at an aquarium. Amanda and Eric were crouched beside the pool as a beluga surfaced between them, sending droplets of water into the air. Amanda had rested one hand on its head and beamed directly at the camera. Eric was crouched on the other side without much expression. Instead of looking at the camera, he was watching Amanda. The next photograph had been taken at an amusement park, with a towering Ferris wheel in the background. Amanda wore a headband with long bunny ears and held a vanilla ice cream cone in one hand and an animal-shaped balloon in the other. There was still a dab of ice cream at the corner of her mouth, but her smile was as radiant as ever. Eric stood close behind her. Even more surprisingly, he had an ice cream cone of his own. There was a faint smile on his face. Amanda ran her fingertip over the faint smile on Eric’s face, a note of affectionate reproach slipping into her voice. “Your brother is so mean. He saw the ice cream on my face before the picture was taken, but he didn’t tell me. He even laughed at me when we got the photograph.” Chapter 6 The rest of the album captured more personal, unguarded moments. There was a photograph of their fingers intertwined at the movies, one of Amanda tucked into Eric’s arms during a skydiving trip, another of them barefoot and leaning against each other on the beach, and one of Amanda sitting behind him on his motorcycle with a helmet on and her arms wrapped around his waist. What surprised me most was the sheer number of close-up selfies they had taken together. Sometimes, Eric looked at the camera. Sometimes, he did not. Most of the time, his expression remained unreadable, but every now and then, he smiled, especially when Amanda used one of those ridiculous filters that distorted both their faces. There was also a candid photograph of Eric alone. He was sitting on a bench in the hallway outside Amanda’s laboratory, waiting for her to finish work. Amanda must have called his name just as the photograph was taken. He had turned toward her with his gaze lifted beyond the camera. There was a tenderness in his smile that I had rarely seen before. As I flipped through the photographs, I did not know what to think. If all of it had been nothing more than Eric gritting his teeth and playing along, then his performance had been almost frighteningly convincing. For a long time afterward, I remained certain that Eric did not dislike Amanda. What he resented was not Amanda herself, but what she represented, which was another part of his life that Dad had chosen for him. Eric opposed everything Dad supported and fiercely defended everything Dad opposed. They had always been determined to take opposite sides. Amanda herself had never been the problem. There was something else. When Amanda first married into the family, I took her shopping almost every day. She had taken a few weeks off after the wedding. We often spent the entire day out together. She could analyze a virus using everything from case-control and cohort studies to retrospective and prospective research, producing a stack of reports thick enough to stun someone with. Yet she could not tell an eyebrow pencil from an eyeliner pencil. I bought her makeup and taught her how to apply it step by step, then took her shopping for clothes and shoes. Naturally, everything went on Eric’s credit card. I even took her shopping for sleepwear. Whenever she first came to spend the night in my room, she had worn baggy cartoon-print pajamas that covered her from neck to ankle. The first time I saw them, I hardly knew what to say. I knew Eric’s taste in women. His previous girlfriends had certainly favored a very different style. Unable to contain my curiosity, I asked, “Eric has never complained about those pajamas?” Her entire face turned scarlet, all the way to her ears, but she shook her head without saying a word. The fact that Eric had never complained was astonishing. Still, I took her shopping for new sleepwear and found her something a little more flattering than her cartoon sets. I was too embarrassed to choose anything overly revealing. Come on, the entire situation was mortifying for me too. At the checkout, however, I could not resist adding one slightly more daring set. Amanda saw it and blushed even harder, but she did not object. She just took my hand and asked softly, “Do you think he’ll like it?” Whether Eric would like it, I had no idea. However, the way Amanda looked at that moment was enough to make me question my own sexuality. Two days later, I was curled up on the living room sofa with an ice cream cone, binge-watching a show, when Eric came looking for me. With a deep frown, he warned, “Don’t take Amanda to buy any more of that inappropriate nonsense. Stop being a bad influence on her.” I was not exaggerating to say that I broke out in goosebumps. I had groaned at him. “Give me a break, Eric. Since when are you such a prude?” A faint smile crossed his face, but it vanished almost immediately. His expression turned serious, making it clear that he was not joking. “She’s just fine the way she is.” Tsk. What a baffling man. All right, the truth was that I adored Amanda. For a long time, I thought Eric had no idea how lucky he was to have married her. A woman that wonderful ending up with a man like Eric seemed proof that the universe had no sense of justice. That was not to say Eric was a bad person. He was a wonderful brother and an incredibly charismatic man. However, he also had every flaw in the book. He had a terrible temper, was incapable of remaining faithful, and could be wildly unpredictable. Women were constantly throwing themselves at him. He had never been particularly good at resisting temptation. What made Amanda even more remarkable was that she seemed blind to all of those flaws. She devoted herself entirely to Eric and relied on him completely. She seemed to love him so deeply that even I was moved. I kept thinking that Eric had struck gold. If he ever mistreated Amanda, I would be the first person to make him pay. Ha. That little liar deserved an Oscar.