Chapter 2 - Pink Smoke and Poison
The opening chords of "Can't Help Falling in Love" filled the ballroom. Daniel’s arm wrapped around my waist, his warm hand resting against the curve of my back. For two whole minutes, the crushing weight of the past six months simply vanished. The twinkling fairy lights, the soft scent of white gardenias, and the steady beat of Daniel’s heart against my cheek made me believe in miracles. I thought we had won. I thought we had actually made it across the finish line without my family detonating our special day.
Then came the hiss.
It sounded like a ruptured gas valve, sharp and violently loud. A split second later, the music died. The romantic violin swell was brutally replaced by the opening bassline of a generic, booming pop anthem.
I spun around in Daniel's arms.
Standing right at the edge of the polished oak dance floor were my younger sister, Khloe, and her fiancé, Tyler. Khloe was wearing a blush-pink silk dress that hugged every curve—a dress so pale it was essentially white under the reception chandeliers. In her manicured hands, she held an industrial-sized smoke canister. Tyler held another.
Before anyone could comprehend what was happening, they twisted the tops.
Thick, pungent, blinding clouds of bright neon-pink smoke erupted into the air. Within seconds, our romantic spotlight was choked in chemical fog. The acrid smell hit the back of my throat, making me cough violently. Guests in the front row recoiled, covering their mouths and waving their linen napkins in desperate attempts to clear the air.
"Surprise!" Khloe shrieked through a wireless microphone she had somehow ripped away from the DJ booth. Her voice bounced off the walls, vibrating with theatrical excitement. "It’s a girl! Tyler and I are having a baby girl!"
Daniel stiffened beside me. His jaw clenched so hard I could hear his teeth grind. "Is she out of her mind?" he whispered, his eyes wide with disbelief as the heavy pink smog coated our floral arrangements, our guests, and the pristine white satin train of my wedding gown.
Khloe twirled in the center of the dance floor, reveling in the chaos. A few confused guests offered hesitant, scattered claps, entirely unsure whether this bizarre stunt was an approved part of the wedding program. But the look on my mother’s face from the head table told the real story.
Mom wasn’t surprised at all. She was beaming. She rose from her seat like a proud queen presenting her prized heir to the court, tears of joy streaming down her cheeks as she clapped wildly.
Tyler, on the other hand, looked faintly uneasy. He shifted his weight from foot to foot, clutching the smoking canister like a grenade he didn't know how to disarm. But Khloe wasn't finished. She held her hand up, silencing the bewildered room, basking in the spotlight that was supposed to belong to Daniel and me.
"Wait, wait! That's not all!" Khloe giggled into the mic, flashing her diamond ring toward the photographers who were frozen in utter confusion. "Our mom has one more huge surprise for us tonight!"
Mom practically glided toward the dance floor, her emerald-green mother-of-the-bride dress rustling aggressively. She took the second microphone from the DJ’s table, her eyes glittering with smug triumph. She didn't look at Daniel. She didn't look at me. Her gaze was locked entirely on her golden child.
"As everyone knows," Mom began, her voice dripping with calculated sentimentality, "family is about sacrifice. It’s about passing blessings forward. And since my precious Khloe is starting this beautiful new chapter as a mother, she deserves the world."
Mom paused for dramatic effect, placing a maternal hand on Khloe's shoulder.
"Khloe, Tyler... I am officially gifting you two a twelve-day, luxury, all-expenses-paid honeymoon to Greece! Athens, Santorini, private oceanfront villas—it’s all yours!"
A collective gasp swept through the room.
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My blood ran cold. My ears began to ring. I stood frozen on my own dance floor, watching my mother publicly boast about giving away *my* honeymoon—using *my* money, on a credit card she thought I still hadn't checked.
Mom turned her head toward me, flashing a bright, patronizing smile meant to intimidate me into silence. "Maya and Daniel are so blessed to already have so much," Mom proclaimed into the microphone, locking eyes with me, daring me to make a scene in front of our two hundred guests. "Maya, sweetie, come give your little sister a hug and wish her safe travels!"
