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I ruined my sister’s marriage plans

I am the eldest child of four and a fraternal twin in a loving Italian family. However, it always annoyed me that Anna (my younger twin by three minutes) was deemed the “beautiful” one out of all the children. Anna was definitely Dad’s favourite; spoilt by him and encouraged by him to take modelling, singing, dancing and acting lessons. Dad would proudly tell anyone within earshot that Anna was “Australia’s next Tina Arena!”

When we turned 19, Anna went to the US to pursue her dream of international stardom. Due to the costs involved, I could only afford to go to uni part-time. I was also loaded with the responsibilities of helping my parents with our family restaurant business and looking after my two youngest siblings.

I was very surprised when we next heard from Anna before Christmas. She admitted things were tough but that she was determined to stay overseas and obtain her green card. Anna’s artist room-mate, Garry, was going to marry her to help. My parents were very worried and sent me over to LA to see Anna.

It was my first trip overseas and I was very excited. I felt immediate attraction to Garry, a gentle soul with wavy brown hair, green eyes and a goatee beard. His room was littered with cartoons he drew on scraps of paper and he would play his guitar every night before sleeping. From what I could tell, his relationship with Anna was “just friends”.

Anna was constantly going to auditions, so Garry and I had plenty of time alone. The more I got to know him, the more I felt envious of Anna. Just after new year, Anna went out partying with her acting class. Once again, I was left alone in her apartment, but that didn’t bother me because I knew Garry would be returning home.

I went all-out to cook Garry a romantic Italian dinner. He shook his head in surprise. “I can’t believe you and Anna are so different”, he said in his soft tone. He reached over to wipe some bolognese sauce from the corner of my mouth and then kissed me gently. I voraciously returned his kiss and before long, we were having the most amazing sex in every room of the little apartment!

I knew that Garry was my soulmate. He told me that I was the one he loved and he could never marry Anna. We confronted Anna with our news the next afternoon and she became hysterical, shrieking that I was deliberately ruining her dream.

Garry and I married in Las Vegas the following week and moved to his San Francisco hometown. Anna was forced to return home and it was as if we had switched places. I hope that everyone will eventually understand that it was time for me to live my life fully and not take a backseat any more. With Garry by my side, I am blissfully happy and living my dream.

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