No Longer Fair To You Chapter 03
I barely slept for nights after that.
Eaten up by intense, burning shame, I went out of my way to dodge them both.
When my best friend, Janelle, found out what happened, she was absolutely livid.
I looked down, gripping my sleeve, and forced the words out slowly. “It’s done. I’ve decided to keep my distance. I’m done trying to get close to them from now on.”
The worst-case scenario was that we’d just settle into a state of polite detachment.
Thanks to our off-the-charts compatibility rating, I was the only one who could stabilize them during their rut.
In return, the military status they’d earned guaranteed me a pretty fantastic standard of living.
It was nothing more than a practical transaction.
“Are you still going to bring them milk?” she asked.
I thought about it for a second. “Yeah, probably.”
I still needed to keep up appearances and be civil.
Janelle hesitated, but eventually spoke up. “But don’t you think it’s unfair to treat them exactly the same by bringing them both milk?”
Unfair?
Anderson and Clayton were twins, and our compatibility was unusually high.
Because of that, the agency reps had drilled it into my head that my number one job after getting married was absolute impartiality. “Multi-werebeast households like yours are rare, but they happen. The key to keeping the family intact is strict equality; you can’t play favorites. You have to be the glue holding them together. You need to understand that every little thing you do affects the moods of both werebeasts, and it can disrupt the balance between them.”
I had followed those instructions to the letter. I always prepared exactly two of everything.
I poured two identical glasses of milk, bought two of every gift, and literally counted out the exact number of shrimp in each of their lunchboxes when I packed their meals.
I was already going to such insane lengths—how could anyone call that unfair?
Seeing my confusion, Janelle gave me a gentle nudge. “Clayton was the only one who yelled at you that day, right? Anderson didn’t say a word.”
I nodded. Anderson hadn’t just stayed quiet—he’d actually punched Clayton. It felt like he was standing up for me.
And…
I glanced down at the cut on my lower leg.
Anderson had knelt right beside me to clean the wound, looking more serious than I’d ever seen him.
Before he left, he’d pressed a piece of chocolate from his pocket into my hand.
He wiped my tears, stayed with me until I fell asleep, and even apologized for Clayton.
But it really wasn’t his fault. Clayton was the only one who’d been cruel to me that night.
“Exactly,” Janelle pointed out. “Think about it. They treat you completely differently, but they end up getting the exact same milk and the exact same gifts. Isn’t that unfair to Anderson? He behaves better and actually treats you well.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but I couldn’t find the words.
I lay awake for hours that night.
My mind drifted back to the orphanage, to a time I helped a volunteer named Mariana with her chores.
While the other kids played, I spent the entire afternoon moving boxes until my palms were red and raw.
At the end of the day, I got a backpack as a reward.
But so did everyone else. Even the laziest kid, who’d spent the whole afternoon catching bugs, got the exact same backpack.
Right before the volunteers left, Mariana pulled me aside.
With a smile, she slipped two hair clips into my hand. “Everyone gets a backpack, but I’m giving you these clips as a little something extra,” she told me.
“Well-behaved kids deserve an extra reward. That’s what makes it fair.”
Janelle’s logic and Mariana’s words wrestled in my head.
Eventually, I decided Mariana was right.
The person who behaves better deserves a bigger reward. That was true fairness.
