The notification ping was sharp enough to make Maya jump. Not the usual thrill of "someone noticed me," but a jolt that felt like someone had shoved her chair out from under her.
Her phone was lighting up like a Christmas tree of disaster. Lumina—their family skincare brand—was trending. She had expected attention, admiration even, but not this. The posts weren't celebratory. They were weapons.
Tone-deaf. Cruel. Exploitative. Videos of her campaign on fire. Stock prices plummeting.
She stared at the screen. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard. Maybe she could explain it away. Maybe it was just a glitch.
A text from Elena:
"I'm handling the press release. Stay home."
No scolding. No guilt. Just… calm. That calm made her want to scream. How could Elena always seem untouchable? How could Elena always fix what she broke?
Maya threw her phone. The crack across the wall mirrored the crack in her chest, though she refused to admit it.
Jealousy wasn't a storm for Maya. It was a fog she had grown up in.
Elena had always been perfect—at least in the ways that counted. Beauty, brains, kindness, stability. Maya, in comparison, was chaos in sneakers, sharp edges, bright noise. She had tried to carve out her own brilliance, to make the world notice her spark. But Elena was always there, a lighthouse she could never reach.
She told herself she launched the campaign to push boundaries, to innovate, to win. That wasn't a lie… not entirely. But a sliver of truth gnawed at her when she remembered the moment she hit "Launch." Elena's worried frown flashed in her mind like a warning she had chosen to ignore.
No one else would see it. But she saw it.
And maybe… maybe part of her had wanted to prove Elena wrong.