Envy Is Poison

"I love you," He said looking deep into her eyes.

"I am not worthy, my love, I am not a good woman. My envy killed you." Lydian James cried loudly looking at the grave of her husband James.

James smiled and vanished from her sight. He had forgiven her for her sin.

She was burning with guilt inside and she knew it was her jealousy towards her sister that made her husband take his life. She was a lady Othello and after he left her world, she realized his worth.

Lydian was born in a simple middle-class family.

"She had an innocent face in disguise, her Elephant eyes could steal any hearts. Her smile was like dripping honey but a heart full of envy. She always wanted to be a winner and she would do anything to win the game."

James and Lydian were a happily married couple. They were blessed with everything but not a child. Lydian cursed herself for dating James with a string of lies. She had, after all, cheated her sister and accused her of something she has not done.

Lydian's elder sister, Livya was more beautiful than her. They just had two years' difference between them. Livya completed her graduation and she was looking out for a perfect match. She took help of her friend Jenny to get registered on a marriage portal. Livya trusted Lydian and blindly shared her happiness of getting registered on a portal and soon getting happily married to her charming prince. She was busy with her MA exams so Lydian told her that she will check her profile and give her the updates of the matching grooms. One fine day Lydian was surfing the harmonymarriage.com and her eyes fell on James Shirzo. He was from Goa and an owner of a raw house at 28. His blue eyes were seducing. He had expressed his interest in Livya. He always wanted a simple girl with curls.

Lydian fell in love with James and his image seduced her. She decided he will be hers and she made a wicked plan. She contacted James and expressed her interest in him. Initially, he was not keen and she lied to him that Livya is already engaged and she is not interested in him. James was disheartened but he decided to give it a try. He requested Lydian to send her photograph.

James was a happy go lucky guy working in Goa and he was eventually not ready to get married. His friend Arthur had challenged him that he won't get married before Christmas.

"If I get married then you have to pay me a lakh rupees," James had demanded his filthy rich friend who agreed to the bet.

Arthur knew James will not compromise and it was impossible to get his dream girl. Lydian did not have curls and had long silky hair. She was dusky in complexion with a perfect figure but not a great height that would match with James. Livya was fair and tall, indeed a perfect match for him.

"In a week, days are seven... Marriages are made in heaven."

James wrote the two rhyming lines in his poetry notebook. He often wrote rhymes. He decided to date Lydian and he also had greed for 1 lakh rupees to be gifted by his bestie, Arthur Morzilla. He wanted to buy a big car.

"At times hard work can't make one successful... Some wickedness indeed is needed." With this strong desire, he decided to get married to Lydian. Lydian had smartly deleted his proposal from Livya's account and brainwashed Livya to get married to a bald middle-aged man who was a jeweller by profession. Now, Livya too fell in the trap and dreamt of riches, a bed of gold and diamonds. Livya did not know her happiness was snatched by her sister and James was much richer than this Sylvester- the bald middle-aged man. Their parents were happy that Livya got a match and Sylvester had agreed to deck up his bride with precious jewels. He was also going to cover their marriage expenses. The wedding venue was decided. It was Goa and Lydian's joy knew no bounds, 15 days were enough for her to win Jame's heart. They were connected through the phone, speaking for hours to know each other.

"The talks turned in to giggles and the giggles now turned into the pearls of love."

Lydian invited James to her sister's wedding. She wanted to flaunt her rich boyfriend in front of her cousins. She lied to them that they met at the 'British Council Library,' for the first time. Both discussed Romeo and Juliet through Shakespeare's literature. The news of her rich boyfriend flew like fire and her parents expressed their interest to meet James. She had told James that her parents are very self-centred and he needs to impress them by giving her gold ornaments and covering their marriage expense, exactly as Sylvester did for Livya.

James agreed and Lydian's parents were feeling blessed and thanked almighty for the blessings showered on their both daughters. Finally, Lydian and James were married before Christmas and Arthur, as promised gifted James with the sum of money. James bought his royal 5th car and with Lydian in his life initially flourished in his Strawberry Jam business. Lydian introduced many innovative products like Strawberry tea and cupcakes. They become famous entrepreneurs of Goa. Lydian will spend a lot of money and live luxuriously. She soon started gambling without Jame's knowledge. She created a fake account with Livya's name and that saved her from all the troubles. She would swipe his credit cards and finally when she was caught, she lied that it was Livya who was spending her brother in law's money with her dirty habits.

Livya was close to James, though he did not reveal her that his first preference was her. Once Lydian was drunk and she had confessed and James was slowly losing his trust in her. Livya's husband had undergone a financial loss and James had shared his credit card details with her. Livya knew her sister was cheating upon her and fooling her own man. Livya decided to complain about her sister to the police department but her sister had much-wicked plans. She had trapped her sister and her own husband on the terrace room and clicked their cosy pictures. She had mixed some seducing intoxicating drugs in their juice.

Both the brother in law and sister in law had fallen prey to the sin of adultery. James hardly realised that he was getting inside his friend and sister in law. Livya had slept half away and when it dawned she realized the sin had eventually happened last night. She immediately wanted to apologize to her sister but she was blackmailed with their nude photographs. Livya begged Lydian that she should not tell about her infidelity to Sylvester. But Lydian took the chance and she showed Sylvester all the shreds of evidence.

Sylvester called his wife a whore and walked away with his daughter. She cried for days and she was sent to a mental asylum. James blamed himself for what happened that night? He thought those pictures were clicked by his rival cousin to break their marriage. He had confessed and said a million sorries to Lydian for the act of adultery, he committed. She blamed him every day and through her best friend Gerald, James learnt it was her trap to save herself from the money gamble scene. He no longer wanted to live with her and he wrote his suicide note:

" Nothing can stop me from loving you more my angel...

But you are a bad omen, maybe a demon...

You have ruined 5 lives and I don't want to be alive...

To Live with you is a prison.

Let death depart us..."

He gulped the venomous snake poison with his wine and killed himself.

The emptiness was now killing Lydian from inside.

Envy is poisonous... Keep away from it!

Greed is a killer... Stay away from it!

A bad heart can kill and so is a wicked mind;

Erase the hurts and clean your treacherous mind.

Happiness cannot be bought,!

Always try to be a good human being...

Your jealousy can snatch your blessing...

So stay away from satan.