*As told to Kally by someone who wishes to remain anonymous

At 29 years old, I was at the peak of my career. I’m a top marketing manager and I ran a team of 150 people under me. I had social media, advertising, branding, PR and internal communications team. I was working at one of the Fortune 500 companies. I am young, ambitious and… not happy. 

My twin sister is also in the same industry and in a similar role except that she wasn’t managing anyone because the startup could only afford her. We like bouncing ideas off each other and sometimes critic each other’s work.

Then suddenly, her company became famous overnight and thrown into limelight. Everyone wants to be an investor. The startup became bigger and bigger. The founder offered my twin a seat right at the top management next to him with substantial raise in money and shares. Of course, I was unhappy. More like, I was jealous. 

It is so unfair!

To get to where I was I had to complete a double degree in marketing and communications. I had spent a lot of sleepless nights, poring over marketing strategies and competition research. I had bend my back backwards and sometimes on my knees to network and kiss arses to people in media and entertainment.

I have zero social life. I have no friends. And now, my sister suddenly was too busy to have dinners with me. She wasn’t even a marketing student. She didn’t even have a degree. She was just lucky that she landed her job in a small startup. 

Long story short, I did a lot of despicable things to sabotage her career. Little things like badmouthing her in our tight circle to major stuff like leaking confidential stuff I know of her company that she used to confine in me. Deleting important messages from clients from her phones and her emails. Changing her password on her email inbox so she cannot lock into her account for a day. 

The one thing I did that broke the camel’s back and made her turned her back on me is that I sabotage her biggest deal. Usually, my company takes in a lot of huge corporations, big international brand names like those in the Top Fortune 100 companies while my sister’s start up works with any other companies that are not up to my league. 

Two years ago, a famous international brand chose to go with her company instead of mine. It’s a few million dollars deal and this commission would allow me put down the deposit of a dream house I’ve been eyeing for sometime.

Not letting it go, I found out on the sly within our industry that the chief marketing manager has a thing for my sweet next-door girl, my sister. Did I forgot to mention that we were identical twin sisters? I did a really nasty thing. I pretended to be my sister and I slept with the chief marketing manager. My plan was to sleep and dump so he will forget about working with my sister and I will swop in to grab the deal.

It didn’t work. The chief marketing manager still went ahead and signed the contract with her. So my next step, out of pure revenge, I let out a rumour that my sister slept with him to get the deal. 

The chief marketing manager had to resign over the rumour. A few months later, somehow the rumour was traced back to me as the originator.

Karma, I know. I never get to know how people found out or who leaked it.

I got fired from my position as well. My boss couldn’t believe that I had played such stinky hand. The industry players love the stink and couldn’t stop talking about it. My reputation went tumbling downwards. Nobody wants to work with me. No brands wants to be associate with my name. The last media company I interviewed with, their HR told me that they wouldn’t want to work with someone so untrustworthy and unreliable. 

The best part? My sister survived the whole scandal unscathed. Her boss asked her to go on a sabbatical leave for 6 months for this incident to blow over. She traveled to the other side of the world with her newly minted fiancé and came back, glowing and happy, with a job she loves, waiting for her.  

We stopped talking to each other when the scandal blew up. I moved out of the house when she was away on vacation last year. Now I freelance for marketing gigs to pay my bills, while watching my sister climb to where I was before, making a name for herself in the industry circle. 

I grew up a lot during this time. I am alone most of the time, by choice. I have acknowledged that I was selfish and blinded by greed. I have moved past that. I won’t pursue to gain her forgiveness either because I don’t think that is what I want right now. Maybe in a few years time, then we’ll see. 

Right now, I’m saving up money to move to my next destination to start afresh and hopefully, nobody remembers my name there. 

If you enjoyed reading this Whisper, check out our other Whispers stories:
Whisper: I have a Crazy Boss
Whisper: I’m 38 And I Still Live With My Parents
Whisper: The Thing that Destroy My Social Life and Almost Kill my Career

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38 replies on “Whisper: How Career Jealousy Destroy My Relationship with My Sister”

  1. Your storytelling here to make a point is quite realistic but I don’t think you would do that to your own sister. I do believe that jealousy is a powerful force, maybe as strong as greed. Regardless of whether the story is true for you I suspect it is true for others. I do know people who have stolen from family and as a result are estranged, so it does happen. Sadly.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

    1. It’s not me actually. It’s on behalf of someone else that I know.

      I agree with you that it is sad that people have betray their families. I have witness too many of them happening among my friends. I even know of someone who kicked her mother-in-law out of the house everyday for 12 hours, only allowing her to come home after the kids are asleep because she thinks that her mother-in-law is a bad influence to her kids.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

    1. I can’t tell you this person is from where as I have promised anonymity however, I can tell you that she is not from Italy. 🙂
      As whether her story is 100% true, I can’t confirm the facts as every story have at least 2 sides.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  5. The “green-eyed- MONSTER” here is Satan!

    Give him an “inch” and he’ll grab on to you until YOU KILL him.

    What a sad story this is; but sincere thanks to the author for sharing it.

    Our actions always have consequences. Let us NOT forget this simple truth.

    Thanks Kally,
    God bless you and the young lady who shared this pitfall.

    Patrick

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    1. Thank you, Patrick for your blessings. I agree with you that our actions always have consequences. Maybe not immediately but eventually.

      Like

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  7. This is horrifying. I can understand pangs of envy given the circumstances, but to sink to such a despicable level is beyond my capacity to empathize or even to imagine the duplicity ,the outright evil this woman subjected her sister to.
    I do not judge people but she has given you a play by play look into her psyche. She sounds like a psychopath. Her “remorse” is only about herself. She’s sorry for her behavior because she lost her job and her position, not because she harmed her sister and ruined their relationship. Gross.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    1. I guess on some levels she’s on the path of redemption ( maybe right at the start) because she’s acknowledging the incident as truthfully as she can. I can only hope for the best for her and maybe she will be better for herself and others, one day.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  8. It sounds like a crazy soap opera. The sad thing is that I have seen much crazier things go on in the workplace! People cheating on their spouses with coworkers, and the insane stuff people will do to get ahead. The one thing that is for sure is that it always blows up when it is all said and done.

    The moral of the story is that you are better of working hard to get ahead!

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  10. Been there done that no fun and no use coveting and being jealous over someone else’s success. Although it was hard, I eventually was happy for them. Now I have my own success and it’s better than I could imagine that was until the store closed for good and now I’m out of a job and writing for fun on my own timeline. Is it better? Yes in some ways.
    Good Luck.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    1. Thank you for sharing your experiences with us, Crystal. You are strong and wise enough not to let jealousy rear its ugly head over you and cover your eyes.

      Like

      Reply

  13. Thanks for sharing your honest story, it is heartbreaking to see two sisters fight with each other, and yes jealousy and greed are our biggest enemies when it comes to maintaining a healthy relationship. We must put Love first, life is more than your work and your career in my opinion.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

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