Ivy’s eyes grew huge. “Huh?!”
The day I was taken back to that house happened to be right before the college entrance exam.
I put all my focus on studying and had no plan to join any “real and fake daughter” mess.
However, my parents’ reply surprised me.
No one thought that my return meant I would replace the fake daughter.
Instead, to make up for the years they missed with me, my parents handed me a monthly allowance of fifty thousand dollars more than the fake daughter.
Each month, the housekeeper would bring pricey health goods to my campus, reminding me not to push myself.
Even if I didn’t score high, I still had my parents as my backup.
After the exam, Mom and Dad even asked where I wanted to travel. It was the first time I learned that “graduation trips” existed.
Brielle had enjoyed them since preschool. So cheerfully, I said, “Portland.”
I was too thrilled back then to notice the tight smile on Brielle’s face.
That night, I heard Brielle sobbing in my parents’ room. “Clearly, I’m the kid who grew up with Mom and Dad. Why should they follow her?”
I paused.
Then I heard my parents breathe out. “Hattie really is too careless; Brielle said before the test that she wanted to visit Austin, yet she insists on Portland.”
“We’ve already shown her so much kindness, yet she still wants to push back and compare. Sigh.”
That night, I pushed open their door.
“Austin works. As long as I’m with family, I can go anywhere.”
Mom hurried to take my hand. “You’re so thoughtful. Mom and Dad are truly glad.”
“We will visit Portland, but Brielle has been hoping for Austin for a long while. Let’s go there first, alright?”
I nodded firmly.
But when I finished packing, I found the house already silent.
The butler told me they had left before sunrise. The flight was in the afternoon.
Yet they were so rushed, they departed in the middle of the night.
For the first time, I understood my family was avoiding me.
On Brielle’s social page, she wore traditional folk outfits, smiling brightly while standing beside Mom and Dad.
Many users had tapped like on the post. At the top of the list were my parents.
Maybe to stop me from stirring trouble, they wired two hundred thousand into my account.
I paused for a moment, then took the money and dragged my suitcase to Portland by myself.
When Brielle came back, she shared over a hundred trip portraits.
I posted a picture of Cannon Beach with a note. [Wish fulfilled.]
My parents didn’t tap like. None of the Hopkins relatives did.
Only Brielle Hopkins commented, [Sister went out to have fun too?]
I returned the day she was getting ready for her enrollment party.
Everyone inside was helping her pick a custom gown for the event.
Pulling my suitcase, I stood by the doorway, facing a room full of bright faces.
Mom paused mid-tie on the ribbon of Brielles’s dress.
The designer they had brought in to take sizes looked at me with interest.
“We’re planning to hold a shared enrollment party for you two in a couple of days.”
Mom cleared her throat and passed me a sample gown from the designer’s rack. “This one looks proper for you.”
A deep red dress covered in overdone plastic gems, completely out of place next to Brielle’s sky-blue, fading floor-length gown.
The designer let out a sudden laugh.
I gave a cold laugh. “You simply forgot you had to hold an enrollment event for me, too, right?”
My parents’ faces changed.
Mom led me into a room. “Don’t make trouble. Brielle ranked in the top fifty thousand in the whole state; it wasn’t easy. It’s normal to praise her more. If you had placed, we would surely have praised you too!”
