Aaron frowned. Whenever he talked to me, he always looked impatient.
“Lydia is kind and will always choose to forgive you, but I’m not the same. You should remember how I punished you in the past. If you come back with me to apologize now, I can still forgive you.”
How could I possibly forget?
Aaron never treated me as his sister.
Otherwise, he would not have locked me up in the basement and forgotten about me when Lydia had food poisoning.
That horrible feeling of near-death filled every part of my body again, and I trembled.
Cold sweat broke out on my skin.
I could not hold back the wave of nausea that crashed into me, and I put a hand against the wall as I gagged.
As Aaron watched me, disgust flashed in his eyes, as if he just saw something dirty.
He let go of my hand.
“Looks like the punishment last time isn’t enough to teach you a lesson. Stop pretending not to have heard me. You’re coming home with me now and celebrating Lydia’s birthday. Then, I won’t hold you accountable for what you’ve done.”
Not hold me accountable for what I had done? But what exactly did I do wrong?
Why should I go through these things?
Was it fair to me?
I teared up, but I was stubborn. I did not want to cry.
“Then, do you remember that it’s my birthday today too? Have you ever celebrated my birthday?”
I leaned against the wall, and I swayed because I was feeling so weak.
My eyes burned with indignation. In the past, I always thought that the world was unfair.
Both Lydia and I belonged to that family, but she was the one who got all the love, while I was the one locked up in the boarding school.
I had to endure all the bullying from those crazy people time and again.
In the past, I thought that I did something wrong and apologized to my family, because I thought that if I did, they would forgive me, but they did not.
Then, I realized that certain things just did not belong to me.
And if I tried to seize things that did not belong to me, my life would just become hell on earth.
So, I became scared and did not want to take any more risks.
I just wanted to stay far away from them.
Why was that not possible either?
I saw Aaron’s expression turn dark, and I smiled mockingly.
“You don’t remember, do you? Because you’re only a brother to Lydia. You’re not my brother! My brother died on the day he abandoned me!”
Aaron wanted to say something, but when the words reached the tip of his tongue, he could not say it. In the end, he could only say these things in frustration, “You brought all of that on yourself. We wanted to dote on you when you came back, but you kept causing trouble and wanted to fight for affection against Lydia. Why are you feeling sad?”
I watched him say these things in a self-righteous manner, and I suddenly felt helpless.
In the end, I just stood there numbly and quietly.
My sudden silence made Aaron panic.
“So, I should just die.”
He grabbed my hand and ordered, “Come back home with me right now! I’ll have someone make it up for the birthdays you missed.”
Oh, he was going to celebrate my birthday?
I did not care for it anymore.
At some point in time, Liam was already standing behind us.
When he looked at Aaron, his eyes were cold.
“Don’t need to. Have those people celebrate your birthday instead.”
Liam held my hand carefully with a number in his other hand. He bowed his head to look me in the eye. “Come, I’ll bring you over for your checkup.”
His voice was gentle. When he looked at me, his expression was full of kindness.
I dipped my head to stare at our clasped hands, and I felt my nose burn. I nodded.
“Okay. I’ll do everything you’ve asked.”
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