“It's all right, sis.”
Angela stepped forward and took my hand with easy affection, for all the world like a devoted sister:
“Now that I'm back, I've already let go of what happened all those years ago. I don't blame you for it.”
She turned to our parents and said:
“Mom, Dad, please stop punishing her.”
“No matter what, Eugenia is my sister. Saving her back then was the right thing to do.”
Hearing this, Isaac hurried to explain:
“Angela nearly died saving you back then. As your fiance, taking care of your sister is only right.”
He said in a low, firm voice:
“There's no reason to keep dredging this up.”
Such a noble, righteous tone.
Somehow, I had become the one making an unreasonable scene.
“My Angela is just that kindhearted.”
Mom pulled her into her arms and held her there, refusing to let go for the longest time.
I had no patience left for watching the three of them play out their cozy little family scene, so I turned and went back to my room.
In all these years at home, my parents had never given me a single dollar.
The hundred thousand dollars in my cabinet was every cent I'd scraped together, working part-time while going to school, going without to save what I could.
I dug out my ID, ready to take that hundred thousand and leave this place.
But I searched the entire room, and the hundred thousand had simply vanished into thin air.
My breathing turned ragged, and almost in the same instant, I knew exactly who the culprit was.
I rushed out of my room, just in time to see Mom fastening that necklace around Angela's neck.
“Sis, look at the new necklace Mom gave me. Isn't it pretty?”
She glowed with delight:
“It's nothing next to the jewelry Isaac gives me, of course, but it's Mom's heart in it, so I love it~”
“Where's my hundred thousand?”
I stared my mother down:
“You took the hundred thousand I worked so hard to save and bought Angela a necklace with it?”
Panic flickered across her face for an instant, then she smoothed it right back over:
“Your sister hasn't been home in ages. What's wrong with an older sister buying her a welcome-home gift?”
“Besides, Angela saved your life. What's a hundred-thousand-dollar necklace next to that?”
“You owe her your very life!”
I didn't waste another word on her. I pulled out my phone, ready to call the police:
“Taking something without asking is stealing.”
“Give it back, or I'm calling the police.”
Angela burst into tears and moved to take the necklace off:
“I'm sorry, sis. I didn't know it was your money...”
“I don't deserve your gift. I don't even deserve to come back. I'm sorry...”
Isaac reached out to stop her, then turned on me sharply:
“It's only a hundred thousand. What are you nickel-and-diming over?”
“Eugenia, you owed this to Angela in the first place.”
“If you keep making a scene, I'll cancel next month's wedding!”
The old me would have cried and begged him. But now I only found it laughable:
“Then cancel it. Do whatever you want.”
“You two already registered your marriage anyway. Does it even matter whether this wedding happens?”
At the mention of the marriage certificate, the color drained slightly from Angela's face:
“I'm sorry, sis.”
“I just felt so insecure while I was overseas, and I kept begging Isaac to register with me...”
“Don't blame him. I was the one being selfish.”
“If it really bothers you, sis, then I'll go divorce Isaac tomorrow...”
With that, she turned as if to go handle the paperwork, only for Isaac to pull her back:
“You've only just come home. What's the rush about a divorce?”
“Eugenia, your sister still hasn't gotten out from under the shadow of the past. She's emotionally fragile. So to keep things fair, you get the wedding and she keeps the marriage certificate. Half for each of you. All right?”
“Once Angela's back on her feet emotionally, we'll register our marriage.”
How was that fair?
Ever since Angela was born, I'd never heard that word again.
Coming out of Isaac's mouth now, it was almost funny.
“Sure. Fine. You decide.”
Whoever he married from here on out had nothing to do with me anymore.
