He was quiet for a moment, then pointed at the dress.
"Eugenia, whatever's going on between us, this is still Angela's way of showing she cares. How can you be so cold?"
"She thought of you even when she was out shopping. Are you really that ungrateful?"
My parents looked at me like they wanted me dead.
"Angela's just too kind-hearted, always picking out things for an ungrateful wretch like this!"
I ignored my father and asked calmly,
"Isaac, who is it you actually want to marry?"
The size and style of that wedding gown clearly weren't meant for me.
He hesitated.
Angela shrank behind him, timid.
"Isaac, maybe, maybe we should just forget it..."
"Genie, I won't hide it from you. Angela says she never plans to marry in her whole life, but she wants to know what it feels like to be a bride, just once."
He kept Angela tucked behind him, as if he expected me to snap at any second.
"So as her older sister, could you, for the sake of the time Angela saved your life, give the first wedding to your little sister?"
"Don't worry, I'll put together a grander, more spectacular one for you later on..."
"Fine."
I turned and went up the stairs without looking back.
"Do whatever you want."
His voice came from behind me, startled and unsure.
"You're not angry?"
I smiled. "Aren't the two of you always telling me to be the bigger person?"
Silence behind me.
The old me might have broken down and demanded answers. But now, I truly didn't care.
In the middle of the night, I was hunched over the bathroom sink again, coughing until I had nothing left.
Expressionless, I rinsed the blood down the drain, when I heard a knock at the door.
I opened it and found Isaac standing there.
He held out a bottle of cough syrup, brows drawn together.
"I know you're coughing this loudly on purpose, so I'll pay attention to you."
"But you're too loud. Angela's a light sleeper. She won't be able to fall asleep."
I took the medicine from him. All I felt was that metallic sweetness rising in my throat, and a bitterness that spread through my chest.
Since when was this the kind of illness a bottle of cough syrup could cure?
Not that Isaac would care what the truth was.
The only one he cared about was Angela.
I shut the door, and by the dim yellow light I made out the words on the label. Without a moment's hesitation, I dropped it in the trash.
This medicine had expired a long time ago.
With the last of my money, I bought a plane ticket for the day after next.
Where I was going didn't matter.
As far as I could get, that's how far I would go.
I didn't sleep well that night.
Half-conscious, I heard someone shouting outside.
"Fire! There's a fire!"
By the time I was fully awake, the flames had already climbed the stairs to the third floor.
A deep grief welled up inside me.
In that moment, I even thought about simply dying there in the sea of fire.
But I still used every last bit of strength I had and threw myself out the window.
Ignoring the injuries all over my body, I followed a firefighter out and saw Angela trembling in our parents' arms, and Isaac, who was about to go looking for me.
When he saw me come out, he couldn't hide the joy in his eyes.
"Genie!"
He rushed up to me and looked me over, front and back.
"I was just about to go find you."
Seeing my blank face, he assumed I was too frightened to speak, and he didn't get upset.
"Are you okay? The fire started so suddenly, I figured I'd get Angela downstairs first, then come back for you..."
"Mm. I know."
When my parents saw that I wasn't shouting or making a scene, a flicker of relief finally crossed their faces.
"Eugenia, you're finally acting like an older sister should."
"Angela isn't like you. She's frail, she's timid. It was only right that we saved her first."
I looked at the pet dog wagging its tail off to the side, and my heart was already still, without a ripple.
The dog's safety ranked above mine too. Of course it did.
My mother fished twenty dollars out of her pocket and pressed it into my hand, her tone one of charity.
"This twenty is a reward for being sensible. Go and spend it."
Then she turned and cooed at Angela.
"Angela was so brave and so good. That two-hundred-thousand-dollar dress you had your eye on? Mommy will buy it for you tomorrow."
Angela nuzzled into our mother's arms.
"Mommy, you're the best..."
After the fire, Angela suggested that while the house was being renovated, we all go abroad to unwind.
Just as I expected, the three of them set off early and left me behind, alone, in the wrecked shell of our home.
"Oh, sis, I forgot to remind you."
"Mommy forgot to book your ticket. If you still want to come, just wait around for the next flight yourself."
I didn't follow after them.
Instead, I blocked and deleted every single one of them, and boarded my own flight.
...
At that same moment, Isaac was in his car, head down, searching for something, when he unexpectedly found a test report under the seat.
The instant he opened it, the man froze where he sat.
