The SATs were barely over before my sister ran off with my boyfriend.
I had no idea. I sat at her college send-off party until every dish on the table went cold, and only then did her message come through.
【Sis, you promised you'd grant me one wish after my SATs. So can I have your boyfriend?】
【Doesn't matter if you say no. I already eloped with him. He just got us a room. Don't bother waiting up.】
I told myself she was young. She didn't know where the line was.
But I still couldn't stop myself from calling him.
He didn't pick up. He sent a photo instead.
Clothes strewn across the floor, reeking of something raw and recently violent.
The pink underwear I'd bought for my sister was tangled in the mess, and the sight of it burned through me.
【She kept begging me for a coming-of-age gift. I went soft and gave in.】
【You've always spoiled her. Think of it as lending me out to make her happy.】
【Relax. Nothing changes between the three of us. So don't hurt her, okay?】
My whole body went cold. My finger hovered over the screen for a long time, but I never replied.
I'd given them too much, it seemed.
So much that they'd both forgotten they were nothing but dust ground into the dirt.
……
I saw the guests out and sat alone in the empty banquet hall.
Staring at the cold food on the table.
The sweet-and-sour pork with pineapple—her favorite, tangy and bright—because I'd wanted her future to be just as rich.
The crispy roast squab, ordered to build her back up after three grueling years, because I'd wanted her to soar.
Steamed sea bass. Typhoon shelter crab. Eight-treasure stuffed duck……
I'd picked every single dish with Julian Crawford at my side.
Just last night, he'd held me close and said, voice tinged with jealousy, “You're so good to her it makes me jealous.”
Not even a full day later, the Julian who had looked at no one but me turned around and fell into my sister's arms.
How was that possible?
I felt lightheaded, grabbed my car keys, and rushed out. I had to see it with my own eyes.
The hotel logo in the video was one I knew by heart.
It belonged to the Winfield family. My family.
I got the room key from the hotel manager, pushed the door open, and a thick, cloying smell hit me in the face.
Julian heard the noise. He barely glanced at me, pressed a finger to his lips. “Shh.”
Rose Winfield was burrowed under the covers, her face slack with satisfaction, fast asleep.
I stood frozen where I was.
I watched him patiently wipe her body down, dress her in a nightgown, tuck the blanket around her, and only then turn to face me.
I was still shaking. The scratch marks across his chest made me gag.
My falling apart seemed to amuse him.
“Surprised? She's had feelings for me for a long time, actually. She's been wanting us to be together.”
“I just didn't want it getting in the way of her exams. So I held off until the SATs were done.”
Something detonated inside my skull. I grabbed the vase from the entryway table and hurled it at him.
Rose startled awake, and he gathered her into his arms in one motion, patting her back, murmuring soft comfort as if she were the only one in the room who mattered.
I was trembling all over, but I couldn't hold the question back：“Rose, have I not been good to you? If you wanted a boyfriend, college is full of them. Why him?”
“You're the one who always told me what's yours is mine.” She didn't even flinch. “Besides, I don't want to go to college. Graduate and then work myself to death like you? No thanks.”
“Julian already promised me. The second I'm old enough, he'll marry me. I'll just stay home and be a rich man's wife.”
I looked at the dreamy anticipation on her face and felt nothing but absurdity.
I'd given her an open sky, and she chose to be a parasite wrapped around someone else's branch.
My fingertips were numb. I turned to Julian. “She's a kid who doesn't know better. What's your excuse?”
“She's the one you raised, isn't she?”
