Chapter 3

Brian kicked the door open wearing thousand-dollar designer shoes and kicked me in the stomach.

I didn't have time to react and fell to the floor.

The pain in my abdomen made me instinctively frown.

Brian sat down on the sofa with a swagger, looking down at me.

"What do you mean freeloading? Don't you know you were born to be my servant?"

"What's wrong with me spending the money you earn? Don't you have any sense of responsibility?"

"Even though you won't get to use the title 'brother-in-law,' Rosie is doing you a favor by being interested in you. Don't be ungrateful!"

I felt nothing inside because I had already become numb over the past dozen years or so.

Everything changed completely from the moment Brian was born.

At first, my parents were always afraid of neglecting Sophie because of my birth, so they put more attention on her.

I understood that.

But after Brian was born, the favoritism I expected never came.

Instead, both Sophie and Brian received equal love.

Only I became the person who shouldn't exist in this family.

They could spend tens of thousands enrolling Sophie in piano lessons she had no talent for, but wouldn't buy me a pair of fifteen-dollar shoes.

They could take Brian to the Maldives on vacation, but made me give up the top high school I got into to attend a suburban school with cheaper tuition.

I fought, I made a scene.

The result was not getting lunch money for a whole week during my school days.

The four of them dined elegantly at five-star restaurants while I split one bun into three meals.

After starting college, all the money I earned from part-time jobs was taken to buy game credits for Brian and new dresses for Sophie.

So I never mentioned a word about my startup to them.

Yet to outsiders, I became the most antisocial, least promising son in their mouths.

Seeing how my parents didn't refute anything Brian said, I knew that keeping it hidden back then was absolutely the right choice.

"Great, since you like her so much, why don't you marry her?"

"You really today..."

Brian's veins bulged instantly as he stood up to hit me, but my mother stopped him in time with a look.

Rosie looked at me on the floor with disgust that my mother easily caught.

She immediately ordered me.

"Erin, you've really gone too far today. Apologize to Rosie right now."

Rosie glanced at me on the floor and spoke indifferently.

"It's fine, Mrs. Collins. You all explain things to Erin first. I'll come back another time."

The change in her form of address instantly made my parents' expressions change.

With that, she went straight back to the bedroom to pack her things and left.

"Erin! Are you satisfied now?!"

My mother was so angry she grabbed the glass beside her and threw it at me.

I dodged by tilting my head.

"This is a catch you couldn't find with a lantern, and you had to drive her away to be happy?!"

"You've gotten bold after mixing around outside for a few years? If you're so capable, don't come back to this house! This house was bought by your old man!"

My parents sang the same tune, glaring at me furiously.

I stared at their rage and realized I could no longer find even a trace of the memories from my childhood.

The mother who used to tell me bedtime stories, the father who would run several miles to bring me my favorite cupcakes—they were all gone.

Never to be found again.

"Fine, I'll leave right now."

With that, I turned and went back to my bedroom to pack.

Looking around, even I couldn't help but smile bitterly.

In this tiny bedroom converted from a storage room, the things that belonged to me could be counted on one hand.

The textbooks on the desk were Sophie's hand-me-downs.

The desk lamp was one Brian had thrown to me after buying a new one.

Even the few scattered pieces of clothing in the closet were all hand-me-downs from them.

My bedroom was dark.

It wasn't spacious and bright like Sophie's room, which could fit an expensive piano.

It wasn't customized like Brian's room with floor-to-ceiling windows.

The only thing that kept me from seeing cement walls when I turned over in bed was the cheap stickers I had put up for a few dollars during my school days.

Erin, oh Erin, how pitiful you are.

As I simply gathered some of my few personal belongings, an expensive handbag suddenly appeared before my eyes, and a voice so gentle it could drip water spoke in my ear.

"Erin, if anyone bullies you, tell Sophie. Don't be impulsive."