Chapter 2

I never expected that in the winter of my fifteenth year, fate would deal me a crushing blow.

Grandma suffered a sudden brain hemorrhage and was rushed to the ER.

A few days later, she woke up.

The doctor told us it was just a final rally before the end, and we should prepare for the worst.

I rushed into the ICU and threw myself beside her bed.

Grandma looked at me, her eyes overflowing with tears.

She gently stroked my hair and began to tell me the secrets she had hidden for fifteen years.

She told me I was not Evelyn’s biological daughter.

She said my parents had been married for seven years without any luck of having a child.

Desperate for an heir, Grandma took advantage of a time when Evelyn was visiting family out of state. She got my father heavily drunk and arranged for another woman to be in his bed.

That single night resulted in a pregnancy. And then, I was born.

When Evelyn found out, she cried, screamed, and almost filed for divorce, but eventually compromised.

She had only one condition: she would never raise me.

"Norah, don't blame your parents. Blame me. It was your old grandma who lost her mind," she whispered.

"I thought, since your mother couldn't conceive, she would eventually accept you over time."

"But when you were five, Pearl came. It was fate. Your mother is innocent; she has suffered so much."

"I'm sorry, my sweet Norah. I will make it up to you in the next life..."

Grandma’s voice faded into nothingness, and her hand fell limp.

At that moment, all my anger and resentment collapsed like a house of cards.

Yes, how pitiful my mother was. Every time she looked at me, she saw the living proof of her husband's betrayal.

And Pearl was even more innocent. She did nothing wrong, yet she had been the target of my bitter jealousy.

Could I blame Grandma? She was the only one who truly loved me. I couldn't hate her.

Could I blame my father? Manipulated by his mother and resented by his wife, his life was its own kind of hell.

In the end, the only person left to blame was myself.

Why was I even born?

Grandma's funeral was grand. Bennett came too. He stood in the crowd, dressed in a black suit, his eyes cast down.

I didn't talk to him, nor did I talk to anyone else. I was like a puppet without a soul.

After the funeral, I moved into my parents’ penthouse—the place I had dreamed of living in since childhood.

The apartment was massive, with plenty of rooms, yet I felt like I didn't belong anywhere.

The moment I learned the truth about my birth, all my past rebellion felt like a joke.

Overnight, I went from a loud, arrogant brat to a silent shadow.

But just as I was shutting myself away in the dark, two people forced their way into my locked heart.

One was Bennett, whom I had hated for a decade. The other was Pearl, whom I had envied for just as long.

After learning the truth, I started avoiding Bennett on purpose.

But he quickly noticed my change.

He started clinging to me, being so incredibly sweet that it threw me off.

In the cafeteria, he would always sit across from me, moving all the best food from his plate to mine.

When I hid on the school rooftop to cry, he would always find me and silently sit by my side.

After school, when I didn't want to go home, he would walk with me through the streets, buying me ice cream.

His warmth acted like a gentle current, melting the icy walls around my heart.

And Pearl, sensitive as she was, noticed the tense atmosphere at home.

She began tirelessly trying to mend the cracks in our family.

She would constantly sweet-talk our mother: "Mom, thank you for giving me a sister. I love Norah so much."

"Mom, look, the backpack Norah packed for me is so neat, much better than yours!"

"Mom, I’m so happy I get to go to school with Norah every day."

Gradually, the coldness in Evelyn's eyes when she looked at me began to fade, replaced by a gentle warmth.

Eventually, she even started warming up a glass of milk for me whenever she made one for Pearl.

Under the warmth of Bennett and Pearl, I slowly came back to life.

I finally realized that Pearl was never my enemy. She was my sister.

And as for Bennett, we naturally became a couple.

Our families were old friends, and our social status matched perfectly. Both sets of parents were happy to see us together.

After we started dating, our dates almost always included a little tagalong—Pearl.

Bennett would playfully complain to me, "Norah, when do we get some alone time?"

Pearl would jump out from behind, hands on her hips, glaring at him. "Are you trying to get rid of me so you can take advantage of my sister?"

Watching them bicker, my heart swelled with pure happiness.

I thought this beautiful life would last forever.