Chapter 3

Soon, only Liam and my mother were left in the spacious hospital room.

Looking around this private suite—which my mother had pulled endless favors to get—with its cozy furniture and comfortable bed, everything screamed how much my parents pampered him.

I couldn't help but remember when I had a fever of 103 degrees. I was so delirious I could barely speak, and I begged my mother to take me to the doctor.

Fearing she would reject me, I hesitantly whispered that I would just get a quick shot and leave, and that I wouldn't waste the family's money.

In the end, she dragged me to a shady, run-down urgent care clinic. The nurse who gave me the IV was an inexperienced trainee and missed my vein four or five times, leaving my arm bruised and bloody.

Tears streamed down my face from the pain. My mother just stood there, crossing her arms with a sneer. "Stop crying. How bad can a little needle hurt? You're just a drama queen!"

"This clinic is already too good for you. If I wasn't afraid you'd die in the house and get your father and me into legal trouble, I wouldn't even have brought you here."

I wanted to explain to her that I wasn't acting, that I was genuinely in agonizing pain.

But before I could speak, her phone rang.

Liam had a stomachache at school.

My mother rushed out of the clinic immediately, not forgetting to call the city's best pediatrician on her way to book an emergency appointment for Liam.

Liam was her golden child. She wouldn't let him suffer even a scratch.

I was abandoned once again. During the next few days of my illness, I had to take the bus for hours by myself to get my treatment. No one ever asked how I was doing.

No one cared about the boy who was delirious with fever.

My parents truly didn't love me. I realized this fully as I stared at the dark bruises swelling on my arms.

Back in the present, under the warm hospital light, Liam and my mother were sharing a sweet moment, laughing together. It was a beautiful picture of a happy family.

And there I was, like a dirty sewer rat spying on someone else’s happiness, hiding in the corner with a sad, envious smile.