Chapter 1

My school organized an educational trip over winter break, and the destination was San Francisco, a city I had dreamed of visiting for years.

To avoid burdening my family, I lived as frugally as possible every day and worked part-time after school to earn the money.

All I needed was my parents’ signature on the consent form, and I could finally make my dream come true.

But the instant Mom saw the consent form, her face darkened. “You want to go on vacation?”

My heart skipped a beat, and I replied quietly, “No, it’s an educational trip organized by the school, and everyone in my class is supposed to go…”

Her voice remained low, but she spoke faster and faster, and I knew that meant she was about to explode.

“Ethan, don’t you know what our family’s situation is like? Your sister is in her most important year of high school, and her tutoring and study materials all cost money; your brother is only in kindergarten, and kids grow quickly, so he can’t wear your sister’s old clothes the way you do, which means everything he eats, wears, and uses has to be bought new. I wish I could stretch every dollar five different ways, and now you’re telling me you want to go have fun?”

I wanted to argue but forced the words back down, wondering if it was somehow acceptable for a teenage boy like me to wear his older sister’s hand-me-downs.

She impatiently tossed the consent form aside, and I looked up at her in panic. “No… I know how hard you both work…”

Mom heard the answer she wanted and immediately cut me off, slamming her hand on the table as she shouted.

“If you know that, then why are you still so selfish?”

My tears began falling on instinct.

The disgust in Mom’s eyes deepened. “Why do you always have to make things so difficult?”

Her words left me frozen in place.

I spent every summer and winter break at home and had never gone out with my friends even once.

My parents were busy working, my sister had to stay at school for extra classes, and no one was available to watch my brother, so I was the only one considered free.

That was why I went hungry meal after meal while teaching myself how to cook.

Little by little, I also learned how to change my brother’s diapers.

Once, while I was cooking, my brother accidentally rolled off the bed and ended up with a huge bump on his head.

When my parents came home, they took turns tearing into me and calling me useless.

They said they had only asked me to stay home, so why couldn’t I even handle the simple task of watching my brother?

But was that really my fault too?