Chapter 1

"Julian, crying and throwing a fit isn't effective communication. We've always tried to teach you how to solve your own problems, not argue over every little thing at home."

Mom adjusted the rimless glasses on the bridge of her nose. Her voice stayed perfectly flat.

She was a psychology researcher. For eighteen years, she had been an expert at using professional language to brush aside every hurt I had ever felt.

I stared at the silverware she had just slammed onto the table, searching her face for even the smallest hint of guilt.

There was nothing, only the same impatient look she wore whenever she faced an annoying research problem.

"That $10,000 was my scholarship money," I said, bunching up the hem of my shirt so tightly that my knuckles hurt. My voice shook from all the emotions I was forcing myself to hold back.

"I earned it. It didn't just fall out of the sky.

"My tuition, my housing, my living expenses... I was counting on that money. You transferred every cent to Ethan. How am I supposed to go to college now?"

Dad looked up from the economics journal he had been reading on the couch. The familiar superiority of a university professor filled his eyes.

"From an economic perspective," he said matter-of-factly, folding his hands beneath his chin, "this is simply an optimal allocation of resources.

“If we invest that $10,000 in you, the return is an ordinary salary after graduation. The marginal benefit is extremely low.

"However, if we invest it in your brother, we're investing in the future of a creative director with unlimited potential. As a member of this family, why can't you think about the bigger picture?"

His ridiculous logic hit me so hard I could not even find the words to reply.

Every late night, every hour I had spent studying, every callus earned from endless writing suddenly felt meaningless.

To my parents, none of it had ever been about my hard work. It was simply a set of numbers with a poor return on investment.

"But it's my money."

I repeated the same sentence stubbornly, like a broken record.

"You’re talking about what’s yours?" Mom stood up and picked up her glass of cold water. "You've eaten our food and lived under our roof your whole life. Consider that $10,000 repayment for the last eighteen years we spent raising you.

"I didn't even charge you interest. That's already more generosity than you deserve."

Just then, my older brother, Ethan Smith, wandered downstairs from his bedroom.

He was wearing a brand-new limited-edition designer loungewear set, casually spinning the latest high-end gaming console controller in his hand.

"Mom, Dad, don't be so hard on Julian." He walked over and patted my shoulder, looking every bit the caring older brother.

"Julian's gone to school in this little town his whole life. It's only natural that his world is pretty small. He has no idea how expensive studying abroad is.

"If it'll make him feel better, maybe I won't go to Francoria after all. I can just stay here and go to some community college."

I jerked his hand off my shoulder in disgust.

Ethan stumbled backward with the motion, bumping into the armrest of the couch. He let out a muffled grunt.

"Julian!" Dad shot to his feet, his face instantly darkening. "Your brother was defending you. Is this how you treat him in return?

"Is this how we raised you to respect your family?"

I did not answer. I just stood there quietly.

Watching Mom and Dad gather protectively around Ethan, I suddenly felt like I was the stranger who had wandered into someone else's home.

My eyes burned. They stung so badly I thought I might cry. However, I forced every tear back down.

"If he needs money, you can earn it yourselves or borrow it. What gives you the right to take mine?"

"Take?" Mom let out an icy laugh. She walked over and gently rubbed Ethan's arm as if he had been seriously hurt.

"Your brother has been frail since he was little. He can't handle too much pressure.

“You're different. You're healthy. You're stronger than he is.

"You should apply for student loans and pay them back yourself after you graduate. It'll teach you independence and make you take responsibility for your own life."

Independence?

They always wrapped their selfish favoritism in pretty words that sounded like life lessons.

"Student loans require a parent's signature." I looked at them, holding on to the last shred of hope I had left.

Dad glanced at me calmly, then sat back down on the couch and picked up his magazine again.

"You want our signature? Fine. But from today onward, we'll pretend we never raised you.

"Tomorrow at three in the afternoon, I'll be at the bank after taking Ethan to finish the paperwork for studying abroad.

“If you still want my signature, come find me there."

After saying that, they surrounded Ethan, fussing over him as if he had been badly injured, and disappeared into the master bedroom.

The last thing I saw before the door closed was someone switching off the living room light.

Darkness swallowed me whole.

Using the moonlight spilling through the window, I crouched down and slowly picked up the scattered sheets of paper from the floor.

Every page was covered with the college budget I had carefully planned. Now, they were nothing more than useless scraps.

I walked back to the tiny storage room that served as my bedroom, a room without even a window.

I tucked my college acceptance letter into the very bottom of my backpack.

Eighteen years.

I should have understood long ago. In this family, the child who cried the loudest was the one who got what he wanted.

As for me?

I did not even have the right to feel hurt.