Chapter 4

I dropped to my knees and gathered the shattered pieces of the emerald into my palm.

The jagged edge sliced into my finger, letting blood seep into the hairline cracks of the broken stone.

On my 18th birthday, Grandma had placed this exact pendant around my neck. Her hands were already losing their strength, forcing her to fumble with the clasp several times before she finally managed to fasten it.

"You're always giving in," she had said. "Once I'm not around anymore, you have to learn to hold onto the things you love. Don't go making yourself miserable just to please others."

I had wrapped my arms around her at the time, insisting that as long as she was by my side, I would never have to suffer through anything.

But then Grandma passed away.

From that moment on, nobody in our household treated me like a little girl who could get hurt, who felt pain, or who deserved to be fiercely protected and loved.

I had failed to protect the very last piece of her memory.

The only shred of affection I possessed in that house was casually handed over to Charlotte, only to be smashed to pieces right in front of my face.

"Natalie, I swear I didn't mean to do it," Charlotte sobbed, instantly covering her face as she began to cry.

Mom immediately pulled her into a protective embrace. "Don't cry, sweetie. It's not your fault."

Then, she lifted her head to glare daggers at me. "If you hadn't rushed at her out of nowhere like that, her hands wouldn't have trembled."

Yet, the truth was that I hadn't even come close to touching Charlotte.

Nolan chimed in impatiently, "Can't you just take it to a jeweler and get it fixed? It's not like it was worth a fortune anyway."

Meanwhile, Gavin pulled out a tissue to gently wipe away Charlotte's tears.

Everyone was completely oblivious to the fact that my own hand was bleeding. Or perhaps they did notice, but compared to Charlotte's tears, my pain simply wasn't worth their concern.

I clenched my fist tightly around the broken emerald in my palm.

I used to exhaust myself trying to clear my name every time I was misunderstood because I genuinely believed that as long as I laid out the facts, they would finally understand for once.

But at that moment, I no longer had the energy to explain anything to them.

I slipped the shattered pieces of the emerald into my pocket, turned on my heel, and left.

Mom's voice boomed down the hallway behind me. "If you walk out that door, don't you dare come back! You're a grown woman, yet you have such a nasty temper. Who is ever going to put up with you in the future?"

I didn't turn back.

She had no idea that I had no intention of ever returning to that house.

By the time I made it back to the hostel, my official commencement date at Selton Space Center was only two days away.

I packed up my last few pieces of clothing.

At 1:00 am, Gavin sent me a text that read, "Lottie's been crying the entire night. Are you happy now?"

I stared at it for a long time.

My initial instinct drove me to defend myself, but halfway through the message, I deleted the entire thing.

He wouldn't care anyway, just like he had never cared about why I was leaving.

Charlotte's tears spurred every single one of them to spend the night comforting her, while the pain I had suffered only earned me a dismissive comment about having a nasty temper.

I blocked every single one of their numbers, dragged my broken suitcase out into the night, and headed straight for the train station.

While I was dragging my luggage through the station, one of the uneven wheels got stuck under the steps.

A kind lady standing nearby noticed and helped me lift it over the ledge.

"Are you traveling all by yourself? Didn't your family come to see you off?" she asked gently.

I gave her a faint, weary smile. "No, they've got their hands full with someone more important."

The train slowly pulled away from the platform.

As I stared down at the broken emerald pendant, I finally let my tears fall in a place where absolutely nobody knew my name.

I wasn't crying because I couldn't bear to leave my family behind.

I was simply heartbroken for the girl who had once genuinely believed that if she could just be a little more understanding, someone would eventually come to love her.

Just before I switched off my phone, I received a text from my family.

Once again, they told me to take the high road, bullying me into coming back and apologizing to Charlotte.

But they had no idea that the version of Natalie, who was always compliant and who had spent her entire life waiting for a shred of their validation, was gone.

And she was never coming back.