Chapter 3

Our first meal in Moonbrook Town was at a fine dining restaurant.

I was staring blankly at the exquisite dishes on the table when Dad suddenly turned to me. "I went too far with what I said this afternoon. Are you still upset?"

My fingertips twitched. I hadn't expected him to care about my feelings.

Even though I had long since stopped caring, an uncontrollable sting still rushed to my nose.

He stood up, picked up a piece of food with his fork, and placed it onto my plate.

"I'm sorry. Can you forgive me?"

I looked up and saw a piece of shrimp resting on my plate.

As if hit by a sudden freeze, my surging emotions instantly hardened at their peak.

When I was very young, there was a period when both Mom and Dad were away on business, leaving Trevon and me at Grandma's house.

Grandma fed me a shrimp, and I suffocated until I passed out. When I woke up, Mom was sitting by my bedside.

Outside the ward, Dad's heated argument with Grandma echoed down the hall.

"You forgot Yelena can't eat shrimp? Fine, I'll have to take care of them myself to have any peace of mind!

"Who cares if my career is taking off? These two kids are my precious babies. I don't even want to think about what would happen if something went wrong!"

Noticing that I wasn't moving, Dad nudged me again. "Give it a try. It's the house specialty."

Suddenly, violent coughing broke out from the other side of the table. Dad abandoned me instantly and rushed over to Alia's side.

"What happened? Are you okay?"

Alia held her chest, waving her hand. "I'm fine. I just choked on some water."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Dad teased in a tone used for coaxing a child, "Bad water, how dare you choke Alia? Let's pour it out."

Mom gently patted her back. "Feeling better?"

Trevon placed a piece of fish on her plate. "Eat some meat. You won't choke on that."

Evan reached out and took it away, frowning in disapproval. "Fish has bones she could choke on. Let's eat something else."

Alia pouted, playfully complaining that they were treating her like a baby.

I lowered my head, picked up the piece of shrimp, and popped it into my mouth.

It tasted a bit bitter.

I broke out in the allergic reaction I had anticipated and used it as an excuse to skip the rest of the trip.

When Trevon came to deliver my medicine, he stared at me and said icily, "If you wanted attention so badly, why didn't you eat more? You might as well have eaten yourself to death."

I took the medicine and shut the door, feeling nothing.

He didn't know that I had no intention of fishing for attention. I had simply accepted reality.

Alia was the sun at the center of everyone's universe. I wasn't even a star. At best, I was just a speck of forgotten dust.

I couldn't fit in, nor did I want to anymore. Now, I just wanted to get far away.

For the next few days, I stayed behind to rest in the hotel alone.

The family group chat kept buzzing with messages and photos from Alia.

There were photos of her and Mom wearing matching dresses, of her fooling around with Trevon, and of her taking photos of Evan.

Evan sent me a private text. "I'll bring you a gift when I get back."

Unsure how to reply, I opened Instagram, where a street-interview video popped up in my feed.

The interviewer praised Mom, saying she looked like sisters with Alia in her dress, making Mom laugh.

"Oh, I'm not that young. My daughter is already 18."

The interviewer then pointed at Trevon and Evan and asked if they were a family of five.

Dad pointed at Trevon, letting out a sigh. "Sadly, I only have one son. We're a family of four. Though that handsome guy over there might have to call me 'Dad' in the future too."

At those words, the interviewer aimed the camera directly at Alia and Evan, drawing out his words teasingly, "Ooh! So you two are childhood sweethearts!"

Alia waved her hands with a blushing face, while Evan reached out and pulled her into his side by her shoulder.

I closed the video, opened the family group chat, and left the group.

Then I blocked Evan and deleted our entire chat.