Masuk“Don’t you want to know how long he’s been sentenced to?”“It’s enough that you know.” I looked up. “He won’t bother me again. That’s enough.”She nodded and did not bring Kevin up again.Three days later, Dad sent me a package. Inside was an old silver key. I used to wear it as a pendant when I was younger. There was also a note by Dad with it.[I’ve always kept this, Paul. I used to think Kevin was a poor boy, so I gave him everything that should have been yours. However, I did not give him this.]I flipped the silver key over in my hand, looking at it closely. It was very small, and a corner had been rubbed so much it shone.I tried it on, fitting it securely. When Ivy came over and saw it, she touched the key. “Did your dad send this?”“Yes.”“What are you thinking?”I gave it some thought before saying, “He did a lot of things wrong, but he still kept this key all this time.”“So, what will you do?”“I’ll keep it. The rest can come later.”Ivy smiled. “Alright,
“Paul, it was Grandma who suggested you should go to the same college as me. Uncle Grant was the one who said you should let me date your first girlfriend. I learned how to get the hotel keycard online. “I never came up with those ideas…”I cut him off. “You’re still trying to deny it.”Kevin was taken aback. “Just because Grandma suggested it, you’ll do it? Just because Dad said something, you’ll go along? You walked into that hotel room and undid your buttons yourself. You said all those things yourself.“Kevin, you did all those things. It doesn’t matter who taught you to do them.”Kevin opened his mouth. Tears still ran down his face, but he said nothing. “You always think I would let it go as long as you cry. You think I would be afraid of Dad scolding me, of our relatives calling me heartless, of everyone thinking I’m the bad guy.” I looked into his eyes. “Well, I’m not afraid anymore.”Kevin suddenly got agitated. He stood up and slammed himself against the glass pa
“I-I only wanted Kevin to have someone to take care of him. You had good grades, and you would have been able to—”“I had a lot of trouble applying to college again, did you know that?”Grandma would not budge. “How can you speak to me this way? I was only thinking of our family!”I chuckled. I did not feel sad about the whole situation at all; I only found it absurd. “Our family?” I looked at her. “You never treated me as a member of your family. Kevin is your grandson, but aren’t I your grandson too?”Grandma sputtered. She wanted to scold me some more, but she could not find any words. “Your father doesn’t blame me, so what makes you think you can?”“Whether he blames you is a separate thing from me asking you about it.”I stood up. She yelled after me, “Don’t you dare come back after this, Paul!”I did not look back. At the end of the street, I found Ivy’s car waiting there. She got out of the driver’s seat without saying anything and pulled me into her warm embrac
The next morning, I got some screenshots of Kevin’s chat history from the police. Kevin’s phone was in police custody, and their technicians had restored some deleted messages. One of them was from eight years ago. [Uncle Grant wants Paul to apply to an Ivy League college. What a joke. I had Grandma talk to him to make Paul go to the same community college as me. Why should Paul get everything? I want him to lose everything.]Another text read: Grandma loves me the most. She got Uncle Grant to steal Paul’s college application. Paul still doesn’t know. What an idiot.I stared at the screen for a long time and felt the urge to laugh. Then, I really laughed. So, it had not been Dad’s intention to steal my college application. Grandma and Kevin both had a hand in it. Dad was only the one who swung the gavel. Once I stopped laughing, I sent the screenshots to Dad without any other comments. Ten minutes later, he called. “Paul…” Dad’s voice trembled violently. “How did you
When I took out the button camera, Ivy was stunned. “When did you set this up?”“Yesterday.” I handed the button camera to Officer Matheson. “It was placed under the lampshade, pointed at the bed.”Ivy looked at me with shock in her eyes, but there was also something else. I did not say more. After playing defense against Kevin for six years, I had started planning everything in advance. Officer Matheson got the footage up on the screen, and everyone in the room went quiet. The footage made things very clear.Kevin entered the room with his keycard and first looked around the room from the doorway. Once he made sure that Ivy was unconscious, he walked to the bed. He looked down at Ivy and smiled. “I’ll get one up on you this time.” These words came clearly through the speakers. Then, Kevin started to make his move. He undid his top two buttons and messed up his hair before lying next to Ivy. Deciding that was not suggestive enough, he got up and repositioned himself. T
Dad was by the bed comforting Kevin, his own expression livid. Ivy was sitting on the end of the bed, her dress perfectly pristine. Her gaze was icy. Another aunt, Fiona Kellan, was the first to speak. “How’s Kevin supposed to find a wife after this?”Kevin started crying even harder. Dad looked at me, and I knew that he wanted to ask me to let Kevin date Ivy instead again. Ivy stood up and glared at Kevin. “How did you get the keycard to my room?”My relatives came back to themselves and started discussing this point. “That’s right. He could have gone to the wrong room, but he couldn’t have gotten the right keycard for it.”Kevin’s face was white as a sheet. His gaze flitted around. “The door was ajar, so I just came in…”“That’s impossible,” I denied immediately. “I closed and locked it myself before leaving. I even checked.”“It’s not like I’m saying Ivy needs to take responsibility!” Kevin suddenly got agitated. “Why are you forcing me into a corner?”He made to







