Chapter 2

I brought the mushroom soup out of the kitchen and saw that the living room had been cleaned. Someone had picked up the pieces of torn photos and drawings, leaving them on the table.

Ellison took the soup I made and seemed happy with it.

As I was about to step away, it looked like he remembered something else.

"Becky's mood has been really up and down lately. Don't be hard on her. I'll get someone to fix those photos and paintings."

With those words, he stopped looking at me and went inside the house.

From the other room, I could hear Becky's whiny voice. "It's too hot, Ellison. Can you cool it down before you feed me?"

"You're impossible..." Ellison answered.

I acted like I did not hear a thing, walked into the living room, and threw all the torn pieces into the trash.

Next, I went to my room and tossed out all my photos and keepsakes.

I was not going to be around much longer, so they did not matter anymore. If Ellison and Becky did not want them, then these things would be thrown away.

While I was cleaning up, I suddenly felt dizzy and sick. I ran to the bathroom and threw up a lot of blood. Looking in the mirror, I saw how skinny I had gotten. My skin was turning yellow as well, and I looked like I had aged years in just moments.

That was when I really knew my time was running out. However, no one seemed to notice.

Later, when my parents got home, the first thing they did was ask about Becky's health.

"Oh, our poor baby girl has been through so much."

"I brought your favorite food. Come taste it," Dad said.

I watched them, all happy together, without showing any feeling.

Ever since that incident two years ago, when a bad guy kidnapped me and Becky stepped in to take my place, she had been the family's hero. She was with that criminal for a whole month before the cops saved her.

Ever since then, she had been really scared of all men, except Ellison.

Ever since then, she had been everyone's favorite.

"You're our daughter's hero! From now on, you're part of our family—the closest person to us!"

My parents kept choosing her over me, not seeing that their darling daughter was slowly being pushed to the sidelines. No matter how stubborn Becky got, I always had to step aside for her, all because she was the one who saved my life back then.

As time went on, Becky kept blaming me for things I did not do, and my own parents started to dislike me more and more.

"What? How can you, as her big sister, get so jealous? Becky's sick. How could you ruin her dress just because you got jealous?"

"When did you start acting like this? Why are you always picking on poor Becky?"

Every time my parents scolded me, I would see Becky behind them. She would pretend to be weak on the surface, but she would secretly shoot me a smug smirk.

Even so, I was thankful to Becky for saving me, so I just kept putting up with everything.

However, one day, I found out the truth about the so-called kidnapping. Becky had not stepped in to save me because she cared. It was all a lie, a show she put on by herself.

It was just a shame that no one in my family believed me anymore.

No matter how much proof I had, they just saw me as someone who was ungrateful.