Chapter 4

The hospital's overseas assignment list came out, and everyone was congratulating me.

Once you were selected for this program, it usually meant a promotion was right around the corner.

I didn't tell them that I no longer needed that chance.

After all, I was about to follow Robin and join Doctors Without Borders.

Joan and I worked at the same hospital. When she saw the list, her eyes turned red.

That night, Mom and Dad cooked dinner themselves and made a huge spread for me.

At the table, Dad said guiltily, "Cynthia, this is all my fault. I saw the news from overseas. You must've been terrified when the flood hit, right?"

Mom's eyes were watery, too. "My heart broke when I saw your injuries!"

They kept talking about how unfit they were as parents.

They said they shouldn't have held onto the past and blamed me all these years, that they were sorry and hoped I would forgive them.

They were crying so hard that I almost believed them.

But then, they suddenly changed the subject.

"We heard your hospital released the list for the overseas assignment."

"Joan almost made it. You know her biggest dream has always been to save lives and become a great doctor. So… Can you give this chance to Joan?"

Seeing my face darken, Mom hurried to explain.

"It's not that we favor Joan. She went through so much back then. It's only right that you make it up to her now. You're so capable, you'll get promoted sooner or later. But Joan's different."

I almost laughed out loud with anger.

To make it up to Joan, I had already given up my parents' love.

I had even given up my fiancé.

And now, for one chance at a promotion, they were dragging up the past again to pressure me.

When Joan saw that I wasn't speaking, she suddenly groveled before me and started crying.

"Cynthia, I'm begging you. I really need this chance! I know you hate me because Mom and Dad favored me all these years, but I'm really begging you!"

I forced a cold smile. "Fine. Kiss my feet right now, and I'll give you the chance. How does that sound?"

Joan stared at me in shock.

Mom and Dad's faces changed instantly. Dad even raised his hand to hit me.

"Cynthia, you ungrateful child! How could you treat your sister like this!"

I quickly dodged his hand and sneered, "Mom, Dad, did you forget? Back then, when Joan came home, and you believed everything she said and tried to throw me out, you said the exact same thing when I knelt and begged you."

It was December. I was wearing thin clothes and kneeling in the snow, frozen stiff, yet still begging them not to abandon me.

The three of them were inside the heated house, eating a full dinner.

They only let me back in because they were afraid I'd freeze to death and cause a real mess.

And yet, that wasn't even the worst of it over the years.

"Mom, do you remember when Joan fell into the lake, and you all believed I pushed her? I was on my period back then, and you still threw me into the water. Ever since then, I've been in unbearable pain every month, and you just say I'm being dramatic.

"When I lost my college entrance exam ticket, you didn't help me. You blamed me for being careless. If my teacher hadn't vouched for me, I wouldn't have even been allowed into the exam room. Later, I found that ticket in Joan's pencil case, and you still said she did it by accident.

"When my school asked you to attend my graduation speech as an outstanding graduate, you promised you would come. At the last minute, you only cared that Joan had a cold. I became a joke to the entire school.

"I'm your daughter, too. When Joan came back and said all those things, none of you wanted to hear a single word from me. Was it really my fault that she got lost back then?"

Tears splashed onto the back of my hand.

That was when I realized I had already been crying this whole time.