Chapter 2

Ten more days. If I could just get through these ten days, I would be free.

I walked around Yvette. "If that's all, I'm going to the living room."

From the corner of my eye, I caught the look of surprise on her face.

When I entered the living room, the first thing I saw was Owen's ingratiating smile. "Ollie, I bought that famous cake from the mall. Could you take it out and cut it into portions in the kitchen first? As you can see…" He stuck out his tongue. "I'm a little tied up right now."

Mom and Dad were sitting on either side of him, constantly chatting with him about the amusing things that had happened during their outing that day.

The moment Mom saw me standing there, her expression darkened. "Can't you see your brother is busy? Go and cut the cake."

I could not be bothered to say anything more. I simply nodded, picked up the bag from the table, and took it into the kitchen.

By the time I brought the cake out, I found Mom, Dad, and Yvette all gathered around Owen, the four of them looking like one big, happy family.

I placed the plates in front of them one by one, intending to turn around and go back to my room.

"Ollie, why aren't you eating cake? Are you still angry about Mom, Dad, Evie, and Noelle going out with me? I'm sorry. I just really wanted to visit that theme park, and I forgot your performance was today. I didn't mean to…"

I turned around and saw Owen looking aggrieved.

Dad frowned impatiently. "Oliver, do you really have to keep throwing a tantrum? When you get right down to it, this was nothing more than a scheduling conflict. Do you seriously think the theme park deliberately chose that day to open just to compete with your performance? Don't take yourself so seriously!"

I almost laughed.

Of course the theme park had not deliberately tried to inconvenience me. But had Owen not been the one who insisted on going there on its opening day?

Mom sighed. "Oliver, you're not a kid anymore. How can you still get upset over something so trivial? We're family."

Yvette pulled a stern face. "Making a scene won't accomplish anything. If you keep this up, I'll only love Owey even more."

Owen tugged at her sleeve. "Evie, don't be like that. It's perfectly normal for Ollie to be upset. It was my fault."

Despite what he said, his face was filled with smugness and provocation.

"I'm not upset," I said flatly.

They all froze.

Clearly, they did not believe me. But there was nothing wrong with my expression, so they could not find anything to criticize.

In the end, Yvette said stiffly, "If you're not angry, why aren't you sitting down and eating cake with us? You're already in your twenties. Stop acting like you're twelve, pulling a face whenever things don't go your way."

Oh, right. If the way I expressed my emotions was not to their liking, I would get lectured for that too.

So I was not only expected to ignore their neglect and cold treatment. I was also supposed to plaster a smile across my face and reassure them that they had done the right thing. Apparently, I was even supposed to grovel at Owen's feet myself.

"The cake has hazelnuts. I'm allergic to nuts."

Cutting the cake just now had already left my hands red and itchy. I needed to get back to my room and put some ointment on them.

Only then did their expressions finally change. Yvette seemed reluctant to look at me, while faint guilt appeared on Mom and Dad's faces.

"I'm sorry. I forgot for a moment." Owen spoke cautiously. "The cake was really famous and hard to get, so I was only thinking about buying it as quickly as possible so everyone could try it. I'm sorry, Ollie. It's all my fault."

The moment he apologized like that, whatever guilt the three of them had felt toward me disappeared. They immediately turned their attention to comforting and fussing over him.

I did not want to argue with them anymore, so I said, "I'm going back to my room to put some medicine on it."

Dad glanced at the still-upset Owen. After hesitating for a moment, he said to me, "Look at how upset Owey is. Why don't you just take one bite?"

Even though I had already given up on them completely, I still looked at him in disbelief when I heard that. But I kept my expression under control. I knew they would never spare even the slightest thought for my feelings.

"Severe allergic reactions can be dangerous," I repeated calmly.

Dad hesitated. Mom sighed. "All right, if that's the case…"

"Dad, don't force Ollie. It was my fault for buying this kind of cake." Owen continued pretending to be upset. "But I… I just wanted our whole family to eat cake together…"