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Chapter 2

Author: Hazel Lake
That short statement took nearly all the energy out of me.

I fell into a pitiful heap on the floor.

When he saw me, Caleb smirked sardonically and asked, “Putting on another show, are you?”

I looked at his hostile face and could not help but recall something that had happened last month.

Because of the psychosomatic symptoms of my depression, I would occasionally trip on thin air.

When he saw the bruises from my falls, Caleb felt so bad for me that he instantly became misty-eyed.

He started following me around like a shadow. The second I was about to fall, he would grip my hand tightly.

If he could not stop my fall, he would get down and soften it for me. Yet, I had just fallen right onto the cake he had made me.

Frosting splattered all over me, and I looked frightened.

Caleb did not help me up. Instead, he hurled a thick journal right at me.

The sharp corner of the cover cut my temple.

Caleb did not seem to notice. He scoffed and said, “If Rhea hadn’t shown us your journal, we would really have been fooled!”

Confused, I started flipping through the journal.

The handwriting was familiar, but the entries were completely foreign to me.

[June 1, 2026: Mom and Dad and Caleb went with Rhea to a concert and didn’t bring me along. I’m so jealous! Why won’t Rhea just go to hell already? How can I steal back my family’s love?]

[June 7, 2026: The psychosomatic symptoms of depression include the loss of self-expression, dull eyes, severe hair loss, general weakness, loss of the sense of taste, and more. God help me, I really need to learn this!]

[June 11, 2026: The whole family came with me to see the psychiatrist. After she said I have depression, my parents cried and Caleb even bought me cotton candy. It was so sweet. I’m a genius!]

I kept flipping through the journal, feeling my anxiety mount.

The symptoms recorded did indeed mirror my own, but I had not written anything in this journal.

My heart skipped a beat, and I let go of the journal. It fell to the floor.

I instinctively tried to explain, “Mom, this isn’t my—”

“Finley!” Rhea suddenly cut me off, grabbing my hand as she did so.

Her voice was regretful as she said, “I know you were jealous of me getting more attention, and I understand you wanted Mom and Dad and Caleb’s affection, but you shouldn’t have done this!

“Lying will only pull apart the family that truly loves you.”

As she spoke, there was a flash of triumph in Rhea’s eyes.

A memory suddenly assaulted me.

When I had just been brought home by my parents, I had tried to mimic Rhea’s handwriting to help her with her homework. It had been an attempt to get on her good side.

The more I did this, the more similar my handwriting became to hers.

I looked at Rhea once I realized this.

Before I could make my accusation, Rhea’s eyes were already red-rimmed.

“Why are you glaring at me, Finley? You’re not going to accuse me of writing this journal myself, are you?”

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  • The Sweet of Cake and Red of Tears   Chapter 11

    Mom and Dad were stunned by Dr. Simmons’ words. For a long time, they could not say a single word. Belatedly, I realized that I had still wanted to keep living that morning. “Finley… We only wanted to celebrate her birthday, and then…”Thinking back on what had happened earlier in the day, Mom closed her eyes sheepishly. Dad slapped himself. Meanwhile, the look in Dr. Simmons’ eyes became more complicated. “Finley’s birthday is in winter. It’s summer now. Is she really even your daughter?”Mom suddenly opened her eyes. After a long time, she finally remembered that I did have a January birthday, unlike Rhea and Caleb. When I was brought home, to save money on the cake, Mom set my birthday in June so that we could celebrate it with Rhea’s birthday. With the passage of time, they had honestly forgotten when my real birthday was.“I don’t know what happened today, but I know you have two other children. If you want them to grow up healthily, I advise you to treat them both

  • The Sweet of Cake and Red of Tears   Chapter 10

    It was probably when my grandparents forced my parents to have another kid, hopefully a son. It was probably when Mom lamented in tears that I was not a boy, forcing her to go through the pains of pregnancy again. Or it could have been when I was brought back to the family. Since Rhea stayed in a dorm, Mom gave me her room. When Rhea questioned that choice, Mom said she always felt that they owed me this and told Rhea to be more sensible. I did not know for sure when it began, but the outcome was the same. Rhea had started to hate me. Even so, seeing Rhea’s tears at that moment, I could not help but think that she had her regrets as well. But none of that mattered any longer. At that thought, I stopped looking at her. Instead, I got up and followed my parents to the hospital. I was looking at my body again. My body had been well cleaned at the hospital. I was wearing clean scrubs, and the blood and frosting had been cleaned away. My broken arm was placed neatly by my

  • The Sweet of Cake and Red of Tears   Chapter 9

    The world seemed to come to a stop at that moment. Dad’s mouth fell open, but he could not make a single noise. Tears started to fall from his eyes. His hand trembled, and his phone fell with a clatter onto the plate in front of him, shattering it. The shards shot around everywhere, startling the rest of the family. They started to complain. “Who was that, Edward?”“Be careful, Dad! That shard nearly cut me!”“It wasn’t Finley again, was it? What’s she done now?”When he heard my name, Dad suddenly came back to himself. Disregarding the sharp shards, he reached out to pick through the mess for his phone. “Edward, what are you doing? Don’t get cut!”Mom tried to stop him, but she was too late. Dad cut himself and started bleeding, but he still clutched the phone tightly. After a long moment, he said shakily, still crying, “Finley’s dead. It really was Finley who jumped…”Mom’s eyes widened in shock. In the next second, she slapped Dad. “What nonsense is this? Finley w

  • The Sweet of Cake and Red of Tears   Chapter 8

    When Mom got the pearl necklace from me, she immediately put it on joyfully. Seeing how much I loved Mom, Dad even praised me a little. However, the next day, Mom found that the money for groceries she had put into the drawer was missing. Just as she was wondering if a thief had broken in, Rhea suddenly covered her mouth and said, “Goodness, Finley just bought Mom a necklace, and now, there’s missing money? Could she have…?”Rhea seemed to want to say more but did not. Even so, my parents’ gazes had changed.Panicked, I tried to explain myself. “Mom, I didn’t steal any money. I made the money by working…”For the past two months, I had left the apartment early and only got home late. Everyone knew this. Even so, no one believed me.Mom had taken off the necklace and flung it on the floor. Dad sighed and said, “No matter how careful we are, we can’t defend against someone who’s already in the house.“We should lock up any valuables in the apartment now. Everything that need

  • The Sweet of Cake and Red of Tears   Chapter 7

    “Who would have thought she had been faking it all?”Mom’s sigh pulled me back from my thoughts. “But Finley really did a good job pretending. She even tricked the psychiatrist. If you ask me, she shouldn’t be studying medicine; she should have pursued acting instead. It would be a waste of her talent otherwise.”As Caleb said this, Dad suddenly patted him on the shoulder. He sounded displeased as he said, “Don’t talk nonsense. No matter what she’s done, Finley is your older sister.“Besides, she’s pursuing medicine because…”Dad trailed off and sighed. I knew what Dad was thinking. He knew that I had insisted on pursuing medicine because of his bad back. It hurt so much that he frequently could not fall asleep. No matter how many times he went to see a doctor at the hospital, there was never a solid diagnosis. When Rhea went abroad for university, Caleb had still been very young. Mom was busy working, so I was the one who accompanied Dad on his hospital trips. I always f

  • The Sweet of Cake and Red of Tears   Chapter 6

    There was an explosion of red when I hit the ground. However, I did not feel any pain. Instead, I felt my body get lighter. My vision went dark. When I opened my eyes again, I was a spirit floating above my body. I looked at my skinny and knobby body. My hair was a mess, and my clothes were covered in dried frosting. I looked like a dirty vagrant. When compared with the bright and sunny Rhea, I seemed more like a gross pervert. It was no wonder that our parents and Caleb did not like me. Suddenly, I heard Mom’s voice. My spirit had drifted over to my family without any conscious thought. “What fell?”Just as Mom tried to turn around in her confusion, Dad covered her eyes with a hand. He told Rhea and Caleb, “Don’t turn around. Someone jumped from the building.”As he said this, Dad looked up. I followed his line of sight. I saw our high-rise apartment building. Our unit was on the twelfth floor. Looking over from this distance, one could only see that someone had

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