Chapter 4 The Truth Behind My Oversleeping

When I opened my eyes the next morning, it was already ten o'clock.

I did not even stop to put on my shoes before jumping out of bed and rushing outside.

The moment I opened the door, I ran straight into Mom, Dad, and the others, who had just returned from the photo shoot.

At that moment, despair overwhelmed me as I collapsed onto the floor. My foot landed on a shard of broken glass, slicing it open, causing blood to pour from the wound. A sharp pain shot through me, but I barely felt it. My mind was filled with nothing but regret and self-blame.

Gordon glanced coldly at the blood on the floor and sneered. "Are you so desperate to avoid taking pictures with us that you've resorted to hurting yourself now? Yesenia, your hypocrisy and coldheartedness have reached a whole new low." After throwing those words at me, he ignored me completely and went straight back to his room.

Mom and Dad merely let out deep sighs before going off to attend to their own things.

On the other hand, Cynthia stayed behind and eagerly told me all about the interesting things that had happened during the photo shoot. She even tried to comfort me as she said, "I know you must be really upset that you missed the family portrait, but I thought of a way to make it up to you. We can just photoshop you into the picture! What do you think?"

She sounded as though she were genuinely considering my feelings, but her eyes were filled with mockery and smug satisfaction.

For some reason, the glass of milk she had given me last night suddenly flashed through my mind.

I shot to my feet and grabbed Cynthia by the arm. "Tell me the truth! Did you put something in that milk? Is that why I overslept?"

In that split second, tears instantly welled up in her eyes. "Yesenia, what are you talking about? I don't understand."

As we stood there confronting each other, my eyes suddenly landed on the security camera in the corner of the living room.

Then, my eyes lit up.

I pushed her aside and rushed into the study, where I pulled up the surveillance footage from the night before. What appeared on the screen made my heart jolt.

There was Cynthia, secretly hiding in the kitchen as she dropped a white pill into a glass of milk. Then, she carried that same glass into my room.

At that moment, my anger reached its breaking point when I realized all those times I had overslept had not been accidents at all. Just like the secret family group chat, it had all been deliberate.

She had done it because she wanted our family's love and attention entirely to herself.

The realization shocked me so badly that my legs nearly gave out.

As I stumbled, my arm accidentally knocked against the mouse, causing the surveillance timeline to jump back to half a month earlier.

Once again, Cynthia appeared on the screen, slipping something into my milk.

At that moment, the blood in me ran cold.

Half a month ago, it was the first day of the SAT.

It was one thing for her to stop me from appearing in our family portraits, but I couldn't believe she had actually tried to destroy my future too!

Fortunately, my stomach had been acting up that day. After drinking the milk, I had repeatedly gone to the bathroom, flushing much of the sleeping medication out of my system. That was the only reason disaster had been avoided.

When I took the evidence to Mom and Dad, the furious reaction I had imagined never came.

They did not even say anything harsh to Cynthia. Instead, they merely told her lightly, "Don't do that again next time, okay?"

Then, they turned around and blamed me. "Nothing even happened in the end. Do you really need to make such a huge deal out of it? Look how badly you've frightened Cynthia!"

After that, they pulled Cynthia into their arms, soothing her gently as though she were the one who had been wronged.

In the meantime, Gordon hurried over as well.

"Exactly. We're all family. Do you really have to be so petty about this? Even if Cynthia did something wrong, are you saying you bear absolutely no responsibility yourself?"

I raised my head and looked at the three people standing before me.

They had once been the three most important people in my life. Yet to protect Cynthia, they were now willing to disregard even the most basic distinction between right and wrong.

I could not help laughing. As I laughed, tears began rolling down my cheeks.

Mom and Dad merely looked at me with disgust.

"It's just a family portrait. We can just take you back tomorrow and have another one taken!"

When I heard that, I stopped laughing. Then, I said calmly, "There's no need."

There was no need to retake the family portrait, and there was no need for me to ever return to this home again.

Without another word, I went back to my room and pulled out my suitcase. I packed the pitifully few belongings in that house that actually belonged to me.

Then, I blocked every member of my family, left the group chat named "One Big Loving Family," and walked out of the house without looking back.

I boarded the train heading south.

From that day forward, I would no longer look back at the past.