All Chapters of Tally Marks on Their Love: Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

8 Chapters

Chapter 1

When I finished the final stroke of the 20th tally mark, my bedroom door was shoved open. My older sister, Yvette Hayes, walked in. She glanced at the notebook in my hand and gave a mocking laugh. "What, keeping scores like a little kid because you're mad?"If this had happened before, my eyes would have turned red, and I would have loudly accused them of always playing favorites. But this time, I merely closed the notebook indifferently. I did not even look up at her, let alone say anything.Perhaps because I was not throwing a fit like usual, Yvette seemed a little surprised too. After a moment of silence, she frowned. "All right, stop sulking by yourself. Owey brought some pastries home. Go downstairs and have some too, and remember not to make a face."I grunted. Then I put the notebook away and prepared to leave.I had barely reached the door when Yvette called after me again. "Oliver."I turned to look at her. She opened her mouth, seeming somewhat at a loss for how to dea

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 fou

Chapter 3

Yvette stood up, holding her plate. "Just take one bite. You're making it too big of a deal. Take your medicine right after, and you'll be fine."She moved so quickly that I did not even have time to retreat to my room before she caught me. "Eat it. Don't make me shove it into your mouth."But the cake was already pressed against my lips. I struggled desperately, keeping my mouth tightly shut. I could not even curse at her, because the moment I opened my mouth, she would force the cake inside.Yvette lost her patience. Grabbing my chin, she forced my mouth open.The next moment, I had a mouthful of cake stuffed into it. My nose and chin did not escape either.Once I was free, I hurriedly spat it out.Yvette glared at me. "How dare you spit it out? Swallow, or I'll shove a whole bag of hazelnuts down your throat!"I did not have the strength to argue. By then, rashes had already broken out across my body. I was struggling to breathe, and every inch of my skin was unbearably itchy

Chapter 4

I might as well have been an orphan.Panic immediately flashed across Yvette's eyes.I turned and went back to my room."Owey, what's wrong? Owey!"Oh, it seemed Owen had another episode.But I could not be bothered with the chaos behind me. I went upstairs, returned to my room, and shut the door in one smooth motion.I turned on the light and sat down in my chair.As I thought back over the past, I did not know whether my parents had ever loved me. Perhaps they had, once. But for as long as I could remember, the only image in my mind had been of my parents and sister constantly revolving around Owen.The thing they said to me most often was that Owen's health was poor, and since I was his older brother, I had to give in to him.Yes. When Owen was seven, he had inexplicably begun experiencing occasional heart problems. From that point onward, there was practically nothing the family would not do for him.He liked my room, so I had to give it to him. He thought the view from t

Chapter 5

Dad's expression darkened as well. "Oliver, that's enough. Do you really have to treat your own family like enemies? When did you buy this thing?""Last month." I smiled faintly. "I went to the hospital to get an IV, and while I was waiting for a car, I ran into some thugs trying to rob me. I bought it after that."They seemed to remember the incident, and their expressions immediately became awkward.Owen clearly could not stand the sight of his family showing me even the slightest bit of warmth. He bit his lip and immediately said, "But Ollie, I think you were partly at fault too. We have a family doctor at home. Why did you have to go out?"Dad had just started looking as though he thought Owen had a point when I calmly replied, "Because you coughed a little that day, and Mom and Dad immediately had Dr Thorpe stay with you all night. I absolutely couldn't hold out any longer, so I went to the hospital."Mom and Dad froze. They exchanged a look, and Dad sighed. "If you have some

Chapter 6

I did not block my so-called family. Partly because I knew they would not really care whether they could reach me, and partly because I was worried that if they could not get through to me for some reason, it might affect my plans to study abroad.Just as I had expected, during my last few days in the country, none of them called me even once. Mom and Dad each sent me a single perfunctory message pretending to "check in" on me. Other than that, the only person making any effort to show off was Owen, who kept posting on social media to display how much his family and my ex-girlfriend loved him.By then, I had already become completely calm about it. In fact, when he posted yet another group photo with the caption, 'Me and the people I love,' I even liked it.However, on the last night before I left, my phone suddenly started ringing nonstop. Calls and message notifications kept coming one after another, all from my so-called family.When I checked the messages, they were all accusin

Chapter 7

Then the group chat fell completely silent.That night, I dreamed of my former self—the version of me who had stood there with tears in his eyes, carefully drawing one tally mark after another.At first, he would write one or two tally marks before crossing them out. Then it became four or five. Eventually, it was eight or nine at a time. Page after page was torn from the notebook. The expression on his face shifted from hurt, red-eyed grievance to numb indifference.There were two occasions when, after completing the fourth stroke of his 20th tally mark, he hesitated for a very long time before finally tearing the page out anyway.The third time he completed the fourth stroke of his 20th tally mark, it happened to be one week before his performance onstage.He had spent a long time preparing himself mentally before finally asking, as carefully as he could, whether his family and his girlfriend would come watch him perform. He had even reserved seats for them.When they all exp

Chapter 8

'Hurry back and apologize to him and comfort him. Otherwise, I'll never forgive you!''Fine. If you're not going to reply, then there's no reason for our relationship to continue either!'I let out a derisive laugh. As I rejected the request, I added a note. 'Didn't we break up a long time ago?'And then, I blocked both accounts.…Another two years passed before I returned home to attend a close friend's wedding.Over those three years, I had made good progress with my studies abroad and had joined a well-known orchestra. I was not wealthy enough to call myself rich and powerful, but I had more than enough to live comfortably. Whenever I had free time, I could even travel wherever I wanted.All in all, I was doing quite well.There were plenty of mutual acquaintances at the wedding, and they eagerly filled me in on all the gossip about my family and Noelle over the past two years. In a nutshell, both my family's company and Noelle's company were on the verge of bankruptcy.I

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