Chapter 4

When everyone got home, the vibe felt off.

My mom and my dad used to hover around Rebecca, doting on her.

Even though my mom was always busy with work, she never got tired of helping Rebecca with her homework and would even go out of her way to buy snacks for her.

But now, my mom and my dad just sat on the couch, silent and lifeless, like corpses drained of all their energy.

Rebecca was clearly unhappy now. Her wrist was still wrapped in bandages, her stomach was rumbling, but my dad didn't even budge from the couch.

Rebecca gritted her teeth and muttered under her breath, "Sophie, you're such a troublemaker.

"Even after you're gone, you still have to compete with me for my mom and my dad's affection!"

Then, Rebecca's eyes sparkled with a sly idea. She walked over to the display cabinet and knocked a decorative item right off the shelf.

The loud crash instantly drew my mom and my dad's attention to her.

Rebecca crouched down, looking like she was about to cry, lost and helpless.

"I didn't mean to. I was just hungry and wanted some cookies," Rebecca said, sounding pitiful.

That decorative piece was a crystal display I made myself. I searched all over town for glass factories. On each side, I set a photo of our family of four.

I still remembered how my mom looked at me with a hint of annoyance and grumbled, "You never focus on anything important, always messing around with useless stuff."

I was waiting for praise, watching my mom hopefully. But when I heard her words, I froze. I hurried to put the display away, feeling embarrassed and unsure what to do.

Thankfully, my mom didn't throw it out. I carefully placed it on the highest shelf of the display cabinet. As long as my mom couldn't see it, she wouldn't toss it out.

It was my little scheme.

At least in that display, I was with them.

In the pictures, my mom and my dad were smiling, and so was I. I knew their smiles were meant for Rebecca, but I always convinced myself that, since I was in the photo too, maybe they were smiling at me.

Thinking about it now, I realized that I had always been lying to myself.

My mom's eyes landed on the shattered display, and she froze, as if she was lost in memories.

The next moment, she crouched down and carefully picked up the pieces, not even noticing when a shard cut her finger.

My mom held my photo in her hands, tears streaming down her face.

Rebecca started to panic. She just wanted my mom and my dad to notice her, but she never expected my mom to get sentimental, staring at the broken display and thinking of me.

"Mom, be careful," Rebecca said.

Rebecca tried to snatch the photo from my mom, but my mom clung to it desperately, her knuckles turning white as she refused to let go.

"You did this on purpose, didn't you?" my mom snapped out of nowhere.

Rebecca's panic was obvious, but she still tried to argue back.

"Come on, Mom, I was just hungry..." Rebecca protested.

"Do you really think there are snacks here? Rebecca, is it really that hard for you to let your sister's things stay here?" my mom's voice trembled.

She looked at Rebecca, her face streaked with tears.

Rebecca froze, then completely broke down. "I'm your daughter too! Why are you shutting me out just because Sophie's gone? Is she really all you care about?"

I just found it ridiculous.

In Rebecca's eyes, I turned out to be so important.

Since the day I was born, my mom and my dad had always focused on her. They had never paid any real attention to me.

When Rebecca was little and started crying, my mom would smack me, saying I was making too much noise and it upset Rebecca.

When Rebecca bombed a test and I got a perfect score, my mom would smack me again.

She said I was so smart but never bothered to help Rebecca, just liked to brag in front of them, always putting Rebecca down.

Even when I was sick and brought my diagnosis to my mom, she kicked me right in the gut without a second thought.

She shot me a vicious glare, her eyes burning with anger.

"Rebecca's sick, and you still make up stories just to steal the spotlight. Sophie, you are so shameful," my mom barked.

Every bit of hope I had for this family slowly faded away, all because of their constant distrust and indifference toward me.

It was not the lack that hurt, it was the unfairness.

If my mom and my dad had just been equally indifferent to both of us, maybe I wouldn't have lost even the will to keep going.

They knew everything, but for some reason, they always believed I owed Rebecca. So they kept covering for her, making me suffer over and over again.

All I ever wanted, after all these years, was for them to notice me, even for just a moment.

Now that I was gone, I felt that their sadness was pointless.

"Alright, this isn't Rebecca's fault. Sophie just wasn't meant to live long," my dad said, pretending everything was fine.

He was always like this, never willing to take a stand, always avoiding conflict. When it finally mattered, he still chose Rebecca over me.

If my mom was seventy percent of the pain, then the other thirty was all my dad's fault for just standing by and doing nothing.

My mom slowly got up, not saying another word. She just walked back to her room in silence, still clutching my photo tightly in her hand.

Rebecca shot my dad a worried look, her puppy eyes pleading for reassurance.

"Mom doesn't hate me, right? I really didn't mean it," Rebecca said, her voice trembling.

My dad gently ruffled Rebecca's hair.

"Don't worry, your mom adores you. She'd never blame you," my dad said softly.

Rebecca breathed a sigh of relief, but she kept shooting worried glances toward the bedroom.