Chapter 2

"Your brother and I are letting you stay here. Water, electricity, and internet all cost money. Shouldn't those be counted too?"

I looked at her, and suddenly she felt like a total stranger.

A year ago, when she married my brother, she held my hand and said, "From now on, I'd treat you like my own sister."

Now, she sat across from me, enjoying her bird's nest soup and wearing a luxury watch, nickel-and-diming me over every cent.

"Do you even know what I did today?"

My voice started to shake.

"I got up at six this morning. Tommy was crying, so I changed his diaper and made him a bottle.

"And by that time, you were still sleeping in your room, not caring at all.

"At seven, I made breakfast. At eight, I cleaned up the dishes. At nine, I washed two big loads of laundry.

"At ten, I took Tommy to the park, and we got back at eleven-thirty so I could make lunch.

"At one in the afternoon, I put Tommy down for a nap. At two, I started cleaning the whole apartment, and I mopped the floors twice.

"At four, Tommy woke up, so I played with him. At five, I started making dinner.

"It's seven now, and I've been cooking for two hours."

After I finished, I looked at Sean and Claire.

For a split second, Sean looked a little uncomfortable.

But his face quickly turned cold. "So what? Isn't helping out at home just what you're supposed to do?"

"Anyway, you chose to come here. Nobody made you."

I was stunned.

I chose to come here?

"When you called me, you begged me for help," I said.

"It's still help, but it's not charity," Claire shot back. "You should learn to be grateful. Since you're living here, you need to chip in."

I looked at the table, loaded with four dishes and a soup.

I'd bought all the ingredients myself at the supermarket this afternoon, 28 dollars, straight out of my own pocket.

Julie had told me, "If you want to cook, you buy the groceries yourself."

And now, they wanted me to chip in for groceries too.

I couldn't help but laugh.

"I'm done eating," I said.

I stood up and headed to my room.

Claire's voice rang out behind me. "Young people these days are so dramatic. You can't say anything to them."

"Exactly," my brother chimed in. "Such a snowflake."

I walked into my room and closed the door behind me.

My fingers pressed against the doorknob, and my whole body was trembling.

It wasn't sadness, but anger.

I dug my phone out of my bag and pulled up my chat history with my brother.

The message from a month ago was still there.

"Julie, I need to ask you for a favor. Can you come help me out for a while?"

"Claire isn't feeling well, and I really can't handle everything on my own."

I replied, "Don't say that, bro. I'll get things sorted and come over next week."

He sent back a grateful emoji.

"Thanks, Julie. I'm so lucky to have such a good sister."

I just kept staring at that message for a long time.

Then I opened my closet and grabbed my suitcase.

I tossed my clothes in, one after another.

My fingers were still shaking with anger, so everything was just stuffed in, all messy.

But I couldn't care less.

I just wanted to leave.

The door suddenly swung open.

Sean stood in the doorway, his brows furrowing as he saw me stuffing my things into the suitcase.

"What are you doing?" he demanded.

"I'm going home," I said, without even looking up.

I kept packing, not even glancing at him.

"Just because of the meal money?" my brother asked, sounding totally incredulous as he walked in.

He walked in, disbelief written all over his face.

"Julie, how old are you? Still so immature?"

I stopped what I was doing and looked at him.

"Do you remember what you said when you called me a month ago?" I asked.

He paused, not saying a word.

"You told me Claire wasn't feeling well, Tommy had no one to take care of him, and you couldn't trust a nanny in your house. You pleaded with me to come help out," I said.

My voice was calm, but every word was like an accusation.

"I didn't even think twice. I turned down a job that paid 180,000 a year. Do you even realize how much that is? That's 180,000!"

"I went through five rounds of interviews to land that offer. It was at a major, publicly traded company, the kind with a real future."

"I gave all that up because you told me you needed me."

My brother looked uneasy for a moment, but his face quickly hardened.

"That was your decision. Nobody forced you," he said.

"Besides, isn't it your responsibility to help out around here?" he said, sounding completely justified.

He said it, full of confidence, like he was absolutely right.

"You think it's easy for me? I'm paying 12,000 a month for the mortgage, 8,000 for the car loan, and I've got a kid to raise.

"So what's the big deal about you helping out? You're living here, eating my food, using my stuff, and now you're complaining about paying a little for groceries?"

I looked at him, and suddenly I felt like I didn't even know him anymore.

When we were kids, he used to give me some of his allowance.

When we were in school, he'd carry my backpack for me.

I always thought he loved me.

Turns out it was all just for show.

Or maybe it was just because it never cost him a thing back then.

"Do you even know what I did today?"

I zipped up my suitcase and looked him dead in the eye.

"Tommy's cries woke me up at six this morning. Julie was snoozing in her room, didn't even bother to check."

"I got up, changed his diaper, mixed up his formula, and made breakfast."

"Spent the morning taking Tommy to the park, came back to cook lunch, and did two huge loads of laundry."

"In the afternoon, I got Tommy to sleep, then cleaned up the whole apartment, mopped the floors twice, all by myself."

"For dinner, I cooked four dishes plus a soup. Spent two hours in the kitchen."