Chapter 2

The tightness in my chest grew worse.

I was tired of holding myself back and always ending up at the bottom of the class, so during my sophomore year, I decided to test my parents and see how they would react. I deliberately let myself place one spot ahead of Nina.

When Nina saw the rankings, she came home and cried all day. "Mom, Dad, I'm so stupid. I stay up every night doing homework to keep myself in the top twenty.

"Zoe copies in the exam and still does better than me."

My parents spent forever trying to calm her down.

Once they finally got her to settle, my mom looked at me with disappointment. "Zoe, of course, we want you to do well, but you can't go as far as cheating only because you're trying to compete with Nina for our attention."

A deep sense of helplessness washed over me.

When I did well in school, they thought I was showing off and blamed me for making Nina cry. When I deliberately held myself back, they looked down on me.

And when I finally let myself perform at only half my ability to see how they would react, they accused me of cheating.

Daniel brought out a whole set of new school supplies for Nina.

Nina's eyes went wide with surprise, then she screamed and hugged him. "Daniel, you got me all this stuff? I love you so much."

I looked at the high-end laptop, the iPad, and the latest iPhone sitting on the table. My fingers trembled slightly.

Daniel had given me my gift last night. It was his old laptop.

When he handed it to me, he couldn't look me in the eye. "I've only used this laptop for three months. It's practically new.

"You're not exactly the type to study that much anyway. Getting you something better would be a waste. It'll be fine for looking things up now and then. You can make it last three years."

He was always like this.

Nina got the best of everything, while I was always the one expected to make do.

He seemed to forget that I was his real sister.

I turned and headed back to my room.

As I was about to close the door, Nina came over. She looked at me curiously. "Mom, Dad, and Daniel all gave me gifts. You got me something too, right?"

I had never liked Nina. Now that I was about to leave this family, I had no reason to keep putting up with her.

I replied coldly, "No."

Nina froze for a second, then laughed. "I know you don't have much money to spend on an expensive present. Give me something small. It doesn't have to be anything fancy."

She walked into my room, her eyes landing on the aerospace model on my desk.

"Dad made that for me. I can't give it to you." I instinctively tried to stop her.

However, Nina was faster. She picked up my space model and casually held it between her fingers.

My heart jumped into my throat.

"Zoe, I'm taking this," Nina said. "I'll put it on my dorm desk, so I can think of you every day."

"No, put it down," I shouted, my voice cracking with panic.

That model was a birthday gift Dad made for me when I turned ten, way before Nina ever showed up in our lives.

That day, I told Dad, "I'm going to get into the best university and learn how to build rockets."

However, after that, my parents started pouring all their attention into Nina, and I faded into the background.

During all those years when I deliberately kept myself at the bottom of the class, that little model was what kept my dream alive, and eventually, I got into the aerospace program at the National Defense Institute.

My outburst brought everyone running.

Dad saw Nina's teary eyes and, like always, jumped straight to blaming me. "Zoe, why are you always bullying Nina? It's only a little model. Do you have to be so stingy and make her cry?"

He knew Nina wanted my space model all along.

I clenched my fists, trying to explain. "It's not merely a model. It's my dream."

Daniel burst out laughing. "With the way you've been doing in school, you should be grateful if you ever get into a community college. Do you think you're going to build rockets?"

Jack snickered, too. "Zoe, there's no way you'd ever make it into an aerospace program, but if you like that stuff, I can buy you a few models to play with."

I ignored them and turned to Dad. "When I was little, I told you about my dream, and you supported me."

He froze as something clicked, but then his face twisted with impatience. "So what if you have a dream?

"You want to get into the National Defense Institute? That's basically the Norvane University of the military. Do you really think you can get in because you dream about it?"

The room went dead silent for a couple of seconds.

So, it wasn't just favoritism. They also laughed at my dreams.

I looked at Nina, and when I spoke again, my voice was weirdly calm. "Fine. I guess I was being unreasonable. If you want it, take it."

I was supposed to give up anything she wanted. I should have known that long ago.

Once they all left, I locked the door behind me.

I booked a train ticket for the day after tomorrow. Then I packed my admission letter and all my important documents into a file folder.

*****

The next morning, right after breakfast, Jack showed up with two gift bags.

He handed the one with the fancy wrapping to Nina. "I forgot to bring your gift yesterday. Here it is."

Nina took it with a big smile, opened the box, and found a beautiful necklace inside. "It's so pretty. Jack, help me put it on."

Jack casually handed me the other gift bag. Then, grinning, he helped Nina put on the necklace.

The smiles on their faces were painfully hard to look at.

I opened my mouth, but swallowed my words and stayed silent.

That necklace was the one I'd wanted at the mall.

That day, Jack was in a good mood. He told me, "Once you get into college, I'll buy it for you. After all, you're my fiancée."

The day the SAT results came out, I wanted to tell him that I'd scored far higher than anyone expected.

However, everyone was too busy celebrating Nina's results, and not one of them asked about mine.

Jack figured I'd barely scrape into a community college. He even gave the gift he'd promised me to Nina instead.