Too Late to Want Me

Synopsis

For my eighteenth birthday, I spent the 200 dollars I'd earned washing dishes in my school's cafeteria. All I wanted was for my parents and my older brother to share a steak meal with me at a steakhouse. They never showed up. Instead, they took my adopted sister to an amusement park. As I scrolled through the fireworks lighting up their posts on Instagram, it felt as if each one exploded behind my eyes. I couldn't help but called them. I wanted to ask them one question. I wanted to know if I was truly part of this family. Before I could speak, my adopted sister's laughter rang through the phone. She said, "She can't seriously believe we'd spend her birthday with her, can she? "Does she still not know? Mom and Dad found her beside a hospital trash bin. "Otherwise, why would everyone treat her worse than me, the adopted daughter?" In that instant, everything finally made sense. I was not my parents' biological child. That explained why they'd dumped me at my grandmother's house in the countryside when I was little. That explained why they had never loved me. I no longer needed to chase their affection. I submitted my application to Akotalm University. Then I booked a one-way flight to Thauriax. Only after I was gone did they come looking for me, crying and begging me to return. "Chloe, you're our biological daughter. Your sister was just joking. How could you believe her?" I looked at their tear-filled, bloodshot eyes and smiled. "I believed every word."