I came home for the holidays, and as I pushed open the door, I was still imagining the surprised expressions on Mom and Dad's faces when they saw the gifts I brought. But the house was empty, with only the faint sound of snoring coming from my room. I thought my mother was taking an afternoon nap and tiptoed to push open the door, only to find a strange woman lying on my bed. I was so startled I stepped back and bumped into the doorframe. The woman woke up with a start and looked at me impatiently. "Who are you? Why are you barging into someone else's room?" "This is my room," I said angrily. She sneered. "You must be Erin, right? Your parents said this room is mine now." Just then, the door opened and my parents walked in carrying groceries. When they saw me, they showed no surprise. Instead, they said in unison, "Why did you come back?" My mother set down the groceries, walked over to the woman's side, took her hand, and her first words left me completely frozen in place.
"Erin, have you gotten acquainted with Rosie?" My mother spoke with a gentle expression, her gaze falling on the woman behind me. I was furious. "Acquainted with what? How could you rent out my room without my permission?" What was even more suffocating was that she was even using my sheets and blankets. The thought made me shudder. When I first fell asleep groggily and smelled the perfume scent on the blanket, I thought it was from the laundry detergent, but it turned out to be... But my mother suddenly took my hand and placed it on the woman's hand, smiling as she spoke. "You two are going to spend your whole lives together anyway, so it's good for Rosie to get to know you in advance." I looked at the woman's scrutinizing gaze and quickly pulled my hand away in alarm, staring at my mother in disbelief. "What are you talking about?! What do you mean spending our whole lives together?" My father, sitting on the side, took a sip of tea and glanced at me. "Is this how you talk to your mother?!" There was even a hint of disappointment in his tone. "If you hadn't been fooling around out there all this time and refusing to find a partner, would your mother be this anxious?" "Rosie has promised us she'll treat you well. Just get along with her and don't make your mother and me worry." I finally understood. This wasn't a tenant at all—they had taken it upon themselves to find me a girlfriend! I spoke with some exasperation. "The company is at a critical stage right now. Where do I have time to date?" "Can you stop making decisions for me?!" Since college, I had teamed up with classmates to start a business. Over these years, it had developed rapidly and had already become a leading force in the city. The woman's scrutinizing gaze swept over me from head to toe as she spoke with understanding. "Mr. Collins, Mrs. Collins, don't be angry. Erin just needs some time to adjust." Hearing her form of address made my vision go black, but my parents couldn't stop smiling. However, when their gaze turned to me, it instantly darkened. "Look how sensible Rosie is?! You should be grateful she's interested in you!" "And she's a big boss at Sterling Corporation, a major company in the city! Not like you, making three thousand a month and acting all proud about it!" I suddenly laughed and began examining the woman's face carefully. How did I not know that the company's CEO had changed from me to her? She mistook this for a change in my attitude, and her spine straightened noticeably. "Erin, I heard from your mother that you just do odd jobs—lots of work for little money." "After we get married, you won't need to work anymore. I'll transfer money to you on time every month." I was completely baffled. How could someone shamelessly take credit like this? I didn't have time to argue with them and spoke calmly. "I don't care what you've agreed to between yourselves. I'm giving you two choices right now." "First, have this woman get out of my room and I'll pretend nothing happened. Second, I'll call the police to have her removed from this room, and I'll never come back to this house again." Before I could finish speaking, my father suddenly stood up and slapped me across the face. My cheek instantly burned with pain. "You bastard!" "We found you someone with such good conditions and you dare chase her away?! I'm telling you right now—you're getting married whether you like it or not!" I stared at my sister's and brother's rooms and suddenly spoke. "Fine, then can you explain why you're only pressuring me to get married quickly?" "Is it because my good-for-nothing brother Brian needs money to get married and buy a house? Or is it because my sister Sophie, who has absolutely no artistic talent, needs more money for her living expenses abroad?" Just that one sentence left my parents speechless, their faces turning the color of liver. "Erin, are you asking for a beating?!" A familiar roar came from outside the door.
Brian kicked the door open wearing thousand-dollar designer shoes and kicked me in the stomach. I didn't have time to react and fell to the floor. The pain in my abdomen made me instinctively frown. Brian sat down on the sofa with a swagger, looking down at me. "What do you mean freeloading? Don't you know you were born to be my servant?" "What's wrong with me spending the money you earn? Don't you have any sense of responsibility?" "Even though you won't get to use the title 'brother-in-law,' Rosie is doing you a favor by being interested in you. Don't be ungrateful!" I felt nothing inside because I had already become numb over the past dozen years or so. Everything changed completely from the moment Brian was born. At first, my parents were always afraid of neglecting Sophie because of my birth, so they put more attention on her. I understood that. But after Brian was born, the favoritism I expected never came. Instead, both Sophie and Brian received equal love. Only I became the person who shouldn't exist in this family. They could spend tens of thousands enrolling Sophie in piano lessons she had no talent for, but wouldn't buy me a pair of fifteen-dollar shoes. They could take Brian to the Maldives on vacation, but made me give up the top high school I got into to attend a suburban school with cheaper tuition. I fought, I made a scene. The result was not getting lunch money for a whole week during my school days. The four of them dined elegantly at five-star restaurants while I split one bun into three meals. After starting college, all the money I earned from part-time jobs was taken to buy game credits for Brian and new dresses for Sophie. So I never mentioned a word about my startup to them. Yet to outsiders, I became the most antisocial, least promising son in their mouths. Seeing how my parents didn't refute anything Brian said, I knew that keeping it hidden back then was absolutely the right choice. "Great, since you like her so much, why don't you marry her?" "You really today..." Brian's veins bulged instantly as he stood up to hit me, but my mother stopped him in time with a look. Rosie looked at me on the floor with disgust that my mother easily caught. She immediately ordered me. "Erin, you've really gone too far today. Apologize to Rosie right now." Rosie glanced at me on the floor and spoke indifferently. "It's fine, Mrs. Collins. You all explain things to Erin first. I'll come back another time." The change in her form of address instantly made my parents' expressions change. With that, she went straight back to the bedroom to pack her things and left. "Erin! Are you satisfied now?!" My mother was so angry she grabbed the glass beside her and threw it at me. I dodged by tilting my head. "This is a catch you couldn't find with a lantern, and you had to drive her away to be happy?!" "You've gotten bold after mixing around outside for a few years? If you're so capable, don't come back to this house! This house was bought by your old man!" My parents sang the same tune, glaring at me furiously. I stared at their rage and realized I could no longer find even a trace of the memories from my childhood. The mother who used to tell me bedtime stories, the father who would run several miles to bring me my favorite cupcakes—they were all gone. Never to be found again. "Fine, I'll leave right now." With that, I turned and went back to my bedroom to pack. Looking around, even I couldn't help but smile bitterly. In this tiny bedroom converted from a storage room, the things that belonged to me could be counted on one hand. The textbooks on the desk were Sophie's hand-me-downs. The desk lamp was one Brian had thrown to me after buying a new one. Even the few scattered pieces of clothing in the closet were all hand-me-downs from them. My bedroom was dark. It wasn't spacious and bright like Sophie's room, which could fit an expensive piano. It wasn't customized like Brian's room with floor-to-ceiling windows. The only thing that kept me from seeing cement walls when I turned over in bed was the cheap stickers I had put up for a few dollars during my school days. Erin, oh Erin, how pitiful you are. As I simply gathered some of my few personal belongings, an expensive handbag suddenly appeared before my eyes, and a voice so gentle it could drip water spoke in my ear. "Erin, if anyone bullies you, tell Sophie. Don't be impulsive."
Sophie's pretty little face appeared before me, her eyes full of concern. This was her usual tactic. She never played the villain in front of me, yet time and again left me mired in trouble. In middle school, when local thugs cornered me in an alley demanding protection money, Sophie walked past the alley without batting an eye, completely ignoring me. When I got home, I was beaten severely by my parents. The reason was that Sophie saw me bullying classmates at school instead of studying. That night, she cried and begged me to forgive her. "I'm so sorry. I just saw it wrong that day and shouldn't have jumped to conclusions." I thought it was really a misunderstanding and didn't take it to heart. Later in high school, the night before tuition was due, she suddenly proposed wanting to study abroad on an exchange program. My spot at the top city high school paved her way across the ocean. She always cried saying she didn't know, she never expected it. She always smiled saying, "I'll protect you." Later still, my college application was secretly changed from the capital to this city. She hugged me with understanding. "It's okay. At least this city is close to the port. Sophie will fly back to see you whenever she has time." So under her protection, I was left battered and bruised. It wasn't until these past few years that I belatedly realized how foolish I had been. Now, I had no interest in playing along with her act anymore and spoke coldly. "No one's bullying me. I want to leave on my own." "Please move aside." In just an instant, her eyes filled with tears as she spoke pitifully. "Do you hate even Sophie now?" Hearing her crying, the whole family instantly rushed in. Brian frantically began wiping Sophie's tears. "Erin, are you sick? My sister shows concern for you and that's wrong?!" "As expected, people like you were never meant to be loved!" "My sister"—those two words instantly separated me from this family. Or rather, I had never been part of it to begin with. "Oh Sophie, don't cry. My precious daughter, it breaks my heart." My mother lovingly wiped Sophie's tears, her movements as gentle as if handling porcelain. My father's accusations arrived on schedule. "Nothing good happens when you come back!" My face was expressionless. No more tears would flow from my eyes. I spoke coldly. "You're all right, so please move aside. I need to leave." Just as I reached the door, my mother's weary voice came from behind. "Stay one more night. We're attending someone's wedding tomorrow." I didn't look back. "You can go without me." My mother's lips moved slightly as she spoke that person's name. My shoulders trembled violently. After a long moment, I made my decision. "I'll stay at a hotel tonight." Back at the hotel, I called my assistant. "Bring me a formal suit to the York Hotel." Her life event—I didn't want to treat it carelessly. Looking at the things I'd brought from home, I added another sentence. "Also, help me investigate something. As soon as possible..." Inside the Grandview Hotel, Sophie held her mother's hand with a worried expression. "Do you think he'll come?" "Don't worry. For that person, there's no way he won't come." Brian also chimed in. "Exactly. He's obligated to come, Sophie. Stop worrying about him." Indeed, I arrived at the banquet as expected, though my heart was filled with anxiety. Would she still be willing to see me? Was she doing well? When that familiar face smiled and took my hand, all my nervous emotions finally relaxed. "How have you been lately?" Claire sat in her wheelchair, her warm body temperature transmitting from her palm. "I'm really fine now. You really don't need to blame yourself for what happened back then." If my adolescence was dark, then my cousin Claire was undoubtedly a ray of light in my dim times. Back then, everyone said I was no good, said I was antisocial, said I was rigid. Only she would smile and stroke my hair comfortingly. "No, I think Erin is great, really great." But later, the school equipment room caught fire for no reason. I was trapped inside, and she rushed into the flames to push me out. She herself was pinned down by falling shelves, crushing both her legs. Later, she transferred away from my hometown, and I never saw her again. All these years, I persisted in transferring money to her family every month to make up for my mistake. The day after she transferred, I received a message. "Erin, don't blame yourself. I don't hold it against you." My thoughts returned to the present. She was still as gentle and virtuous as she had been through the years. I couldn't help but wonder who was lucky enough to marry her. Unexpectedly, her first question left me dumbfounded. "Erin, is the bride treating you well?"
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