For the third year of my severe clinical depression, my parents still didn't dare leave me alone. Three years ago, my adopted sister stole my photos to catfish a guy online, only for him to turn out to be a violent stalker. He mistook me for her and assaulted me. After the incident, my parents kicked my sister out of the house. My mom nailed every single window shut. For three years, I wasn't allowed near them. My dad quit his job to stay home with me, locking up every knife in the kitchen. Until three years later, my sister returned holding a certificate in psychological counseling. She knelt on our front porch, sobbing, saying everything that happened back then was her fault. She claimed she had studied psychology relentlessly just so she could come back, cure me, and personally make amends. In the end, my parents let her back in. My sister told them that keeping the windows boarded up for three years was only making my depression worse. So, my mom pulled out the nails and pushed every window wide open. My dad unlocked the kitchen drawer and put the knives back on the counter. "You need to learn how to suppress those bad thoughts on your own," he told me. Until the final session of my "exposure therapy." My sister brought the man from three years ago back into our house and locked him in my bedroom with me. I slammed my fists against the door, screaming, begging them to let me out. Through the heavy wood, I heard my sister whisper: "Just let her get through this one last time, and everything will be fine." My parents sighed. "Yeah." "Once this is over, we can all finally move on." With tears streaming down my face, I slowly lowered my hands from the door. I looked at the wide-open window and gave up all resistance. . The bedroom door finally clicked open. The man leisurely pulled his shirt on. Before leaving, he glanced back at me with a malicious smirk. "You caused such a dramatic scene back then, got me a ten-year sentence. But your parents ended up signing a forgiveness plea and paid a fortune to get me out early anyway." "Looks like I took too good care of you three years ago. You still missed me enough to have me brought back." He pinched the dark, purple bruises on my waist, his eyes narrowing in satisfaction. "I took some pictures for my buddies. They were practically drooling. Maybe I'll bring them along next time." With a loud laugh, he pushed the door open and left. The very next second, my parents burst into the room. The first thing my mom saw was me sitting on the edge of the bed. My clothes were torn, my exposed skin covered in fresh bruises and scratches. But I didn't cry. I didn't scream. I just stared blankly at the window she had personally opened for me. All the color instantly drained from my mom's face. She rushed over to me, her voice trembling violently. "Chloe?" "Why... why are you so quiet?" I didn't answer. Behind them, my sister suddenly clapped her hands together. "It worked!" She looked at my parents with absolute joy. "This proves the exposure therapy was effective!" "She can calmly face the trauma now! She's accepted what happened!" "She's cured!" My mom froze for two seconds. The sheer terror in her eyes slowly dissipated, replaced by a wave of ecstatic relief. "Really?" She let out a massive breath. "Thank God. We've been dragged down by you for three years..." Halfway through her sentence, she realized what she was saying and clamped her mouth shut. The room fell dead silent for a moment. My dad acted like he didn't hear it. He patted my shoulder with a relieved smile. "It's good that you've finally moved past it." "Since you can face the past now, and your sister is the one who cured you, let's just leave the past where it belongs." He glanced at my sister, whose eyes were red. "She hurt you back then, but she saved you today. Let's call it even." "Nobody mentions what happened three years ago ever again." "And you need to stop holding onto this grudge. Don't make her live in guilt for the rest of her life." I kept my eyes lowered, saying nothing. My sister's eyes welled with tears. She bit her lip, looking at me timidly. "Chloe, you still haven't forgiven me, have you?" "If it hurts you to look at me, I'll leave right now." "I'll never come back. I'll never show my face to you again." She turned as if to walk away. My mom immediately panicked and grabbed her arm. "What nonsense are you talking about?!" My dad frowned and looked directly at me. "Chloe, we kicked her out of this house for three years because we were afraid seeing her would trigger you." "She had no home to return to. She survived out there all alone for three years. Hasn't she suffered enough?" "You're cured now. What's left that you can't get over?" My mom squeezed my sister's hand tightly and urged me: "Hurry up and tell your sister you don't blame her anymore." It felt like something in my chest was being slowly, methodically crushed to dust. I suddenly remembered three years ago. The night they kicked my adopted sister out, my mom held me and cried until morning. She told me: "We only adopted her so you'd have a companion. I never thought we'd raise a snake that would destroy my own flesh and blood." "Chloe, I will never, ever forgive her." My dad locked every knife in the house into a cabinet and said: "I need you to live, Chloe. I swear on my life, I will never let anyone hurt you again." It turns out "never" only lasts three years. I slowly raised my head. My sister was waiting for my answer with red, tearful eyes. My parents were watching me nervously. As if, until I spoke the words, this family could never truly be whole again. I looked at them for a very long time. Finally, I forced a numb, empty smile. "Okay. I forgive you." My sister burst into tears. My mom immediately pulled her into a tight hug. "I knew it!" "You two are sisters. There's no hurdle you can't cross together." My dad finally laughed out loud. "That's more like it." "From now on, our family gets a fresh start." A family. I looked down at the fading bruises on my wrists and said nothing. My mom cheerfully pulled open my closet. "Oh, by the way, today is actually your sister's birthday." "We were so worried about your mental state, we didn't dare tell you." She pulled out a dress and handed it to me, her tone as light and breezy as if the horrors of the past hour had never happened. "But everything's fine now." "Hurry up and get dressed." "We're going to celebrate her birthday tonight." My entire body went rigid. The blood drained from my face. Three years ago, the event that destroyed my life was also a birthday party. Back then, I had just recently been found and brought back to my biological parents. After years of being lost, I was finally home. I had just gotten accepted into my dream university, secured a full-ride scholarship, and had an incredibly smart, handsome boyfriend everyone envied. I thought my life was just beginning. But on the night of my sister's birthday, she secretly invited the man she had been online dating for months to the hotel party. And for those entire few months, she had been using my pictures. The moment the man arrived, he assumed I was the girl he had been talking to. He dragged me into a hotel room by force. When the guests finally found me, they saw a trashed hotel room and me, completely ruined. My sister stood in the crowd, her face pale, but she never said a word about the truth. So everyone assumed I had been sneaking around behind my boyfriend's back, hooking up with a stranger. My boyfriend dumped me in front of everyone and moved out of the country shortly after. The rumors spread like wildfire across campus. The people who used to envy me started whispering behind my back. Even my professors looked at me differently. I couldn't handle showing my face on campus anymore, so I eventually dropped out. It wasn't until the situation completely exploded that my sister finally broke down and knelt in front of me. "Chloe, I'm so sorry." "I felt so insecure and ugly compared to you, that's why I used your photos. I just wanted to meet the guy I loved on the happiest day of my life. That's why I invited him to the party." "I swear I didn't know he was a psychotic stalker. I didn't know he would mistake you for me..." She sobbed, apologizing over and over again. But I just stared at her. Her simple "I didn't know" had destroyed my college education, my first love, my reputation, and my entire future. Her apologies couldn't buy any of it back. That night, I suffered a complete mental breakdown. My mom woke up in the middle of the night to find me sitting on the kitchen floor holding a butcher knife. She was so terrified she started screaming and crying. The next day, my dad threw my sister out of the house. They formally removed her from our family trust right in front of me. My mom held me, promising me over and over. "Chloe, she has nothing to do with this family anymore." My dad said, with red eyes: "You'll never have to see her again. You don't have to be afraid anymore." But now. Today, three years later. My mom was standing in front of me holding a dress, rushing me to attend my sister's birthday party. Seeing me trembling uncontrollably, my mom's smile finally faltered. She reached out to steady me. "Maybe we should just skip it today..." "No." My sister immediately cut her off. She looked at my parents with absolute seriousness. "Chloe is only scared right now because her memories from three years ago haven't fully faded." "The more she avoids it, the worse it gets. She needs to be placed back into a similar environment. It's a crucial part of exposure therapy." My dad was silent for a moment before nodding. "She's right." "We've come this far. We can't give up halfway." Before I could even speak, they grabbed me by both arms and practically dragged me to the banquet hall. The moment the double doors were pushed open, the room erupted into cheers. "The birthday girl is finally here!" "Happy birthday!" "Here comes the star of the night!" Everyone was laughing, clapping, and cheering my sister's name. But as I stood in the doorway and saw the faces in the room, my blood ran completely cold. This wasn't just "a few close friends and family," like my parents had told me. The room was packed with people from my old university. My former classmates. Even the people who had physically witnessed me being dragged out of that hotel room three years ago. I stopped breathing, instinctively stumbling backward. Right at that moment, the crowd parted. A man walked out from the center of the room. I froze. Liam. My first love. The boy who, three years ago, believed I had betrayed him and walked away without ever looking back. After three years, he looked older, more mature. He was so familiar I recognized him instantly, yet so distant it felt like I had never known him at all. Before I could even process what was happening, my sister picked up the skirt of her dress and flew into his arms like a butterfly. Liam wrapped his arm naturally around her waist. The crowd instantly erupted into teasing cheers. "You guys have been dating for three years, and you finally bring your girl out to meet us!" "What do you mean 'girl'? After tonight, we're gonna have to call her Mrs. Davis!" "Liam's got the ring ready! Everyone knows he's proposing tonight!" Dating for three years. My brain felt like it exploded. An unthinkable, horrific realization surfaced in my mind, the agony causing my body to violently twitch and spasm. Nestled in Liam's arms, my sister smiled shyly at the crowd's teasing, then let her eyes well up with tears. "Today is the happiest day of my life." "Which is why I really want someone incredibly important to me to witness this." She turned and looked directly at me. The color drained entirely from my face. "No..." But she was already walking briskly toward me, grabbing my wrist in a vice grip. I fought desperately to pull away, my legs turning to jelly, eventually collapsing onto the floor, curling into a ball. My sister kept pulling me. "Chloe, don't be scared." "These are all people you know." She yanked me off the floor with surprising force, dragging me step by step into the center of the crowd. "It's time you face them again." The loud, festive banquet hall suddenly fell dead silent. Everyone finally got a clear look at my face. The next second. The smiles froze on everyone's faces. Disgust, contempt, and unconcealed whispers rippled through the room. "How does she have the nerve to show her face here?" "After what she did three years ago, faking depression and threatening suicide to try and win Liam back... does she still think she has a chance with him?" I felt freezing cold. The voices buzzing in my ears sounded distant, but my chest felt like it was being crushed in a vice grip. My sister, eyes red and teary, walked up to me. "Chloe, I know about your history with Liam." "But today, I really, truly want your blessing." She choked back a sob. "If you personally give us your blessing, it's the only way I'll believe you've truly let go of the past. That you're truly cured!" I opened my mouth. But my throat felt like it was cemented shut. I couldn't force a single word out. Liam suddenly let out a cold scoff. "Forget it." He looked at me with absolute, unfiltered disgust. "I don't want a blessing from someone as filthy as her." My head snapped up. Liam glared down at me, enunciating every word. "Honestly, I should be thanking you." "If that incident hadn't happened three years ago, I never would have seen your true colors, and I never would have met the woman I was truly meant to love." He paused, as if he needed to see the knife twist in my chest to be satisfied. "You setting me free is the only reason I found my true soulmate." The crowd erupted into wild cheers and applause. Right there, under the gaze of everyone who despised me, Liam dropped to one knee. The moment he opened the velvet ring box, my entire body went rigid. The ring... Three years ago, I had sat in the university library, sketching that exact design over and over in my notebook. A vine-like band, holding a single, delicate round diamond in the center. Liam had snatched my notebook back then, laughing as he said: "When we graduate, I'm going to have this custom-made. And I'm going to put it on your finger myself." Now, he really had made it. And he was slipping it onto my sister's ring finger. My sister sobbed and threw her arms around his neck while the entire room gave them a standing ovation. Suddenly, she pulled away and ran over to me, holding up her hand to show me the ring. "Chloe, look." "Liam said this design is incredibly meaningful." She threw her arms around me in a tight hug. "Thank you for letting us be together." My body was as stiff as a board. The next second, she leaned her mouth right next to my ear. Her voice was so quiet only I could hear it. "Oh, by the way." "Mom and Dad told you they kicked me out and I suffered for three years, right?" She let out a soft, mocking laugh. "They actually sent me to Europe the very next month. They paid my tuition, my rent, and gave me a massive allowance." "My life has been absolutely amazing for the last three years." My pupils shrank to pinpricks. My sister slowly, deliberately added one last detail. "And about that guy." "Did you really think Mom and Dad had the power to get him out of prison that fast?" "Liam helped them." "He was afraid you were going to use your trauma to keep harassing us. So he said you needed to be forced to face it one last time, so you'd be cured and finally leave us alone." The very last thread of sanity in my brain violently snapped. I shoved her away with everything I had. My sister stumbled backward and collapsed onto the floor. She grabbed her stomach, her face turning chalk-white. "It hurts..." "Liam, my stomach hurts so much... our baby..." Liam's face went completely pale. He sprinted over and scooped her into his arms. When he looked up at me, his eyes were burning with pure, murderous rage. "ARE YOU INSANE?!" "DIDN'T YOU KNOW SHE WAS PREGNANT?!" I stood frozen in place. My mom completely panicked. She rushed forward and slapped me across the face with all her strength. My head snapped to the side. "Your sister already apologized to you! Why can't you just let it go?!" "Are you going to be happy when you finally kill her?!" The banquet hall exploded into chaos. "She is so evil." "It's her sister's proposal day, and she just had to cause a scene." The cruel, judgmental voices pressed in on me from every direction. Before Liam carried my sister out the door, he turned back and gave me one last look. It was a look of pure, terrifying hatred. But my vision was already blurring. The ringing in my ears was deafening. The faces of the people around me twisted into grotesque, blurry shapes. The birthday party three years ago. The birthday party today. Liam walking away. The ring on my sister's finger. My body suddenly lost all function. I felt a rush of warm liquid slide down my legs. The chaotic noise of the room instantly died down. The entire crowd gasped in horror, covering their noses in disgust. I stood there in front of everyone, my body rigid, having lost complete control of my bladder. Even my final shred of dignity was gone. My vision went completely black, and I crashed heavily to the floor.