I lowered my eyes, not crying or making a fuss, and finally left quietly. On the day of the banquet, my brother, who hadn’t waited long for me to appear, called me frantically.
"Vivian, the rooms in the main house are already decorated to your liking. Why aren’t you home yet?"
I looked at my adoptive brother, who was waving desperately outside the station.
"I’m already home."
——
My brother had personally promised us the reunion banquet six months ago.
Back then, he had been kidnapped by a business rival, cornered in a destitute alley. They wanted nothing more than his life.
In desperation, I pushed him aside, blocking the fatal blow.
It missed my heart by a centimeter.
Blood streamed everywhere.
Teetering between life and death, my brother’s heart-wrenching cries echoed in my ears.
"Vivian, don’t leave me. You’re all I have."
"As soon as you get out of the operating room, I’ll take you back to the main house, the glorious and only daughter of the Gardner family."
I almost smiled.
After eight years of waiting, my brother finally acknowledged me. But now, his indifferent voice,
because of Emily’s words, "I want to be my brother’s only sister,"
easily shattered the promise still fresh in my mind.