Chapter 2
6
I followed him, watching him go right across
the street into the main hospital building.
Through the doorway of Mom’s room, I could hear her nagging him about where he’d been,
why he was gone so long.
“Nowhere,” Dad mumbled. “Just out for a
smoke.”
He left out the part about the urologist.
Something else was bugging me.
<
I just knew Dad was keeping some big secre
Mom didn’t seem to notice anything odd. Sh
just sounded miserable.
“Lin,” she said, “I’ve really let you down. I
never gave you a son. I asked the doctor, and at my age, it’s probably never gonna happen.”
Then she got all bitter again.
“I’m telling you, Emily’s just bad luck. A jinx!
It’s all her fault!”
“I had to have that C–section because she
was breech, otherwise I wouldn’t have even
く
been able to birth a boy.”
Dad was silent for a minute.
“Emily has been pushing it lately,” he said.
I just laughed and walked out.
Before I even made it to the parking lot, my
phone buzzed.
My cousin, Sarah, had forwarded some texts
from the family group chat.
Mom was ranting, sending voice messages:
“My life is so hard. My own daughter won’t
<
IVIY TE
uuuyL
even come see me in the hospital.”
“What good is being smart if she is just
gonna get married one day?”
“Everyone is my witness! After this, Lin and I
don’t have a daughter anymore! I only have
Ashley now!”
Nobody in the chat said anything.
After a while, Aunt Carol slowly replied.
“Get your head checked and stop acting
crazy.”
L
“Emily has to prepare for college. You think
everyone else is gonna be stuck living half
their life like Ashley?”
Sarah carefully DM’d me.
“Em, if you and Ashley didn’t look exactly the
same, I’d think you were adopted.”
Even outsiders could see it.
If this were my past life, those words would
have broken my heart. But now…
I was celebrating them cutting me off.
After giving up on having a son, they threw a
く
party to announce that Ashley would inher
everything.
Ashley could bring a husband home and the
could raise a son with the Lin last name, to
carry on the family.
They were acting like they were passing dow
a throne.
Ashley posted on social media.
She and her loser boyfriend were kissing in the photo. That must be the husband she
picked.
Perfect.
<
Perfect.
I thought.
Trashy couple.
One sunny day, I asked Ashley to meet up.
She walked in with her yellow–haired
boyfriend.
She looked me up and down, like she was better than me. “Mom and Dad are giving everything to me. Don’t even try to take it.”
Her boyfriend, Chris, said, “Yeah, everything
<
ALL
is for me and Ashley.”
He sized me up, looking me over in a gross
way.
I forced myself to smile.
“I know I’ve upset Mom and Dad,” I said.
“I got them these gift cards to the hospital. Would you give them to them?”
Ashley looked suspicious.
I slipped the cards into her hand, pretending
to wipe tears from my eyes.
L
“Don’t tell them I gave them to you. They’r
still mad at me.”
“Ashley, would you help me out and say
something nice about me to Mom and Dad,
please?”
The gift cards said, “2000 Dollar Medical
Exam“.
Ashley’s eyes lit up. She shoved the cards in
her purse.
“Fine. You know what to do.”
The gift cards were in both of their names, so
they couldn’t sell them.
<
After a week, the doctor emailed me my
report.
I rushed to the last page.
The test results: Lin had an infertility.
I stared blankly.
Even though I had thought it was likely, my chest still hurt seeing it on the report.
I called Ashley to ask about the exam.
She grunted. “Dad got the report himself. He’s healthy. No problems.”
く
I stared at the “infertility” result on the
screen. My heart felt like it had a hole in it.
He had been playing a part all these years.
He acted like a forgiving husband who was understanding of his wife for not being able
to have a son.
He played like a cold–blooded father.
He stood and watched as his daughter was scolded for not being able to have children.
He watched as I turned into the servant of my sister, and my miserable death.
く
What a great dad, huh?
