“Today, Mom and Dad forgot to buy me new clothes again. My classmates laughed at me when I wore my old ones to school. I felt
a little sad, but this is the best outfit I have.”
“Today, Nina said I stole her stuff. Mom and Dad hit me, but I didn’t steal it. I just wanted to wipe it clean for her.”
“Nina wanted to eat garlic shrimp and asked me to make it for her. Mom and Dad forgot that I’m allergic to seafood. My hands are
swollen. It hurts.”
“It’s Nina’s birthday today. Her cake was so pretty. I wish they would celebrate my birthday too. But Mom and Dad seemed to have forgotten my birthday is just two days before Nina’s.”
I watched silently as she filled her diary page after page. Sometimes, they had decimal points. Sometimes, they didn’t.
She kept making excuses for her family, but her expression grew increasingly numb.
In the end, her diary was nearly full, and the wedding she had longed for had also been ruined. She stopped numbering at 99.
I locked eyes with her. She was wearing a wedding dress.
“I should have left earlier,” she said.
I nodded. “Still, it’s not too late now.”
1/3
Chapter 7
The moment I boarded the plane, I left behind the weight of all the grievances I had recorded, page after page.
+15 BONUS
I threw myself into my studies, forgetting everything else. At times, being alone in a foreign country did feel lonely, but unlike Nina, I didn’t go looking for someone to talk to. Instead, I used all that extra time to better myself.
Like a sponge, I absorbed every bit of knowledge I could.
Eventually, my labmates begged me to stop working so hard, and only then did I finally take a break.
I returned to my dorm and lay on my bed. As I chatted with a friend from back home, she suddenly brought up my family and
Brandon.
It sounded like she was rejoicing. “Sadie, you have no idea. After you left, Brandon and your family practically went crazy!”
Went crazy?
I replied, “No way. They don’t actually care about me.”
My friend responded almost instantly. “Right? But from what I heard, they’ve been desperately trying to reach you.”
I nodded, finally realizing the reason behind the flood of unknown calls I’d been receiving lately. I never had the habit of
answering calls from unknown numbers, so I always just ignored them.
Had those calls been from Brandon and my family?
Just as I was mulling it over, another call from an unknown number popped up on my screen. I hesitated for a moment but
decided to answer it.
To my surprise, the caller was Mom.
Hearing the call go through, she sounded emotional. “Sadie, you finally answered! Where have you been? Why did you block all of
us? We thought something had happened to you!”
She paused for a moment before continuing, her tone slightly stiff, “We were wrong for ignoring you. Come home; we’ll celebrate
your birthday.”
Her sudden change in behavior was too strange.
I immediately thought of the diary I had thrown into the trash before leaving. They must have found it and read it.
99–more than 99 grievances.
That must be why they felt guilty and were searching for me, wanting to make it up to me. But what was the point?
Apologizing after hurting me didn’t mean they cared about me. They just wanted to feel better about themselves.
I responded indifferently, “That won’t be necessary. I don’t like celebrating birthdays.”
Mom fell silent, seemingly at a loss for words. After a long pause, she finally asked me to come home soon.
2/3
Chapter 7
+15 BONUS
I looked around my dorm. Although it wasn’t big, it had everything I liked. I had chosen everything myself. This was the place
where I truly felt a sense of belonging.
“Nah, I’m already home.”
With that, I ended the call.
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