My Family Members Are Dolls That Never Respond To Me Chapter 04
I froze. At first, I thought the vendor was trying to frame me.
But he slapped the bills onto the counter, and a small crowd quickly gathered.
One person held a bill up to the light. Another rubbed the paper between their fingers.
They all shook their heads.
“They’re fake.”
I spent the entire night crouched outside the mall, clutching the stack of counterfeit bills.
The next morning, the moment the coffee shop opened, I stormed inside and slammed the bills onto the counter.
“Why did you give me fake money?”
“This is fraud. I’m calling the police.”
The owner did not panic at all.
“That money didn’t come from me.”
“Your mother came by yesterday. She collected your wages and left those bills for you.”
“She said she wanted to teach you a lesson about how hard it is to earn money.”
A roar filled my head.
Numb all over, I boarded a bus and went straight home. The moment I stepped inside, I stared at Mom through reddened eyes.
“Did you take my paycheck?”
She did not look guilty. If anything, she seemed pleased with herself.
“Now you understand how hard money is to earn, don’t you?”
“Remember, no one in this world will ever treat you better than your parents. When something goes wrong, your family should be the first people you turn to.”
“Or Adrian. Same difference.”
I shook with rage as tears streamed down my face.
Hadn’t I tried?
Once, a group of thugs followed me home. Terrified, I ducked into a convenience store and called my family.
Dad had only said, “Why aren’t they following someone else? Why you?”
The air conditioner in my studio blew nothing but hot air. After several sleepless nights, I begged Mom to help me replace it.
She said, “It’s not that hot.”
“If you can’t handle a little discomfort, how are you ever going to hold down a job?”
The night before the SAT, my fever climbed to nearly 104 degrees. Half delirious, I called my brother.
He said only one thing.
“Annie’s in a bad mood today. Take some Tylenol. Don’t call me over something so minor.”
Another time, the power went out in my studio in the middle of the night.
I curled up in a corner, terrified, and sent Adrian dozens of messages.
He replied much later.
“Lock the door. I’m tutoring Annie tonight. Stop bothering me.”
All those times I reached out, had any one of them ever actually helped me?
The words tore out of me.
“Give me back my money! That was my paycheck! I earned it!”
Dad’s face hardened.
He strode toward me, grabbed my arm, and shoved me toward the door.
“Money, money, money! Is that all you come home for?”
“How much do you think we’ve spent raising you? Nine hundred dollars? Try nine thousand. Try more.”
“You’re not smart. You’re calculating. Money is all you care about.”
The door slammed shut in my face.
I turned around, tears streaming down my cheeks.
Just then, the elevator doors opened, and my brother, Adrian, and Annie stepped out.
Annie held up a tiny hair clip, wrinkling her nose as she complained.
“This tiny thing cost nine hundred dollars.”
My brother laughed.
“Who cares? As long as you like it, it would be worth nine thousand.”
Adrian added gently, “Didn’t your mom just give you seven thousand dollars as a reward? She gave it to you so you could spend it. Don’t be afraid to treat yourself.”
I stood hidden in the shadows, and the tears came harder.
I worked from dawn to dusk.
I spent eight hours every day under the blazing sun, trapped inside that mascot costume.
It took me an entire month to earn nine hundred dollars.
Annie had spent the same amount on a single hair clip without a second thought.
I did not want them to see me fall apart, so I fled down the emergency stairs.
By the time I reached the ground floor, my tears had finally run dry.
Fortunately, after my SAT scores came out, a parent found me through word of mouth and asked me to tutor their child.
I agreed, but I made one request.
“Could you pay me by electronic transfer?”
The parent looked puzzled but agreed.
After that confrontation, Mom, Dad, my brother, and Adrian all quietly stopped contacting me.
I stopped hurting over it too.
I simply moved through my days, preparing lessons, tutoring, and saving money.
The day my acceptance letter arrived, I cooked two dishes for myself.
For the first time in ages, I brought out the four dolls and arranged them across the table from me, just as I used to.
“Let’s call this my college acceptance dinner.”
“And the last meal we’ll ever share.”
I looked into their round button eyes and laughed softly.
After I finished eating, I cleaned the studio from top to bottom.
Then I dragged out my suitcase and left the place where I had lived alone for an entire year.
I did not go to one of the elite universities back East.
But I did not go to the West Coast city they had chosen for me either.
Instead, I went even farther away, to a prestigious university in a southern coastal city.
Just before my train departed, the family group chat, silent for so long, suddenly lit up.
Mom sent a photo of Annie’s acceptance letter.
[Annie got into one of the top universities back East! Nora, you received your acceptance from that West Coast school too, right? Let’s choose a date for the college celebration dinner.]
My brother followed with another message.
[Stop sulking. The whole family is expected at the dinner.]
Adrian sent one line.
[I’ll come pick you up.]
I stared at the messages for a long time, but I did not reply.
I simply opened the group settings and left the chat.
That family had no place for me, and I would never go back.
From then on, I would choose my own path.