My Family Members Are Dolls That Never Respond To Me Chapter 05
Meanwhile, the Sheldon living room was buzzing.
Annie’s admission letter was displayed right in the middle of the coffee table.
Mom read it over and over, the smile on her face impossible to hide.
“Our Annie really did us proud. All that hard work paid off.”
Dad, rarely one to smile, was scrolling through party venues on his phone.
“Both of them getting into college. We should throw a proper party.”
“Invite everyone. Family, friends. Make an occasion of it.”
Leo sat off to the side, texting his college buddies.
“I asked around. The Grandview ballroom is nice. Just a tight timeline.”
Adrian was there too.
He held his phone, thumb hovering over his chat with Nora.
The last message was the one he’d sent her.
【I’ll come pick you up.】
No reply.
He frowned and was about to type again when a notification popped up at the top of his screen.
【Nora has left the group chat.】
The room fell silent, as if someone had hit pause.
The smile on Mom’s face froze in place.
“Why would Nora leave the chat?”
Leo blinked, then his brow drew together.
“What’s she doing now?”
Dad had been looking at the menu. When he heard, his expression darkened.
“The party hasn’t even happened yet, and she’s already leaving the chat? Who is she trying to punish?”
Mom’s temper flared. She dialed Nora’s number right there.
She called several times. No answer.
Her face turned truly ugly.
“Who taught her to treat her own mother this way?”
“Letting her be part of the party at all was doing her a favor. And she thinks she can put on airs?”
Annie sat in the corner of the couch, knees drawn up, her voice small.
“Is Nora still upset with me?”
“Maybe I just shouldn’t come to the party.”
The second she opened her mouth, all the attention in the room shifted to her.
Mom set the phone down at once and moved to sit beside her.
“Don’t be ridiculous. It’s your party. Of course you’re coming.”
Leo frowned too.
“Nora’s the one being childish. What does that have to do with you? Stop taking everything onto yourself.”
Adrian pressed his lips together.
He had almost said Nora might just be having a hard time.
But he saw Annie’s eyes shine with tears, and swallowed the words back down.
He said quietly instead.
“Nora really did go too far this time.”
Annie lowered her lashes. Tears clung to them, refusing to fall.
“But Nora’s never liked me.”
“Does she blame me because she couldn’t go to the top East Coast school?”
Mom’s face darkened.
“She’s so smart. What does it matter where she goes?”
“Annie, don’t let her get to you. She’s been spoiled her whole life. Can’t take the slightest disappointment.”
No one in the room heard anything wrong with those words.
Even though for the last decade and more, it had always been Nora who gave in. Nora who endured.
But right now, in their eyes.
The Nora who left the group chat was the ungrateful one. The one trying to embarrass the family on purpose.
Dad set his phone down on the coffee table with a hard clink.
“Leave her be.”
“Give her a couple of days to cool off. She’ll realize she was wrong.”
Leo nodded.
“She’s always been like this. Stubborn.”
“When Adrian goes to pick her up, she’ll fold.”
At the sound of his own name, Adrian raised his eyes.
He stared at the empty chat window, and something unnameable itched under his skin.
Nora hadn’t always been like this.
Before, no matter how upset she was, she’d reply to his messages almost immediately.
But now the chat sat silent. Too silent.
Adrian stared at his phone a long time, then couldn’t help sending another message.
【Nora. Stop this.】
A red exclamation mark appeared beside it.
He froze.
Leo leaned over to look, and his expression shifted too.
“She deleted you?”
Mom heard, and her anger climbed higher.
“She deleted Adrian too? What is she trying to do?”
Dad set his teacup down hard.
“Let her have her fit.”
“Let’s see how long she can keep this up alone.”
The doorbell rang, right on the tail of his words.
Mom went to answer it. The second she saw who was standing there, she froze in place.