My Family Members Are Dolls That Never Respond To Me Chapter 07
The day I arrived in the southern seaport, it was drizzling.
The station was crowded.
As I wheeled my suitcase out, the wheels rolled through wet patches on the pavement, making soft, small sounds.
No one came to pick me up.
No one called my name in the crowd.
And strangely, I didn’t feel sad at all.
For years, I had been waiting.
Waiting for Mom or Dad to look at me. Just once.
Waiting for Leo to say something kind.
Waiting for Adrian to remember he had said he’d wait for me.
But by the end, I finally understood.
Not waiting turned out to be so much lighter.
When my phone came back on, more than a dozen missed calls flooded the screen.
Mom’s. Dad’s. Leo’s. Adrian’s.
I stared at them for a moment, my thumb hovering over the screen.
In another life, I would have called back right away.
Even knowing that whoever picked up would probably just yell at me.
But this time, I swept all the notifications away and switched my phone to silent.
The student ambassador the school had sent stood at the exit, holding a sign that read “New Student Welcome.”
The moment she spotted me, she came over with a smile.
“Are you Nora?”
“The office told me to keep an eye out. They said you were coming alone and asked us to look after you a little.”
I paused.
It had been a long time since anyone had said they wanted to look after me.
I looked down at my suitcase and said softly.
“Thank you.”
At the registration desk, the staff member looked up when she saw my name, and her eyes brightened.
“You’re Nora Sheldon?”
“Your scores are outstanding. The school has already awarded you an incoming student scholarship.”
“If you run into any financial difficulty later, you can also apply for a paid campus position. A lot of our students do.”
My pen stilled in my hand.
“A scholarship?”
She smiled and nodded.
“Yes.”
“You don’t need to worry about the costs. Just focus on your studies.”
Just focus on your studies.
When those words landed, something in me went quietly still.
Back in the studio, I had counted every dollar every day.
Rent. Food. Bus fare.
The AC had broken and I couldn’t afford to fix it.
When I got sick, I didn’t dare see a doctor.
Even letting myself eat something nice took a long internal debate.
But now, someone was telling me.
Just focus on your studies.
I lowered my head and finished writing the last line on the form.
When I got to the dorm, two of my roommates were already there.
One was making up her bed. The other was crouched on the floor, unpacking.
They both looked up when I came in.
“Hey.”
“Are you in this room too?”
I nodded.
“Yeah. I’m Nora.”
They introduced themselves with easy smiles.
One was Chloe. The other was Isabelle.
Neither one asked why no one had come to help me move in.
Neither one asked why I only had a single suitcase.
They just helped me hoist my bag onto the bed and passed me a small pack of tissues.
“It just rained. You’re a little wet.”
I took the tissues. My fingertips felt tight.
The AC in the dorm ran cool.
Not the wheezing, hot air spewing thing back in the studio.
Just a normal, working AC.
Cool air, clean and quiet, moving across my skin.
I sat down on the edge of the bed and thought about those hot months of prep.
Bent over the desk, working through problem sets.
Sweat dripping onto the scratch paper, one drop after another.
The ink smeared, and I would copy it over again.
Back then I kept telling myself, just get through it, once the SAT is done it’ll be fine.
But standing under this cool air now, I finally understood.
Enduring doesn’t make it better. Getting through the SAT doesn’t make it better.
Deciding to leave is what makes it better.
That night, walking back to the dorm after dinner, the rain had stopped.
The night wind off the sea carried a damp, salty scent.
The lights in the distance came on one by one, spilling over the wet pavement.
My phone buzzed again.
A friend request from Adrian.
The note attached said only.
【Nora, where are you?】
I looked at it for a long time. I hit decline.
The screen went dark. I lifted my head to look ahead.
This city was unfamiliar.
But I knew.
Starting today, I was going to begin a new life here.