Chapter 4
Kieran took Sage on a trip.
Sage posted vacation photos on Instagram–at the beach, wearing a sun hat and white dress, smiling brightly.
The photos even had camera watermarks.
Caption: [He said he wants to raise me all over again.]
[He wants to treat my childhood self.]
I liked the post, then scrolled down and liked all my high school classmates‘ vacation Instagram posts.
Everyone’s living their best life.
Pretty cool stuff. Love seeing it.
Please post more, guys.
Sage also DM’d me a photo–it was Kieran passed out on a picnic table outside.
[Ivy, good thing you didn’t come.]
[Traveling’s exhausting. Way more comfortable resting at home.]
I stared at it for a while.
Why the hell is he sleeping outside?
Did he run out of money?
He’s not gonna ask for his money back, is he?
I got nervous, thought for a moment, then carefully replied: [Let him rest then, don’t wear himself out.]
If the beach is too hot, he could find a bridge to sleep under.
Sage typed for ages.
(Ivy, I really need to talk to you.]
[You and Kieran are both adults now, stepsiblings with no blood relation should keep their distance…]
I stared at her essay and went silent, taking two minutes before replying: [Got it.]
During the long summer break, I took the IELTS, got all my materials together, and submitted applications.
Lots of schools were accepting SAT scores now, so I tried my best to get in this year.
Chapter 4
After mid–August, Kieran went to orientation.
I was still stuck at home.
Home wasn’t far from campus, so Kieran came back almost every week.
We barely talked, but we saw each other weekly.
Sage sometimes came back with him.
She followed Kieran through the door, saw me sitting on the living room couch reading, looked surprised, then acted all familiar.
“Ivy, still no offer? Guess you won’t start until next year then.”
Kieran smirked.
“Probably.”
She had this “aha” moment.
“Won’t you graduate a year later than us?”
I said calmly: “The schools I applied to have three–year bachelor programs.”
Don’t know what nerve I hit.
She bit her lip awkwardly, then looked up at Kieran: “I didn’t know that…”
Kieran said flatly: “Not knowing is normal.”
“Different starting points. People who do know shouldn’t act superior about it.”
Felt like he was calling me out.
I don’t know what I did to piss them off.
e
But I didn’t want to argue, so I closed the book on my lap and went upstairs.
Kieran called after me.
S
“Which school?”
I turned around and smiled at him: “I won’t say. Don’t want to show off my superiority.”
At mid–September, the day Dad and Mom took me to the airport was a weekday.
Dad wanted Kieran to skip class and come see me off too.
I refused.
“He’s never liked me anyway. Let’s not bother him.”
Chapter 4
Leaving directly was granting his wish.
The plane leveled out in the air.
I opened the window shade and looked outside–nothing but clouds, couldn’t see the ground anymore.
The flight was long, so I put on a blanket and neck pillow, closed my eyes and slept.
Surprisingly, I dreamed about Kieran.
When I was fourteen, relatives maliciously told him his mom was here.
He ran out excitedly, only to see me and my mom.
Oh, they meant stepmom, not birth mom.
My first impression of Kieran was that he was really dark, pale and skinny, staring at me with this gloomy expression.
Dad was always busy, while his birth mom was overseas.
I thought he was probably pretty pitiful too.
Until I felt two geckos in my bedding that night.
Turns out I was the pitiful one.
During our teenage years, I went head–to–head with him,
Dad would only hit him because he was the biological son–easier to discipline.
Mom never hit me either. She just spoiled me.
I tried being nice to Kieran once.
But feeling sorry for guys just brings bad luck.
First time I tried baking a cake, asked if he wanted some–he threw it away.
First love letter I got–he ripped it up.
During his rebellious phase, he barely talked, just kept repeating one word to me: “hate.”
Hated me.
Hated being on the same family registry as me.
Hated how I always put on this pitiful, innocent act.
I got pissed and gave him the silent treatment for two months.
When high school started, he finally came to talk to me.
Chapter 4
First thing he said–still hated me, wanted me to transfer classes.
Second thing–gave me two hundred thousand.
“This should do it, right?”
I smiled sweetly.
“Sure.”
“But…”
Kieran threw a voluntary gift contract on the table and sneered:
“Gold digger.”
