Chapter 2

2: 2

I didn't take the money.

But I listened to what everyone told me.

I cleared it with Manager Cruz first, and for the first time I came home before midnight.

My mother sat on the couch, a smile that wasn't a smile on her face.

"You're back."

"Mm."

"Your sister's still out working."

There was weight in the way she said it.

I took out my phone and started a video call.

Her face changed.

No surprise, my sister rejected it the instant it rang.

But before that, my mother snatched the phone right out of my hand.

"Your sister's playing gam— working! How can you bother her?"

I smiled.

"It's hot today. I just wanted to ask if she got heatstroke."

"You think everyone's as precious about themselves as you are."

"Don't say I didn't warn you. If your tuition comes up short later, don't come asking me for it."

She curled her lip.

For as long as I could remember, she'd worn this same cold face to tell my sister and me that whatever we wanted, we'd have to earn ourselves.

But everything that had happened today left me a little dazed.

My sister still came back late.

Her clothes were dirty and worn, her face tired.

But the clean, fresh scent on her gave away the fact that she hadn't been out working at all.

My mother was still going on.

"Don't think I'm heartless. Someday you'll thank me for this."

My sister answered meekly.

"I know, Mom."

I answered too.

"I know, Mom. I'll work hard."

But at the same time, every company I worked for got a message from me—

"I'm taking tomorrow off."

I followed my mother and sister the whole day.

Arm in arm, they went shopping, got facials, and even went to the cat café I'd been wanting to visit for so long.

At last they spent a long time at some luxury counter.

When they came out, there was a glittering bracelet on my sister's wrist.

I stopped following and went into the store.

"That bracelet they just bought—how much was it?"

The clerk smiled brightly.

"Twenty thousand."

I set it down, embarrassed.

It was something I wouldn't dare touch even if I worked ten jobs.

Back home, my sister's clothes were still dirty, her face still tired.

But her wrist kept flashing that harsh, brilliant light.

Seeing me stare at the bracelet, my mother pressed out a smile.

"It's plastic. I got it off a street stall."

"I like it too. Could you buy me one?"

The smile froze on her face.

"I'm joking."

I quickly took it back.

"Good."

Her relief wasn't an act.

"Your first month's pay should be coming soon. If I've got it right, it's twenty thousand."

I went still for a moment.

"I'll hold on to it for you."

"You're still too young. I'll use the money for investments. When you're grown, I'll give it to you."

My sister leaned in.

"Sis, I give all my pay to Mom too. Haven't we always done it this way?"

Yes. We always had.

And it was only today that I understood where all the money I'd kept with her had gone—the scholarships, the wages from my jobs, the holiday money I'd been given.

My thoughts went back to the counter.

"That little girl's an influencer. Money's no object for her—she even asked me to follow her."

"What's the account?"

The clerk gave me my sister's handle.

The life she shared was one I'd never seen.

A pink, soft bedroom.

Elegant afternoon teas.

Designer bags.

And her little girlish confessions.

Like the one she posted not long after leaving the counter.

"Lost my perfect-attendance bonus this month, so I could only get this twenty-thousand necklace. Ugh, such a shame. I really wanted the twenty-six-thousand one."

Someone commented:

"Your sister's so good to you."

She replied at once.

"Always has been. All my sister's money gets spent on me."

Only then did I understand that all my money had gone to my sister, spent by my mother.

And now they were planning the exact same thing.

My clenched hand trembled.

"Okay. The pay hasn't come in yet. Give me a few days and I'll transfer it to you."

"Mom."

Mother and daughter exchanged a satisfied look.